Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, November 9, 2008: The Rise of Pinot Gris Down Under

Most Italian pinot grigio tastes of next to nothing – LDN (light, dry, neutral) in wine writers’ shorthand. Presumably that’s its virtue for the huge numbers of people who buy it week in week out in Britain. The surprising thing (apart from its popularity) is that, inherently, pinot grigio is not short on flavour and body. You only have to look at wines made from pinot gris - same grape - in Alsace. They’re honeyed and fruity with a nutty, spicy richness. They can also be sweet and labelled Vendange Tardive accordingly.

The difference between the two styles is partly geography, but a lot is down to choice: the number of grape bunches growers allow their vines to bear and when they decide to pick them. Big crops and early harvests give the timid-tasting big-sellers. Small yields and late harvests give full-on flavour, but a more niche market.

This has made it tricky for producers in the new world. They want to cash in on the fashion for Italian pinot grigio, but neutral-tasting wine goes against the grain. In the end, most stick to what they do best: flavour. Lots of it.


2008 The Ned Pinot Grigio, £9.99
Pink-tinged, medium-weight, with apple, peach, spice and a hint of sweetness; from New Zealand (Majestic, £7.99 when you buy 2; Waitrose).

2007 Tinja Pinot Gris, £9.75
Crisp, zesty pear, peach and orange flavours, from Orange, Australia (Lowe Wines,01389 830643, Vin du Van, 01233 758727, L'Art du Vin, 0131 555 6009, Provender Brown, 01738 587300).

2006 The Lane Single Vineyard Pinot Gris, £9.99
Rich, nutty, peachy with fine acidity; from the Adelaide Hills (Waitrose).

Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, November 2, 2008: A Cure in Sight for Cape Reds?

There’s a flavour in South African red wines that I can’t stand; not in all of them, but in enough to make me approach Cape reds warily. It’s a flavour like burnt rubber or tar, often combined with leathery baked fruit and hard green notes, as if the grapes were over- and under-ripe at the same time. It’s no respecter of price or reputation – it goes from top to bottom – nor of grape variety .

If this was a personal fad, the problem would be mine. But others feel the same, although, puzzlingly, British wine writers appear to be more sensitive to it than commentators elsewhere. And many Cape wine producers don’t get it at all, which is one reason it remains a problem.

The other reason is that no one knows the cause. Ten leading winemakers, assembled in London by importer Richards Walford recently, came down on the side of faulty winemaking, but others think a vine virus is the culprit. Either way, the end could be in sight. For the first time serious research to identify it is underway at Stellenbosch University. Fingers crossed. Three Cape reds I highy recommend below.


2005 Rustenberg John X Merriman, £9.99-£11.99
Cabernet-merlot blend with succulent fruit and a fresh coffee note (Majestic, £9.99 when you buy 2; Waitrose; Stone, Vine & Sun, 01962 712351; Harrogate Fine Wine, 01423 522270).

2005 Ken Forrester 3 Halves, £10.99
Rich, spicy, Rhône-like blend of shiraz, grenache and mourvèdre (Waitrose).

2004 The Foundry Syrah, £11.99-£20
Top-notch, powerful but polished, peppery syrah (The VineKing, 01737 248833; Harrogate Fine Wine; Planet of the Grapes, 020 7405 4912; Hanging Ditch, 0161 832 8222).

Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, October 26, 2008: Cheap Wine: the hidden and not so hidden costs

There are two theories about how wine drinkers react to a recession. One is that they buy more because they share a bottle at home instead of going out. The other – no prizes for guessing - is that they cut back on the grounds that wine is a luxury.

If you’d tasted some of the wines I’ve encountered at recent supermarket tastings, you might question the definition of luxury, but all the same it’s looking as if, currently, the former theory is more a case of wishful thinking on the part of wine sellers. The reality, for now, is that consumers are cutting down – buying cheaper or buying less.

The trouble with buying at the bottom end is that the cost of getting any wine on the shelves has risen sharply this year. Duty has jumped 14p a bottle to £1.46, the euro is punishingly strong, and packaging and transport costs have soared. There is also 17.5% vat to factor in, together with margins for the producer (if he’s lucky), retailer and perhaps middleman. We’re fortunate if, at under £4, the wine accounts for 50p. Even more fortunate if it’s drinkable.



2007 Asda Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, £2.98
Simple, soft and fresh with blackcurrant pastille flavours (Asda).

