Simon Judge
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Jam Shed Dark Jam
Jam Shed have sent me their newest innovation, Dark Jam. Jam Shed has established itself as a top 10 brand according to Nielsen and while it might be put down by serious wine drinkers, it is impossible to ignore, especially as this one promises a deeper, more indulgent style of wine. The label says it is bolder and richer. It forms part of a new premium tier designed to deliver bolder expressions and more innovative flavours. It has also been developed to drive value growth as a clear trade-up option. Enough of the marketing, though, what is it actually like?…
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Understanding Supermarket Own Label Wine
Own-label wine has quietly become one of the most interesting parts of the UK supermarket aisle. It no longer simply means a cheap bottle with a supermarket logo on the front. In 2026 it can mean Tesco Finest Champagne, Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Discovery small parcels, Waitrose Loved & Found oddities, Co-op Fairtrade Irresistible bottles, Morrisons The Best producer collaborations, Lidl Wine Tour discoveries, Aldi Specially Selected bargains or Asda’s new Exceptional tier. The best examples are not trying to imitate branded wine so much as to solve the supermarket wine problem: how to deliver recognisable style, reliable quality and…
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International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) Results
The International Wine & Spirit Competition has released the results of its 2026 wine judging after two weeks of blind tastings involving more than 130 leading UK wine experts. Nearly 4,000 wines from 39 countries were judged, making it one of the competition’s broadest international editions yet. France and Italy led overall medal counts, while Spain achieved the most gold medals with 21. China stood out as a rapidly improving wine-producing nation, earning seven golds alongside numerous silver and bronze medals. Strong regional performances came from South Australia, Marlborough, Veneto, Champagne and Rioja. Fortified wines had an especially strong year,…
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25% Off Wine at Waitrose
Waitrose has 25% off 6 bottles or more of wine and Champagne priced between £6 and £100 from 20 May 2026 to 26 May 2026 inclusive. See the recent press tasting for tips on what to buy. This offer isn’t available in branches in Scotland, Wales or Jersey, motorway service stations, Welcome Break or petrol stations.
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Waitrose Spring Tasting
In May 2026 I was invited to the Waitrose Spring Press Tasting in London, an impressive showcase featuring 181 products across wine, fortified wine, beer, cider, spirits, soft drinks and ready-to-drink categories. I managed to taste almost all of the non-fortified wines on show, amounting to around 120 wines. One of the most notable developments was the continued expansion of the Waitrose No.1 range, with six new additions taking the total own-brand wine selection to more than 80 wines. The range continues to demonstrate the retailer’s growing confidence and ambition in premium own-label wine. Waitrose has also enjoyed a number…
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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 21 May 2026 until 25 May 2026. See the latest press tasting for tips on what to buy.
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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 20 May to 27 May 2026. See the recent Sainsbury’s press tasting for tips on what to buy.
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Morrisons Spring Summer Press Tasting
In mid-May 2026, I was in London for the Morrisons Spring/Summer press tasting. As usual with Morrisons, the event had a quietly polished feel. A pianist played gentle background music, lending a touch of elegance as we tasted our way through the selection. There were 106 wines on show, 20 of which were rosés. That is a sizeable showing, and a clear sign that rosé remains very much in demand at the moment. Here are the wines I found most interesting: Etienne Leclair Signature Collection Champagne 2016 12% £30Made by Champagne Gruet from 60% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 7%…
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Wine Merchant Top 100 winners
The Wine Merchant Top 100 winners highlights the best-performing wines from the UK independent trade, judged by independent wine merchants . The awards cover a broad mix of styles and regions, with strong representation from Chile, South Africa, Italy, Spain and France. Here are the more affordable winners, ranked by price. Rank Wine Price Distributor 1 Viña Luis Felipe Edwards El Picador Sauvignon Blanc 2025 £9.49 Cachet Wine 2 False Bay Syrah, Coastal Region 2023 £10.99 Boutinot 3 Domaines Paul Mas Arrogant Frog Orange Organic 2025 £13.75 Domaines Paul Mas 4 Heaphy Riesling, Nelson 2024 £14.99 Boutinot 5 Emiliana Novas…
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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 25 May 2026. See the recent press tasting for my picks.
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Montgras De Vine Reserva Carménère
Montgras De Vine Reserva Carménère comes from Chile’s Colchagua Valley and is made with 100% Carménère grapes, sitting at 13% abv. This 2023 vintage opens with smoky and cherry aromas, then moves into black fruit flavours with a medium to full-bodied feel. It is smooth yet light, very easy drinking, with low tannins and a dry to off-dry character. The finish brings a subtle coffee edge, which adds a nice little twist. It seemed even more smoky the day after opening. Great quality for the price, usually £9.75 from Waitrose, but on offer for £7.75 as I wrote this.
