Grapevine by John Howard

In 2007 wine lovers have more choice than ever before. This is because there is a huge surplus of wine world wide and although it is not good news for farmers, who are encouraged to grub up vines in favour of other crops, it is good news for the consumer.

Supermarket shelves are stacked high with half price offers and other retailers offer BOGOFS (Buy one get one free) or three bottles for the price of two. Faced with such offers a day trip to Calais to buy everyday wine is less of an attraction and you may have to think of another excuse to pop over for your baguettes and moules frites.

With so much wine available the average wine buyer has difficulty in deciding what to buy. It often comes down to the cheapest or just sticking with what is most familiar. If so, I think much of the enjoyment of drinking wine is lost. Lots of good quality good value wine is available from all over the world so why not try a bottle from say Argentina or Portugal?  Be adventurous at the weekend and spend an extra pound or two on a bottle. With duty at about £1.30 on each bottle of table wine plus vat, the cost of the bottle, transport, warehousing and retailer’s profit only leaves about 30p for the actual wine in a £3.99 bottle. Another couple of pounds will be going on the value of the wine.

There is no need to buy in the dark. Plenty of recommendations are given by knowledgeable wine writers in weekend newspapers, supplements, and national magazines such as Decanter and Wine and Spirit. Perhaps the best advice can come from friends who have an idea of your likes and dislikes and your budget. Sadly, in my experience, supermarket staff, lack the training to give quality advice and specialist wine merchants have all but disappeared from East Kent.

A welcome addition to the local wine scene is Hercules Wine Warehouse which opened in Sandwich last year. They have an eclectic list of wines at reasonable prices, many of which do not appear on supermarket shelves, with sufficient choice to suit all palates. I recently attended a tasting of their wines and all were well received. Though not everyone’s favourite mine was a 1999 Senorio de Los Llanos Gran Reserva from Valdepenas, Spain. It had an attractive mature nose, supple tannins, with sweet oak, liquorice, and tobacco on the palate. A bargain at £6.50.

Good Buys

2005 Geoff Merrill, Rose, S. Australia  £6.50   (pic)
2005 Pillar Box Tree, Merlot, S. Africa  £7.50   (pic)
Both from Hercules Warehouse (www.herculeswines.co.uk)

Supermarket choices

2005 Chateau Pey La Tour, Bordeaux (red) £5.99 from Tesco
2005 Chateaux Bonnet, Entre-Deux-Mers (white) £5.99 from Sainsbury