What Not To Drink

If you work in the arts or own a restaurant, chances are you'll live in dread of the critics review. They can, or at least many of them think they can, make or break individuals, openings and performances. Of course, the critics themselves will publicly, with lashings of faux modesty, deny that they believe any such thing. Even among journalists they're a strange breed, still, at least they do criticise. Wine writers rarely lay it on the line.

I can see how it happens. Invited along, say to taste fifty wines from a large supermarket chain, or a nice visit to foreign winemakers in situ, the temptation is to recommend something a reader might enjoy. Why waste space listing duffers and endless bland wines? Well, one danger with this approach is that this gives a false idea of wine 'talent'. Highlighting the few, camouflages the many.

I'd been thinking about this after visiting Marks and Spencer the other night. For me it boasts one of the best supermarket wine ranges. But I tend to steer myself towards certain wines. This time I deliberately picked up a couple of cheaper 'randoms' from the shelf. The average price of wine bought in the UK is still incredibly low.

First up, a dry German wine, down £2 to £3.99. These days the domestic market in Germany is dominated by dry wines so there are some good ones.

This isn't one of them. Quite acidic and tasting of pears. It has a deeply unpleasant pithy bitterness in the mid palate, like a badly peeled grapefruit. The finish is astringent too. Not nice.

I've been enjoying a lot of 'oldskool' Chilean cabernets recently. Lighter, less concentrated not so over extracted and not too expensive. So I went for this at £3.99. Oh dear.

Good colour, nice legs... but not much of a bouquet and it tasted 'dirty', like it'll give you the hangover from hell. Not good.

So don't buy either of these wines. They're rubbish. Instead, buy this:

From Oddbins. A combination of Chianti's main grape with Merlot. It works really well. A great wine for £5.99. All cherries and plums with a lovely earthy, gravelly texture. I was steered towards it by a very knowledgeable chap in the Woodlands Road branch... and have drunk quite a lot of it since.

The picture at the top of this post is called 'The Critic' by Kathy Jo Braceland.

Click here for her website.

You're Unbelievable

I've mentioned this wine before but fear it may have been undersold. Just to make sure I don't make the same mistake again: this is UNBELIEVABLE value for money.

As the label says, morello cherries, if you don't like them, don't buy it. If you do, or even if you're indifferent, buy it. In fact buy loads of it, because just now M&S are offering 25% off any 6, bringing this one in at the frankly incredible price of £2.99 a bottle.

Tonight it went with Caponata, however, as a result of extensive testing, I can also confirm it goes with: pizza, pasta, crisps, dips, cottage pie, chilli con carne, stuffed vegetables, roast chicken, duck, and mystery fridge stuff on crackers. Cin cin.

One word of caution. M&S do other wines in this range with similar labels. They are definitely NOT in this league.

Tour de France

Sometimes only steak frites will do. Way back, it's what we got for enduring my father's determination to drive the length of France non stop. After 14 hours squashed among the camping gear, our reward was something with frites from a roadside van. I still love it.

Frites are tricky ones. My attempts to cook them never quite work and the smell lingers. So it's always M&S Frites now, my 'supermarket food product of the year'. 15 minutes in the oven et Bob est votre onlce. Picked up the wine at the same time for £5.49. A steal.

French green peppercorn sauce, not essential, but ideal. This stuff transformed limited camping stove fayre into restaurant like splendour... to a ten year old at least. Nowadays I never visit France without picking up 20 'Poivre Vert'. It always gets a comment at the till.

Another tip is to rehydrate the sauce with half water half wine. Other than that, who knows why it tastes so much better than the packets bought here? It just does.

Finally, the steak shouldn't be too posh. It never was in France. This was a great lump of popseye cut from the beast by Andrew Reid Butchers on Great Western Road.

Mmmm, I could almost hear my mother's voice... "Slow down or you'll get indigestion..."

M&S Piedmont Barbera

Juicy, slurpy, sour cherryness.

A very good wine for £5.49.

Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger always annoyed me. They used to show it on Saturday morning TV. It was in black and white, seemed to last forever and even a child could tell Tonto was getting a bum deal. Well, here's a Lone Ranger that didn't disappoint. From the Gimblett Gravels district of Hawkes Bay in New Zealand.

It's a Bordeauxy blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. Lot's of plum and licquorice with a deep smokey vanilla nose. It has that lovely sheen good wine gets from good oak. I think. It's a pretty sophisticated drop, far from perfect, but with £4 off, as Cilla might say, "A lorra lorra wine for five ninety-nine".

It screams out for a chargrilled steak. How the hell you char grill in most UK abodes is beyond me. But if you can, do it. Having said that, I drank it just looking at pictures of food. Worked a treat and saved a few calories.

Lone Ranger 2006

Gimblett Gravels Red

New Zealand

Marks and Spencer: just now down to £5.99: what a bargain!

Wine with merguez

Niven and Sabeen's present from France for looking after Seamus "the sushi muncher" was a kilo of merguez. A favourites of mine, spicy red sausages made from mutton and beef. I lived off them in France. Think they're north African in origin but not sure if the recipe was brought over or invented in France? They come in mild or spicy, these ones were quite mild. I've never understood why they're not more popular.

They don't need much embellishment, just some frites and a blob of Dijon mustard. And, for near perfection, sliced stale baguette popped into a basket lined with kitchen roll. Then all that's missing is a wonky Oringina umbrella and a stroppy French girl. Neither, alas, very practical in a flat. 

We also got a bottle of Roussette de Savoie, but I'm determined to try that with something cheesy. So, instead, went for another M&S wine. The Argentinian EL ESTECO TANNAT 2008. It worked a treat. The overt fruitiness of the new world held in check by, as the name suggests, a lot of tannin. For me the two balanced each other well. It's got a real rusticity about it.... and so have the sausages. Not a glugger, but a good country food wine.

I paid £5.99 and was happy. Until I turned up a few days later and spotted it's now on promotion, down £1.50 a bottle. At that price it's really good value.

Later on, clearing up the last two sausages, I made a discovery that might explain why they're so tasty, and, perhaps, not so popular:

Latest Bargain!

Hangovers? Until now I've used Nurofen Plus, which includes a helpful whack of codeine. A doctor friend once explained codeine's a drug that doesn't work on everyone.... well, it really works on me! 

Cushioned against the side effects of my research, I'll head off to the park, find a good tree and watch the world float by. Well, now N+ could have a serious rival, and one that isn't so weather dependent. Pinot Bianco Alto Adige 2007.

This is delicious stuff. Like lying down in an Alpine meadow surrounded by by wild flowers and gazing at the clear blue sky. The sound of cow bells in the distance and a taste of butter melting slowly in the mouth.  And just before it all gets too sickly comes the refreshment, like they've scooped up some melting snow and popped that in the bottle too.  

Actually on the back label it explains 30% of the wine came from grapes grown at high altitude for extra freshness and minerality. Maybe I should lay off the codeine.

Pinot Bianco Nalles 2007 Alto Adige: larger Marks and Spencer: down from £9.99 to £6.66. BARGAIN !  And not much more than a pack of Nurofen Plus.

Latest bargain!

Marks and Spencer are dumping their Christmas Claret just now. Down from £7.99 to £3.99 in my local branch. Guess it's hard to shift something associated with Xmas in bleak cold February. Anyway, it's a lovely claret for the money.....and, if you buy 6 you'll get another 10% off too.  It's pretty fruity but still has that lovely Bordeaux dryness that suits food so well.  That said,we  managed to polish off a couple of bottles last night while just nibbling some cheese.  On the cork it says this wine is actually from Chateau D'Argadens, Bordeaux Superieur 2004.