2007 Cuvée Pecheur, Vin de Pays du Comté Tolosan, £3.69
Crisp, light, grapy, grassy, off-dry white (Waitrose)

2007 Sainsbury’s Old Vines Tempranillo, £3.79
Medium-bodied Spanish red with spicy, plummy fruit and a clean dry finish.

Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, October 12, 2008: Shocking following for The Wine Gang

What do you really want to know about wine? I know it might seem late to ask, but I have discovered from a website I’ve started with four colleagues that it may not always be what I thought. We set it up because we each taste hundreds of wines a week at tastings that are not open to the public. We recommend a handful of the best or best value and, having done that, we file our notes and move on. What a waste.

So, now we publish an online monthly report, with reviews and scores out of 100, for 200 wines on sale in all kinds of retailers from supermarkets to posh merchants. And we don’t just cover the good and glorious, which is where one of the revelations comes in: there is an almost indecent following for our monthly shockers - the five wines that have most appalled us. We’ve also found that advice on food matching and how long wines can be aged is much appreciated. I’ll be bearing all this in mind here. Meanwhile, there’s a free trial to www.thewinegang.com until the end of October.

2005 Montsant Finca l’Argata, Joan d’ Anguera, £12.95
Powerful, but polished Spanish red. Ideal with roasts, game, casseroles, anytime until 2015 (Tanners, 01743 234500).

2006 Bourgogne Blanc Les Setilles, O Leflaive, £11.79
Nutty, lemony, rounded. Drink with fish and creamy dishes in the next three years (Corney & Barrow, 020 7265 2470).

2007 Grenache Noir, £5.99
Spicy, ripe fruit, full and savoury. Try with spicy sausages, steak or red peppers. Drink in the next three years (Marks & Spencer).

Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, October 5, 2008: Aldi and the supermarkets

If Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and his wife are now buying their wine as well as their groceries at Sainsbury’s, instead of getting Waitrose wines via Ocado, they will notice the change. Waitrose range vies with Marks & Spencer’s for quality, whereas Sainsbury’s seems to have lost its way.

Most of Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference wines are good, several are very good and across-the-board they are more consistent than Tesco’s Finest selection, but too many of the other wines are run-of-the-mill. In a world awash with new producers, why stick with tired old names? As for the 27 wines at under £4, shown at a recent tasting “to reflect the current financial climate”, I despair.

Perhaps the Cleggs would feel it was a step too far, but for cheap wine they would do better to go to the discounter Aldi (the nearest branch to Putney, Nick, is Old Kent Road). There are only 65 wines, compared with several hundred in the big supermarkets, and there’s nothing adventurous, but the quality-value ratio is impressive. Oh and, Nick, all the £4.99 wines will be £3.99 before Christmas; that should help.

2007 Vignes de St Pierre Sauvignon Blanc, £3.99
Crisp, bright sauvignon with juicy, grassy fruit (Aldi).

2003 Rioja Reserva, Ramon Lopez Murillo, £4.99
Soft and nutty with sweet red fruit and spicy oak (Aldi).

2007 Mâcon-Villages, Henri de Lorgères, £4.99
Nutty, fresh, delicately buttery and well-rounded (Aldi).

Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, September 28, 2008: Real Men Drink Pink

If anyone still thinks rosé is only for the girls, think again. Real men not only drink pink, they’re getting into bed with it (loosely speaking). The new recreation of retiring sports stars, especially those with French blood, is to produce their own rosé.

David Ginola, former Newcastle United footballer, has launched Coste Brulade, a rosé from his native Provence. It’s not yet on the shelves in the UK but, unless it’s a silly price (curiously, nobody would even give me a guide-price), a supermarket seems sure to snap it up. The 2007, which won a silver medal in this year’s International Wine Challenge, is the prettiest of pale pinks with lovely, fresh, strawberry-scented fruit.

Another example is French Flair, a rosé from Fronton, north of Toulouse, which bears the signature and picture of recently retired French rugby international Thomas Castaignède. So far, it only seems to be on sale in France, but with Castaignède a familiar face on British television it may only be a matter of time before it comes here.

While we’re waiting, the drinks below should satisfy any male still wary of being seen drinking pink.


Stinger Organic Ale, £1.89-£1.99, 500ml
Developed with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and brewed with organic nettles. Fresh, soft with a hint of gingery spice; delicious (selected Budgen; Thresher; badgerdirect.com)

2007 Monty’s French Red, £7.99
Meaty, herby, berry-flavoured red, biodynamically grown by wine writer turned vigneron and TV star Monty Waldin (Adnams, 01502 727222).

