Wine: Spiceness and chocolate flavours shout pedigree

Australian wine writer Sean Mitchell spoke for many when he suggested there seemed to be too many wine shows with too many awards.

Indeed, it is easy to be bewildered by the number of prizes, trophies and medals now available. Nevertheless, in a market as diverse as wine, signposts towards quality and value are indispensable if consumers are to be helped to buy with confidence – especially when exploring something new.

One useful indicator is the pride the wine engenders within a retailer’s buying team. As with most jobs, there is a strong sense of satisfaction when recognition comes to a pet wine that has been quietly teased out and carefully positioned in the catalogue. In order to compile a Spectrum A team of such products, I asked supermarkets to nominate wines of which their buyers are especially proud.

Tradition dictates that we start at the sparkling end, and it was good to see the current upsurge in prosecco reflected in our list. These wines use the so-called tank method for their secondary fermentation, rather than inducing that process in the bottle – as méthode champenoise does.

Tank method wine is then bottled under pressure to keep its sparkle intact. The latest techniques enable this process to bring us light, fresh and lively fizz with smallish bubbles. The delicate, refreshing Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Prosecco 2010 (£10.49), with floral touches and crisp apple fruit, is a good example of this.

For occasions when only champagne will do, a wide range of own-label versions vie for your cash. The Co-op team, however, is especially pleased with the beautifully balanced length and weight of its 2004 Les Pionniers Champagne (£22.99), which has lively citrus fruit and hints of honey.

Europe dominated with the reds but the New World had the upper hand with the whites. Neither of the selections are bargain-basement buys but both are slightly unusual and certainly very stylish.

Tesco Finest Tingleup Riesling 2010 (£9.29) is a terrific wine, made by Amy Burch’s Howard Park outfit in Western Australia, and provides vibrant lemon and lime flavours combined with sufficient residual sugar to give just a hint of sweetness – an important element when it comes to the current fashion for matching riesling with spicy food. With so much worldwide focus on sauvignon blanc, it is good to see its half-cousin taking some of the limelight. The 2010 Secano Estate Sauvignon Gris (£8.49, M&S) is a lovely wine, with pear and apple-based acidity, richness and just an underlying suggestion of minerality; M&S is strongly promoting it as something different.

Among the reds there is one standout inexpensive wine that ticks all the boxes for quality and value. With black cherry fruit and hints of bramble, 2009 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (£3.39, Aldi) has all the customary power of this Italian classic, yet softens it with balanced acidity and a spicy, marzipan finish.

Further up the price ladder (but not as far as you might expect), you will find another classic red, this time from the prime syrah country of France’s northern Rhône. The 2008 Asda Extra Special Crozes Hermitage (£8.17) brings together robust and oaky cherry fruit and attractive herbal influences, but does so at a remarkably keen price.

A much neglected area in reviews is fortified wines, so if sherry is a favourite tipple, seek out Waitrose Solera Jerezana Fino del Puerto Lustau (£8.49) – a crisp, dry sherry from an excellent house that marries a smoky yeastiness with apple and lemon fruit to accentuate its dryness.

For an excellent everyday port, look no further than Morrisons Ruby Port (£5.79). It may look like just another non-vintage port on the shelf but, once it’s in your mouth, you will find classy plum and cherry fruit, an appealing spiciness and pronounced chocolate flavours that shout pedigree – no surprise really, since this is made by the acclaimed Symington family.

Rather than create yet another contest, these recommendations seek to provide a group of readily accessible wines that offer good value for money. Most of all, however, they try to get behind all the competition hype and tap into something even more valuable – wine-buyers’ intuitions.

2010 Yali Sauvignon Blanc Chardonnay Lolol Valley, Chile, 13 per cent This new Yali blend combines tropical fruit and grapefruit flavours, finishing with a savoury twist. £4.99 (down from £6.99 until 21 August), Morrisons

2010 Marquesa De La Cruz GSM, Aragon, Spain, 14.5 per cent A warm variation on a Rhône blend with intense black cherry fruit and redcurrant acidity. £5.24 (down from £6.99 for eight weeks from Wednesday), Sainsbury’s

2008 Côtes du Rhône Domaine Jaume France, 13.5 per cent A peppery nose, spicy finish and smooth fruit that ranges between plums and black cherries. £7.50, The Wine Society