Simon Judge
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Comte de Saint Emmanuel
This arrived by accident, a substitute for a bottle that never turned up. The name may sound grand, but it’s a white label name without particular provenance. However, behind it is the producer Amand Chaperon, with grapes coming from the Entre-Deux-Mers region. A blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, it promised familiarity, though expectations were kept low given its 2024 vintage. I suspected something overly tannic and too young to enjoy now. It opens with a dark fruit aroma, immediately giving way to a generous burst of fruit on the first sip. The structure is medium bodied, with medium tannins…
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Granite Hill Old Vine Zinfandel
This was my favourite red at a recent Tesco press tasting and one I was keen to revisit in more detail. From Lodi in California, this wine is a blend of 75% Zinfandel, 15% Teroldego and 10% other varieties, made by the Kautz family and is vegan. Its name reflects the rocky, granite-rich soils where the family’s vineyards are planted. The Zinfandel and Petite Syrah components spend time in both French and American oak, which contributes to its complexity. It’s a generous 14.5% ABV and won a silver award in the 2025 IWC. Despite being a 2022 vintage, it’s already…
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Viña del Cura Rioja Blanco
This wine made its first impression on me at a Tesco press tasting. This 2023 vintage sits at 13% ABV and is made from a blend of 90% Viura and 10% Tempranillo Blanco, produced by Barón de Ley. It’s vegan-certified and has spent time on lees, followed by four months in American oak barrels. The aroma leans towards tropical with a gentle backdrop of oak, suggesting something bright yet grounded. On the tongue, there’s a mix of fruit, oak and a soft, bready richness with a warmth that lingers slightly at the end. What’s striking is how rounded it feels…
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Thoughts on Wine with Food
In the August 2025 issue of Decanter, Alder Yarrow and Fiona Beckett have an entertaining debate whether food and wine pairing is meaningful or a waste of time. Yarrow dismisses it as outdated dogma that alienates drinkers by imposing needless rules, arguing that personal taste, mood, environment and even biology make universal pairing principles impossible. He believes people should simply drink what they enjoy without worrying about so-called correctness. Beckett, however, contends that pairing can enhance both food and wine, offering guidance rather than rigid rules, and that it helps less confident wine drinkers feel more engaged and assured. For…
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25% Off Wine at Waitrose
Waitrose has 25% off 6 bottles or more of wine and Champagne priced between £5 and £100 from 20 August 2025 to 26 August 2025 inclusive. See the recent press tasting for tips on what to buy.
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Triennes Rosé
I came across this wine at a family gathering. There was nothing about the label to suggest it comes from Provence. The bottle itself doesn’t follow the visual cues you often see with Provençal rosé with no fancy lable or stylised bottle design. It’s modest, understated. The surprise is entirely in what’s inside. Only after the gathering, when curiosity led me to look into it, did I discover its true origin, from the heart of Provence. Triennes is a respected estate situated in the Var region to the east of Aix-en-Provence. It’s the result of a collaboration that began in…
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Château La Garde
I picked this up a few months ago from Aldi when it was featured as ‘Wine of the Week’ at a tempting £4.99, though the final price was £5.75 since I happened to be visiting Wales at the time. On a side note, Wales has some peculiar minimum pricing rules and, oddly, even the large Tesco stores seemed to offer only a fraction of the range you’d find in England. I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d bought, though the pricing label suggested it normally retails at £19.99. A little digging revealed this 2017 vintage to be a blend of 52%…
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25% Off Wine at Tesco
Tesco has save 25% off wine with Clubcard when you buy 6+ bottles that are £6 and over (£7 in Wales), from 19 August 2025 until 25 August 2025. See the recent Tesco tasting and Picks for tips on what to buy.
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25% Off Wine at Asda
Asda has 25% off wine, on £5.50 per bottle or more, 6 bottles or more, from 19 August 2025 until 25 August 2025. See the latest press tasting for tips on what to buy.
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25% Off Wine at Morrisons
Morrisons has 25% discount on 6 or more bottles of wine, More card price, £6 or more until 31 September 2025 which I think is a typo on their site as this day doesn’t even exist!, and should be 31 August 2025. See the recent press tasting for my picks.
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25% Off Wine at Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s has 25% off wine for Nectar loyalty card holders, sparkling and Champagne, 6 bottles or more, £6 or more (£7 in Wales), from 18 August 2025 to 25 August 2025. See the recent Sainsbury’s press tasting for tips on what to buy.
