The festive season is long over, so it’s time to stock up on less expensive but delicious wines that will be gluggable through the cheerless winter months. Last year one of our most successful offers was with Averys of Bristol, who offered terrific discounts, largely to reduce stocks of wines that were first-rate but weren’t flying off the list. They have done the same again, and some of the reductions are boggling. It’s the perfect opportunity to refill your post-Yuletide cellar at a very modest price. You might get the sample case, try them all, and order more of the ones you like best. The offer will be open for five weeks, so there’s plenty of time.
First up is the La Tours des Dames Viognier, from the Pays d’Oc, 2005. This is a tremendous find. It’s rich and full with luscious peach and floral flavours, and beautifully balanced, so it would make a perfect aperitif. But it’s also powerful enough to go with food. I can’t think of anything more cheering than to come home knowing there is a bottle in the fridge to share with your loved ones. And it has been reduced by 25 per cent to a nugatory £4.50.
Then a stunning Australian Riesling from Cheviot Bridge 2004. This is down by a generous 22 per cent, but it would be wonderful value even at the original price of £6.49. I love Riesling, and it’s one grape that has travelled very successfully to the New World. This has that heady, perfumed, ever so slightly oily flavour that you get with the best of them. It’s a wine to sip and to savour.
There is £1.50 a bottle off a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, the Matariki Aspire 2006. There’s not a lot to say about these Kiwi Sauvignons, since they are so consistently good. Like the others this is fresh and fruity with that undertone of grass, hay, gooseberries and slate. You almost never find a bad one. You would gain much kudos among your friends by serving this with dinner — no need to tell them that you paid a mere £6.99 a bottle.
Now the reds, and here the choice was almost impossible. I finally settled on three, but it could easily have been a dozen. Take the Borsao Crianza from Campo de Borja 2002, one of the very best wines made in Aragon. (In the 15th century one branch of the Borja family moved to Italy, where they became extremely powerful under their new name of Borgia. You can, however, drink these wines in complete confidence.) The wine is full and fat — perfect with winter casseroles and roasts, reduced by almost £2.50 to £4.99.
Now this is a great treat. The fabled Mas de Daumas Gassac in the Côteaux de Languedoc produces some of the finest wine in southern France. It is, as a consequence, very expensive. But here’s a chance to buy the estate’s third wine, Moulin de Gassac 2004, for a mere fiver. It’s got berries, it’s got herbs, it has the heady scent of southern France. This is a gorgeous wine at a ridiculous price.
Finally claret-lovers will want the D de la Dauphine 2004 which is reduced by £1 and has a whiff of cedar and tobacco and damsons, plus the real backbone that goes with a good French Cabernet. It’s the second wine of a great Fronsac Château, La Dauphine. A terrific everyday drinker.
You can buy any of the wines by the whole case, or opt for the sample case which contains two of each. Delivery, as ever, is free.
Meanwhile, a bonus for Spectator readers. Decanter, the wine magazine, is offering five pairs of tickets (normally costing £65) for their Great French Fine Wine exhibition in London on Saturday 24 February, which will feature more than 500 wines. Send your name and address to: Spectator draw, Decanter, 1st floor, 2-6 Fulham Broadway, London SW6 1AA. The first five envelopes drawn out of a hat on 3 February will get the tickets.
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