2005 Steak House Cabernet Sauvignon, £6.49
Butch-looking, but elegant, savoury, blueberry-flavoured Washington State red (on offer at the Co-op; reverts to £7.99 on October 5).

Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, September 21, 2008: Sauvignon Gris - the New Blanc

Sauvignon gris sounds like a grape variety dreamed up in a marketing department to cash in on the fashions, especially among women, for both sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio (aka pinot gris). But no creativity has been necessary. The only thing new about sauvignon gris is the interest producers are taking in it, including making it as a wine in its own right (instead of merely blending it), and putting the name on labels. Previously it wasn’t thought worthy of a mention.

Not that we should exaggerate. Only a handful of wines labelled sauvignon gris (meaning they contain at least 85% of the variety) have reached UK shelves so far, but the trend has been set, so we shall see more – especially from Chile, but also from the Loire, Bordeaux and areas where growers are planting it for the first time.

Technically, it’s a pink-skinned variant of sauvignon blanc and the wines have an obvious family resemblance, but there are differences. Sauvignon gris is less aromatic, which means less pungent ‘green’ flavours (grass, gooseberries et al), and it tends to be fuller-bodied. There are two from Chile to try below.


2007 Secano Estate Sauvignon Gris, £6.99
Full and dry with spice, citrus and green fruit flavours (Marks & Spencer).

2007 Vina Leyda Sauvignon Gris, £9.49
Full-bodied, smoky and spicy with tangy green fruit (Oddbins).

2007 Calvet Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, £4.99
Light, grassy, grapefruity Bordeaux with 15% sauvignon gris, although the label doesn’t say so (Waitrose).

Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, August 31, 2008: Food-friendly Fino

If there was a really refreshing wine to serve with shellfish, smoked fish, parma ham, chorizo, olives, salads, manchego, parmesan and almost anything else you might find at a good deli counter, surely people would be queuing up for it? All the more so if it wasn’t expensive. So, where are the queues for dry sherry?

There are some converts who know how good fino and manzanilla (the pale dry styles) are with food, as well as before it, but most wine drinkers don’t give them house-room all year. It’s partly because sherry per se has an image problem, but more because people don’t think of fino and manzanilla as wines like pinot grigio, sauvignon or chardonnay. Fair enough; they are different.

But not that different. Fino and manzanilla are bone dry with a savoury, far less fruity flavour than, say, chardonnay, and they are stronger, although, at 15% abv, not much stronger. Try the three below, always serving them well-chilled and in ordinary wine glasses. If you want a familiar name, Tio Pepe is always reliable (£8.79-£8.99, widely available), as is the newer Harveys Fino (£8.18, Morrisons).

La Gitana Manzanilla, £7.29-£7.49
Delicately salty, dry apple flavours. Cheap at the price (Tesco, Waitrose Sainsbury’s).

Valdespino Deliciosa Manzanilla, £12
Aptly named, fresh, nutty, savoury (Planet of the Grapes, 020 7405 4912).

Lustau Puerto Fino, £10.99
Smoky, tangy and nicely rounded (Philglas & Swiggot, 020 7924 4494).

Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, August 24, 2008: Picnic Provisions

The severe view of picnic provisions, courtesy of a friend of mine, is that the wine should have enough flavour and guts to stand up to dilution by rain and the food should fit into a raincoat pocket. I wouldn’t go that far, but I take the point.

Picnic wine usually has to stand up to a bit of rough handling of some kind, whether traditional bank holiday downpours, soaring temperatures or a bumpy ride, so it’s a waste to pull out a precious or delicate bottle. Besides, picnic menus aren’t usually suitable for over-subtle wines. You are far more likely to be eating garlicky chicken, spicy salami and herby dips than you are dover sole. So go for wines with fruit, flavour and zing.

But even before you think about the taste, I suggest you commit yourself to screwcaps (or the smart glass stoppers that are beginning to appear on more expensive wines). It’s not just that you won’t have to fuss with a corkcrew; you will be spared the risk of a musty ‘corked’ wine when you are miles from the nearest replacement. Three screwcapped bottles below.

Canaletto Montepulciano di Abruzzo, £4.99
Full, soft red with cherry, smoke, spice and dark chocolate flavours (Sainsbury’s; also 25cl bottles, £2.09).

2007 Margaret River Semillon Sauvignon, £7.99
Zesty herbal and mineral flavours with a whiff of sweet smoke (Marks & Spencer).

2007 Bonterra Rosé, £9.99
Juicy, raspberryish Californian blend of sangiovese, zinfandel and grenache. Organic (Waitrose).

Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, August 17, 2008: Corking-up the Leftovers

Remember when wine came only in 75cl bottles, three-litre boxes and a handful of half-bottles that had usually been hanging around too long? Those days are gone. What started with a few tentative Tetrapaks and plastic bottles has become an avalanche of alternative sizes, shapes and packaging materials in the last 18 months.

Some of the new formats sell on their environmental credentials, some on the convenience factor and some, such as Waitrose’s range of 50cl bottles under the Vin à Deux label, push the sensible drinking message - the thinking being that 75cl can be too much between two.

All this choice is welcome, but the message I’d like to push home is that if you don’t finish a bottle it doesn’t have to go to waste or into tomorrow’s casserole. An inch or two in the bottom of a bottle probably won’t keep until the next night, but, if there is a third or more left, stopper it and put it in the fridge. If it’s red, remember to take it out a couple of hours before you want it or, at a pinch, put it in barely tepid water.


2004 La Riada Limited Release Crianza, £9.99/£4.99
Nicely oaked Spanish red with supple cassis fruit. On offer at £4.99 until Tuesday (Wine Rack).

2004 Mas des Dames, Coteaux du Languedoc, £7.95
Full-bodied, smoky, spicy, ripe berry flavours; southern warmth and no oak (Berry Bros & Rudd, 0870 900 4300

2007 Reschke Fume Sauvignon Blanc, £10.99-£11.49
Fine, floral, grapefruity Coonawarra white with a hint of oak (Old School Wines, 01782 372888; The Wine Library, 0207 481 0415; £138 per case, H&H Bancroft).

Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, August 10, 2008: Cool Reds

If you are drinking red wine today, you should probably put it in the fridge for at least 45 minutes first - not because we are in the middle of summer but because most red wines are drunk too warm all year. The old rule that red wines should be served at room temperature is one of the most treacherous pieces of wine lore, unless you happen to like your rooms at a penitential 16-18 C. A few big, young, tannic reds, especially those designed to be aged, may taste rounder and more supple at 18-20C, but the vast majority begin to lose their freshness and clarity of flavour at these temperatures. They will still be drinkable, but not as good as they could be or as the producer intended.

Beaujolais has always been appreciated lightly chilled, but most new world red wines at under £7 can be served in the same way – and many will be all the better for it - simply because they are made in a soft, fruity, more or less tannin-free style. And almost any pinot noir, whether £6 or £20, is delicious cool. Bottle, fridge, now.

2006 Asda Extra Special Beaujolais Villages, £4.98
Textbook Beaujolais – soft, juicy, peppery strawberry fruit (Asda).

2007 Casillero del Diablo Pinot Noir, £5.99
Great value Chilean pinot with sweet fruit and soft oak (Sainsbury’s).

2006 Maven Marlborough Pinot Noir, £9.19
Stylish NZ pinot with wild strawberry aroma and supple texture (selected Tesco).

Joanna Simon in The Sunday Times, August 3, 2008: Spitting Cristal

I know it’s vulgar to talk about money, but as I spat the 2002 Cristal Rosé into the elegant spittoons in Roederer’s tasting room I couldn’t help wondering how many pounds’ worth I was ejecting into Reims’ sewage system at £300-£545 a bottle (the price-span for the 2000 vintage; 2002 has yet to be shipped).

Spitting fine wine is all in a day’s work, of course, but some days are more painful than others. This was one. I spat out seven vintages of Cristal, four white and three pink. The white is cheaper (anything from about £170 to £238 for the 2000 vintage; more for older ones), but even so I reckon it was close to £100 down the drain - literally, not metaphorically.

Cristal sometimes hits the headlines for the wrong reasons – for example, the falling-out with Jay-Z over his spraying it round the room (allegedly) - but there is no question it’s superlative champagne. As it should be. If you can’t afford it (few can), note that all Louis Roederer champagnes are made by the same people in the same cellars and largely from the family’s own vineyards.

2002 Roederer Brut Vintage Rosé, £49.99-£63
Not Cristal, but one of the best rosé champagnes (Wimbledon Wine Cellars, 0208 540 9979; Vintage House, 020 7437 2592; Harvey Nichols, 020 7235 5000; Fortnum & Mason, 0845 300 1707).

2002 Roederer Brut Vintage, £49.99-£60
Rich brioche and candied citrus flavours (Wimbledon Wine Cellars, Fortnum & Mason, Vintage House, Berry Bros & Rudd, 0800 900 4300)

Quartet, Roederer Estate, £17.99-£19.99
Convincing champagne-lookalike made in California (Waitrose, Majestic).