A tale of contrasting fortunes for you to consider today.
One concerns a white wine that was enormously popular in the second half of the last century.
Nowadays, though, it struggles to get a toe-hold on wine shelves that, by contrast, almost sag under the weight of sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio.
Needless to say, if it figures among MidWeek recommended wines, that situation will be a major injustice – and it is!.
Make sure you give it (and other examples of it) a try even if it does raise eyebrows among mainstream wine drinking companions.
For the red, though, the story is a much happier one.
Commercial pressures almost forced today’s highlighted variety into (possibly terminal) decline but, mercifully, taste buds not calculators won the day.
Both examples on parade here are good illustrations of the classiness of the genre and, better still, do not cost that much money.
In the usual way, hyperlinks and pictures are used where possible to help you locate the bottle in question.
First that neglected white
2022 Best Riesling (£7.50 – instead of £8.50 – until 18 February with a Loyalty Card at Morrisons and 12.5% abv):
Perhaps a bit more texture would be welcome here and, predictably, age has started to accentuate riesling’s trademark kerosene aromas.
Nevertheless, these are minor quibbles when set against the freshness and vitality offered by this appealing example from Germany’s Pfalz region.
It is light in body but is beautifully clean, featuring zesty apple, melon, and apricot flavours.
These are turbo-charged with zingy sherbet lime acidity but there are also savoury elements – notably a hint of slate rather like those you find in the Mosel.
NB: The retailer’s website hyperlink does not show the actual discount.
But now for that red revival.
2023 Expressions Touriga Nacional (£7.50 in M&S physical stores and at Ocado – and 13%):
Cultivating touriga nacional vines can be tricky – so much so that, last century, the variety was in danger of being replaced by more productive, easier-to-grow options.
Fortunately, wine tasters, not accountants, prevailed and the stellar wines of touriga nacional have now made it Portugal’s leading red variety.
Dark with sweet aromas, this example is centred on smooth red currant, plum and bramble flavours.
Support is provided by the wine’s good acidity, firm tannin and a savoury (yet also mildly floral) texture.
See you again on Thursday when the focus goes on the effects of the new rates of alcohol duty that came into force this week.
12 responses
I’ll be trying that Touriga, as I’m a big fan of Portuguese reds – & of M&S wines, where buying just 4 bottles earns a 10% discount.
Hi Brian,
Absolutely concur with you on Riesling.My first attempt to introduce it to my local community wine club only got three likes out of nineteen members attending.
Undaunted,I will try again in Wednesday night’s meeting and report back.
I have decided to go ahead with the very good Asda Extra Special Riesling Austria 12.5% 2022 £8 ,had five stars from all the reviews and for once I agree with the blurb:
“This wine is a great example, with honey and wild-flower aromas leading to a bright, fruity palate packed with peach, apple and citrus flavours with a long, dry and refreshing finish.”
Well flagged up on the Pfaltz riesling Brian. The unspeakable R has long been a big favourite of mine. I don’t recall it being big in the later 20th century. I do remember those tall slim bottles of Muller Thurgau that my generation cut theit teeth on, the wine trade then went on to compete at getting it into the retailers at 50 pence a case less than the competition, and we then all turned our back on tall green bottles, seemingly for ever. As long as I can remember we have called Riesling the wine that the trade drinks but cannot sell. A wonderful, versatile grape at all levels which, as you say, is sadly neglected.
Riesling is great! I understand Lidl sell the most bottles of Mosel Riesling. For me it is a great standby and way of cutting down on alcohol content. I enjoy it as a clean well made wine to go with any dish. It has everything at a given price point and as indicated in your comments section as yet to be more widely appreciated in the UK.
Nice to see a Riesling recommendation. It’s only recently that I’ve gone back to this blast from my past and so far I’ve not been totally convinced by some of the bottles I’ve tried. There seems to be quite a lot of cheap riesling around and I suspect spending a little more results in a significantly better wine. But at least the unmistakable aroma is a blind tasters dream!
I’m a bit behind the curve on Portuguese wines but like many people I know I’m enjoying what’s coming our way. The red Sousao in Waitrose Lost & Found series is a current favourite.
The way that retailers are seeking out these wines from lesser known varieties and bringing them to consumers’ attention in Lost & Found (Waitrose), Expressions (M&S) etc ranges is really welcome.. Should you be pursuing the 4 bottle discount at M&S that Chris highlights for the Expressions Touriga Nacional, I would suggest throwing in a bottle of the Expressions Xinomavro from Northern Greece (Macedonia) too. This wine’s colour was lighter than I had expected. It is similar to a wine made from Nebbiolo or Pinot Noir so retrospectively I was delighted to read a description of this particular bottle as “merging the elegance of Pinot Noir with the refined structure of Nebbiolo (and the savoury Mediterranean essence of Grenache)”.
Hello Keith
The M&S Expressions Marsanne Voor Paardeberg 2023 £9 is an outstanding stand alone SA example made by Trizanne Barnard.
