M&S Spring Press Tasting 2011

Here I was again at the bi-annual M&S tasting. I approached it a bit differently this time - I didn't have to go to work afterwards and I could take my time. Also, I decided to concentrate on the reds a bit more as last time I spent most of my time on the whites and ended up rushing through the reds due to time constraints.

I was particularly interested in the Old World reds and the new offerings from California. I also paid a bit more attention to their Wine Direct table, with wines only available through their website.

I sort of breezed through the whites, and have to say I wasn't all that impressed. Sure, most of them were under £10 and could be considered bottom of the range, but I couldn't get excited about any of them. The Italian range was just dull - everything tasted like pears, no matter what grape variety it was. The sparkling wines I mostly skipped - I already know M&S Champagnes are very good. I did try a couple of Cavas though, and quite liked the Single Estate Vintage Chardonnay Cava 2009 (£9.99), with it's bright, crisp and refreshing character. I also tried the Ridgeview Marksman Brut Blanc de Blancs 2008 (£22), and didn't really like it -it was soft and rounded (not what I like in a Blanc de Blancs) and had obvious oak influence and coarse bubbles.

I also tried a couple of pink sparklers - the Bluff Hill Sparkling Rosé NV from Montana, NZ (£9.99) was simple but tasty, and the Vintage Cava Pinot Noir Rosado 2008 (£12.99) was a darker pink with good red-fruit flavour.

The new California range was interesting. First a couple of bargains from Hahn Family Wines. The Freedom Ridge Monterey Chardonnay 2009 was full of creamy vanilla notes, and the Shiraz (2009) was really a Syrah with surprising intensity. Both wines go for £7.99. You don't often see good wines from California at this price - well done M&S. I didn't appreciate the Schug Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2009 (£14.99) so much - it is of the barnyard style that I really don't like. However what might have been my favourite of the day was the Domaine Georg Rafael Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 (£30) which was a lovely balance of fruit and tannin. Gorgeous wine.

I was really impressed by the Italian range, especially the Chianti. They were literally all impressive, ranging from the Chianti DOCG 2009 (£6.99) to the Castello della Paneretta Chianti Classico DOCG Riserva 2007 (£12.99), which was really top drawer. All the ones in between were equally as good. Also a bit of a surprise was the Nebbiolo d'Alba 2007 (£7.99), which although not a world-beater was better that it should be at that price.

The Spanish range, like the Italian one was well represented by its flagship wine - in this case Rioja. First a mention for the Mencia Bierzo Escondite Perfecto 2009 (£9.99) which had good grip and dusty, floury fruit. I had never tried the Mencia grape before this. Another oddity was the Rioja Bodegas Age 2009 (£6.99) which was unoaked, but good enough to get a check mark beside it. The next two, Rioja Perez Burton 2007 (£9.99) and Contino Rioja 2005 (£22) were both excellent, especially the latter.

Onto the French wines, I was particularly enamoured by the Cotes du Rhone Villages St. Maurice 2009 (£6.99). Good stony fruit (what I mean by this is a gravel-like character on the palate which I like - not stone fruit like peaches) and tannin. A bargain and good to see terrific wines like this at these prices. A couple of Burgundies next - the Gevrey-Chambertin 2007 (£29) was predictably delicious, but to be honest the Saint Aubin Les Argillers Rouge 2007 (£17.00) is the better deal - just as good but only slightly less intense. Both wines giving fantastic cherry fruit and silky texture.

Lastly, the Wine Direct wines. All the whites were warm. I think that's supposed to be good for tasting, as the flavours aren't muted by cold. However either the wines weren't very nice or I don't like warm white wine (the truth would be a bit of both). The only white that I found interesting was the Hunky Dory 'The Tangle' 2010 (£6.99). It is a blend of Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Rielsing from Marlborough, New Zealand. This is the type of wine that excites me, especially for that price.

