talkTV: Beautiful Boxed Wine!

Boxed wine has come of age. Long gone are the days when the only thing you could find in a box was rocket fuel, thanks largely to advancements in technology, keeping wine fresher for longer. You can read more about why we should all be drinking boxed wine here and in the meantime, here are three bag in box wines that look as good as they taste to celebrate International Box Wine Day!

Domaine Wachau Gruner Veltliner, BIB Wine Company

The BIB Wine Company were the first, in my eyes to make PROPER wine in boxes ‘a thing’. Through them, I first saw proof that producers were putting their faith in the technology and allowing better and better wines to be boxed. BIB Wine have also nailed the packaging with their sleek, matte grey boxes that fit beautifully in the fridge (and look great on the counter top), they have impressive sustainable credentials and most importantly, offer top class wine that would be much more expensive if it were in glass bottles.

This Gruner Veltliner, which is Austria’s flagship white wine grape, is crisp and fresh with a fine minerality and kick of spice on the finish. A great alternative to wines like Gavi, Chablis or Picpoul.

Find it here for £40.90 for 2.25L box (£13.63 per 75cl bottle)

Lot #9 Luberon Rosé, Laylo Wine

Laylo believe that you drink with your eyes and they are right. Their beautiful boxes would not be out of place as the centrepiece at your dinner party. Entrepreneurial duo Laura and Laura (love that) set up their company after being convinced of all the positive reasons to drink wine from boxes, but annoyed that all the ones they could find were ugly and unwieldy. They work with small, independent wineries to hand pick a small selection of delicious, easy drinking wines in various styles.

This Luberon rosé hails form the most Provençal or Provençal areas. think blue shutter, pétanque and chocolate box houses. This pink is vibrant, fruity and easy drinking with that quintessentially Provence mineral core. Delicious.

Find it here for £34.99 for 2.25L (£11.66 per 75cl bottle)

Rosso Puglia Organic Wine, Terre di Faiano

It’s a box in tube form! Looking as good as a well packaged Easter egg, this boxed red wine has been a Waitrose favourite for quite a while now. If you’re a fan of bold, chocolatey wine, this one is for you. Made with a blend of red grapes with the figgy and cherry scented Primitivo leading the way, this wine is organic and vegan to boot! A great red wine as the weather turns and a winner with meats, burgers, stews and grilled veg. Even better, it’s on offer right now for Organic September - 20% off!

Find it here for £20.79 for 2.25L (£6.93 per 75cl bottle)

Tune in at 12.45pm GMT every Thursday for The Thursday Club with Mke Graham

English sparkling wine to celebrate the Jubilee

With the Platinum Jubilee around the corner, it feels ridiculous to reach for Champagne when we have properly world class fizz on our doorsteps. English sparkling wine has come of age with even the most ‘basic’ bottles now really packing a punch in terms of flavour and complexity. This is thanks partly to more and more stocks of ‘reserve’ wines, which is wine from previous vintages held back deliberately to add to more recent, non-vintage blends. These older, reserve wines tend to add the toasty, brioche and apple pie crust notes to sparkling wine that we have come to love in the traditional method of sparkling wine. Here are some top English sparkling wine picks that should be on your radar.

Hampshire

Hattingley Valley, Classic Reserve

Hattingley Valley winery is found in rural Hampshire where the first vines were planted in 2008 and the first wines released in 2013. Made by multiple award-winning female winemaker Emma Rice with 53% Chardonnay, 31% Pinot Noir and 16% Pinot Meunier grapes, the Classic Reserve is Hattingley’s most widely available and most loved wine. A non-vintage sparkler based on the somewhat challenging 2015 vintage, this is the wine that gives you a true flavour of the Hattingley house style: Golden with fine bubbles, elegant notes of brioche, nougat and a touch of oak with a characteristic hedgerow note on the finish.

Find it at Waitrose for £30 a bottle.

Hambledon Classic Cuvée

Established in 1952 by Major-General Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones, Hambledon is England’s oldest vineyard and can be found nestled in the home of Cricket at Hambledon in Hampshire. Their Classic Cuvée is again, a blend of all three traditional grapes, (56% Chardonnay, 27% Pinot Noir, 17% Pinot Meunier). Grapes are handpicked on the estate and this cuvée uses the 2017 harvest as a base with 20% reserve wines added, giving it the characteristic toasty richness that Hambledon has become famous for. Hambledon also does fantastic tours, tastings and events. 

Find it at Majestic for £34.99 (or £23.99 as part of a mixed 6 case)

Sussex

Rathfinny Estate Blanc de Noirs 2018

Rathfinny has an enviable position on the sunny, south-facing slopes of England’s South Downs in Alfriston, Sussex. It has quickly made a name for itself as one of England’s finest wine producers. Blanc de Noirs is a sparkling wine made only from black /red grapes which in this case are Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and these wine grapes came from just one single harvest in 2018, which has been dubbed the vintage of the decade. Rathfinny has a style that is rich but precise with a fantastic, lean, mineral character. Seriously elegant and will keep for a while. Rathfinny is another great place for a vineyard picnic too!

