Wines of the week: 8 bottles of picnics, festivals and camping
Tis the season for barbecues, day trips, festivals, camping – all things, Terry Kirby says, that demand the right wine
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Your support makes all the difference.Who’s got the corkscrew? Yup, when you get to that festival field, that perfect spot to listen to the music or that idyllic wood/riverside/beach/hilltop where you just have to have that picnic, that is so often the cry that rings out when the wine is sought. And it’s so often the thing that is forgotten.
So, as, hopefully, the good weather continues and we get set for our holidays and festival weekends, our Glyndebournes, our days out at the local beach or in the country, what wines can we find that don’t require a corkscrew, just the right time and place to consume them?
Firstly, we need sparkling wine to celebrate any occasion, so why not open a tin of English sparkling? Yes, tinned sparkling wine is now A THING and it’s great for just one decent glass to kick things off. The Uncommon Wine of English (£5.00 per 250ml can Selfridges stores or online at wearetheuncommon.co.uk) has lovely, stylish recyclable packaging and inside the wine is carbonated English bacchus white from Kent, full of pear and elderflower flavours; the fizz disappears pretty quickly, but the flavours linger.
Also for when a full bottle is not needed and for a slightly more authentic English sparkling experience, Exton Park in Hampshire are one of the few English producers to make half-bottles. Their Exton Park Brut Reserve NV or Exton Park Blanc de Noirs £17.50/£18.95 for 37.5cl extonparkvineyard.com which also lists stockists) are both perfect expressions of English sparkling wine: agile, refreshing, lip smacking, full of meadow, orchard and hedgerow flavours, perfect with smoked salmon or crab. If it’s a more traditional champagne you are after, try the Champagne Delacourt Brut NV 37.5cl £16 Marks and Spencers stores; not available online) a half of M&S’s own brand champers, a richer and more brioche influenced taste.
There are some screw-topped still wines halves out there, but the choice is limited and a half can feel a bit insufficient… Enter the half-litre in the form of the Italian Certo range from the Co-op, which has a lovely, aromatic and fullish- bodied Certo Garganega and a plummy, peppery Certo Merlot (both £3.99 for 50cl £3.99 Co-op stores; not available online) great value, easy drinking from the Veneto.
If it’s a full bottle you are after, what about one with a stylish pop-top that would look great on your Instagram retro picnic pic? The one with the wicker basket and the red checked table cloth? The Filderfere Muscadet Chateu de Cleray 2017 (£9.95 fromvineyardsdirect.com) is a gorgeous, crisp, young, fresh Muscadet from Loire, perfect for salads and seafood. And somehow, tres French.
Rosé is the ideal outdoor drinking wine – keeping it ice cold is another matter – and there a zillions to choose from out there, see my previous columns here and here. But we are still a corkscrew free zone this week, so for a screw-topped, well priced, bracingly dry and refreshing rose, try the Dou des Plages Rosé 2017 (£6.75 thewinesociety.com) cinsault and carignan in magical marraige from the Languedoc.
A big beach party you need to cater for? Stocking up for festival camping or chic glamping? Carrying loads of heavy bottles can be chore, even without the corkscrew issue. Well, the wine box is back in fashion – no longer exclusively home to dire cheapo plonk, the new, fashionably packaged boxes – and pouches – are ideal for such events. And since they stay fresh for several weeks, also perfect for just the odd glass. Waitrose online stocks some of the terrific When in Rome range of 2.25 litre Italian box wines, which include an aromatic, dry Falanghina, a juicy Nero d’Avola – probably best served cool – or a beefier Barbera, which would be great for barbecues. Don’t expect Grand Cru-style perfection and you won’t be disappointed. (£25.99 waitrosecellar.com or £27-£32 wheninromewine.co.uk for more choices)
If you do want something a little more on trend, then Vinnaturo, set up in 2013 by wine enthusiast Tom Craven, is the place to find 1.5 litre (or two standard bottles) recyclable pouches of organic, biodynamic or natural wines, sourced from small European producers, although in time he also hopes to be selling his own wine made at his home in north-east Spain. Standout wines from a small but perfectly formed selection are a lovely, refreshing, mineral, amphora fermented Airen/Macabeo and a really juicy easy drinking Tempranillo, both from an organic producer in La Mancha in central Spain and a fabulous, earthy nutty skin contact orange Trebbiano, made biodynamically in Tuscany. (£27-£30; all stockists on vinnaturo.com)
That’s it then, outdoor drinking sorted. All you need now is very large, solar powered coolbox. And maybe an umbrella….
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