Making up for the Wine Direct whites were the reds, especially a couple of Spanish wines. The Baigorri Crianza 2005 (£11.49) had superior fruit and structure, especially for a 6 year old wine, and the Mange del Brujo Calatayud 2008 (£11.49) was equally concentrated, with grippy tannin and a dark-fruit finish. From Italy there was an interesting blend of Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Monferratto Cantamerli Rosso 2008 (£10.49), which is full of cherry and leather character. From Argentina the Nieto Bonarda 2009 (£11.49) is worth a mention, although it tastes rather young and lacks complexity now.

So all in all some really, really great value wines are on offer here, and Marks and Spencer deserves some applause for their efforts, especially at the low end. I know I griped about the whites, but I didn't try all of them, and the reds more than made up for it.

M&S Autumn Press Tasting 2010

Myself and Random Aussie Bloke spent yesterday morning at the Marks and Spencer Autumn Press Tasting at their head office near Paddington, London. It was a great chance for us to try out their range, especially as M&S wines are a bit difficult for me to buy. Their Simply Food store on my local high street has shut in the wake of the credit crunch, and since I've moved offices from Liverpool St. to Fetter Lane, that cut out another 3 M&S outlets that I used to frequent.

All in all, there were 127 wines to sample. Since I only had a couple of hours to get through them (I had to go to work after!), I had to leave some out. I only tried one wine from the Wine Direct (internet shop) table, and I skipped a lot of the Italian, Spanish and lower-end French whites.

To summarize, I was impressed with the South American and South African wines, as well as the Burgundies (both white and red). Most of the Pinot Noir in general was impressive, no matter where it was from. I started to struggle during the reds (both with my palate and the clock) so I didn't spend as much time on the them as I would have liked, so there may not be many mentions there. I've also left out most of the more expensive wines, as they were mostly very good so no surprises there.

Instead of listing every wine I tried, here's a list of personal highlights. Not all of them are wines I liked, but worth a mention.

• Chateau Moncontour Vouvray Brut 2007, Loire Valley, France. £9.99. Sparkling wine made from 100% Chenin Blanc. This is terrific for the price. Dry but not bone dry (dosage of 9g/L), it's soft, round and not too far off Champagne. I found it much more appealing than some of the other Sparkling wines on display.
• Ridgeview Marksman Brut 2008, Sussex, England. £22.00. Made exclusively for M&S by Ridgeview, who just collected a Decanter trophy for best sparkling wine at the 2010 Decanter World Wine awards. I thought the Marksman was kind of odd though - it tasted like a dry Chardonnay with bubbles in it, making it distinctively un-Champagne-like.
• M&S Limari Vallely Sauvignon Blanc 2008, Chile. £8.99. An interesting wine here. Smoky nose, with a pronounced capsicum note on the palate, along with the usual Sauvignon Blanc flavours.
• Charles Back Viognier 2010, Paarl, South Africa. £8.99. A blend of barrel fermented, sur lie wine and tank fermented wine, this has outstanding flavour and a nice, weighty mouthfeel.
• Journey's End Honeycomb Chardonnay 2009, Stellenbosch, South Africa. £9.99. I thought this was fabulous, but I usually love malolactic fermentation in my Chardonnay. Notes of vanilla, cream and honey wrap a delicious fruit core. A great wine for a tenner.
• Schug Carneros Chardonnay 2008, Sonoma County, California. £16.00. A bit pricier than the Journey's End, but perhaps slightly more complex in that it offers the malolactic butteriness but tempers it with 60% non-malolactic wine to retain acidity - and it's evident. Noticeable oak.
• M&S Tasmanian Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Tasmania, Australia. £8.99. Startling grapefruit nose, peachy. Nice.
• Vasse Felix Semillon 2008, Margaret River, Western Australia. £12.99. Smoky, diesel nose. Interesting and complex palate. Definitely not the simple, lemony type. I always find these kinds of Semillon hard to describe. Try it for yourself!
• Val do Salnes Albarino 2009, Rias Baixas, Spain. £10.99. Flinty nose with hay (and vomit!) notes on the palate. Better than it sounds.
• M&S Chablis Grand Gru Grenouille 2006, Burgundy, France. £42.00. Malolactic fermentation and 40% new oak. Steely in the Chablis tradition along with smoothness imparted from the oak. Delicious.
• M&S Mersault 1er Cru Les Charmes Dessus 2006, Burgundy, France. £38.00. This (along with the Sauternes) was my favourite of the tasting. It's like drinking butterscotch. Stunning. Cheapskate that I am, I would buy this.
• Soledo Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé, Central Valley, Chile. £4.99. A surprising palate of watermelon and strawberry, this is my pick of the rosés on offer.
• De Loach Pinot Noir Maboroshi 2008, Russian River Valley, California. £21.00. Good Pinot fruit and nice structured tannins. This is my kind of Pinot.
• Clocktower Pinot Noir 2008, Wairau Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand. £11.49. Strawberry and cedery oak flavours. Really nice and good value.
• Tejo Touriga Nacional 2007, Tejo, Portugal. £6.99. Still wines made from this variety can taste grapey and port-like (unsurprisingly as it's the main grape used in port production), but this one doesn't at all. Good value.
• Chateau Laville Sauternes 2008, Bordeaux, France. £14.99. Stunning. This would be a candidate for a 5 star wine on my blog. Beautiful, haunting nose - I must have spent 5 minutes savouring it. Complexity on the palate changed continuously, and lingered forever. My favourite of the tasting along with the Mersault.

