Weekly Wine: Wine to Make You Giggle

It's still January, isn't it? Yeah, I thought so. Bugger.

The most depressing month of the year needs an injection of fun, and what better source than a nice glass of the good stuff. Some wine is more fun than others, and I'm a particular fan of a tasty glass of vino that has a deliciously silly name.

Bobbie Burns Shiraz

First things first: it's Burns Night. If you're looking for something to match your haggis (including Sara's fabulous vegetarian version she shared yesterday) you probably want something hearty like a Shiraz. What better than the Bobbie Burns Shiraz from Aus: big and beefy in body with bundles of fruit, and fun to show off at your Burns Night party. It's £12.47 a bottle from Good Wine Online.

Goats Do Roam White

With French wine names dominating the market, it's become a popular tease of New World producers to give soundalike names to their own wines. Goats do Roam in South Africa use Rhone varieties, in this case Viognier, Roussanne and Grenache Blanc (although their red wine is also yummy), and this pretty bottle is an obvious dig at Cotes-du-Rhone. I imagine you can't really tell the difference when you try to pronounce it after a glass too many. It's £7.00 a bottle from West Mount Wine.

Chat en Oeuf

Probably the most popular brand I'm mentioning today, these guys are playing the same sneaky trick as the Goats do Roam fellas but this is actually France poking fun at itself: Chat en Oeuf (playing on Chateauneuf, if you're not already with the programme) is from the Languedoc region of France. Again, they do a red version but I prefer the citrussy, apricot-filled flavours of their white. It's a steal at £5.99 a bottle from Ocado.

'Vavavoum' Corbieres

The South of France is clearly cottoning on to the idea that we like a giggle while we're glugging, and this gorgeous red is one of the best I've had in a long while. It's from the excellent Corbieres appellation, and is dangerously easy to drink. It certainly lives up to the name, and is particularly good value at £7.50 a bottle from The Wine Society.

Some Young Punks: The Squid's Fist Sangiovese Shiraz

I saved the best 'til last here, and this may well be my favourite wine of all time. This Aussie producer knows where it's at: they combine innovation in grape blending as well as the coolest name and the sexiest labels I've ever seen. It's £13.95 a bottle from N D John Wines and worth every penny.

What's the best wine name you've ever seen? Would a silly name lure you to buy a wine (or is that just me)? Tell us in the comments or swoop over to our Twitter and Facebook pages.

A Wine Romance: Matchmaking Food To Wine

Matching the perfect wine to your meal is a scary, scary task (even if you have the cool tea towels Sian showed us yesterday). Not because you're not savvy enough, though, but because it's mission impossible: there is no perfect wine. So you can take a deep breath and put your feet up.

Yeah, there are guidelines you can follow, but your own tastes are as important as what the experts say, and just because a wine is a textbook match it does not mean you'll be head over heels with it. What I mean is: just because George Clooney ticks all the boxes, doesn't mean you wouldn't sometimes rather go on a date with Russell Kane. Just me? Oh. Anyway, you get my drift.

Basically: relax. Remember what you like. And if you want to learn the sciencey stuff, just try and remember the word balance:

Body

Big, beefy food needs big, beefy wine. Aussie Shiraz, hearty Rhones etc. Carmenere from Chile is a favourite of mine in these cases, such as the Tesco Finest offering from £5.99.

More delicate dishes will get lost unless you find a similarly sensitive bottle of vino: creamy chicken just needs a simple, creamy Chardonnay, not all the gooseberry fireworks of a Sauvignon.

Acidity

Sometimes you need to match acidity, such as dishes full of things like vinegar, tomatoes or lemon juice. Low acidity wines would feel flat with these foods, and the same goes for red as well as white: for instance, I'd serve food with tart, tomatoey sauce with a young Italian red like Mondelli Montepulciano d'Abruzzo for £9.99 in Sainsburys.

On the other hand, it's lovely to use acidity to 'cut through' certain foods: for instance, in the case of oily smoked fish. You'd happily squeeze a lemon over food like that, and serving a crisp Loire sauvignon (like this Touraine Sauvignon from Selfridges for £8.99) can be tastebud heaven in exactly the same way.

Texture

This is one of my favourite matches. Fatty foods, like duck or pork, love a fatty wine. Grapes like viognier and Alsace Pinot Gris can step up to the plate. The Yali Reserva Viognier is a delicious example of this, for £6.79 from Majestic if you buy two bottles.

Herbs and spices

The more aromatic your dish, the more pungent the wine. Chinese food is my bezza, so I always have a Gewurztraminer nearby, such as Zarcillo Gewurztraminer from The Wine Society at £6.25. Similarly, if your flavours are on the subtle side, try and find an elegant wine to match.

Sweet Opposites

Lastly, if your food is going to either be a salty or spicy feast, think about how opposites attract: like a honey-glaze on salty pork, or sticking fruit in your curry, a sweet wine can be just what you need. Maybe something like this versatile Vouvray Demi-Sec from Yapp Brothers for £10.95.

Do you have a food and wine matching conundrum? What are your failsafes? Tell us about it in the comments, or on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

Photo by Oiram Ziul

Weekly Wine: Something Old, Something New

New Year means New Year's Resolutions. I know you're probably still hungover from Christmas, but now is a great time to resolve to try and make different wine choices instead of going for the same-olds: not only are you full of New Year fervour, but there's also a ton of wine sales on crying out for some of your pennies.

I've harped on about 'trying something different' before (ahem, okay, a lot), but sometimes it's hard to know where to begin. My advice is: start with what you like, and work from there. Here are a few popular names, along with an idea of where to go to find something similar.

Sancerre

Beautiful, classic Sancerre. Zingy sauvignon, refreshing and mineral and oh so sophisticated. The downside is its also often oh so pricey. The trick is knowing the lie of the land: the Sancerre "appellation" (legal area of vineyards) in the Loire region is bordered/a stone's throw away from some lesser-known appellations that produce similarly smashing vino but aren't able to pile as many pounds onto the pricetag.

One of my favourites of these is Menetou-Salon. You'll find it in most wine shops, but one that I'm keen on is by Domain du Manay from Majestic. It's £9.99 if you buy 2 bottles. Yes, some Sancerres sell for not much more than that, but I'd say this beats Sancerres that are much further towards the pricier end of the scale.


