Five to try if you fancy trading up just a notch
I’m told by virtually everyone in the wine business that the pandemic has seen a significant number of people trading up, not that this is compensation for the loss of the restaurant market, of course. The bush telegraph also reports that online wine sales are booming, with customers appearing to spend more time browsing websites and pushing at their habitual boundaries in order to try something different.
Whelehan’s Wines at The Silver Tassie in Loughlinstown are now offering a click-and-collect service and free nationwide delivery on orders of €150 or above. They also use brilliantly sustainable packaging and import 80 per cent of their wines directly.
What you also get is David Whelehan’s unerring nose and palate and his determination to seek out the good stuff.
This week I have five wines from him that push different buttons for me, and push them very thoroughly.
Whelehan’s will happily sell you Whispering Angel, the cult Provençale Rosé, but you would much smarter to have their Minervois Rosé instead, at a considerably more modest price. This is Grenache and Cinsault from the foothills of the Masif Central, dry, generously fruity but elegant. A smarter choice.
Never heard of Montecucco? It’s another smart choice, lying in the Upper Maremma region of Tuscany where ColleMasari was named top producer by the Italian wine guide Gambero Rosso in 2014. You like Sangiovese? You will love this one, where it’s joined by Cabernet Sauvignon and the local Cillegiolo which is having something of a renaissance.
People often wonder how superior are wines labelled as Bordeaux Supérieur. Well, this week’s example is well above the common herd. Le Conseiller’s meticulous vine management on clay soil, and painstaking winemaking, produce deep, round wines, very expressive of Merlot, showcased with real opulence in this keenly priced 2015 vintage.
Regular readers will know that I have a weakness for good white Burgundy, the supreme expression of the Chardonnay grape, while sadly lacking the income to let rip at it. It punches substantially above its €27 price tag.
I’m also a lover of red Burgundy, at its best the supreme expression of Pinot Noir but it has yielded almost as much disappointment as joy. This Savigny-lèsBeaune, however, is pure pleasure. And purity is what it has in abundance.