Consumer tastes are as varied as those of Jack and Mrs Spratt - but a number of wines stand out
Anthony Rose has taken a group on a wine walk at one of his Wine Gang winter festivals
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Your support makes all the difference.It's an enjoyably sobering experience taking a group on a wine walk at one of our Wine Gang winter festivals – enjoyable because it gives a genuine insight into consumer tastes, and sobering because of the realisation that said tastes are as varied as those of Jack and Mrs Spratt. Despite healthy disagreements though, a number of wines are greeted with unanimous transports of delight.
In Bath, Nyetimber was showing off its tangy, summer-pudding non-vintage Rosé, £39.99, nyetimber.com, while Roberson's extensive California range boasted an elegant and meursault-like 2012 Old Stones Chardonnay from Bergstrom Wines, £25. Bath's very own indie wine merchant, Great Western Wines, showed a range of goodies including Yealands' peppery, fresh 2014 Grüner Veltliner, £12.95, a restrained, classic 2014 Sancerre Pruniers, £15.95, and a damson-fresh 2008 Monastrell Reserva, Mas Delmera, Jumilla, £10.75.
Stars of the Edinburgh show included a finely balanced, appley and tangy-fresh 2010 Hindleap Classic Cuvée, £24, bluebellvineyardco.uk, and two excellent reds from Ribera del Duero in the bright, vanilla-scented, dark cherry-filled 2011 Pago de Los Capellanes Crianza, £20.75-21.22, Corking Wines, Exel, and the concentrated, muscular 2009 Ferratus Tempranillo Red Selección, Bodegas Cuevas Jiménez, £22.70, Spirited Wines. The Co-op's remarkable value, toasty Les Pionniers Champagne NV, £16.99, was an expected hit, as was the tangerine marmaladey 2014 A Sticky End, Marisco, half-bottle, £16.99, or £12.74 multi-buy, Majestic, while all agreed that the East India Solera, Lustau, £8.39, down from £10.49, half litre, Ocado, was liquid Christmas pud in a bottle.
And so to the atmospheric Vinopolis in London (sadly, soon to close) and two exceptional Napa Valley wines, a toasty rich 2012 Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay, £38.90-39.99, Field & Fawcett, Cambridge Wine, and an elegantly herby 2012 Long Meadow Ranch Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, £61.39, Corking Wines. Cadman Fine Wines showed a nutty 2013 Verdicchio di Matelica, £10.79, and a strawberryish 2013 Côte de Brouilly Vieilles Vignes, Lagneau, £11.25, while rudewines.co.uk excelled with a 2014 Gavi di Gavi La Giustiniana, £14.99.
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