White Burgundy

If you're a fan of the creamy Burgs that you can easily spend over a tenner on (and which don't seem to last more than five minutes in our house), it can be an expensive habit. Keep your peepers peeled for something that has been carefully aged in oak from a reputable New World producer (I'd tend to veer well away from big brand names).

I've been a fan of Wither Hills in New Zealand for ages - their Marlborough Sauvignon is to die for - and they have a very French philosophy that focusses on getting the wine's character from the terroir (vineyard conditions) rather than just during the production process. The Wither Hills Chardonnay has minerality, as well as citrus and stone fruit character, which is more akin to a Burg than the tropical chardonnays you get in Aus, plus it has a very delicate use of oak that make this pretty special for £9.99. You can grab a bottle from Ocado.


Sauternes

We love a good sweetie with dessert, but the popular ones tend to dominate the market and can be cheeky with what they charge. Sauternes is one of the best-known names and worst culprits.

Like Sancerre, you've got to do a wee bit of geography homework on this one: just across the river from Sauternes is the tiny appellation Sainte Croix du Mont, and they make delicious, delicate sweeties that work well with a whole range of puds (just take your pic from the Domestic Sluttery archives!) You can buy Chateau La Grave from this region from The Wine Society for £9.50 for a (full) bottle, which is less than what you'd pay for just a half-bottle of most Sauternes.


Rioja

Pretty much everyone loves this, right? Smooth, mellow, red fruits and delicate spice from time in oak: it's a classic for a reason, and the perfect food wine. But - as I've babbled about before - there's all the labelling: Crianza, Reserva, and with these classifications come added brownie points that mean you have to pay a little bit more too. Budget-wise, good Rioja isn't always an every-day treat any more.

So break it down: what makes Rioja great? The grape - generally Tempranillo in the majority - and the fact that Rioja is one of Spain's best, classified regions of production. A quick look nearby can find hidden treasures: Ribera Del Duero is fantastic, comparitively young wine-producing region not a million miles from Rioja (though not exactly next door).

The region hasn't had as long to build a reputation, but even Tesco is on the ball: their Finest Altos de Tamaron Ribera Del Duero Tempranillo is currently £34.20 per six, which is something daft like £5.70 a bottle. That's around half what you'd pay for a decent Rioja, and well worth a try.


Claret

Ah, Claret. Our go-to when we want something a bit spesh. Yeah, you can get some decent ones for £7-9 a bottle, but we'd probably spend almost double that for real quality. If you've pushed the boat out at Christmas you might want to be a bit savvier, so look for that same smooth, balanced quality elsewhere.

Again, 'terroir' is where its at in Bordeaux, but it's also important to note the grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon for power and acidity, Merlot for fruity softness) and the production (most of the good ones see some oak, so they can mellow over time and become more complex).

The Left-Bank of Bordeaux is where Cabernet Sauvignon dominates, and you'll find delicious blackcurrant and cedary goodness. Argentinian producers Catena make a Cabernet Sauvignon much more in line with these classic characteristics, but it's only the equivalent £11.50 a bottle (a case of six is £68.99) from Eclectic Tastes.

What new wines have you discovered recently? Tell us in the comments, or pop over to our Twitter or Facebook pages for a natter.

(Image by Keith Williamson)

Weekly Wine: Festive Finds

Christmas Party season is upon us! And I don't know about you, but by golly, we take the 'eat, drink and be merry' part at face value in my neck of the woods.

But if you're the one in charge of vino, it can be both pricey and tricky to buy things to suit everyone, so much so that you can give yourself a headache before the party has even started. This Christmas, be savvy and shop around for the deals on cases that contain a little bit of everything.

Quality Quaffers

If you're looking for something tasty to slurp (and slosh around the room as you gesticulate a bit too enthusiastically, if you're me) you don't need to spend all your pennies, but then you also don't want to serve the cheap and nasties. Luckily, some good names have put together reliable cases of party selections.

Christmas Party Dozen, £64, The Wine Society

I'm slightly concerned to admit I've tried all of these wines over the past couple of years. And they're smashingly tasty all-rounders. Not bad for just over a fiver a bottle.

Essentials Christmas Case, £79.99, Laithwaites

If you're looking to spend just that little bit more, then this is one of the best mixes I've found. Crowd-pleasing Pinot Grigio, the delicious Waxed Bat, and even traditional Claret. £6.67 per bottle well spent.

Christmas Day All Wrapped Up

There's so much to think about on the big day, and you probably want something a little more refined than your party wines. Champagne breakfast? Something special for the turkey? Good sippers for evening nibbles? Luckily, some wine merchants appear to have thought of everything.

The Christmas Box, £79 online at Waitrose Wine

This case make me a little giddy with excitement. Two gorgeous sparklers, a Rhone for turkey with all the trimmings, and two stunning Kiwi Sauvignons. They've even popped in a bottle of mulled wine. Awesomesauce.

The 2011 Christmas Showcase, £99.99, Laithwaites

A little pricier but really big on quality. Classic Chablis, (smoked salmon's best mate, if that's one of your festive traditions), plus good fizz, sophisticated Gavi and another couple of round reds to choose from for the Turkey feast.

Festive Fizz

If you want bubbles galore over Christmas, I'm just going to put it out there: Champagne is too expensive at this time of year when we all know you've probably already spent too much on everything else. There are a couple of deals to keep your eyes open for:

Codorniu Vintage Cava - half price at Tesco (£6.99 a bottle in-store, £6.64 when you buy six online)

If you've already seen me getting all ranty about finding decent, good-value sparklers then you'll know Cava is made in the same way as Champagne, just somewhere else and with different grapes. It might not be exactly on a par, but for the complexity and crisp, refreshing style it gives far pricier Champers a run for their money.

Sparkling Celebration case, £100, Marks and Spencer

If you fancy mixing it up a bit, with rose as well as white fizz, then this might be right up your street. A lovely mix of different styles, from crisp Cava to light Prosecco and even an offering from up-and-coming sparkling wine guru, New Zealand. It's around £8 a bottle, and you won't find good Champagne for anything like that.

Lastly, Turkey with a Twist…

Just in case you don't want the traditional white Burgundy, or a classic Rhone with The Dinner (although both are good matches), try these from the New World:

Tabali Reserva Especial Chardonnay 2010, £9.99 when you buy two from Majestic

Generally, I don't really recommend white with Christmas dinner because - while it's nice with just Turkey - you've got the whole shebang of cranberry, stuffing and pigs in blankets to deal with. If I had to pick one, I'd pick something like this top Chilean example. Buttery, complex, and round.

Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel 2008, £8.95, The Wine Society

I'm told by my American friends that Zinfandel is the classic Thanksgiving Dinner accompaniment. This is a benchmark example, and bursts with cranberry flavour. It was my 'experiment' last year, and it'll be my total failsafe this time around.

Come and tell us what you'll be getting tipsy with over the season to be jolly - we'd love to hear from you on Twitter or Facebook!

Image from mbtrama's photostream, used under the Creative Commons License

Weekly Wine: Corking Wine Gifts

Tis the season to be jolly (hence the awful pun in the title) and we're all eager to fill our loved ones' stockings with something special, but what to buy our fellow wine geeks?

Well, wine obviously. But everyone likes getting toys at Christmas so here are a few things the wine-minded among us would love to play with over the festive period.
Everyone has wine glasses. BUT do they have wine glasses that get progressively straighter-looking the more you drink out of them? (Ahem, so I'm told.) For £10.99 with free delivery from iwoot, these Tipsy Wine Glasses are going straight on my wish list.

Emergency Wine Moment! Your best ladies have had a beastly day and want to come over for a nice cold glass of something vinous. But your fridge is empty and all your bottles are staring at you from their room-temperature racks looking very smug indeed. Pah! Get a Rapid Ice from Lakeland for £7.49, store it in your freezer, and you'll be sipping on your refreshing glass of white in five minutes flat.

Those lovely designers on Etsy can read my mind. This wine poster by UK-based Of Life and Lemons is only £10.54ish with £1.65 shipping and is pretty too. If any of my nearest and dearest read these posts, it may end up on my fridge.

Lastly, if your recipient simply must have some of the very stuff itself, M&S do a beauty of an idea: Prosecco with Pannetone. Two of my favourite p-words, perfect for scoffing on Christmas morning. It's £32 including delivery. Hint hint.

If you want to buy me presents or talk about all the things on your wine wishlist, say hi on our Twitter or Facebook pages!

Weekly Wine: Easy peasy wine and… cheese-y

Psst… don't tell anyone but CHRISTMAS STARTS TOMORROW. Oh, okay, so it's only December 1st, but that does mean we're officially allowed to mention the big day without getting scroogey looks from people.

This week, I'm going to drool incessantly at the thought of my Christmas cheeseboard. Yeah, it's maybe not quite as important as the turkey or the mince pies, but as a cheese fangirl it's definitely a treat for me, both on the big day and at the parties leading up to it.

"But cheese and wine matching is easy!" I hear you cry (…silently.) Traditionally-speaking, you're right, and we all think red, red, red. I think most people are food-savvy enough to know you put Bordeaux reds with hard cheddary stuff, mature Burgundy matches mature softies like brie and camembert, and Port is stilton's absolute bezza.

But a post telling you what you already know is no fun at all, plus traditional doesn't mean 'right', and I like to shake things up a bit. So this year I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, wine and cheese-wise. And you'd be surprised how tasty these matches are.

Hard cheeses

Oh, yum-central. Cheddar, parmesan, Lincolnshire poacher… salty, flavourful, dry and sometimes a tad nutty. Before I fall into a cheese-induced coma, I should tell you that reds sometimes overpower these wonderful flavours. Throw a Christmas curveball and serve the hard cheeses with a medium-dry Vouvray, like Vouvray, Les Coteaux Tufiers, Demi-Sec 2009 at a surprising £6.95 from The Wine Society. The slight rich sweetness offsets the cheese's salty dryness, and its honeyed delicacy smooths out the nutty flavours. Heaven.

Soft cheeses

The gooey, melt-in-your-mouthy ones. Camembert, Brie, and even stinky goats cheese. A red-free zone in my household - I much prefer a nice crisp sauvignon. The tangy cheese is well-paired with an aromatic white, so a zingy gewurztraminer might even do the job too. My choice would be a Loire Sauvignon like Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Touraine Sauvignon for a very reasonable £7.99.

Blue cheeses

Roquefort, Saint-Agur, Stilton. When you get a really good one, it's so salty and harsh I can't quite believe people enjoy eating this stuff. But OH WE DO. Those canny French people have matched Roquefort with sweet white Sauternes for donkeys years, and I can't get believe we haven't cottoned on yet. Massive saltiness, meet massive sweetness... Wow, you guys should totally get married.

A half-bottle will do the job, and Waitrose's own-brand Sauternes is made by the massive name Chateau Suduiraut, and yet is only £14.99. It'll probably last the Christmas season in the fridge too if you don't scoff it all on the big day.

There we go, some ideas for a cheeseboard with a twist that'll make the end of the Christmas meal worth staying awake for. Three wines, and feel free to mix and match - I reckon the sauvignon would be great with some of the hard cheeses too, and Vouvray and the softies will probably be delish.

Maybe mix it up a bit with the traditional red suggestions if you don't want to be too avant-garde, but hey, this could be the start of a whole new set of cheese and wine-matching traditions…

Feel free to wax lyrical about your wine and cheese heavens on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

Image taken from thezartorialist.com's photostream under the Creative Commons License.

Weekly Wine: Beautiful Blends

You might think that opting for a one-grape wine (or single varietal as we wine geeks call them) is the safest bet if you're looking for quality, but it ain't necessarily so.

A wine made from only one grape variety can in many cases show off a grape's individual characteristics at its best, but personally I think teamwork is the way forward. It's all about harmonising, and trying to find the perfect balance of styles. I mean, take Grease for example (always a good benchmark). If you stick to one-grape wines, then you'll never find those blends that go together like shoobop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom. Ahem.

Many of the world's finest wines are blends. All those big Bordeaux wines with knock-your-socks-off prices? Blends. Because the winemakers recognise that the power and structure of Cabernet Sauvignon needs the softness of Merlot to make a truly successful wine that will age for decades. Obviously the less ouch-priced wines follow suit, so for an affordable example from the always-popular Chateau Beaumont, try The Society's Exhibition Haut-Medoc for £12.50 from The Wine Society.

And wine giant of the Rhone Chateauneuf-du-Pape can be made of a blend of up to thirteen grape varieties - though most stick to four of five, with powerful Grenache, structured mourvedre, and peppery, jammy Syrah making up most of the blend. You can get cheaper examples, but I think Perrin et Fils are such staunchly reliable producers that the Waitrose Chateauneuf-du-Pape at £19.99 is a cracking example at an affordable - if not everyday - budget. 

