2 days ago
Wine Club: a summer selection from Tanners of Shrewsbury
I've been in Vienna, drinking Grüner Veltliner, Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch like a fish. It's thirsty work being a lush and I also patronised the fabled Loos American Bar rather more often than I should have.
It's such a seductive spot, LAB, and their Corn 'n' Oils are very fine, and I can never resist a very fine Corn 'n' Oil. Heck, I can't even resist a bad one. I should grow up.
It's been a rich diet and, much as I love Austria and its increasingly tasty wines, it was a relief to sample such a wide-ranging non-Austrian selection for this offer from Tanners of Shrewsbury, with the successful seven wines chosen with summer in mind.
The 2022 Hain Piesporter GoldtröpfchenRiesling Kabinett (1) from the Mosel is so lovely and, if like me you spurn hot drinks, you'll find it an ideal mid-morning hydrator. Oh, come on! It's only 8 per cent vol and is so fresh, so easy-going and so full of juicy, off-dry apple and herbs that it's perfect. I'd choose this over Earl Grey any time. £14.50 down from £15.50.
The 2023 Tanners White Burgundy (2) has been on Tanners' list for yonks, so beloved is it. Made by the excellent Cave de Viré cooperative near Mâcon, it's soft, smooth and elegant, with subtle touches of butter encircling the white stone fruit and apple. It's so classic and so good. You could pay half as much again for a better-known name and get half the pleasure. £14.50 down from £15.90.
If you prefer your Chardonnay sans any oak (not that the wine above has much), the 2022 House of Certain Views Unwooded Chardonnay (3) will be right up your street. From the celebrated Andrew Margan in Australia's Hunter Valley (he learned his trade in Bordeaux and then with Tyrell's), it's cool fermented in stainless steel allowing the fresh lemony, melony flavours which finish crisp and dry to really shine. It's a class act. £14.50 down from £15.60.
The 2022 Gouguenheim Malbec Reserve (4) also boasts an exhilarating freshness so typical of the high-altitude wines grown and made in Mendoza, Argentina. With violets on the nose and wonderful, rich, ripe hedgerow fruit in the mouth, finishing with hints of both chocolate and beef tea, it's a cracking wine that begs to be brought out with the barbecue. £14.50 down from £16.20.
Seven wines from Tanners of Shrewsbury chosen with summer in mind
The 2023 Saint Antonin 'Les Jardins' Faugères (5) is my wine of the offer. It's impeccably made and has everything I love about reds from the Languedoc. An organic blend of Syrah, Grenache and Carignan, it's full of rich, almost sweet dark berry fruit, hints of herbs, liquorice and spice, and although the tannins are soft as anything I found myself almost chewing it in the mouth. Gosh it's good. £14.50 down from £15.50.
The 2022 Castillo Monjardín Pinot Noir (6) is that rarity, a Pinot Noir from Spain, of all places specifically from the foothills of the Pyrenees in Navarra. I wasn't expecting much but, goodness, one sip and I was all over it. Produced from vines skirting the Camino de Santiago, it's crammed with ripe cherry fruit cloaked in the gentlest of tannins. It's rich and juicy and very drinkable. £14.50 down from £15.80. Finally, just because I enjoyed it so much and because it's brand new to Tanners' list, we've the Tanners Traditional Method English Sparkling (7), made expressly for them in the south of England by… well, they're very coy about this and won't say. The label credits Rolling Green Hills, a mysterious producer who make a number of other fizzes too. But it matters not who it is because it's a gorgeous sparkler – apple-fresh with touches of toast and cream – made in the Champagne Method from the champagne grapes and with Mrs Ray away visiting her mother, I delighted in seeing off the bottle on my tod with ease. £25 down from £27.50.
Wines 1-6 are offered in any combination you wish (8). All said wines have club prices of £14.50, so whatever its composition, the mixed case will be £174. Wine 7 is offered in pairs and as an addition to any mixed dozen of the still wines at the online checkout. Delivery, as ever, is free to UK mainland.
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