Find it at Lea & Sandeman for £38.95 (or £36.95 when in a case of six) 

Kent

Balfour Brut Rosé 2018

A renowned winery located on the Hush Heath Estate in Kent, the Balfour sparkling brut rosé was the first ever English wine to win a gold medal and the Trophy at the International Wine Challenge. This 2018 vintage wine is only ever made in tiny quantities from a single vineyard and it has a special story. The estate has belonged to the Balfour-Lynn family for three generations, but it was Richard and Leslie’s idea to plant vines at Hush Heath in 2002, with a view to making a pink sparkling wine like their favourite ever Champagne: Billecart Salmon Rosé. Their thinking was “If we can’t sell it, we’ll drink it”. But they did sell it and the rest is history. It’s a great place for lunch and a tasting with a lovely walk around the vines and the apple trees too. 

Find it at Waitrose for £39.99

See what else Helena has been tasting with talkTV here.

Top white Wines from Sainsbury’s Under £10 for 2022

We’re all feeling the pinch at the moment and it doesn't look like things are going to change any time soon. The impact of Covid, Brexit and war in Europe is taking its toll on the availability and the pricing of  so many things we used to take for granted and wine is no exception. The good news for wine is that as technology and winemaking has come on so much, a cheap wine doesn't have to mean sulphurous vinegar; these days, you can actually taste what the wine is meant to be! Here are four wines you should get into your fridge right now.

Taste The Difference Portuguese Alvarinho, £7.50

In the UK, we tend to know this grape better in its Spanish guise as Albarino. It’s equally famous in Portugal, where you’ll find a lot of it in the north of the country both as a single grape wine or as part of a blend in teh famous, light and spirtzy Vinho Verde wines. This one is still very light and elegant with subtle, peach and lemon notes and a hint of smoke. Super refreshing. 

Find it here at Sainsbury’s.

Taste The Difference Viognier 2021, £8

Viognier is the famous white grape of the Rhone Valley in France, famous for its oily weight nda texture and its gorgeous, ripe aromatics and flavours of peach, honeysuckle, white chocolate and citrus. Made by top French producer Laurent Miquel, this Viognier hails from a little further south. It’s beautifully balanced, showing great Viognier character - hard to do at this price level, but they’ve smashed it.

Find it here at Sainsbury’s.

Taste The Difference Grüner Veltliner ‘Traisental’ 2021, £9

Gru-V, as I like to call it, is the flagship Austrian white grape that is really finding its way into people’s hearts today - and this one is sensational for the price. Steely, bone dry and minerally with notes of baked apple, white peach, white pepper and a ginger kick on the finish. Serious and easy going at the same time. This rally punches above its weight.

Find it here at Sainsbury’s.

Taste The Difference Jurançon Sec 2021  £9 on offer for £7

Jurançon is a little region in South West France in the sun-drenched foothills of the Pyrenees. Here, they use lots of indigenous grapes including the brilliantly named Gros Manseng & Petit Manseng, which are the two grapes in this particular blend. Often, these grapes can make sweet wines but this one is dry, zesty and incredibly refreshing while also having a ton of ripe greengage, tangerine and melon notes. A bit different and totally loveable. 

Find it here at Sainsbury’s.

See what else I’ve been tasting with Mike Graham on talkTV here!

talkRADIO: Drinks supporting Ukraine

Today on talkRADIO, we raise a toast to some brands that are raising much needed funds to support charities helping those in need in Ukraine. From beer to vodka and even wine, there;’s something for everyone, so buy what you can and call it a party!

Dima’s Vodka (40% ABV)

Dimas Vodka is the Ukrainian Vodka brand that has been on every drinks writer’s radar since it won gold at the IWSC awards at the start of the year and then massively since the conflict began. Owner Dima Deinega has been spearheading various charitable events and creating producing to raise funds to support Ukraine so it’s worth checking out their instagram @vodkadimas so see the latest. The vodka itself hails from a 125-year-old distillery on the outskirts of Kyiv and is made (unusually) with three grains: barley, rye and wheat. This combination along with Ukraine's black supersoils give the vodka  a velvety smoothness,. Making it a good sipping vodka. On the bottle, you’ll see a modern version of the national coat of arms of Ukraine. Try it with a pickle the way they do in Ukraine!

Follow @vodkadimas for various charity events such as Feast for Ukraine this Saturday at Brigade, 139 Tooley Street, London.  There’s also currently a limited edition, painted bottle auction happening. 