Rioja is always predominantly Tempranillo, but the best examples blend it with a few other varieties to give better balance. A totally dreamy example of this is the Rioja Reserva made by Marques de Murrieta, especially this 2004/2005 vintage buy from Majestic for £15.99 if you buy two.

Oh yes, it isn't about pedigree in this game: a lot of the best wines in the world are mongrels. Think about it: you probably wouldn't expect your meal at the most swankified restaurant in town to be made of just one ingredient.

Making specific recommendations of blends is tricky: they are quite literally everywhere you look. And they don't all have to be as pricey as the premium examples I've mentioned. Here are a couple more of my favourite pairings at a slightly friendlier price:

Marsanne-Roussanne: Rhone blends don't have to be red, as this Marks and Spencer offering proves. This Crozes-Hermitage is a great year, and a lovely illustration of how Marsanne and Roussanne can be very harmonious indeed. It's £65.94 for 6 (£10.99 a bottle).

Grenache-Shiraz-Mourvedre from outside the Rhone: Penfolds are one of the giants of the wine world, but this offering from Tesco is a great value way to sample both a super name and a pleasing blend. It's £78 for 6 (£13 a bottle.)

Sauvignon-Semillon: Another classic Bordeaux blend that has spread like wildfire worldwide. Again, looking for a good producer is key. Stella Bella's Skuttlebutt wines are some of my favourite ever (and not just for the silly name), and their Sauvignon-Semillon blend is £10.79 from Lavertons.

You can always natter away about wine with the Sluts on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

Image from jamesonf's photostream under the creative commons license.

Weekly Wine: One Wine to the Tune of Another

It's not just us wine-drinkers that are trying to keep atop of the latest trends: the wine industry is competitive, and dependant on innovative producers taking risks and shaking things up a bit, hoping to get noticed for all the right reasons. The wines making all the noise at the moment are from producers that are mingling different styles and regions: New World wines made using classic French ideas with a twist (and vice versa), and I am loving all these different regions getting friendly with each other.

Last week, the lovely folks at Bordiere Nord in the South of France asked if I'd like to try their two new Rhone-style blends. Winemaker Alain Grignon likes to apply a Languedoc spin to classic styles from other regions, and I love a good experiment, so I got my glass ready.

The white is a blend of Viognier and Marsanne - a popular pairing in the Rhone - and was deliciously peachy with some nice weighty texture from the viognier, however the Languedoc climate meant this was 13.5% which I thought was a bit too punchy.
The red - a Syrah-Grenache blend - had good spice from the Syrah, but the Languedoc's typical herbiness came slightly too much to the fore for my taste.
I did enjoy them both, and especially so when I learned the price. You can pick up a bottle for £6.99 from Majestic, or £5.99 if you buy two. It's very much the budget end of the experimentation scale, and not bad for a Friday night in with some home cooking.

Others favourite producers making wine with more than a hint to other regions are:

Domaine Terlato & Chapoutier

The Domaine Terlato & Chapoutier Shiraz-Viognier 2007 is a divine Aussie wine - well, I say 'Aussie' but it's actually a collaboration of two renowned wine families: Chapoutier from the Rhone and Terlato from the Napa Valley, California. It explodes with fruit you can sniff a mile off, and is dark and jammy, with sticky plums and creamy perfumed spice. An absolute winner of a collaboration - you can get your mitts on some from Frazers for £13.49.

Fume Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is grown all over the world, but is on the priciest end of the scale from the Loire where a Sauvignon wine called Pouilly Fume is made (a fun one to try and pronounce the proper way, I can tell you.) A Californian winemaker called Robert Mondavi decided way back in the sixties that he wanted to market his American sauvignons with a definite homage to this classic Loire variety, and so named his wine Fume Blanc. Cunning marketing? Yes, but also a Sauvignon like no other. Citrus and white fruits blend with creaminess from the oak: this is my goats-cheese pairing of choice. You can grab a bottle for £11.78 from DrinksDirect.

The Liberator

As well as having a sort of romantic, exciting name, the Liberator brand has a team of top-secret experts working to create something very snazzy indeed. The best thing to come from South Africa... ever (well it beats the Vuvuzela anyway), I am in love with these wines. Their pair of special edition 'The Francophile' wines are an enticing take on French styles, and dangerously moreish.
The red is Syrah, and packed with quintessential Rhone pepperiness and jammy fruit.
The white is classic viognier - mouth-filling texture packed with peach, pear and floral character. Both are £9.95 from The Wine Society.

Bordiere Nord did give me a couple of free bottles to try, but my opinions are honest and this does not affect my review.

Weekly Wine: The Perfect Year

You might think you're being all suave and flattering by telling someone they're like wine because they 'just get better with age', but - much as I don't want to rain on your parade - that's not always true.

Case in point: my Dad recently found a bottle of Chardonnay from 2003 in his cellar, and excitedly opened it for me. It was, unsurprisingly, vinegar. And not even good vinegar. Bless him for trying though.

Not all wine improves with age, and likewise you shouldn't get sniffy about drinking a more youthful bottle: depending on where it was grown and by whom, you might be more onto a winner than you think.

What a good vintage means

If you get perfect growing conditions, then it's like all the components slot into place - but just to make your brain hurt, a good vintage can differ massively from region to region, e.g. what's good for Burgundy might be a disaster for Bordeaux. In some years there can even be a huge difference between North and South Rhone, or Left Bank and Right Bank Bordeaux. Pesky weather.

A truly cracking year for a region means wines made there can spend decades mellowing into something ridiculously special, but these tend to be on the more 'whopping' end of the price scale. Instead, most of us will be looking for wines from a good year that are ready to drink much sooner, but knowing whether you have a good wine that needs time in a cellar or a good wine that you should pop the cork on right now can drive you a bit mental when you feel clueless.

My best tip is to get your paws on a vintage chart. You get ace ones in the pocket-sized books Hugh Johnson and Oz Clarke do every year if you want to take your wine geekery to whole new levels (I get both every year. Ahem…) but a quick trip to google gives you most of what you need. The Wine Society and Berry Brothers in particular do fantastic online guides: not only do they tell you if it's a good year, they tell you whether you should drink or keep wine from that vintage. Handy, eh?