Well worth considering to make up four bottle discount.
I remember going to the Rhine and Mosel wine festivals back in the 70s when I was in Germany with the RAF. The good stuff as opposed to the over sugared being sold in the UK. Steep Slopes Riesling from Tesco brought back memories. Touriga National has long been a favourite of mine particularly Vinha do Fava from Laithwaites.
Thanks David and really pleased to see contributions from you in the Comments section. Yes by unloading that Müller-Thurgau dominated wine on the UK years ago, Germany did themselves no favours – creating a “damaged brand” for half a century. As you say, authentic riesling is a joy to taste and full marks to Tesco for bringing in that example. I remember the buyer telling me she was very nervous about it because she loved the quality but feared major sales resistance.
Hi Brian,
I, too, recently enjoyed the M&S Expressions Touriga Nacional, for me it was like a user-friendly claret!
WRT Riesling, I remember in the late 70s and early 80s (when wines from Australia were a novelty) wine merchants’ catalogues had long lists of German Rieslings. And most of those were off-dry! I think they suffer, rather like Vouvray, in that it is widely thought “unsophisticated” to like a white wine that is not bone dry. A couple of weeks ago, on a whim, I purchased a bottle of the Saar Riesling Kabinett, von Hövel 2022 from the Wine Society, in their winter sale. This was 8% ABV and would be described as medium rather than off-dry. Beautiful fresh acidity balanced a honeyed texture, it was just lovely. We, later, paired it (and a Pinotage!) with a Charlie Bigham Thai Green curry, and M&S Thai fish cakes, and thought they all went together just fine. But It is probably an idea to warn fellow diners that a medium wine is to be served – so it is not a shock!
Yes off-dry wine is so versatile yet still needs a “health warning” to fellow diners. It really shouldn’t – but the perception that sweeter wine is somehow gauche runs deep.
Always top of my list along with chenin blanc it is a riesling that’s my white preference, indeed a grape that delivers much to me in its various guises, though German is favourite.
Yes, it used to be quite widely available even back in the 70s with less general competition around in supermarkets when along with it’s mass marketed, populist generic other, Liebfraumilch, ruled the shelves. Was Lutomer not a riesling as well? I used to buy St Johanner Abtey Spätlase Rheinhessen from Somerfields. Back then things in brown bottles got called hock, or mosel came in green ones!
Times changed of course they do with fashion and fads and though Oz chardy came to rule in the 80s wine-bar proliferation as the off-dry white of choice, both that and German riesling would eventually go under the radar in preference for dryer wines like, as Brian says, SB and PinotG braking through.
The German versions of riesling eventually hardly stood a chance really in the UK. Eventually as was, they became considered way too sweet a lot of the time but not so much as that other descriptor, ”cloying on the palate”, it certainly didn’t express much in the way of refreshment. But I drank a lot of it at the behest of German friends while working over there on and off in the 80s and early 90s and actually enjoyed the quality stuff on offer there. And bringing back bottles bought for next to nothing from Aldi that maybe were best described as cheap and cheerful.
Maybe holiday travel to Spain, Italy and France revealed that the locals there drank much dryer wines that Brits would come to appreciate, so no wonder NZ and Chilean SB started to come through strongly over 25 years ago. Nice they are too.
Few Brits used Germany as a holiday destination so there was a lack of awareness maybe that even the producers there were getting the message along the Rhine and Mosel and their own rieslings were becoming dryer and Brit-acceptable. This Morrisons one is just that. I like it along with its neighbouring spin off successes in Austria, with The Wine Societies Own Riesling a beauty, as is their close cousin The Societies Grüner Veltliner.
Always fascinated decades ago in France with the recurring three yellow labelled bottles grouped together on supermarket shelves, Alsace Riesling, along with Gerwürtztraminer and Sylvaner that seemed to be the only nod towards what was available in those styles produced on the western side of the Rhine, the legacy and history of Germany who once ruled that north east corner of France, Alsace and Lorraine. As the French offered so little generally in such generics had to be seen as a demonstration of low supply set against little demand for some sweeter white wines! Though not Sauturne or Monbazillac. Work that out.
I’m not sure how those classic yellow label wines appear now in France, not having drunk them in years. Maybe they are all much drier now. A bit like the change with Oz chardy, that seems to have a different provenance these days.
As for Portuguese reds and the touriga nacional, well look no further after trying Brian’s M&S Expressions version than the Herdade de Gâmbia from the Setúbal Península if Majestic still have it. It’s typical of the use of this grape, the backbone in a blend. At the money I paid last week, £6.99 it’s a steal. But then so much of what central, coastal Portugal especially offers with its reds, and not just touriga makes, for wonderful drinking. The Wine Societies own Setúbal Península 2023 red at £6.50 is nothing short of amazing value.
Good to see a shout for Alsace Eddie. We talk a lot about what great things are now happening on the other side of the Rhine but Alsace has long been consistently good and it is great that The Wine Society stocking an Edelzwicker – a seriously underestimated blend.