. Meanwhile, Taste the Difference Discovery Collection South African Field Blend 2022 (13.5%, Sainsbury's , £10), shows how good chenin can be at supermarket level. Often described as tasting like a cross between pinot noir and nebbiolo, with wild strawberry and dried tomato flavours, this red from the uplands of central and northern Greece is glorious with slow-cooked lamb. Try Thymiopoulos Atma Xinomavro 2021, Greece (13%, Waitrose , £12.49). The guru of Australian wine, Matthew Jukes, calls this Australia's 'definitive style'. The blend, simultaneously majestic and reassuring, is, surprisingly, not that often seen elsewhere. I'm frequently asked for recommendations for top-end reds. Well, here's one: with notes of cigar-box, mulberries and cassis and a little maturity (though it could age a little longer), Yalumba The Signature 2016, Barossa, Australia (14%, Waitrose Cellar , £36.49). The South African take on a red Bordeaux blend can be exceptionally good value. Kanonkop Kadette Cape Blend 2020, Stellenbosch, South Africa (14%, Tesco , £13), is based on pinotage, which makes up more than a third of the blend, and the wine has){kind=link}
These wine styles have made a big impact, but how many have you tried?
On the syllabus for the start of the new term, New Wine Classics. If old wine classics take in the likes of Rioja, Vouvray, Bordeaux and muscadet, what might a more contemporary canon include? I’ve listed a few suggestions below, all of them wine styles that have made an impact over the last decade or two, and that have the quality to be mainstays of the future.
Chenin blanc has long been the country’s most widely planted grape but until the 21st century it was largely associated with anodyne wine. A reappraisal of the Cape’s old vineyards changed the picture. Today’s South African chenins can be magnificent: detailed, refreshing and complex. Chris Alheit’s Cartology is a pinnacle of the style; I enjoyed a recent bottle immensely (find the 2020 at Noble Grape, £34.50). Meanwhile, Taste the Difference Discovery Collection South African Field Blend 2022 (13.5%, Sainsbury’s, £10), shows how good chenin can be at supermarket level.
Often described as tasting like a cross between pinot noir and nebbiolo, with wild strawberry and dried tomato flavours, this red from the uplands of central and northern Greece is glorious with slow-cooked lamb. Try Thymiopoulos Atma Xinomavro 2021, Greece (13%, Waitrose, £12.49).
The guru of Australian wine, Matthew Jukes, calls this Australia’s ‘definitive style’. The blend, simultaneously majestic and reassuring, is, surprisingly, not that often seen elsewhere. I’m frequently asked for recommendations for top-end reds. Well, here’s one: with notes of cigar-box, mulberries and cassis and a little maturity (though it could age a little longer), Yalumba The Signature 2016, Barossa, Australia (14%, Waitrose Cellar, £36.49).