Do you remember the various collections of ‘If you like this, you’ll like that’ wines crowding the supermarket shelves in the ‘90s? If you like Sauvignon Blanc, you might like this weedy, soulless, hastily thrown-together white from some unknown corner of the globe.
It was a catchy fad that was masquerading as an opportunity to broaden wine drinkers’ horizons to esoteric grape varieties and faraway terroirs when, in fact, it was a cynical ploy to hoodwink punters into drinking sub-standard juice that had been languishing, unsold in tank farms across the world.
However, at its roots, this technique of offering wines of a similar silhouette to one you know you enjoy, without necessarily running too much of a risk by getting it ‘wrong’, is the core skill of every decent sommelier and wine merchant in the land! The better you are, the more times you get it ‘right’, the more custom you ought to enjoy from your customers.
These manoeuvres build confidence, knowledge, trust and, most importantly, they spread joy. The winery, the wholesaler and the eventual retailer or restaurant ought to benefit accordingly along the way if the final drinker is satiated and content with their purchase. So, for one month only, I have decided to resurrect ‘If you like this…’, and I can assure you my three recommended wines are absolutely off the charts.
2022 Walgate, Pinot Blanc
£32.40
www.lescaves.co.uk
I tasted Ben Walgate’s 2022 Chardonnay at the WineGB event in September, and it was a stupendous, unhurried, impeccably balanced and juicily resonant experience.
It was the first wine in the booklet and on his table, and my personal perceptual and sensory foibles mean I must follow the book at all costs!
His wines were laid out: Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Cuvée M (a complex aromatic blend), and sparkling 2020 Blanc de Blancs last. Every other table had Chardonnay placed at the end of the whites, not first, given its expected girth.
So how would Ben’s Pinot Blanc fare, seconds after writing an enthusiastic note about his impressive Chardonnay? The answer is that it corresponds perfectly to the theme of this week’s column.
If you like epic Chardonnay, you will fall head over heels for this sensational Pinot Blanc. It reminds me of the first time I came across the wines from Cantina Terlan and fell immediately under their spell. These elite Italian whites are my favourite in all of Italy, and their top wines are based on Pinot Blanc. And so, it follows that Walgate Pinot Blanc is layered, super-classy and complex, and is blessed with a mixture of formats of oak and steel, with six months on gross lees and further ageing on fine lees.
There are no tricks employed here – just incredible Crouch Valley fruit coupled with mind-blowing composure and confidence. Only 1,522 bottles were made, and you ought to do everything you can to track them down.
2023 Simpsons, Rabbit Hole Pinot Noir, Kent
£32.00
www.simpsonswine.com
www.corkk.co.uk
www.noblegreenwines.co.uk
www.grapebritannia.co.uk
£25.00
www.thewinesociety.com
Simpsons is a winery whose gradual augmentation in momentum, impact, and wine quality is as metronomic as its wines are becoming increasingly delicious.
I recently fell at the feet of both NV Chalklands Classic Cuvée and 2024 Gravel Castle Chardonnay. These are wines that have always been attractive but now have genuine character and flair that elevate them to a new and fascinating echelon of distinction. And for the first time, 2023 The Roman Road Chardonnay joins its cousins with impressive structure, traction and presence.
But this perennial white wine specialist has been working as hard with its Pinots, and this month’s recommendation has vaulted to the top strata of my Pinot hit-list with a croquante, superbly perfumed and sleek-fruited wine. There are legions of dynamic red Burgundies who would kill for the freshness and vivacity found here.
Mornington Peninsula, Waipara and Hemel-en-Aarde make wines with these ravishing dimensions, but none are thirty quid. So, if you like balletic, resonant and refreshing Pinot Noir, you will find it down this rabbit hole.
2023 Artelium, Artefact #9 Cabaret Noir, Kent
£30.00
www.artelium.com
www.thecheesehutshop.co.uk
I recently spent an illuminating couple of hours with Sue Hodder, the chief winemaker at Wynns Coonawarra Estate. She is one of the world’s most respected and knowledgeable wine luminaries, and for countless vintages she has crafted Cabernets and Shirazes with twelve-point-something-degree-alcohol levels.
Her wines are hypnotic, exhilarating, delicious and seamless on the palate. You want to drink two of her wines to one bottle that weighs in with a 14+ percentage. And while Coonawarra has its unique proximity to the Southern Ocean tempering the climate and permitting grapes to ripen fully with keen alcohol levels, this is not a newfound fad here… They have been doing it for a century.
We have naturally low alcohols in our wines, too, and Artelium’s cunning Artefact #9 is crammed with exuberant black fruit and spice, and yet it tips the scales at a mere 12%! It casts an identical shadow on the palate as Sue’s wines and countless elegant clarets from the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s! It is the shape of yesteryear and also the shape of the future. It is the style of red wine that we all (including those pesky millennials) love to drink, and so this beautiful wine ought to be celebrated far and wide for its bravery, acumen and individuality.
