Thursday Club with Talk Radio: Top Tesco Picks

We’re still in supermarket press tasting season and so on today’s Thursday Club with Mike Graham on Talk Radio, we look at three top picks from Tesco - and they are all on a theme of Sauvignon Blanc:! This is the grape that famously makes Sancerre , Sauturnes and white Bordeaux.

Tesco Finest Sancerre 2020

Sancerre is the original home of the Sauvignon Blanc grape and arguably the most famous region for it in the world, with Marlborough New Zealand sneaking up from behind. It’s just here in France, wines are named after region not grape! Sancerre is a famously understated version of Sauvignon with grassy notes of nettle and cut grass with a subtle, citrussy undertone. Given its pedigree, this is a classic version at a very reasonable price. 

Find it here for £14

Bruce Jack, Sauvignon Blanc, Western Cape, South Africa, 2020

With Bruce, we go from understated to full on, New World power! Yes, it’s in-your-face but it’s also a fabulously characterful wine with complex notes of smoky guava, lemon, lime, wet grass and passionfruit. Lots of bang for not so much buck and well worth seekign out. This will be epic with goats cheese.

Find it here for £7

Tesco Finest Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2020

Sauvignon Blanc is often paired with the Semillon agrape s a blending partner as the two complement each other perfectly, with Sauvignon’s zippy zesty freshness balancing up Semillon’s waxy, weightiness. This is the main blend you will find in sweet wines like Sauternes as well as the classic, still, dry white wines from Bordeaux. This Aussie version shows the perfect combination of both grapes. 

Find it here for £8

Thursday Club with talk RADIO: Bargain wines from Aldi

It’s supermarket press tasting season! On today’s Thursday Club with Mike Graham on Talk Radio, we look at three ALDI wines that really impressed me for the price - and they’re all a bit of a step away from the norm!

White wine: Filos Estate Assyrtiko, 2020, Greece.

Assyrtiko is the famous white wine grape from Greece that is making a splash in the UK. This one hails from North West Greece with grapes harvest from one single vineyard. If you love Chablis and Albarino, you will like this. It's citrussy and fresh with a saline tang and a peachy note balancing everything up. Perfect for hot summer days - when we eventually get them! 

Find it at Aldi for £6.99 here.

Sangiovese Reserva, Estevez, Chile.

Sangiovese is the Italian grape that is most famous for making the wines of Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, so it’s fascinating to find it out in Chile. Here it's fuller-bodied and more juicy, but showing classic Sangiovese notes of sour cherry, dried herbs and coffee beans. Beautifully made, big and ballsy but with soft tannins. 

Find it at Aldi for £6.49 here.

Aglianico del Vulture, 2017, Italy.

Another example of how southern Italian grapes are well worth looking out for. Aglianico (that’s the grape) thrives on the volcanic soils around Mount Vulture in Basilicata. This is for you if you like Barolo or punchier Tuscan reds. It’s black and savoury with notes of grilled meat, tobacco, stewed fruit and cocoa powder, partly thanks to the extra age on it. Incredible value:

Find it at Aldi for £6.99 here

Thursday Club with talkRADIO: Rum Cocktails

What is Rum?

Rum is a spirit that is usually made by fermenting and distilling molasses (a byproduct of converting sugar cane into sugar) before ageing it in oak barrels, often old whisky ones. Most rums are blended with other batches from the same distillery to create unique flavours.

Central and South America are most famous for rum, with sugarcane having been introduced to that part of the world by Europeans in the 1400s. Colonialists started sugar plantations that used slave labour and rum came from here. Other countries around the world are producing rum now too and we are seeing some big names come out of the Philippines and India.

The Rum ageing process is faster in hot, humid climates, where the interaction between the wood and spirit is accelerated. Almost all rums are blended with other batches made at the same distillery to create unique flavours. The key styles are light or white rum, Amber rum, which has had some oak age and dark rums, which are aged in charred whisky barrels. There are also spiced rums, which have spices such as clove added to them and a whole host of flavoured and sweetened rum. 

East London Liquor Co. Rarer Rum

£27.75 from the Whisky Exchange

The East London Liquor Co. is based in the old East End and they distil, import and serve a range of award-winning gins, whiskies, vodkas, rums and cocktails. This Rarer Rum has been made with Demerara sugar from Guyana in a wooden still and aged in ex-bourbon casks. Think of buttery caramel and vanilla with some citrus fruit and spice. Here are two ways to try it!