Vodka is £35 from dimasvodka.com



Copper Rivet Distillery

Copper Rivet Distillery based in Chatham’s Royal Dockyard iis Kent’s only grain to glass distillery, producing excellent gin, whisky and vodka from scratch in small batches from bespoke stills. To help Ukraine, they are pledging £5 from every Copper Rivet Distillery webstore purchase of 50cl bottle of Dockyard Gin, Masthouse Whisky, Vela Vodka and Son of a Gun to the Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal and Unicef to support the invaluable work they are doing in and around Ukraine. You can now visit them and take a tour before stopping for lunch in their glorious new restaurant too. 

We’re showing the strawberry gin today, made with real strawberries infused into the spirit for a natural, elegant strawberry sweetness.

Strawberry gin is £32 from Copperrivetdistillery.com

Virgin Wines: The Benevolent Range

Virgin Wines has launched The Benevolent Range, which is a special, charitable wine collection to raise funds for its charity partners, British Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal, The Leeway Domestic Abuse Charity and Bright Start. They have teamed up with some outstanding winemakers to create three phenomenal new wines; a South Australian Cabernet Blend, a Chilean Pinot Grigio and a Carménère, also from Chile at accessible price point of £9.99 with £1 from each bottle going to the company’s charity partners. Each of the wines are available at to buy by the case, mixed case with 4 bottles of each. Virgin Wines will donate £12 to charity for every case sold.

See more here at Virgin Wines

The Harbour Beer Co. Stand with IPA (5.5% ABV)

The Cornwall based Harbour Beer Company have created this hazy IPA beer to show solidarity with Ukraine, with profits from sales going to the @disastersemergencycommittee who bring together 15 leading UK aid charities, raising funds quickly and effectively for overseas disasters.

Labels were created and donated by @eclipselabels for free to maximize profits. YOu can buy a pack of 12. X 330ml cans on their website. 

Find them here for £24 from harbourbrewing.com

See what else we have tasted on talkRADIO here!

talkRADIO: Hot Cross Bun flavoured booze for Easter

Easter is coming! Cue a load of Easter-themed boozes on your shelves. Here are some I rather like and all with a Hot Cross Bun theme.

Hot Cross Bun Cream Liqueur (35cl, 15%)

Super indulgent, this lusciously rich, spiced cream liqueur is  made with fresh cream from the Ballyrashane Creamery; Northern Ireland's oldest dairy. Like a creamier Baileys but with that unmistakable currant bun spice note, it’s properly naughty. Serve neat over ice or pour over ice cream. 

Find it in store at M&S for £5 

‘One a Penny’ Beer (44cl, 5%)

They say: “Inspired by the classic Easter Hot Cross Bun, this is a smooth, full, hazy body, like a New England IPA, but without the hops. There is sweetness from vanilla, a distinct fruitiness from raisins and citrus peel, and the slightest hint of complimentary spice.”

Find it at wildbeerco.com for £2.75 a can

Rum: Sweet Little Hot Cross Rum Liqueur (50cl, 18%)

Sweet Little Hot Cross Rum is a unique blend of golden, spiced rum with orange, cinnamon and vanilla with a little sugar to go. It’s sweet but not cloying and has a lovely aroma of spiced dough. Sip cool over ice alone or add it to your Easter cocktails!

Find it at Master of Malt for £24.95

Premium Cocktail: Hot Cross Bun-Hatten (50cl, 24%)

Another delicious creation from Pritish Mody at World of Zing, this is a fabulously balanced cocktail with lots of flavour and a decent enough nod to those currant bun spices. Made using Mount Gay rum and rich vermouth, simply pour over ice, garnish with orange and serve. YOu can add a gift message too when ordering online.

Find it at Worldofzing.com for £25 

Find what else we’ve been tasting on talkRADIO here.

talkRADIO: Alternative White Wines for Spring

Whoohoo! It’s getting warmer! What better time then to try some alternative white wine grapes? Come on, you’ve had enough Sauvignon and Picpoul. Here are three grapes that deserve your attention and some lovely examples to seek out. Happy Thursday Club!

If you like Albarino, try… Assyrtiko

Assyrtiko is THE key white wine grape from Greece and it makes one of those super refreshing white wines that are slick and saline with zesty lemon and citrus notes but a riper, peachy fruitiness with it. The most famous region for it in Greece is Santorini and this one comes  from winery Artemis Karamolegos and is made with fifty year old vines. 

Find it for £14.95 at The Wine Society

If you like Viognier, try… Roussanne

Roussanne  is a white grape hailing from the Rhône Valley that produces powerful, nutty white wines with intense aromas and flavours of flowers, peach, pear and apricot, with baking spice. Exotic, oily and textural, this grape is the opposite of zesty, zippy Sauvignon. Traditionally used in blends like white Chateauneuf du pape, we’re now seeing more of it as a single grape wine. 

