Espana

Having recently relaxed my own rules governing the selection of each week's wine, so that I am (slightly) less obsessed with finding new grape varieties, I have stretched things to an almost ridiculous degree. This week E is for Spain.

Week E (2015) Pazo das Donas, Godello, DO Monterrei, 2012. Tesco £7.99

I am quite pleased with the result because in March 2014, when the wine of the week was an Albarino (guess which week), I mentioned that at a tasting I had lead on the wines of North West Spain I had included a Godello and that the universal reaction of my audience was not even remotely positive.

This had been a disappointment as I had chosen the bottle on the advice of the manager at Majestic but it didn't match his description. I think there was a lesson for me on that occasion as, with the benefit of hindsight and the removal of the pressure generated by my 'expert' status at the tasting, I recognise that it had been a bad bottle and that I should have returned it.

Why am I now confident that this was the case? Simple, this week's Godello comes much closer to matching my expectations that had been set previously. There is one difference and that is the description I was given compared the wine to a white Burgundy, from which I assumed there would be a buttery, oak influenced flavour. There isn't, but this wine does have the feel and profile of an unoaked Chardonnay, with its medium bodied, apple, pear and peachey fruit flavours. Chardonnay is so popular because it is so versatile. I don't know if Godello is equally versatile, but it competes well as a fresh, clean fruit driven, but with wet stone minerality, version. Good value, too.

There is a small percentage of another North-Western Spanish variety, Treixadura, in the blend and this is a grape that crops up in many wines of the region. It typically adds floral and citrus notes and I have to conclude either this has a very small splash, or that my palate needs sharpening.

The specific bit of NW Spain from which this wine comes is Monterrei, which can be found on the Northern Portuguese border, where there is plenty of rain (700mm) but also plenty of  long warm or even hot and dry summer days, and that's a great combination for our fruit of choice.

Good wine, good price. Good health!

Duero

Or Ribera del Duero, to be precise.

The Duero is the river that rises in the centre of a high plateau in Northern Spain and runs through a bunch of quality wine producing regions before turning all Portuguese, changing its name to Duoro and becoming the heart and home of Port. It eventually reaches the Atlantic after somewhere in the region of 600 miles. We should be grateful for the Duero/Duoro because it helps to give us a great deal of good wine and, therefore, pleasure.

Week D (2015) Ribera del Duero, DOC. Tempranillo Reserva, 2009. Tesco £8.99

Tempranillo is one of my favourite red grapes and it appears quite widely across Spain, under a variety of pseudonyms, and elsewhere too. Its name means 'early ripener', or something close to that, and because it does ripen early it can tolerate a range of climates, hanging on a bit longer if needed or being picked early if the job is done.

It likes chalky soil, which is what we have in the Ribera del Duero region, where we also have high altitude that moderates the potentially fierce daytime sun and the combination gets the best out of this thick skinned beauty. That's not to say it doesn't do well elsewhere, like Rioja, but it does like life here.

It is rich deep red, with aromas a nd flavours or dark plums, blackberries, a hint of lighter red fruit and some spice. There's a gentle vanilla oak flavour and the finish is slightly warm, which given the claimed 14% abv is unsurprising. There is enough acidity and tannin to give it a robust structure and, similarly, medium to full body.

It is a wine that goes well with a nice bit of roast lamb or, perhaps, some cheddar cheese as  long as it is the type of cheese that bites back.

As this wine is a 2009 Reserva, it has already had more ageing and time to develop than the majority of reds ever get. It is five and half years since the harvest and so many wines are either made to drink very young and would no longer feature on the wine wall at this age or they are made for cellaring and would be outside my usual budget. This habit of ageing the wines before release is one that the Spanish are very good at and I think it not only allows us to drink more interesting wine, but also provides it at a very reasonable price.

Chardonnay

I had planned in advance of my recent travels to use a little something I had in the cupboard for this week. That little something was bought in bulk, at least my version of bulk which is 6 bottles, for a party before Christmas. It won't take a genius to deduce that this was a purchase driven like most wine purchases in the UK by grape variety and price.

Week C (2015) Bouchard Grand Conseiller, Chardonnay, 2013. Tesco £5.99

As with many supermarket wine purchases, this one was marked at '50% off' implying that my price driven buy was a real bargain. I'm sure Tesco follow the rules and that it would have been possible to pay twice as much for this wine at one of their stores at some point within recent weeks, but it is most likely that the price I paid is the price that Tesco always intended I should pay.

Earlier this week the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, tried to curry favour with his pre-election budget by, rightly, reducing the duty on beer by 1p (and, yes, I did support the Drop The Duty campaign) and on cider and spirits by 2%, but he left the duty on wine unchanged at 2.05 per bottle.

That £2.05 is charged on the wholesale, pre-vat, price. That is, what Tesco paid for it. So, take the £5.99 and remove the vat (£5.99/120*100=) gives a cost of £4,99, take off the duty (£4.99-£2.05=) and you have a starting price of £2.94.