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La Belle Angèle Pinot Noir
This 2023 vintage offers an easygoing yet lively expression of southern French winemaking. Named after a celebrated muse of the Belle Époque, known for inspiring French Impressionist painters with her beauty and spirit, the wine carries a sense of charm. With its origins in the Languedoc, drawing fruit from the sun-drenched plains near Béziers and Valras-Plage as well as the higher ground of the Minervois, it captures a warm, Mediterranean spirit. At first pour, a scent of red berries rises gently, hinting at cherries and perhaps a touch of raspberry. Unlike some Pinots that lean into earthiness or darker, forest…
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Insights into the Champagne Market
The American Association of Wine Economists recently shared an enlightening table of the main champagne houses by turnover. The 2024 champagne market was worth roughly €3.92 billion. Moët Hennessy alone commands nearly 46.66% of the market, with the top three producers together holding about 61.59%, and the top five controlling over 72.1%. The median turnover per house is €19.16 million, while the average is higher at €112 million, reflecting the outsized dominance of a few large players. At the smallest end, Leclerc Briant accounts for just 0.12% of total turnover. I created the following chart to better illustrate the outsized…
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Definition Mosel Riesling Kabinett
Mosel Riesling Kabinett is part of Majestic’s own-label ‘Definition ‘ collection, designed to showcase what they see as the definitive expression of a particular grape, region or style. In this case, the German Kabinett classification represents the lightest, earliest harvested style in the Prädikatswein hierarchy, produced from grapes picked just beyond ripeness. This results in a wine where gentle sweetness should be met with a poised lift of acidity. This particular example comes from Dr Loosen, a producer whose wines rarely disappoint me. The 2023 vintage carries a modest 8% ABV. The short period resting on the lees lending an…
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Castello di Albola Chianti Classico
Castello di Albola Chianti Classico is a red wine from a historic estate perched high in the hills of Radda in Chianti. The grapes are organically grown in the heart of Tuscany, with the estate’s lineage reaching back to the Middle Ages. Since 1979 it has been under the care of the Zonin family, who have lovingly restored it to its present splendour. The 2023 vintage is produced from a blend of the finest organic Sangiovese grapes sourced from eight of the estate’s vineyards. The wine rests for twelve months in Slavonian oak barrels, then matures for a further eighteen…
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Top 30 Value Golds
The Decanter World Wine Awards’ Top 30 Value Golds for 2025 celebrates exceptional wines costing under £15, blind-tasted and judged by leading wine experts. These wines are awarded for delivering outstanding quality at their price point, standing out from over a hundred Gold medal Value category winners. Spain leads with eight wines on the list, followed by France with five, Portugal with four, and other notable entries from Argentina, Australia, Greece, China, Bulgaria, Moldova and more. The selection covers a wide range of styles, from sparkling Prosecco and Cava to robust reds and aromatic whites, showcasing the diversity of great-value…
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Extra Special Marques del Norte Rioja
This is one of those wines you almost have to try, simply because it’s been given so may accolades this year. It took Gold at the 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards with an impressive 95 points, picked up Silver at the IWSC with 94 points and another Silver at the IWC scoring 92. Having enjoyed the Gran Reserva before, I was curious. It comes from El Coto, Rioja’s largest producer, who farm 730 hectares across eight sites spanning nearly all of the region’s sub-zones. Made from 100% Tempranillo, it’s a dry red at 14% ABV, bottled at source rather than…
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No.1 Cederberg Syrah
I had to include this one in my awards25 series because the 2022 vintage earned both an IWC Silver and an IWSC Silver. From the West Coast of South Africa, this Syrah comes from Cederberg, where the fifth generation of the Nieuwoudt family now oversees the estate. They are widely regarded as one of the top high-altitude producers from South Africa. At 14% ABV, this is a medium to full bodied red, made from 100% Syrah and aged in oak. There is a generous ripe cherry aroma with a touch of oak even when just opened. After half an hour,…
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How Wildfire Smoke Affects Wines
A new study by resarchers at USA Oregon State University looked at why some red wines, especially Pinot noir, can taste ashy or smoky if the grapes were exposed to wildfire smoke before harvest. When grapes are exposed to smoke, they absorb certain chemicals that later end up in the wine. These chemicals include volatile phenols and thiophenols, which can make the wine taste smoky, burnt or leave an unpleasant ashy aftertaste. The researchers wanted to find out how much of these chemicals it takes for regular wine drinkers to actually notice the ashy flavour. They tested this using different…
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Shifting Tastes in a Changing Global Market
The IWSR Global Trends Report 2025 highlights a number of developments that reflect a complex and evolving wine marketplace, shaped by economic, social and technological forces. Premiumisation remains a feature of the wine category, but it is no longer uniform. Economic pressures and changing values mean consumers are increasingly selective, opting for premium wines in specific situations rather than as a consistent behaviour. This shift is particularly relevant in more stable or growing regions such as parts of South America and Asia, while Europe sees more restrained growth. Consumers are drinking less overall, but when they do indulge, they are…
Pick Lists
Majestic | The Wine Society | Tesco | Waitrose | Sainsbury’s | Morrisons | Co-op | Asda | Aldi | Lidl | £7 and Under | Over £20
Did You Know?