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When Old Vintages Linger Too Long on the Shelf
I buy, and am sent, a lot of bottles, which means I get to see certain trends developing across the wine market. One that has become increasingly noticeable is the number of older vintages, or previous years’ releases, still sitting on retail shelves. From my perspective, it has caused quite a few bottles not to taste as they should. In these cases, I have chosen not to review them. You could describe these wines as ‘tired’, but the reality is that many mass-consumer wines are made to be drunk when they are released. A year or two later, they may…
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Montecastro Reserva Ribera del Duero
Montecastro Reserva Ribera del Duero 2020 is made from 95% Tempranillo and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, with oak ageing in the mix. It has a high Vivino score of 4.1, Parker gives it 93 points, and Tim Atkin also scores it 93. I had the decanter ready, fully expecting this to be tannic and heavily oaked, as so many Ribera del Duero wines can be, but this one took me by surprise. It wasn’t like that at all. There’s oak there, certainly, along with a strawberry aroma. On tasting, it comes across as robust, dry, mouth-coating and very fruity. It feels…
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Chianti DOCG Moves Towards Rosé in Major Rule Shake-Up
The Drinks Business says says Chianti DOCG is preparing a major revision of its production rules, with the headline change being the creation of an official Chianti Rosé category. This rosé would have its own production rules, could carry sub-zone names, would be released from 1 December in the harvest year and could not use governo all’uso Toscano or the traditional fiasco bottle. Other proposed changes include lowering the minimum Sangiovese in Chianti blends from 70% to 60%, capping Cabernet varieties at 15% across the appellation and 10% in Colli Senesi, and adding a new sub-zone called Terre di Vinci.…
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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 13 May 2026 until 18 May 2026. See the Spring/Summer press tasting for tips on what to buy.
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IWC 2026 Results Announced
The IWC says entries rose by 7%, with the results presenting a broad picture of both established and emerging wine regions. France submitted the most wines and won the highest total number of Gold medals, while England had the strongest Gold conversion rate among major wine-producing countries, with 16.48% of its entries winning Gold. The strongest major-country Gold conversion rates were England, Australia, Portugal, Italy, France, Spain and New Zealand. Smaller-entry countries also performed well: Canada had the highest overall Gold conversion rate with four Golds, while Greece, Austria, Georgia, Japan, Turkey, Lebanon and North Macedonia were highlighted as signs…
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The Best of South Africa 2026
In early May 2026, I went to Tim Atkin’s The Best of South Africa tasting, a curated selection of producers and wines from his 2025 South Africa Special Report. It brought together some of the best wines from the Cape, most of them presented by the people who made them. In the introduction to the tasting notes, Tim highlighted the incredible diversity of South African wine. The Cape can produce almost any style to an enviably high standard. This year’s tasting featured 346 wines from 81 producers. This time, I decided to focus only on wines priced at £25 and…
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Costellore Prosecco
I picked up this wine as Aldi’s ‘Wine of the Week’, and at a sort of giveaway price it felt very much like a bottle designed to get people through the doors There’s no vintage and no mention of the producer, so I did not expect much, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The producer code, IT/VI/4816, seems to point towards Cantina di Soave / Cadis 1898, a name associated with high price ‘Maximilian I’ Prosecco. Extra Dry is actually sweeter than Brut, which is a bit confusing because “extra dry” sounds as though it should be…
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Sainsbury’s Spring Summer Tasting
In early May 2026, I was invited to Sainsbury’s Spring/Summer Tasting in London. Trends Sainsbury’s is seeing include a growing interest in orange wine, with online searches up 100% year on year. Wines under £7 are proving popular with shoppers, as customers continue to look for good-value options. At the other end of the market, shoppers are also choosing premium wines for special occasions and gifts. Cider is also enjoying a revival, while botanical flavours are becoming increasingly popular. At this tasting, there was a strong focus on Taste the Difference wines, a range which Sainsbury’s says aims to champion…
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Asda Exceptional Tasting
In early May 2026, I attended Asda’s Spring/Summer tasting, where the focus this time was on a smaller, more selective showcase of its own-label Exceptional wines. The Exceptional range is not limited to wine. It now spans all of Asda’s categories, marking a broader shift away from the former Extra Special branding. That transition has taken around three and a half years, and in wine it has given Asda the opportunity to rethink not only the range itself, but also the way the bottles look and feel. The aim with Exceptional wines is clear: to offer quality at some of…
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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