As a rule, though, if it's super-pricey, it probably has longer drink dates. Cheaper wine from a good year is where you want to find your 'drink now' stuff.

Don't know where to start? Here are the recent vintages that have got the wine gurus all excited:

2005 - pretty much everywhere!

Throughout France, and also in Rioja and Germany, 2005 was the year all the winemakers skipped around gleefully.

You don't have to pay through the nose to try this vintage, as a lot of the wine from this year is coming into its own now: the Chateau Lafleur Beausejour 2005 is under a tenner at £8.95 per bottle from The Wine Society and is a delightful example. If you're looking for something a bit more special from 2005 for an anniversary or dinner party, however, you can try the beautiful Chateau Caronne St. Gemme 2005 for £17.95 from Fraziers. A well-known name that never fails to deliver, t's a tad young now, but you can enjoy it any time up until 2020.

2004 - Rioja and Tuscany

Spain and Italy are exceptionally proud of their 2004s - this was a classic year for silky smooth Rioja and Chianti . The best of these will still last, but you can already find some scrumptious examples if you're impatient.

Try Rioja Gran Reserva 2004 Berberana for £13.99 (or £8.99 if you buy two bottles) from Majestic for a beautiful example. You might need to decant it for an hour or so before you drink it.

2007 - South Rhone

The best year since 1990 - look out for Cotes-du-Rhone, Chateauneuf du Pape, Cairanne, Gigondas and Vacqueyras.

For example, this Cotes-du-Rhone Villages Cairanne Les Arnevels 2007 from Marks and Spencer is £11.49 each when you buy a case of six, and should give you tons of spicy fruit and complexity.

2009 - North Rhone

Another perfect year - but the best examples need a few years in the cellar. Look out for Crozes-Hermitage from this year, but I'm particularly enamoured by this Syrah Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes from Jaboulet-Perrin. Super-fruity with a little peppery spice - perfect Syrah. It's £9.95 from The Wine Society.

2008 - Chablis

This was on a par with the 2005s for Chablis, and is shaping up nicely to show the classic crispness and minerality you'd expect.

Try Tesco Finest Chablis - not only is it 2008, it's a Premier Cru (or 'First Growth') which means it's from better vineyards. Pretty super value for £11.67 per bottle (when you buy a case of six).

Do you have a wine question you've been pondering for a while? Tell us about it on Twitter or Facebook, and we'll see if we can help! Thorough 'research' may be required, of course...

Image taken from Stewart's photostream under the creative commons license

Weekly Wine: Wine is From Venus, Chocolate is from Mars

Oh, sweet chocolate. Oh, delicious wine. I love you both in equal measure, so why can't you just get along? For too long I've believed all the horror stores I've read about pairing wine with chocolate, and had to sacrifice one for the other on those chilly winter evenings in. Okay, okay, so maybe this is like the most watered down Sophie's Choice ever, but I'm writing to tell you that after months of gruelling experiments (ahem) I've found some devillishly good matches to share with you all.

The problem with chocolate is it coats your tongue more than most foods, so drinking wine (even the sweet stuff) after eating it can leave you with a bitter taste. You need to find something equally rich as well as sweet, and the answer tends to be to go with something a little fortified - this does mean you get a little more sauce in your glass, though, so it's not necessarily bad news.

Dear Madeira

It may be the stuff that you imagine only your gran drinks, but Madeira is seriously good with the chocolatey stuff. My number one example is the Henriques and Henriques 10yo Malmsey - I had it at Christmas last year with the post-dinner truffles and, even though I had already stuffed my face with enough to feed a small village, I still couldn't stop eating and drinking this super rich and warming combination. You can pick up a bottle from a number of places, but one of the cheapest I've found is KWM for £16.99 per 50cl bottle. Alternatively Tesco do a younger version for £10.99 which isn't quite as rich, but will probably do the job.


Sparkles

I've mentioned this before a few weeks back but you can't beat the Bleasdale Sparkling Shiraz with a slab of chocolate cake - it's rich and robust enough to be the perfect match. You can grab a bottle for £15.99 from Fine Wines Direct.


Fortified French

I mentioned Tannat a few weeks back too - it's the grape variety that grabbed a load of press last year for being the best for your heart - but it also makes a mean chocolate wine in some forms. The Maydie Tannat Vintage £13.95 from The Wine Society and is truly moreish: dark, sweet without being flimsy, and oh so rich. Heaven with chocolate tart.

Another fortified beauty from the South of France is the Maury Solera 1928. It's Malmsey-like, and drawn from a cask that was first filled in 1928 so they've had enough time to get it right. You can pick up a 50cl bottle from The Imperial Wine Company for £16.05.

What's your favourite tipple with chocolate? Tell us (or ask us for help with any other wine & food nightmare combinations) on our Twitter and Facebook pages.
Image taken from John Loo's photostream under the Creative Commons license.

Weekly Wine: Five Hearty Reds for Autumn Evenings

Well, it's official: I now have to get out of bed while it's still dark outside. Therefore, I officially refuse to eat salad until 2012, and I'm scouring the Sluttery recipes for the stodgiest, richest comfort foods to keep me warm and snuggly. These kinds of meals all seem to love a nice glass of hearty red, and so do I. Higher alcohol and fuller body tend to come from the hotter climates i.e. South of France and most of the New World (Chile and Australia especially), and younger reds from these places often have higher tannins (or grip in the mouth) that works particularly well with those humdinger meaty recipes.

Here are five of my favourites for slurping with food or sipping on the sofa:


Santa Rita 120 Carmenere 2010, £5.49 from Majestic if you buy two bottles
Chile totally runs the show when it comes to the Carmenere grape, especially examples from a good producer like the guys at Santa Rita. This gives a really authentic taste of Chile, and is soft, brambly and a teeny bit spicy.

Cotes du Rhone Plan de Dieu - £52 for six from M&S (around £8.67 per bottle)

Cotes du Rhone rocks my socks throughout the year as it's one of the most versatile food matches I know (so it pretty much doesn't matter what your comfort food of choice is), but the warm climate and robust grapes (Grenache, Syrah and Carignan in this case) give it oodles of body and round flavours.

Heartland Stickleback Red - £8.50 from The Wine Society

I was lucky enough to meet Ben Glaetzer, producer of these wines, last year, and he's a very savvy fella. His ethos is to be the best of what you are, whether that's an every day wine or the finest in the land. The Heartland Stickleback - as well as having the coolest name ever - is superbly made for the price, and full of warming spicy fruit. A fab food wine.

