Australia & New Zealand: "wines of the mo"

Tried and tested recently at an Aus and NZ themed tasting I held in Belfast, here are my favourite half-dozen worth highlighting that are all widely available as long as you look on these supermarkets' usually a little dustier top shelves... But all good value in their own different ways, especially as a couple of them were on "third-off" type offers too.

Jacob's Creek 2011 Reserve Riesling, Barossa, South Australia (11.5% abv) – you've probably spotted this huge brand's "Reserve" range before (from specific subregions, there's also e.g. a Chardy, Pinot and Shiraz), which generally really are worth a go like this delicate mature yet fairly intense Riesling. It has lots of those characteristic intriguing maturing oily aromas/flavours and some lingering ripe lime zest still. Drinking well now with seafood in a winey/creamy sauce? £9.99 Tesco
More Oz Riesling HERE and HERE.

Villa Maria 2013 Pinot Grigio, East Coast, New Zealand (13.5%) - from memory, this was labelled as Pinot Gris until recently, pointing to a more French Alsace style perhaps (but sensible marketing obviously got the better of them). It's definitely got more character and mouth-weight than your average Italian PG, with nice juicy honey and melon flavours and refreshing vs full finish. Good with not too spicy Indian, Chinese or Thai I reckon. £10 Asda

Yering Station 2011 'Wild Ferment' Chardonnay, Yarra Valley, Victoria, Aus (12%) - one of Sainsbury's superior "Taste the Difference" labels, this was a good result since I wanted to show a more elegant less oaky style of Chardy. Attractive nutty lightly creamy and oatmeal edges, a touch of zing still although again drinking well now, well-balanced with very subtle oak ageing. Value @ £9 considering the price of say Chablis nowadays. 

McWilliam's 2005 Mount Pleasant 'Elizabeth' Semillon, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Aus (12%) - a great example of one of those weird and wonderful bottle-aged Semillon styles, and again value @ £8.99 at Tesco, this has almost toasted characters, despite it being kept away from barrels, with lingering complex savoury vs green/stone fruit mix.
Oz Semillon tasting HERE.

Matua 2012 Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand (13%) - Matua seems quite big now, but they still turn out a fairly classy Pinot with perfumed cherry/berry fruit, a more savoury side too and just a hint of oak thankfully. With duck? £10.98 Asda
More NZ Pinot HERE.

Xanadu 2011 'Next of Kin' Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, Western Aus (14%) - towards delicious Cab with plenty of ripe blackcurrant/cherry'damson, chunky mouth-feel yet with rounded texture, again subdued oak vs quite concentrated fruit, powerful yet balanced. Value @ £8.50 Sainsbury's.

Languedoc: Domaine du Lys, Uzès

facebook.com/lesvignesdulys

One of those eternal "Languedoc or Rhone valley?" winery quizzes that can perhaps be answered simply as "both." Olivier Privat and Eileen and Ray Monahan's 30 hectares of vineyards (75 acres) lie in the Gard region, at the very eastern end of the Languedoc before you fall into the River Rhone, around a big-old-stone village called Blauzac not far from probably better-known Uzès (north of Nimes in any case). They have a medium-length list of varieties planted in blocks selected in 2008 (the vines are much older though), as you can see from the taster below, which are fashioned into single varietals and blends monikered as IGP (the new 'vin de pays') Cévennes (the nearby hills have eyes) and IGP Duché d'Uzès. Undergoing conversion to total organics since 2010. More @ www.les-lys.fr.

2011 Aillargues (75% Chardonnay, 25% Sauvignon blanc) - quite full-bodied and peachy fruited with attractive aromatic and crisper edge.
2010 La Grande Blanc (Chardy, barrel-fermented) - fairly concentrated with light toasted butter notes (or buttered toast if you prefer), rich and oat-y vs steely edges, maturing savoury finish too. Good stuff.
2012 La Petite Syrah (Syrah with some Sauvignon blanc actually) - nice cherry fruity style, easy-going quaffer.
2011 La Grande Rouge ("old-vine" Syrah, fermented/aged in large wooden vats) - minty herby peppery nose with lush dark cherry fruit, nice savoury side too, concentrated yet elegant; good stuff again.
2012 Caillasses (Grenache barrel-aged for a year, 16% abv!) - fair amount of vanilla oak on top vs lots of sweet fruit though, big and chunky finish. Their site offers a classic French food match: "hardly cooked meat."

English Wine Week: 24 May - 1 June

English Wine Week kicks off today running to 1st June. Why not celebrate in style with my English sparkling wine supplement fizzing over with top sparklers including Digby, Henners, Hush Heath, Jenkyn Place, Danebury, Gusbourne, Chapel Down, Bolney, Bluebell, Ridgeview, Knightor and Furleigh. Full details by clicking on the link above.

More info about what's going on at wineries in England and Wales, tastings, in-store promotions etc. can be found on the EWW website:
www.englishwineproducers.co.uk