When I was pondering a theme for this week’s offer with Mark Cronshaw, operations director of The Wine Company, he sucked his teeth, stared into the distance and came up with a brainwave: why not simply offer The Wine Company’s best-sellers? Wines that have been tried, tested and loved by their customers, but offered with special discounts for Spectator readers only. A fine plan, I said — depending, of course, on the quality of the wines and the generosity of the discounts. Well, I’ve tasted them and they’re an excellent, well-varied bunch, whittled down to six from The Wine Company’s top dozen sellers — a surprisingly tricky task. And MC’s arm was well and truly twisted on the discounts. He took it well, although his eyes did water a bit when it came to the 1er Cru Montagny, which was too good to let go but far too pricey. Mark, to his credit, finally capitulated, muttering darkly as he lopped a full £2.24 off the bottle price. The 2013 Sauvignon de Touraine, Domaine Bellevue (1), is crisp, clean, vibrant and fresh. Patrick Vauvy is the fourth generation of his family to raise grapes in Noyers-sur-Cher and thanks to a long, cool growing season, mineral-rich soils and savvy wine-making, he’s come up with a real charmer that would be a Sancerre if the vineyards were a touch further south-east. £8.75 down from £9.49. Albariño, along with the likes of Viognier and Gruner Veltliner, is one of the white grapes de nos jours and, having thoroughly enjoyed the 2013 Albariño ‘Atlantik’, Bodegas Fillaboa (2), I can quite see why. The vineyards of Bodegas Fillaboa are in northwest Spain, in Rias Baixas, and benefit from long warm days and river-breeze-cooled nights. The thick-skinned Albariño ripens beautifully here and the resulting wine is vivacious and fresh, full of peaches, apples, herbs and wild flowers.
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