Finest Cotes Catalanes Grenache, £7.79 from Tesco

I seem to recommend a Southern French wine pretty much every week, but I can't resist: it's where I find stonkingly good value. Grenache is king of the hot climate grapes, producing wines that are almost invariably full-bodied, and this wine is rich, concentrated, and packed full of dark fruits.

Biferno Rosso Riserva 2004, £6.13 from Excel Wines

From the smallest region in Southern Italy, Biferno Rosso is a blend of Italian grape varieties that are particularly suited to the warmer areas of the country. This is an oak-aged, rustic Italian red with velvetty texture. Especially gorgeous with pasta, and a very decent price.

What's the wine you choose to keep you warm and toasty in the evenings? Let us know on Twitter and Facebook (and feel free to send us a hearty stew to eat it with...)

Image from superturtle's photostream under the Creative Commons License.

Weekly Wine: You Don't Have To Spend To Sparkle

A while ago, we had a Champagne tasting at work and I was allowed to take home one of the half-empty bottles (and by 'allowed' I mean 'snuck it out of the room when no one was looking.') That night - at the end of a hectic week - I got home, ran myself a bubble bath and drank a glass of the Champers while I soaked. It felt deliciously decadent - and just the tonic. But we can't always afford such luxury, right?

WRONG. Champagne is just a word on the label. Oh okay, and a production method. But lots of other sparkling wines use the same or similar method of production and you can find classy, elegant sparklers for far fewer pennies that give some Champagnes a real run for their money.

So: the science bit (this isn't a shampoo advert, honestly) - Champagne is made using the Traditional Method, in which first a still wine is made and then bottled along with a cocktail of stuff (sugar, yeast nutrient and the like) that sets off a 'second fermentation' to make the wine sparkling

Champagne mastered this art of bottle-fermenting, but it's also used by Cremant, Cava and Saumur to name a few.

So, if you get the bath running I'll start listing a few of my favourite sparklers:

Saumur AC

As well as being made in the Champagne style, this Saumur is made by sparkling wine gurus Gratien & Meyer. They've been doing their thing since 1864, and practice really has made perfect. Refreshingly fruity and dry, this is even tasty with food. It's £7.99 from Majestic, perfect for a mid-week treat.

Cremant de Loire AC

One of my all-time favourite types of fizz. Although different grapes from what you'd expect in Champagne, being made from king-of-the-Loire Chenin Blanc actually works really well for this Cremant from N. D. John: the waxed-lemon flavours of this grape are the perfect match for the bready, yeasty flavours you'd expect from many Champagnes. It's £10.75.

Cava

Most people think Cava is cheap and nasty, and to be honest that can sometimes be the case. But not always: the Sumarroca Cava is a total gem and came top of wine writer extraordinaire Jane Macquitty's list of sparklers this year. She described it as toasty and complex, and I very much agree, but it also packs in tons of fruit. It's only £7.50 from The Wine Society, and always disappears too quickly in our household.

For something different altogether, Prosecco really is a great place to look for value. It's made in a different way to Champagne and the other sparklers I've mentioned - the second fermentation happens in a tank rather than in bottle, so the bubbles aren't always quite as fine - but it's not just fashionable fizz. If you pick one from a good area - such as the hilly Valdobbiadene area in the heart of Prosecco, like this Oro Puro Prosecco from Waitrose - then you can find fruit galore and great balance. It's the perfect lightweight alternative, (and Valdobbiadene is fun to say too). If you want to try a bottle, it'll only set you back by £9.74.

If you like bubbles in your glass as well as in the bath, then tell us about your favourite fizz! You can have a natter on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

Image taken from _FXR's photostream under the creative commons license.

Weekly Wine: Grapes That Might Grow On You

A couple of weeks ago I gave you some tips on finding sneaky wine bargains, and one of the best ways to get something more delicious for your dollar is to explore the unknown. The chances are, if you're not all that familiar with a particular grape, then neither are most people - and the less fashionable or well-established names can't charge through-the-roof prices.

Our wine tastes and experiences are all different so I can't promise every one of these will rock your world, but I hope you'll find at least one hidden treasure from these lesser-known grapes.

Whites

Marsanne/Roussanne

I've lumped these two top Rhone varieties together because they're often paired in a blend. The South of France makes some cracking ones, but New World countries are also cottoning on. They're crisp and fruity, but often with added herby notes to make them ideal food wines.

Majestic sell this Marsanne-Roussanne blend from the Cotes de Thongue in the South of France. It's £7.99 and works well with pates and smoked cheeses, so we'll get on just fine. If you want to see what the New World has to offer, Tesco Finest Roussanne is from South Africa and really pulls on the honeyed, herbal potential.

Garganega

Garganega makes cheap and cheerful Italian whites, and it rocks my socks when I'm looking for a good slurping wine for gossipy evenings in with the girls. This one from Alpha Zeta is only £5.95 from N. D John Wine Merchants but is really aromatic and fruity - better than most of the budget Chardonnays or Pinot Grigios you can get your paws on for that price.

Picpoul

Kind of like a poor man's Muscadet, Picpoul is often round and full-flavoured. It's pretty much owned by the South of France, and this Domaine de Felines Picpoul de Pinet from Waitrose is nutty and zesty - a perfect food wine, particularly with fish. At £7.99, you're paying a lot less than you probably would for a decent Muscadet.

Red

Carignan

Oh, beloved Carignan, Chile really has been good to you. I first heard about this grape when I fell in love with Undurraga's Carmenere-Malbec-Carignan blend (which, by the way, at £6.50 is still very much in favour Chez Laura) but then I found the pure-Carignan De Martino El Leon from The Wine Society and realised how gorgeous this spicy, black-fruit-scented wine can be. You can even keep it cellared for two or three years and let it mellow into an even smoother, silkier treat.

You can also find delicious carignan from the South of France - try places like Corbieres and Fitou.

Gamay

If you know this grape at all, your first thought will probably be 'Beaujolais'. Yes, Gamay is pretty much the one and only grape you'll find in this region of mostly light, fruity wines, but it has been making headway elsewhere too. The Loire does some lovely, sappy gamay reds, and it's even being grown in South Africa and New Zealand.