Rum Negroni

50ml Rum (we love Rarer Rum)

50ml Campari

50ml Sweet Vermouth (we love Cocchi - £19.95)

Orange wheel to garnish

Method: Combine ingredients in a mixing glass with a cup of ice. Stir to chill and lightly dilute ingredients. Strain into a rocks glass over an ice sphere (or regular ice). Garnish with an orange twist

Daiquiri

50ml Rum

25ml Fresh lime juice

15ml Sugar syrup ( we love Monin - £5)

Lime to garnish

A Daiquiri is a cocktail where the main ingredients are rum, citrus juice (typically lime), and a sugar sweetener. Add the rum, lime juice and sugar syrup to a shaker with ice, and shake until well-chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with a lime twist.

Thursday Club with talk RADIO: Great Value Italian Wines

Today on the Thursday Club with talkRADIO, we sing the praises of three Italian wine grapes you might not have heard of but certainly need to be tasted: Fiano, Nero D’Avola and Primitivo. They also often make wines that are fantastic value too, like these three below.

All wines this week have been sent courtesy of Corney & Barrow , who also happen to be doing a celebrity wine tasting tonight (May 13th) at 8pm to raise money for hospitality. See more here on that.

Fiano Masseria Bianca 2018

The white grape of Southern Italy is Fiano, which makes universally loveable white wines that combine a citrussy freshness with riper, tropical notes of nectarine and pineapple.  This one is grown on limestone-rich soils near the Ionian Sea in Puglia, which gives it a particular freshness and cool slick of chalkiness. Campania is the main Italian region for this grape but you can find i elsewhere like Puglia and Sicily too. If you like un-oaked, new world Chardonnay.

Find it here for £10.25 from Corney & Barrow.

Mucchietto IGT Primitivo del Salento 2019

The Primitivo grape is said to be the old cousin of Zinfandel, which is famous over in California for making equally rich and brooding reds. It thrives in its Puglian homeland in Italy, where it makes wines that are particularly ripe, figgy, soft and juicy, often with notes of chocolate dipped cherry, sweet spice and beeswax. This is the comfort blanket of Italian red wine styles. If you like red Zinfandel, you’ll like this.

Find it here for £10.25 from Corney & Barrow.

Cipollina IGT Rosso Terre Siciliane 2018

For this wine, we head over to Sicily where the native Nero d’Avola grape rules the roost for rustic, easy-drinking and inexpensive red wines. This one by Cipollina is Nero d’Avola dominant with a cheeky splash of Syrah. Brooding and dark red, thanks partly to the sun’s heat, it has notes of rich, baked cherry pie, warm spice, plum and violets. The perfect party or barbecue wine, it’s a crowd pleaser that looks and tastes much smarter than its price tag would suggest.  If you like Shiraz /Syrah, you’ll like this.

Find it here for £8.50 from Corney & Barrow.

Thursday Club with talk RADIO: Crémant

Today’s Thursday Club is all about Crémant: the French fizz made in the same way (the traditional method) as Champagne, but from other regions in France, using their local grape varieties. You can get Crémant from many regions around France, the most famous being Crémant de Bourgogne (Burgundy) Crémant de Loire, Crémant de Bordeaux, Crémant de Limoux and Crémant d’Alsace. 

Only French wines can be called Crémants and they offer fantastic value, considering they are made in the same time consuming method as Champagne, where wine needs to be aged on the lees (dead yeast cells) albeit for a shorter amount of time. Lees is what gives fizz its biscuity, brioche notes. 

Today, we’re looking at Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Calvet Crémant de Bordeaux, Brut NV

Fizz from the world’s most famous wine region has existed for centuries but it was only officially recognised as a style in 1990. They are often more aromatic and fruity than Champagne thanks partly to the grape varieties used and less time on lees. 

Grape varieties: Sémillon and Cabernet Franc

£10 from Tesco

Calvet Crémant de Bordeaux, Brut Rosé NV

This rosé is made with the famous red grapes of Bordeaux, so offers a structured, savoury pink style that’s ideal for food like cold cuts. Cracking value and on offer at the moment. 

Grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot

Find it for £10.39 from Ocado (down from £12.99)

Crémant de Bourgogne, Blanc de Blancs, Brut NV

The famous white grape of France’s Burgundy region (Bourgogne in French) is Chardonnay and in this case, ‘blanc de blanc’ means 100% Chardonnay, though other local grapes such as Gamay and Pinot Noir can be used. While Chardonnay is also the grape used in Champagne, the region of Burgundy is a bit warmer and so Crémant de Bourgogne is often a bit rounder with more fruit. Very easy going. 

Grape variety: Chardonnay

Find it for £10.49 Waitrosecellar on offer (down from £13)

Crémant de Bourgogne Brut Rosé, Simonnet-Febvre, NV

The red wines of Burgundy are famously made with Pinot Noir and this Crémant is made purely with this grape. Pinot Noir is also one of the main grapes of Champagne but from here in Burgundy, the pinks are much more fruity with notes of cherry and spice. 

Grape Variety: 100% Pinot Noir

Find it for £15.75 from Vinatis

See what else we have tasted on the Thursday club here, here and here!

Thursday Club with Talk Radio: Unusual Pinot Noir

Thirsty Thursday means it’s time for the Thursday Club on talkRADIO! This week, it’s about Pinot Noir - ‘the heartbreak grape’, so named because due to its thin skin, it's very difficult to grow to its best potential and has caused many a winemaker nights of lost sleep. When conditions are right and it goes well however, it makes wonderful, elegant, aromatic wine. 

Today’s Pinot Noirs are a little different as they are not from places you might necessarily expect and certainly not from the most famous regions for them, namely Burgundy in France, Champagne and California. Welcome to a Pinot Noir fine Wine special. 

Sancerre Rouge ‘Les Champs Clos’ Pinot Noir, 2019 FRANCE

Sancerre is always white, right? Wrong! While the majority of Sancerre wine is white, 20% of wine production there is actually red and it will be made with the Pinot Noir grape. Mind blown? I thought so. Sancerre is a region in France’s cool climate Loire Valley and it is the spiritual home of the white grape Sauvignon Blanc (White Sancerre = Sauvignon), but it suits a cool and elegant style of Pinot too. Think floral notes of violet with crunchy, red cherry and berry fruit and a moreish, tart acidity. 

Find it at Sainsbury’s here for £11.50

Bolney Estate Pinot Noir, 2020, Sussex, ENGLAND

English still wine used to be a bit of a joke, with germanic varieties producing wines that were at once screeching high in acidity yet also too sweet. Nowadays, we’re finding that many serious producers are looking to the key champagne grapes like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for their still wines and having much better results - globally award-winning results in fact. The founders of Bolney Estate had the foresight to plant back in 1972 in Haywards Heath, West Sussex as only the 6th commercial vineyard in the country. Now, the winemaking team is lead by the daughter of the founders, Sam Linter. Her Pinot Noir has won multiple awards internationally and the 2020 is just released, with its soft, velvety red fruit, hints of earth and coffee beans with a touch of chocolate dipped cherry on the finish. 

You can also visit Bolney for a wonderful day out. They have tours, tastings, a bar, a lovely restaurant and an event space available to book. When we can do that again!

Find it at Waitrose Cellar here for £17.99 and Bolneywineestate.com

Akitu, Central Otago, New Zealand

Pinot Noir is one of the very few red grapes that is frequently used to make white wine. The most common version of this is of course in Champagne and sparkling wine; it's much less common to see still, white Pinot Noir like this one. Hailing from just beside Lake Wanaka on 250 million year old schist soils in New Zealand’s Central Otago, lots of sunshine and dry autumns give amazing fruit purity and complexity. The delicate pink gives away the grape’s red skin and subtle notes of raspberry, white chocolate, honeysuckle, citrus and mandarin. There’s also a proper, creamy texture that makes this a silky, serious white wine.

Find it here at The Champagne Company for £32

Thursday Club with Talk Radio: Sparkling Wines

It’s Thursday and that means it’s time for the Thursday Club on talkRADIO with Mike Graham! This week, we’re looking at key styles of fizz and what the differences are between them, featuring a Cava, a Prosecco and a Traditional method sparkling wine from England (same method as Champagne). The main question we will be discussing is why English Sparkling wine and Champagne are more expensive than Cava and Prosecco?