Rías Baixas wines reached more than 107 countries in 2025 and exports represented 31 per cent of the denomination’s total sales. More
Light Strike Can Cause Wine Degradation in Just One Day. More
People actively adjust their wine choices depending on who might see them. More
In the UK, 73% of Alcohol is Bought From Retail Rather Than Hospitality. More
UK wine production reached 124,377 hectolitres that year, meaning the UK accounted for roughly 0.05 per cent of world output. More
For Crémant, grapes must be harvested by hand and the wines must undergo at least nine months’ ageing before release. More
In 2024, the UK was the second-largest export market for Champagne globally, after the United States. More
Local UK bottling of wine represents about 40% of imported wine. More
Around 1% of people, typically severe asthmatics, have a sulphite sensitivity. More
A large 80% of Australian wine arrives in the UK in bulk. More
Only about 0.02% of Australia’s landmass is dedicated to vineyards. More
In 2024, New Zealand produced only 1% of the World’s wine. More
In 2024, the US imported 37% of World production of Pinot Grigio and the UK was is in second place at 27%. More
In 2024, the UK was South Africa’s largest export market, with 40% of total exports. More
In 2024, the United Kingdom imported 22.3 million bottles of Champagne, a decline of 12.7% compared to the previous year. More
Larger Champagne producers source grapes from as many as 80 different vineyards throughout Champagne. More
Champagne houses and growers collectively produce around 300 million bottles annually. More
In 2025, the Champagne region was home to about 2,124 Champagne houses and approximately 19,000 growers. More
Provence is one of the leaders in the conversion to organic viticulture, with 61% of vineyards certified. More
8% of the South Africa’s grape production is Fairtrade-certified. More
Up to 80% of wine aroma compounds come from grape skins. More
Glycerol is the third-largest component of most dry wines after water and alcohol which is why they so often feel ‘smooth’ or ‘silky’ in the mouth. More
Humans are more than 400 times more sensitive to bitter than sweet. More
Humans can detect the earthy molecule geosmin at about 100 parts per trillion and camels are so sensitive to it they can locate damp ground from roughly 50 miles away. More
During the phylloxera crisis of the nineteenth century, 90% of Europe’s vineyards were destroyed. More
In 2025, for La Vieille Ferme, also known as “The Chicken Wine”, sales surged by 49.4% to £110.8 million. More
In 2025, in the UK, Yellow Tail held the top position with sales, marking a 9.8% increase over the previous year. More
In 2024, the UK was the second-largest wine importer in volume and value. More
In 2024, the UK was the fifth-largest wine-consuming country globally. More
In 2025, global wine consumption continued its downward trend, estimated at 214.2 million hectolitres, the lowest since 1961. More
In 2025, online alcohol sales had a 20% increase in value over five years. More
In 2025, the number of UK vineyards rose to 1,104 and wineries to 238, with land under vine expanding to 4,841 hectares, a 510% increase since 2005. More
Moët Hennessy alone commands nearly 46.66% of the Champagne market, with the top three producers together holding about 61%, and the top five controlling over 72%. More
In 2024, the Champagne market was worth roughly €3.92 billion. More
In the marketing year 2023/24, white wine accounted for roughly 55% of Spain’s output, whereas red and rosé together made up about 45%. More
In the UK, 92% of wine is consumed within 48hrs of purchase. More
The majority of wines, 95%, use commercial rather than wild yeast. More
Between 0.5 and 10 litres of water, per litre of wine, are needed for cleaning during winemaking. More
Machine harvesting can achieve up to 100 tons of fruit per day vs 1 ton for a human. More
In Germany, 2025 was the smallest wine vintage since 2010. More
The majority of vineyards, 90% in 2019, are farmed with heavy chemical interventions. Only 6% are organic. More
90% of low and coastal areas in south Europe and California will no longer be able to produce good wine by the end of the century. More
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