Te Mata Gamay Noir is one of my fave Kiwi reds ever. It's not often you find a lighter red from New Zealand, but this one is deliciously ripe and fruity. Great if you're looking for a Pinot Noir alternative that's lighter both on the palate and your pocket. It's £10.95 from Lea & Sandeman.

Tannat

Tannat is the grape that's had all the good press in the last few years about being good for your heart. I'm not medically inclined so I can't confirm or deny that, but it's tasty enough that I'm going to drink it anyway and hope for the best. If you like full-bodied, robust reds but don't want to spend Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec prices, Tannat might be right up your street.

Majestic have sourced this beauty from Argentina which is spicy with great complexity of flavour, and it's only £7.49. Alternatively, the South of France is kind of the home of tannat, and the best example I can find is Madiran, Domaine Pichard 2004 for £9.50.

What wines have you explored lately? Tell us all about it on our Twitter or Facebook pages so the Sluts can get tipsy trying it.

Image taken from Nick Allen's photostream under the creative commons license.

Weekly Wine: What the Oak? What Wood Adds to Wine

When you talk about an oaky wine, most people either look at you blankly because they think you're barmy (and possibly a bit of a snobby twit), or they make a vommy face because they think you mean it'll taste like wood.

The truth is, oak-aged wines are literally everywhere, and even if you think you don't like them you're probably drinking them without even knowing it.

Ageing a wine in oak can impart oodles of different characteristics. It's not just flavours - oak also gives a wine more tannins (that's the grippy, puckery feeling of a wine on your gums. Strong tea has good tannins too, and wine needs them to age gracefully.)

It depends on:

* Whether American or French oak is used - American oak tends to give stuff like vanilla and coconut, whereas French oak gives more diverse flavours and stronger tannins.

* How long the wine is aged for - longer periods give more pronounced characteristics, so you can get wines with more delicate, subtle character from oak if you don't like it to be too overpowering.

* The size and age of the oak barrels used - the smaller and newer the barrels, the bigger the effects.

Now that's the sciencey bit out of the way, let's get down to the flavours. Oak ageing does obviously give a woody, cedary quality, but not in all cases. It can also give smoky character, plus medicinal, spicy, toasty or tobacco-like smells and flavours, as well as the vanilla and coconut I've already mentioned. Just give the glass a good swirl and have a sniff to see what you can find.

In white wines, it can also give nutty, savoury flavours. They can even smell a bit like Frazzles, sometimes, which isn't always as repulsive as it sounds - especially if you serve it with some kind of creamy bacon dish.

This leads me on nicely to my main point: I think oak characteristics in wine make totally ace food pairings. Here's a couple of ideas to get you started if you want to explore the world of oak-aged wines:

Muga Rioja Blanco with Spanish dishes like tapas or Paella

Majestic sell this beauty for £10.99 and it's one of my fave Spanish whites. The toasty, spicy elements to this wine make it great with spicy, flavoursome Spanish dishes as well.

Macon-Vergisson by Joseph Burrier with creamy chicken and bacon dishes

White Burgundy can be pricey at the best of times, so finding this for under a tenner was a very good day for me. It's only part oak-aged too so it won't be too creamy or nutty, but drink a glass with chicken in a creamy sauce and you'll realise how divinely the two blend together. It's £9.95 from The Wine Society.

Boekenhoutskloof Syrah with Beef Stroganoff or Chilli Con Carne

I love this producer, and this wine has real spice and depth from its time in oak (as well as from the spicy Syrah grape). It's great with dishes with a little paprika, and at £5.69 from Waitrose it's also a bit of a cheeky bargain.

Tesco Finest Argentinian Malbec (£6.49) with chargrilled meats

This wine is full, robust and spicy. The chunky tannins make it the perfect partner for smoky meats whether they're straight off the top of the barbecue or the grill pan.

If you want to chat about wine with us, just comment on our Facebook or Twitter pages! We'd love to hear your questions.

Wine Weekly: What's In A Name? Learning Label Lingo

If you like wine, you'd expect a trip to a wine shop to be like one of those Willy Wonka moments, but it can quickly deteriorate into that nightmarish instant when you flip your French A Level exam paper over and realise you can't even read the questions let alone write the answers (not that I'm scarred or anything). You leave needing a glass of wine more than ever before.

Labels aren't very forgiving. Depending on the country, different words can mean the same thing, and just to confuse you sometimes the same word can mean different things. It's like they're doing it deliberately.

New World wines look much friendlier as they generally just list the brand name, the grape and maybe a region, but even they can mess with your head when it comes to grape varieties: Shiraz is also known as Syrah, Zinfandel as Primitivo, Pinot Gris as Pinot Grigio, Grenache as Garnacha etc.

Obviously, there are thousands of label terms, but I've compiled a handy list of some of the more common ones to arm you with some know-how when faced with a room full of scary-looking bottles.

Key: Spain (S) France (F) Italy (I) Germany (G) Champagne/Sparkling (C)

Age

Some wine is aged in oak barrels, giving it certain characteristics (more on that next week). If a wine has Reserva (S) or Riserva (I) on the label, it means it has fulfilled legal ageing periods - this means it's probably been aged for longer, and will be of higher quality. Spanish reds may also have 'Crianza' on the label to mark a shorter period of ageing, or 'Gran Reserva' for particularly long ageing.

For example, Tesco Finest's Rioja (£7.19) is a Reserva, so it's been aged for at least three years, (at least one year in oak) and will be smoother and more complex than a crianza.

You should bear in mind that if the word Reserva is used on New World wines, it may well have still spent time in oak but it has no legal bearing and so that's not guaranteed.

Sweetness

If a wine is dry, the label may say: Sec (F), Seco (S) Secco (I), Trocken(G) or Brut (C)
Medium-sweet wines may say: Demi-sec (C/F), Moelleux (F), Halbtrocken (G), Amabile (I), Semi-Seco (S)
If sweet, it may say: Doux (F), Dulce (S), Dolce (I), Suss (G), Rich (C)

This isn't an exhaustible list of terms denoting sweetness, and not all wines will be marked with their sweetness level, but it gives you the main ones to keep your eyes peeled for.

A good example: It can be hard to tell whether a Riesling will be sweet or not, but excellent producer Prinz Von Hessen makes this cracking Riesling Trocken, and you can grab a bottle from Majestic for £9.99.

Vineyards

Often the best wines come from the oldest vineyards, as older vines give less grapes but with more concentrated character.You may see Classico (I) or Vieilles Vignes (F - not a legal term) on a wine to suggest that.

