Wine: You heard it on the grapevine

Published on Monday 18 January 2010 14:30

DEAR reader, it is with a tear in my eye and a glass half-full that I sit down to write this column.

After more than 750 wines, 250 columns and five years, these are to be my last words for Spectrum. The lure of the big smoke has proved too much for me to resist and, while I have and will always champion Edinburgh as one of the great wine cities, I will now be plying my trade in the vintners' rooms of London.

It has been a wonderful journey, taking us to the vineyards of Brazil and Bordeaux. We stopped off in Chile, South Africa and Italy, spent – for some – far too long in France and never really made it to Australia. Along the way, we slipped and slurped with the best of them, smelt bog gas with Jilly Goolden and tasted English wine with Oz Clarke. We recommended claret to Ian Rankin and flew to Burgundy with Sir Sean Connery. We made wine in Stellenbosch and whisky in Speyside, judged the Varsity wine-tasting fixture and all the while kept Februarys clear for liver-replenishment and gum-recovery.

My first column was about Scotland's excellent independent wine merchants, a sector that, despite the collapse of two of our banks, is still thriving today. Young vintners such as Douglas and Cara Wood at Woodwinters, in Bridge of Allan, Chris Lockett at Lockett Bros, in North Berwick, and Hamish and the team at Inverarity One to One, in Glasgow, are keeping the scene alive.

Edinburgh is still a wine-buyer's dream, with a coterie of truly great merchants. Zubair Mohammed at Raeburn Fine Wines, Alister Rae and Kenny Vannan at Villeneuve Wines, Michael Romer at Peter Green's and, of course, the team at Valvona & Crolla. I haven't even mentioned Peckhams, Richard Meadows at Great Grog and David Henderson at Henderson's of Morningside.

With the collapse just before Christmas of First Quench, the group behind high-street off-licences Thresher and Wine Rack, it's more important than ever to support your local wine merchant. Not least because you're likely to get a more interesting tipple – often from small, artisan vineyards that are making wines to impress the palate, not the bottom line.

Moaning about the rise and rise of alcohol levels in wine has been one of my hobby horses, and sadly this trend doesn't appear to be stopping any time soon. For the winemaker, wines that have higher alcohol levels are fruitier, smoother, riper and easier to drink. This is because the wine is made from grapes that have been picked later, when they are riper and fatter and possess higher sugar levels.

Why has this fad continued? As Dan Jago, the man responsible for wine at Tesco, told us, "It's down to sales. In short, they sell more." There has been a small backlash against this, but if enough of us vote with our feet and refuse to buy wines with alcohol levels pushing 15 per cent, maybe winemakers will get the message.

I still favour France above all other wine countries, and over the years some of you have written to me in disagreement. But at a time when we are being encouraged to shop locally, the vineyards just across the Channel offer everything a wine-lover could ask for. It is also a country we have been buying our wine from for more than 800 years, so why stop now? I know I won't.

2009 Errazuriz Carmenre, Aconcagua Valley, Chile, 13.5 per cent, 4.99-6.24

This is one of the first vineyards I visited for Spectrum, and I'm happy to report that it's getting better and better. This wine is currently on offer at 4.99 if you buy two or more bottles in a case of 12 at Majestic.

2008 Jackson Estate Stich Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand, 13 per cent, 9.49

New Zealand sauvignon has been one of the huge success stories of the last five years. I have written and tasted many, but find myself coming back to Jackson time and time again.

2001 Nyetimber Classic Cuve, West Chiltington, West Sussex, UK, 12 per cent, 28.95

I still think it's rather fun to pull this out at a dinner party. This blend of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier is even richer than the more famous blanc de blancs, but somehow retains its freshness. It has red fruit on the nose and a clean finish.

Stockists Berry Bros & Rudd (www.bbr.com); Majestic (www.majestic.co.uk); Waitrose (www.waitrosewine.com)

&#149 This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday, January 17, 2010