Looking for an affordable bottle of wine to enjoy with your Easter Sunday lunch? If you are, it’s probably best not to shop at Sotheby’s, writes Tony Greenway.
In January, six bottles of 1982 Pétrus went on sale at the famous London auctioneers, with an upper limit guide price of £15,000. Per bottle that’s... ooh, hang on... er... six into 15 is two, carry the three... um... Well it’s a lot anyway. More than you pay at Oddbins for a bottle of Chianti.
Naturally, there is wine and there is wine... and the rare and expensive 1982 Pétrus is very definitely the latter so no wonder Gordon Ramsay named one of his restaurants after it. This, of course, is vino as an investment. But do you think of wine in that way? Me neither. In our house, it doesn’t stay in the bottle long enough.
I wanted to recommend some great wines that were much less than a £3,500 bottle of Pétrus that you could drink over Easter. So I asked some people in Yorkshire who know about these things, and this is what they said:
Ryedale Vineyards
I thought it only right to get a Yorkshire wine into the mix — one from Britain’s most northerly commercial vineyard — and a sparkling one, too (it is Easter, after all). So how about Ryedale Vineyards’ own Taste of Paradise Sparkling White 2013 or a Taste of Paradise Sparkling Rosé 2014?
Martinez Wines
Jonathan Cocker from Ilkley’s famous Martinez Wines recommends a Domaine de L’ Herre Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Cotes De Gasgoine, France (£8.75) which, he says, is for pleasurable drinking, has citrus overtones, is zippy but not over acidic and won the Medaille D’Argent, Paris 2015. If you’re having beef, Jonathan would point you in the direction of ‘I Muri’ Negroamaro 2013, Puglia, Italy (£9.99), an intense red with notes of black berries, which is medium bodied, velvety and with good balance. This goes well with red meats including steak, red meat sausage, stew or even venison.
Holmfirth Vineyard
Another locally made wine, this time from the excellent Holmfirth Vineyard, whose general manager/wine-maker is the brilliantly named Luke Tankard. ‘If it’s a wine to go with a chicken dish, we’d recommend our Holmfirth Vineyard Solaris,’ says Luke. ‘This is a white grape with lots of crisp fruits coming through — apple and elderflower on the palate. It’s a light lunchtime drink.’ The 2015 is being bottled now. I’m sold.
Corks and Cases
Corks and Cases is a family-run business in Masham. Owner Derek Harle selects the Black Shiraz (£10.25) from Australia which, he says, is a great all-rounder and never fails to impress at the price. Derek also recommends Tea Leaf Chenin Blanc (£12.45) from South Africa, the vines of which are planted among indigenous Rooibos tea bushes.
Wrightson & Co
For a Sunday lunch red, wine expert Simon Wrightson, from Wrightson & Co at Colburn near Catterick recommends the Chateau Tour Saint Bonnet — a Cru Bourgeois 2012 at £9.50. For a Sunday lunch white he points to one of his best-sellers: a Macon Uchizy Domaine Talmard 2014 ‘which tastes like a superior white burgundy from further north and is the club white at many West End clubs in London.’ You can uncork that for £11.50.
Field & Fawcett
Mark Friend from Field and Fawcett — a corker of a wine merchants and deli on the outskirts of York, run by Peter and Cathryn Fawcett — have two recommendations for Easter Sunday lunch. For a red, Mark suggests the Falernia from Chile from the Elqui Valley Estate which works well with lamb and is £9.25 a bottle. For the white, Mark plumps for the Vina Real from Spain, a barrel-fermented white Rioja from CVNE (or Compañía Vinicola del Norte de España). ‘It goes really well with chicken and fish,’ says Mark. ‘If you’re looking for something other than Sauvignon Blanc, want something richer — but don’t want Chardonnay — then this is a good, good buy.’ It is, too at just £8.95.
