Will you be my Valent-wine? Here are the most romantic tipples
Romance isn't just for Valentine's Day – but it can certainly provide some good inspiration.
I'll be celebrating with a glass or two with my beloved, tonight – something my 16-year-old self would never have imagined as she was so desperately trying to decipher the handwriting on the card put through my locker, against that of the boy I was so in love with (James, if you're reading this – and it wasn't you – please don't pop my bubble of belief...)
Beyond my teenage heartbreaks, I've never really been swept up in the Hallmark frenzy – I even spent one stormy Valentine's Day visiting the site of the Battle of Culloden (if you don't know what that is, look it up, it's not a rose petal strewn palace). But I do know that from an early age, our relationship to love is informed by our relationship to what we eat and drink.
And I'm convinced that one of the reasons I fell so deeply in love with food and wine is thanks to my Nanna teaching me from a young age that all food needed one extra ingredient: 'oomph'. Asking what 'oomph' was, she replied with the word: 'love'.
How does this apply to wine? I'd argue that at its most elemental level, the process of winemaking is a loving one. Nurturing your vines, tending to them carefully throughout the year, harvesting them, creating an environment for the juice to ferment, giving the wine a space to age and mature into something that will be enjoyed by countless people – not just by the winemaker and their family and friends, but in homes around the world.
Used in various rituals – from celebrations, anniversaries, reunions, even holy communion – it is a product that can bring people together in joyous union. And yes, wine can be sexy, too. Research proves that even a moderate amount of red wine can have a positive effect on libido in both men and women – in an Italian study carried out in Chianti in 2009, researchers found that women who consumed a daily (low to moderate) amount of red wine reported a higher score on the Female Sexual Function Index than both teetotallers and heavy drinkers. Surely something to get excited about!
But what makes a wine romantic? I've selected a number of wines that I feel embody some of the more sensual elements of the drink – whether it's the heady bubbles of a sparkling wine, the committed winemaking techniques of a grower, the ethereal fruit of a lighter red or the depth and concentration of something fuller bodied and richer.
Wine is such a subjective product – but perhaps these suggestions can serve as a jumping point to exploring more visceral pleasures (of the bottle, of course).
Champagne Billecart Salmon, Le Rosé , France, NV
Available nationwide, including The Wine Society £66, 12 per cent ABV
Of all the styles of wine that are available, none can compete with the utterly unashamed romantic nature of champagne. And, while it might seem like a cliché, a fine rosé champagne is the most romantic of them all.
I have picked what I see as a benchmark romantic champagne from the wonderful – and still family-owned – house of Billecart Salmon. The delicate light rose-pink-tinged wine is a blend of 40 per cent chardonnay, 30 per cent pinot noir and 30 per cent pinot meunier, which is then aged for 36 months on its lees (those delicious dead yeast cells).
An added layer of depth and body comes from the 40 per cent of reserve wines being used. It has weaving, languorous bubbles and a silken delicate mouth feel with many layers from the primary fruits of wild strawberries, ripe raspberry and tangerine, giving way to soft baked buttery pastries, all brought together with uplifting acidity. It's a treat of a wine – and you deserve it.
M&S Ken Forrester Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc, South Africa, 2024
In-store and online via Ocado, £13, 13 per cent ABV
While the label might be anything but romantic, this chenin blanc created by the South African 'King of Chenin' Ken Forrester is a wonderful expression of this most expressive of grapes. Chenin has the ability to create wines that are steely bone dry, right through to unctuous honeyed elixirs.
I have long admired Ken Forrester and his 'loving' approach to wine. He has a very hands-on approach to the stewardship of the land he farms and the people he works with – and has a clear philosophy that if every community looked after their own, 'no-one would go wanting... each bottle is a victory and represents a small change – for the better – in someone's life'.
The wine itself is a medium bodied dry style of chenin, with a ripe stone fruit and pineapple character which comes through alongside lemon curd and bright acidity.
Jour de Soif Bourgueil, Domaine du Bel Air, France, 2020
In-store and online Berry Bros & Rudd, £23.95, 13 per cent ABV
I adore wines that give you moments to pause and linger with the person you're enjoying them with, whether a romantic or platonic love. Sharing that moment together, fading out all of the other noise and focusing only on the wine and the company.
This lighter style of cabernet franc opens itself up to reveal a wine brimming with crushed cranberries, sour cherries and juicy, tart blackcurrants all balanced alongside energetic acidity and smooth tannins.
M&S Primitivo Di Manduria, Notte Rossa, Italy, 2023
In-store and online via Ocado, £12, 13.5 per cent ABV
If you think chocolates are romantic, why not try a wine that tastes like them? The characteristics of primitivo from Puglia in Southern Italy always make me think of rich, dark chocolate-covered strawberries.
It is deep, generous and concentrated with ripe black plums, juicy cherries, licks of vanilla and a dusting of cinnamon spice, too. Perfectly indulgent.
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