That £2.94 includes Tesco's profit (~20%), the packaging and logistics of delivery, and all the costs of production. It boils down to the portion of the sale price dedicated to the wine itself being around 50p.

There is a nice infographic, produced by Bibendum, which is all over the internet, so I might as well share that along with everyone else:

So, there is a message here about getting what you pay for, at least up to the point where the economics of luxury or ostentatious goods kicks in, but what did my 50p's worth actually taste like?

It is well made, clean, simple, quite light. It is fruity, but not intensely so. It has good acidity and well integrated alcohol. There is a little oaky, buttery feel and a generally pleasing finish.

Would I rave about it and tell all of my friends they simply must try it? No. Would I buy another six bottles to make sure we didn't run out of a drinkable white the next time we have that kind of party? Yes, but if I came across a similar offer for another wine made by another reputable producer, which Bouchard certainly are, then I would not hold out for this.

Barossa

You would be right to observe that this week's selection has not been made on the basis of grape variety. I had hoped to find a locally grown Italian variety, as I did last week with Arneis, but try as I did I couldn't.

So today I shall be mostly drinking a wine from the Barossa Valley in South Australia.

Week B (2015) JJ Hahn, Reginald, Shiraz Cabernet, Barossa Valley, 2011. City Cellars $25 (~£12.50).

The Barossa is a region with a wine history based on the family stories of European immigrants across the last 175 years, or thereabouts, and there are a couple of family names associated with this bottle. Firstly, the Hahn family whose sixth generation still live in the original 1840's family home and grow the grapes, and then the Binder family who are relative newcomers at only 65 or so years and take care of the wine-making.

The result is a deep rich ruby red wine with intense aromas of black fruits and oak. It is a mouthful of juicy fruit and tannin with well balanced alcohol. My first impression was that the tannins were a little firm and that the oak was too prominent, but my glass has sat untouched for thirty minutes whilst I caught up with The One via Skype (other video conference facilities are available) and on returning to it I found the whole experience much softer and enjoyable.

I suspect that my evening meal of wine and Pringles (other potato based snacks....) is a recipe for a headache so I have put the bottle out of reach in an attempt to moderate my lonely consumption.

This is under something of a challenge as the apartment in which I am currently billeted is but a stone's throw from 'El Loco' bar a the Slip Inn. This place claims to be famous for being the location where a member of a Scandinavian royal family met the model who became his future bride but tonight is full of drag queens  rather than Danish princes. At least I think it is. If not, please accept my apologies, Madam. Anyway, the thing is yesterday was Sydney's Mardi Gras parade, which is a bit like London's Gay Pride but without the drizzle, and the party hasn't finished yet. Which is worse, I wonder, a few more hours of the repetitive bass 'lines' or a hangover? I will let you know.

Arneis

Once again I find myself defying gravity and hanging on to the bottom of the planet. I'm not complaining as it is still summer here, or at least it was this morning. A downpour accompanied by a few good claps of thunder seem to have temporarily put and end to that. Before it did so I took brief refuge from the heat by nipping in to a swanky Sydney department store named David Jones where they have not only air conditioning and free Wi-Fi, but also a decent wine section from which I previously bought the wine for (red) week O (2013).


Week A (2015) Chrismont La Zona, Arenis. 2012. David Jones $24.95 (~£12.50).

In the Australian state of Victoria, about 150 miles North-East of Melbourne, there sits a village named Cheshunt, named after the town in Hertfordshire which is host to the world's largest wine merchant (hint: every little helps) but does not, as far as I am aware, have any wineries.

This Cheshunt is somewhat smaller as in the 2011 census it was home to 256 residents, compared to just under 52,000, but does have a number of wineries. You choose.

One of those is Chrismont which has been producing wine for over thirty years, and they now have four ranges of wines one of which reflects the founding family's Italian heritage. That is the La Zona range and it includes wines made from indigenous Italian varieties, such as this Arneis.

Arneis comes originally from Piedmont where it is the white stable mate of Nebbiolo, the red variety responsible for that region's famous Barolo and Barbaresco, and is most notably the grape of Roero. It has a number of synonyms, including Nebbiolo Bianco, if the association needs further supporting evidence.

Its name roughly translates to 'little rascal' as it has a reputation of being difficult to grow. Partly because of that until the late 1970's it was used mostly as a blending partner to other more compliant varieties and had been at risk of dying out altogether apart from two growers who stuck with it. Piedmontese wines generally saw an increase in international interest in the 1980's as more producers adopted modern wine-making techniques and the traditional problems that frustrated consistency of quality were addressed.

This particular little rascal is a lemon yellow, and has aromas of apples, pears, peaches and something herbal. It is reasonably flavoursome with good acidity and an interesting finish that I can only describe with the over-used and suitably vague term 'mineral'. I can imagine this with spicy white meats and fish working very well.

The producer's website advises drinking lightly chilled and with good company. I am lightly chilled, but Australian television leaves something to be desired when it comes to company. I do like sport, just not all the time.