Two of my favourite words to see together are "wine" and "festival", so imagine my delight when I realised that M&S is having a Wine Festival in selected stores with significant discounts on a range of tasty bottles. Not every wine will necessarily be available in your local store, but there should still be something on the shelf to tempt your tastebuds and grace your dinner table this weekend.
Here are a few suggestions to get you started…
Val de Souto Treinadora 2016 (M&S, was £12, currently £8). This is a blend of Godello, Torrontes and Loureira from Ribeiro in Galicia, Spain. Godello is not yet as well known as the Albarino from nearby Rias Baixas, but it will soon start appearing on more and more wine lists. The Val de Souto has a peachy approachability with the right amount of acidity to balance the fruit. It’s lovely with a rich seafood paella.
Langhe Arneis Ascheri 2016 (M&S, was £13.50, currently £9). I’ve mentioned this one in a previous article and I’m still a massive fan of the area, the producer and the wine. It’s from Piedmont in the north west of Italy, and is sometimes referred to as white Barolo. The store I was in also had some 2013 on the shelf, and although I didn’t pick up a bottle, it would definitely be interesting to try the older vintage. Normally when a quality white wine gains maturity, it loses some of its primary fruit allowing the secondary characteristics to come to the fore.
Pacific Heights Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2016 (M&S, was £16, currently £10.66). Russian River Valley in Sonoma is one of the best American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) for Chardonnay (and Pinot Noir) as the comparatively cool climate gives the grapes a slightly longer ripening period. This is lush and rich and works very well with Nigel Slater’s chicken with vermouth, tarragon and cream.
Kilikanoon Killerman’s Run Shiraz 2016 (M&S, was £13, currently £8.66). Clare Valley wines tend to have a subtlety not normally associated with Aussie Shiraz, and the Killerman’s Run is no exception. You’ll rarely see this quality under a tenner. Try it with steak and a home-made peppercorn sauce.
Paso Robles Shiraz 2015 (M&S, was £10, currently £6.66). This glugger is the bargain of the bunch and will go with the barbecue if you can brave the weather this weekend. Cheers!
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here