Traditional Method

English Sparkling Wine

Also known as Classic Method, Champagne Method or Méthode Champenoise, most English sparkling wines are made in this more hands-on, time intensive (and therefore more expensive) way nowadays and using the same, high quality grapes as they do in Champagne, namely Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. To get the fizz, the wine is fermented twice and with traditional method wines, this happens in individual bottles. The wine is then left so sit on the lees (dead yeast cells) which give a toasty, brioche complexity and mouthfeel. We all know Champagne but have you tried English Sparkling wine? The UK is doing wonderful things with fizz and they are well worth seeking out, such as this refreshing beauty made by Hush Heath in Kent.

Try: English Sparkling by Hush Heath Estate, Tesco, £19

Prosecco

Prosecco is a sparkling wine style that originates in the Veneto region of Italy, just north of Venice. The grape used is Glera (with a splash of Pinot Noir for rosé). The main difference in the production method here is that the second fermentation that creates the bubbles happens in a tank rather than single bottles. This is quicker and done on a larger scale. Also, Prosecco is not aged before it’s sold as the style required is fresh and fruity rather than dry and biscuity. All of this, together with a larger production area allows Prosecco so be sold more cheaply. 

Fun Fact: The sweetness levels of Prosecco are bonkers. Extra Dry is actually one of the sweetest styles. You want a dry Prosecco? Look for a Brut or a zero dosage! See more about the different sweetness and quality levels on our article here. 

Try: Cantine Il Maschio Prosecco Extra Dry, Sainsbury’s £7.50 on offer

Cava

Cava is an interesting one as it is made in the Traditional Method like Champagne and English Fizz, but instead of using the chi-chi French grapes mentioned above, this Spanish fizz traditionally uses local Spanish varieties: Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo. The production area of Cava covers 159 Spanish towns and villages in La Rioja, Valencia, Catalonia and Extremadura. The flavour profile of Cava is more on the tropical, pineapple, savoury side than Champagne and it can appear as a little less refined, but as far as value goes, it’s unbeatable. 

Try: Sainsbury’s Cava, Brut NV. £6

Thursday Club with Talk Radio: Malbec

With International Malbec Day being celebrated around the world on April 17th, today on The Thursday Club with Mike Graham on talkRADIO, we look at this red grape that has shot to fame over the last ten years and won hearts for its chocolatey texture, its blueberry and raspberry notes, its affordability and general approachable character. While Malbec’s spiritual home is around Southwest France, where it is still the flagship grape of Cahors AOC, it is in Argentina where this grape has shone in recent years, thriving in the bright sunlight and dry climate at high altitudes. Here are three Argentinian beauties to try. 

Specially Selected Argentinian White Malbec

White Malbec? Yes you heard that right. Red wines are usually only red because the skins of the grape give colour as they are macerated with the juice. If you remove them, you get white wine! In this case, there’s a very faint pink colour, which is very pretty. Bone dry with subtle notes of red fruit but what we love is the texture. A unique version of Malbec alright and well worth trying. It would make a great food wine - ideal with hard cows cheese and fish dishes. 

Find it for £6.99 from Aldi here.

Zuccardi Q Malbec, Vista Flores, Uco Valley, Argentina, 2019

Mendoza is the most famous wine region in Argentina and the Uco Valley is a small sub region within it at high altitude, known for particularly high quality wines. Add to that a superstar winemaker called Sebastian Zuccardi and you know you have a serious wine on your hands. Smooth and supple while benign very concentrated with characteristic, savoury, smoked meat notes balanced by blueberry and plum. This wine would love a steak. 

Find it for £11.99 Mix six price from Majestic here.

Rutas de Cafayate, Malbec Elegante, Salta, Argentina, 2020

Cafayate is located in Salta: Argentina’s other, lesser known wine region in the northwest of the country. It’s an area that deserves attention for its mega high altitude vineyards, its desert-like land and incredible incredible sunlight, which can give its wines extra structure, concentration and complexity, or if made simply, just a beautiful purity of fruit. This wine is the latter; rather than a more typical, dark chocolate with sea salt note for Salta wines, it’s vibrant and juicy with smooth red and blueberry notes. Very easy drinking but not confected.

Find it at Sainsbury’s here for £8.50

See what else we’ve tasted on the Thursday Club with Mike Graham, here, here and here.