Marks & Spencer Secano Pinot Noir 2008

This wine is Matthew Jukes' (wine writer) pick of the bunch of entry level New World Pinot Noir, and he praises it to the hilt.  I had my reservations, but like a dog going back to its own vomit, I decided to try a bottle.

No surprises unfortunately.  I know I'm repeating myself, but I just don't understand what people like about this.  I've pretty much covered what I feel about this style of Pinot Noir here and here. That's all I'm going to say about it.

Vina Leyda

Marks & Spencer Secano Pinot Noir 2008

Leyda Valley, Chile

£6.99

2.5/5

Marks & Spencer Valpolicella Ripasso 2006

A Valpolicella Ripasso is a "normal" young, fresh Valpolicella wine that has had added to it either the left-over grape must from making Amarone, or semi-dried grapes.  The purpose of this technique is to boost colour, flavour and alcohol content of the young wine, and it is unique to the province of Verona, Italy.

The wine had a bit less character than I expected, but was still good.  There wasn't much on the nose, besides a hint of cherry fruit.  I wonder if the wine needed time to open up.  On the palate it certainly was a rich, complex wine.  We went around the table to try and get some words to describe it, but everyone struggled to come up with anything (someone said "metropolitan" - meaning sort of made for a broad appeal).  I thought it was pretty good and I would buy it again, except maybe when it's on offer.

Marks & Spencer

Valpolicella Ripasso 2006

Verona, Italy

£8.39

3/5

Marks and Spencer Palacio del Marques Macabeo Verdejo 2008

I didn't really know what to expect from this. I bought it because I went all the way to Marks and Spencer to look for 2 other wines, and they didn't have them, so I figured I had to get something right? I wanted something cheap and something I hadn't tried before, so I opted for this Spanish white.

This type of wine isn't to everyone's taste. It reminds me of a French Muscadet - sort of light and fruity but with a yeasty-type taste to it. I don't mind it really. I imagine it's best with some sort of seafood, which I rarely eat at home so I doubt I will buy it again.

Marks and Spencer
Palacio del Marques Macabeo/Verdejo 2008
La Mancha, Spain
Marks and Spencer
£3.99 (£5.99)
2.5/5

Marks and Spencer PX Pedro Ximenez 2007

This is an interesting wine. Pedro Ximenez is a grape that is usually associated with a very sweet, dark coloured Sherry. This particular incarnation is as a dry white from Chile. I had to try it.

The wine itself isn't really that interesting though. It is an aromatic-type white, and reminds me of a new world Riesling (which I find dull compared to their European counterparts). It's dry and crisp, and also has a mind-numbing 13.5% alcohol.

This falls into the "good for the money" category. It costs about 5 and a half pounds per bottle from the shop (£4.99 by the case), and is a pretty decent, and food friendly, wine. I just find the style a bit boring.

Marks and Spencer
PX Pedro Ximenez 2007
Elqui Valley, Chile
~£5.50
3/5