Find it for £6.79 at ALDI

If you like Gavi, try… Verdicchio 

Verdicchio is one of the finest white native grapes of Italy and the most important area for them in the the Marche region around Castelli di Jesi. This is an area with many medieval fortresses on many hilltop villages surrounding the central town of Jesi. This complex and crisp dry white is often called the White Barolo thanks to its fabulous ability to age. When young, it has lovely floral aromas and subtle notes of tropical fruit and a yeasty finish. 

Find it for £6 at Tesco

Want to know what else we’ve tasted on talkRADIO with Mike Graham for the Thursday Club? Click here!

talk RADIO: Irish Drinks for St Patrick's Day!

Happy St Patrick’s Day! And what an important one it is for us at 3DHQ as we launch our second global TV series on Amazon Prime: The Three Drinkers in Ireland! Whoop Whoop!

To celebrate the launch, Aidy and I are raising a few glasses with Mike Graham at talkRADIO taking in some fabulous Irish tipples:

The Irish Mule

This super simple highball cocktail is a take on the famous version made with vodka and features just three ingredients. Simply fill a highball glass with ice, pour over the whisky and lime, then stir. Top up with ginger beer and garnish with mint.

50ml Irish Whiskey (We’re tasting Slane triple Casked Irish Whiskey)
25ml Fresh lime juice
Ginger beer to taste
A sprig of mint to garnish.

Find Slane Irish Whiskey at Master of Malt for £20.95 in a flash sale, or Waitrose, Amazon, Ocado and more for circa £30

Irish Gin & Tonic

Where there is whiskey produced, you will often also find gin or vodka and there are some stunning gins coming out of Ireland these days. Try this unique Donegal gin, aged in Spanish red wine cakes, which give it a red berry burst of flavour and a pink tint.

25ml Irish Gin (We’re tasting An Dúlamán, Santa Ana, Navy strength gin from Slaibh League Distillers)
Indian Tonic to taste.
Garnish with freeze dried red berries.

Find Santa Ana Gin at Amazon, Master of Malt for circa £45

Chocolate Baileys

This Irish Cream needs no introduction and their chocolate version is even more indulgent than the original! If you’re a fan of double chocolate magnums, think of that melted in a glass - with booze. 

Find it at Tesco for £18

Poìtin

This is literally ’the mother of all whiskeys’ a spirit that used to be distilled from just about anything - sugar beet, potato.. Made illicitly all over Ireland and akin to an Irish Moonshine. It was lethal! Since 1997, production has been regulated and here’s one that is actually rather lovely. It’s made by Killowen Distillery in Northern Ireland and is peachy and aromatic with spicy notes.

Find it at Killowendistillery.com for £34.50

To watch The Three Drinkers in Ireland head over to Amazon Prime Video in your country now!

Lighter-bodied red wines styles to try

Not all red wines are the same and sometimes, we don’t necessarily want a massive, blockbusting fruit bomb. Here are some lesser known grape varieties and wine styles to look out for if you want something with a little more tartness, crunch and tang. All these wines do well when slightly under room temperature. Perfect for lunch and cold cuts!

Cabernet Franc

Country / Region: Saumur, Loire Valley, France

Try: Domaine des Ormes, Saumur, 2017. £8 from Co-op

The Loire Valley is the spiritual home of the Cabernet Franc grape and here, it is light-medium bodied with leafy, crunchy redcurrant and cherry notes and a characteristic whiff of graphite. Yes, this wine smells of pencil shavings! In a good way. Look out for the world ‘Saumur’ on the label as this is one of the key Loire appellations (sub-regions) that is famous for Cab Franc. Also look for Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil AOC, which is often a little more concentrated and fruity.

Cinsault

Country: France & South Africa

Try: Tesco finest* Cinsault, W.O.Western Cape, 2020. £7.50 from Tesco

Cinsault is a grape that most famously perhaps comes from the South of France where it is blended to soften its often astringent tannins and temper its herbaceous notes. You’ll find it as part of the blends in Provence and Languedoc-Roussillon particularly. Out in South Africa, we are seeing it more as a single varietal where it feels a little softer with tangy cherry notes, dried herb and a hint of smoke. Fun fact: South AFrica’s signature grape variety Pintage is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault. Cinsault used to be called ‘Hermitage’ hence Pino-tage!

Mencía

Country / Region: Bierzo, Spain

Try: Viento de Invierno, Mencía, Bierzo, Spain. £8.25 from Co-op

Mencía is a grape the professional winos go mad for as it’s a brilliant food wine and a little bit different. Lithe and nicely tart, it’s particularly aromatic with notes of morello cherry, raspberry and liquorice spice. It’s a great one to age. If you like Beaujolais Cru wines or Pinot Noir, you’ll love this.