This month we have the first full offer from Swig, the adventurous young merchants from west London. You wouldn’t go to Swig if you wanted a list of every vintage of every great Bordeaux chateau over the past three decades or the costliest Burgundies, but if you want to find exciting wines from umpteen countries at remarkable prices, then they are your boys, or in the case of Lucia, your girl.
As always, when I went round to Swig world headquarters in Chiswick, they offered me 20 or so different wines, and I wanted to offer you every one. So it’s been an agonising choice. All of them reflect the remarkable developments in wine-making everywhere. There is just too much good wine swilling about the place for us to make an easy selection.
But the goodies I’ve picked include one absolutely amazing wine which knocked my socks off, and will thrill you too, plus another which is fabulous value. In these cases, Swig are a bit like drug pushers outside the school gates; they know that once you have bought the product you will be back. Not because you’re addicted, but you will come close.
The sock-removing wine is a sparkling Blanc de Blancs, 100% Chardonnay, 2009 (1), which has been reduced to from £17.95 to £15.95, a £24 per case saving. It’s made by the Champagne method, and it has all the lovely biscuity, brioche, vanilla and peach flavours of a first-rate vintage Champagne. And, believe it or not, it is made in Bulgaria, specifically Thrace, by the brilliant Italian wine-maker Edoardo Miroglio. Vintage champers at around a third the price? Your friends won’t be able to tell the difference, as my friends didn’t. Buy loads for your daughter’s wedding. Or any occasion.
Now the still whites. Domaine Horgelus 2012 (2) from Gascony is terrific. The Sauvignon Blanc gives it real flinty edge, and the Gros Manseng makes it rounded and fruity. Grass, grapefruit, melons — you name it. Proof that the south of France is now one of the world’s premier wine regions; this costs a mere £8.95.
I love good Chablis, but you have to pick carefully. There is a lot of rubbish about. Not this. It’s the 2010 (3) from the Broc de Biques vineyard (it means Pot of Goats; don’t ask) which is adjacent to a premier cru property. Packed with flavour, a nice earthy feel, but with that steely something Chablis lovers love. A very classy wine. Reduced by £36 a case to just £11.95 a bottle. Incredible value.
But not quite as incredible as our reds. The 2007 La Valona 12 Meses from Castile-La Mancha (4) is reduced by £60 a case from the list price, purely in order to get you to try it. And you will want more. It is a tremendous wine, deep, dark, velvety, with a lovely bouquet. It is reduced from £14.95 to £9.95 — grab it as soon as you can.
The Mas Brunet Cuvée du Mazet 2010 (5) is from the Coteaux du Languedoc, and is another brilliant south of France wine. It’s made from five different grapes, all of which grow happily in the sun, and it is perfumed and silky, with notes of oranges and violets. A really gorgeous drop, and reduced by £12 a case to £9.95.
Finally proof that you don’t have to go to Burgundy or even New Zealand or Oregon to get a great Pinot Noir. This Spatburgunder 2010 (6) is from Baden in Germany, and in the words of Lucia and Swig’s James, ‘When it came in, it had us tangoing down the aisles.’ It is fresh and aromatic, with a nice fresh acidity, and at £14.95, reduced from £16.50, it is half the price of its French equivalent.
Delivery as always is free, and there is a sample case containing two of each bottle. I promise you, like so many Swig customers, you will be back.
View all the wine offers here.
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