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What the wine critics have to say in the press this weekend.
Guardian
Whoever thought rosé could cause such a fuss?" That's the question posed by Victoria Moore in her latest column.
She'd just been sent the results of a test by Pixley Berries in which three white wines were mixed with their blackcurrant cordial - and along with three genuine rosés - served blind to some tasters.
The result? All three white wine/cordial amalgamations outscored the rosés.
"New Zealand's Forrest Estate for one may not be too happy to learn," says Moore. "That nine out of 10 tasters preferred its Sauvignon Blanc with a dash of Pixley, to the rosé it makes from Cabernet Sauvignon."
She also talks about the French being in a "terrible tizz," recently about the move to allow European winemakers to blend red and white wines to make rosé, as well as the traditional method of making rosé from a quick maceration.
But she says they don't complain about this in Champagne where it has been long permitted. "Surely," she says, "it's what people think of the end product that counts."
Observer
Tim Atkin informs us that when someone asked the MP Ann Widdecombe to write a book about dieting, her response was a, "blunt but winningly honest," reply that it would run to a single sentence: eat less and exercise more.
Atkin says until recently his approach was similarly straightforward with regard to food and wine combining. If a wine doesn't work with a given dish, then stick a cork in and open another.
But an American Master of Wine named Tim Hanni has changed Atkin's mind by experimenting with different tastes including a grape, a wedge of lemon, a salt cellar and a tannic red. The wine tasted different with each flavour he sampled.
Tip one, he says, is to think local; wine styles have often evolved alongside regional dishes, his advice is to copy them. Tip two; match your wine to the strongest flavour on the plate. Tip three; marry spicy food with spicy wine. Tip four; partner gutsy flavours with robust wines. Five; match acidity in food with acidity in wine, and lastly marry sweet foods with sweet wines.
Even more important, says Atkin, is to drink what you enjoy and trust in serendipity.
Financial Times
The surprisingly good quality of the Bordeaux 2008 vintage has prompted comparisons with other good, recent vintages, of which the revered 2005 is the most obvious candidate, says Jancis Robinson.
But that was favoured from the start because of near-perfect conditions, whereas in 2008 they had to spend most of the time in the vineyard fighting rampant mildew and fending off rot, she explains.
It is far too early to judge the likely long-term evolution of the 2008, but "the delicious," 2005s have been in bottle for almost two years, and this is a particularly good time to look at their performance.
Robinson recomends Bordeaux 2005 best buys as Camensac 2005 Haut-Médoc (£16 Wrightson.) Ch Chasse-Spleen 2005 Moulis (£23.86 Four Walls) Ch d'Armailhac 2005 Pauillac (£30.99 Averys)
Independent
The annual top 100 competition for France's vins de pays has shown a way of spotlighting good wines and value in an area that can be tough for consumers to get a handle on, says Anthony Rose.
French wines tend to rely heavily on the appellations and vin de pays is a bottomless barrel of wines from all over France, varying in quality from dire to excellent.
But how to sift the wheat from the chaff?, asks Rose. "Simple. Put up over 1,000 wines and get a panel of palates to whittle them down to their 100 favourites," he says.
Successive competitions have shown that the cream rises to the top, with the same names often doing well time and again. One of those names, he explains, is La Différence that have four wines in the top 100 this year.
The "typically fragrant," La Différence Viognier-Muscat 2008 (£5.49, Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsburys). A "juicy," La Différence Grenache Blanc 2008 (not yet in store). An "equally gluggy," La Différence Grenache Noir 2008, (£5.49, Morrisons,) and "best of the bunch - the excellent," La Différence Carignan 2008, (£5.49, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op,) which Rose says deservedly won the Carignan trophy.
Times
Jane MacQuitty was "horrified" last month when judging what she classed as supposedly top-notch £7-£9.99 South Island New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignons, "to discover that most of them were evil, watery, grassy wines."
"There were none at the competition I was judging at," says MacQuitty, "to which I personally wanted to award even a bronze medal, and none that I would have paid £7 to taste again."
MacQuitty reports: "A leading Australian oenologist afterwards told me that his take was that the detrimentally high yields the Kiwis are now squeezing out of their Sauvignon Blanc grapes are taking their toll.
"The bumper, record-breaking 2008 New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc harvest has helped quantity, not quality."
If you still keen on buying Marlborough Sauvignons, MacQuitty recommends the gooseberry-charged Marlborough Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (Majestic Wine £4.99 a throw if you buy two or more, or £6.24 a bottle).
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