RAISE A GLASS

NO sooner had I suggested last week that spring might be round the corner, it snowed AGAIN.

At least the clocks are changing and we’ll all feel so much better. I love this time of year when everything is so new again; there’s a fresh start as the sun warms and the days get longer.

It’s a busy time in the wine world too, with lots of new happenings.

Sainsbury’s has extended its organic range with the addition of a prosecco, a sauvignon blanc and a French rosé.

This comes on the heels of the wines So Organic Malbec (£6.50), So Organic Côtes du Rhône (£7.50) and So Organic Merlot (£6.50) which launched last November. Sainsbury’s says it saw a 25% jump in demand for organic wines last year, which it believes is driven by younger customers.

So Organic Prosecco (£10, 11% abv) isn’t cheap when you consider how much you can spend on a bottle of prosecco these days. It’s not a DOCG designated wine (the top style of wine in Italy) unlike my favourite prosecco from Sainsbury’s, Taste the Difference Conegliano Prosecco which comes in at around the same price. Saying that, I shared a sniff and a dip with some girlie

friends, including lots of swirling and chatting, and the aromas got a thumbs-up; pears, tropical fruit, a little bit of cinnamon (I don’t know where that came from) and freshly sliced apples. The label on So Organic

Sauvignon Blanc (£6.50, 13.5% abv) declares the wine has “citrus and grapefruit flavours and a delicate herbaceous note” but I found the opposite. It is from Spain and the sun-dappled grapes have delivered a wine of tropical fruits, guava and a hint of nectarine. So Organic French

Rosé (£6.50, 13.5% abv) is grenache-based and has squishy strawberry aromas with a hint of spice.

Over at Tesco, a new selection from Domaines et Chateaux has arrived on the shelves. The team searches for smaller parcels of French wines and once they’re sold out, that’s it, they’re gone.

My favourite of the new four wines I tasted was Domaine

Bariol 2016 (£9, 13% abv), a white from the Côtes du Rhône. It is a blend of marsanne and viognier and has a nose of white peach and honeysuckle with a peep of candied fruit. Those same notes carry through to the flavours and it was pretty much spot-on with my Sunday afternoon roast chicken and buttery bacon and cabbage.

Meanwhile one of my reliable go-to wine brands, Cono Sur Bicicleta, is having a makeover. New bottles with a bicycle embossed in the glass are out next month with a nod to making the wine a little more premium. The bicycles are a tribute to the vineyard workers who travel around the Chilean vineyards on bikes. Cono Sur Bicicleta Pinot Noir (RRP £7.49, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury, Morrisons, Co-op, 13.5% abv) is the UK’s best-selling pinot noir and its notes of strawberry, violets and cherries are smooth and tempting. Finally, Aldi has brought out a new range of half-bottles for those nights when you don’t want a full bottle. The wines are Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir and Malbec and they are £2.99 for 37.5cl. Let’s raise a glass to spring!