Wine

"What a wonderful way to wind up a winter dinner”, Ian MacTavish of This Magnificent Life mused over a glass of De Bortoli Black Noble 10 years old. And as this week’s featured wine, we tend to agree. With a deep amber hue and aromas of pecan pie this is a fabulous desert wine to get you prepped for American Thanks Giving and as well as the business end of the autumn season. The fortified botrytis Semillon is aged in...

Langhorne Creek may be one of the best wine regions you have never heard of, and it is for that reason that this week we celebrate a velvety shiraz-viognier that packs a punch for a very reasonable price at Iceland. Located on the eastern shores of South Australia, a short skip from Willyaroo and Belvidere, Langohorne Creek is home to some of the most historic wineries in the country with records of wine production that stretch back well over a...

When you think Italian wine most people envisage a hot day spent lazily quaffing on terraces and verandas besieged by plates of bread, olives, freshly picked vine tomatoes and other assorted piattini. But switch these summer pleasers for classic beef ragu, a meaty pizza, or rich, tomato-based pastas and the best of the summer wines turn to the most idyllic picks for autumn, and we have a smashing number to kick things off. Made with indigenous local red grapes from...

Wine glorious wine, with hot sausage and mustard. As the nights grow cold and green leaves turn amber and red we have an Oktoberfest alternative for you this week in the shape of a 2016 Pinot Noir that pairs wonderfully with classic Bavarian cuisine and other autumnal dishes found closer to home such as light game dishes and pies. Hailing from the renowned Australian region of the Yarra Valley this is a classical bright and complex wine that will ease...

This week is all about getting good quality wine at a really good price. Discount retailers have turned a corner of late, eschewing cheap and sugary bottles of plonk from around the world and importing better quality with a similar price tag. Lidl and Aldi frequently get the nod for their impressive cellars but this week we turn our attention to Tescos and this bottle of Madiran. Described by one reviewer as a “serious red wine for an unserious price”,...

With autumn encroaching the time to ditch fresh bubbles for deeper shades of claret is almost upon us. But in true British fashion we will not go down without a fight, which is why I’ve picked this sparkling shiraz as a mid-way compromise. Hailing from from De Bortoli’s 80-hectare Central Victorian Heathcote vineyard in Australia this refreshing sparkling red comes from the same producers that make Noble One, which is a fascinating example of ingenious wine making. And if it’s...

Sustainability seems to be the word of the day at the moment, and it is only right that we celebrate the wine growers that are making great strides in preserving the earth for future generations. This week's wine recommendation comes from the much-celebrated north eastern coastal region of Marlborough. It is produced following a holistic philosophy to work sustainably and to preserve the land for the future. Instead of using machines to remove the leaves when thinning out the vine canopy...

This week we celebrate the pioneering spirit of the Saint-Mont winegrowers with this Rose wine that salutes the revival of several ancient grape varieties which had almost disappeared. Hailing from the Gers region of France the first vines in this area were planted in the 11th century by Benedictine monks. And the very same monastery still stands today, overlooking the village of Saint Mont. The wine is also named for the pilgrims who used to pass through the village of Saint Mont on...

With a likeness to the Lord of the Rings, this week we go in search of a hidden treasure in the foothills of the Andes near Mendoza. The Argentinian region from which this wine hails consists of desert-like and dusty, barren soil, that was forgotten about for many years until the mountains finally revealed their treasure. Thanks to its resilience Malbec found a fitting home some 900 metres above sea level, creating a rich, intense and full bodied Argentinean Malbec that is the perfect...