Tesco’s Spring Drinks Festival starts a fortnight today and reports suggest that it will contain something a bit special – just in time for Easter.
While you wait, take at look at three reds currently on Tesco’s shelves I can thoroughly recommend as value for money.
Because inexpensive but respectable pinot noir is rare, it is not on everyone’s radar but here are two that most newcomers will enjoy; neither wine wins prizes for gravitas or richness yet both point plainly to the delights the variety can exhibit.
[su_highlight]Two of the three commended wines are on promotion (until 22 March) while the price reduction on the third – from £9.75 – forms part of Tesco’s EDLP initiative – Everyday Low Prices.[/su_highlight]
Click on any of the bottles shown for an enlarged image to help you pinpoint the wine on a crowded shelf.
Two Italian grapes working in harmony
Sangiovese (literally “blood of Jove”) is at its best in Tuscany but can form workmanlike blending partnerships elsewhere and, here, joins forces – in Sicily – with that island’s own superstar grape – nero d’avola.
Enjoy then the dark, ripe and perfumed 2014 La Piazza Nero D’Avola Sangiovese (£5 – instead of £6.50 until 22 March) with black cherry and mulberry fruit, firm acidity, modest levels of tannin and suggestions of cinnamon, raspberry and cedar wood.
Presentable pinot noir for £4.50
Burgundy, of course, gives us pinot noir at its lofty and awesome best – with prices to match – but slowly other countries (Hungary in this case) are taming this fickle grape variety to produce inexpensive but very palatable versions.
No one suggests 2014 I Heart Pinot Noir (£4.50 – instead of £4.90 until 22 March) is a rival to Beaune but it is an appealing example of light, floral, clove influenced pinot noir with delicate strawberry, red plum and cranberry fruit and a neat savoury twist; for sure, it is light and undemanding but it does illustrate clearly what pinot noir can do.
Grown up pinot at a great price
Cool climate areas on both islands of New Zealand are also producing excellent pinot noir with pinnacle versions attaining very high quality levels; few examples from Marlborough are in that league quite yet but real progress is being made.
Mellow and rounded 2013 Finest* Marlborough Pinot Noir (now at an EDLP of £7) has lively raspberry and red cherry fruit, blueberry depth, limited tannin but nice hints of cinnamon; a genuine snip at this price that represents a great entry point for New Zealand pinot.
