Wine with Leslie Williams: The ultimate picnic and garden wines for the good weather
It is all about the new this week and with the recent good weather, all my suggestions will make excellent picnic or garden wines.
I’ve been critical of the offerings from supermarkets on a few occasions but I have to admit that sometimes they find some gems.
SuperValu’s wine buyer Kevin O’Callaghan has some new Mediterranean wines and I feature three below — also watch for a new German producer, Albert Glas. All selections below are new to the column and new to Ireland.
The three Super- Valu wines will appear in the next few weeks and all are a good direction for SuperValu, packed with fruit from lesser known regions using local grapes. I have long admired the Monastrell wines of Eastern Spain from Alicante, Valencia, Jumilla, Yecla etc and they are well suited to chilling a little on warm days and for barbecues.
Meanwhile Gareth Keogh of Wines Direct has also has a new wine from Alicante in the form of Beni Alicante Blanco. While not from a certified vineyard this is from organic grapes and made with minimal intervention so has that textured purity you only find in natural wines.
The winemaker Jean Cascant is an active member of Slowfood and his focus is on keeping his friends and neighbours on their tiny micro-vineyard plots and making sustainable wines from local varieties that have existed in harmony with nature in this lesser known part of vinous Spain for generations.
Meanwhile over the Pyrenees in Roussillon Keogh has also sourced an excellent red and white from organic producer Jean Gardies of Mas Las Cabes who likes to use cool north facing slopes to retain as much freshness in his wines as possible.
Finally the Bergerac below from Le Caveau is also from an organic producer who visited Ireland recently, I’m not certain if it is new to the Le Caveau list but it was my first time encountering their range.
There is an excellent Pétillant-Naturel (or Pet-Nat) packed with creamy lemon fruits and a pleasing light sparkle.
The entry-level white is below and I also loved his €29 ‘Moulin des Dames’ from 90 year old vines with lovely energised stone fruits and lemony intensity. The reds are good also and the ‘Classique Bergerac’ has nice young black fruit flavours.
BEST VALUE UNDER €15
Stockist: SuperValu
Alicante Bouschet was once a workhorse grape given little heed by quality winemakers, its primary function being to add fruit and colour given that it is one of only a few red-fleshed grapes used for wine.
Old vine stock makes a big difference and this is intensely brambly on the nose with ripe red fruits mixed with black cherry deliciousness.
Stockist: SuperValu
Yecla in Murcia is a tiny region and Castaño are easily the best known producer. I’ve featured their Hecula and their dessert wine here previously.
This is 100% Monastrell from an organic plot at 750m above sea level - juicy and fruity with cherry and red fruit aromas supple blackberry and light textured plum fruits and a pleasing herbal touch on the finish.
Stockist: SuperValu
This is a little darker than the Ecologico above with some barrel ageing evident and the 25% Syrah noticeable on the nose and a touch of spice from the (15%) Garnacha but the 60% Monastrell shows through fully on the mid-palate with damsons, prune touches and liquorice. This would work particularly well with barbecue.
BEST VALUE OVER €15
Stockists: Wines Direct Mullingar and Arnotts Dublin, winesdirect.ie
From the Roussillon (almost Catalan) region of France and a new organic wine on the Wines Direct list — from a marl-schist terroir Gareth Keogh describes as ‘where Corbières crashes into the Pyrenees’.
Intensely fruity and ripe with bright juicy blackberry and plum fruits with a touch of black olive, supple and juicy with lingering blackcurrant skin freshness.
Stockists: Wines Direct Mullingar and Arnotts Dublin, winesdirect.ie
Also new to Wines Direct is this delicious Malvasia-Garnacha Blanca blend from Eastern Spain. From a community of collaboratively managed ecologically focused micro-vineyards overseen by Jean Cascant who is keen to ensure local varieties and vineyards continue to thrive — this has soft ripe apple and melon fruits mixed with tangerine peel scents.
Stockists: Bradleys, l’Atitude 51, Le Caveau, Greenman Wines
From a biodynamic estate in Bergerac to the east of Bordeaux and growing a similar mix of grapes. This is a blend of Semillon (70%) plus some Sauvignon and Muscadelle with a slightly salty citrus and pear drops aroma, crisp pear and soft yellow fruits on the palate and pleasing texture and complexity. Try with some mussels or perhaps with fresh mackerel.