For example, this 'vieilles vignes' Bourgogne Rouge by Nicolas Potel from Berry Bros is £17.95 a bottle. I love this producer and the old vines help make this is an exquisite mouth-filling Burgundy with great concentration of flavour.

Champagne/Sparkling

If a Champagne (not any other sparkling wine) has a vintage, it's probably very fine indeed, with a pricetag to match. You don't have to spend that much though: most Champagne is non-vintage to keep the style consistent.

Cremant is used to describe a sparkling wine with a little less than full sparkling pressure.

Petillant (F) and Frizzante (I) mean lightly sparkling.

A good example: The Wine Society sell this Prosecco Frizzante for £8.95. As well as being the best Prosecco I've ever had, it's also got a pretty suave-looking bottle. Delicious.

Classified

Every country has different wine laws and ways of regulating what producers can put on their labels. Very loosely, they are:

Table wine: No vintage or grape varieties allowed. Pretty simple stuff.
Vin de Table (F), Deutscher Tafelwein (G), Vino da Tavola (I), Vino de Mesa (S)

Table wine with geographical description: Vintages and grapes are allowed on the label, as well as a particular region. They have to abide by the wine laws of that region, so quality tends to improve.
Vin de Pays (F) Landwein (G) IGT or Indicazione Geographica Typica (I) Vino de la Tierra (S)

Quality Wine from a Specific Region: Wines that are regulated more stringently so they are allowed to list a certain region on the label. They tend to be better-made and have more character but they vary pretty wildly in price (as you can see from the examples below). They're everywhere but we often don't notice the label telling us how good our wine is because we ignore the terms and acronyms we don't understand. But look out for the following on the label, and you'll know you've got a well-made wine:

• AOC - Appellation d'Origine Controlee / AC - Appellation Controlee (F) - The Burgundy I mentioned is from Bourgogne Rouge AC
• Qba or even better Pradikatswein (G) - the Riesling I mentioned is Pradikatswein
• DOC, or even better DOCG (I) - the Prosecco I featured is DOC
• DO or even better DOC/DOCa (S) - the Rioja I mentioned is a DOCa

Premium Classified: The word 'cru' means 'growth' in French, and a 'Premier Cru' or 'Grand Cru' wine will be some of the finest wine that region produces. They'll also be some of the priciest, so don't worry about this unless you're looking for something special.

Got a wine term that's always bugged you? Come and tell us about it on our Twitter or Facebook pages!

Image taken from David Marcel's photostream under the creative commons license.

Wine Weekly: Where To Find Value in Vino

This week, a few of you lovely ladies have been asking how much you need to spend on a good bottle of vino. It's a tricky one. So often we think the more expensive a wine, the better it is - but if you're eagle-eyed when wine-shopping you can find good quality even at the lower end of the market. You don't even need to spend over a tenner if you don't want to. Here are a few savvy hints to get the best bottle for your buck.

1. It's Not Always About What's Hot.

Exploring is fun, and in the wine world it often pays off. Yes, we know that the most fashionable wine is coming from those timeless French, Italian and Spanish names we all recognise, as well as New World countries like Australia and New Zealand, but they know they're hot too, so they can afford to charge more.

Try grabbing a bottle from a less popular country and see what you find. I'm currently loving Greece, Portugal and Hungary. The bottles might look scary because they don't list grapes or names that you often hear, but the quality is still there in most cases.

For instance, Waitrose are currently selling Tinto da Anfora 2007 from Alentejo in Portugal for £5.99 (you can see what the bottle looks like here but you'll have to pick up the 2007 vintage in store). I had a glass or two last night over dinner, and loved the dark berry fruits and spice. It was dangerously gluggable.

My latest steal and new favourite sweet treat is the Greek wine Samos Anthemis. I picked up a bottle for £11.95 from The Wine Society (you have to join as a member to order, but I think it's worth it) and utterly adored the rich, Christmassy aromas and smooth, honeyed palate. I've decided that for that price, it's definitely going to be my mince pie wine this year.

2. If They Put Their Name To It…

Most supermarkets do a selection of 'own-label' wines these days. It can seem cheap, but their buyers often spend a long time sourcing a reputable producer to work with, and want to find the best quality possible if they're going to put their own name on the bottle. It can be a good way to find a benchmark example of the region at a friendly price.

Tesco's Finest Chianti Riserva is spot-on as Chiantis go. It's typically cherry-filled with classic savouriness that makes it a smashing red for Italian food. And at £5.99 in-store until the beginning of October (normally £7.99) it's a very 'everyday' price.

I'm also a huge fan of Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Chilean Sauvignon Blanc for £5.99. Very drinkable, very balanced, with typical knock-you-socks-off fruitiness (oh, the gooseberries and lime!) - Sainsbury's wine-buyers did a good job here.

3. Go Off The Beaten Track

If you really do want to stick to countries you know, then veer away from names you recognise to find the best value. Ex-Sommelier and awesome wine virtuoso Frances Bentley recommends seeking out the quirky: if you like Sancerre from the Loire, for instance, then Menetou-Salon is a nearby alternative at much nicer prices (for instance I'm a fan of this one from Majestic for £10.99).

Or if Spain does it for you, bypass Rioja for wines from areas like Ribera del Duero or Valdepenas. Marks and Spencer do a super Ribera del Duero with great complexity of flavour for £10.99.

4. Be Restaurant-Savvy

It's always tough deciding what to choose in a restaurant, especially with the mark-ups being so high. Super sommelier Oliver Brandenburg says the best thing to do is ask: staff love giving personal recommendations, and they should also be happy to let you try a wine before you decide. He reckons New World wines are good value if you want something fruity and consistent, and especially likes Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon at the moment.

Frances tells me the more you spend, the better the value. House wines and lower-end choices have bigger mark-ups, so if you can afford to spend an extra fiver or so it's usually worth it. Experiment with odder choices - restaurants often test quirky wines on their list to see what's popular, and Frances reckons Lebanese, Turkish and Portuguese wines are pretty hot right now. Or, if you want to be a little safer, she also thinks hidden treasures can be found in Southern French wines, plus Alsatian and Spanish whites. The key is not being afraid to ask.

You can ask me too, if you like! Send any wine questions our way in the comments, or on our Twitter or Facebook pages.

Image taken from Mikkel Juel Gregersen's photostream under the creative commons license.