In October 2024, I had the pleasure of attending the Waitrose Autumn Wines, Beers and Spirits Press Tasting. The showcase featured over 125 wines, mostly available in Waitrose stores with a select few only available online at Waitrose Cellar.
Waitrose have launched five new offerings in the Loved & Found wine range, including Aranel, Piedirosso, Sousão, Piquepoul Noir, and Terret Blanc. Champagne continues to surge in popularity, with Waitrose outperforming the grocery market by 3.5% in value. The supermarket also dominates the Vintage Champagne category, having a 92% value share year-to-date, outpacing the market by an impressive 25%. Waitrose has also become the first major UK supermarket to trial cork recycling, furthering its commitment to sustainability.
Waitrose is also seeing success in alternative format drinks,
such as boxed and canned wines, with a 25% increase in sales in these formats.
Here are the wines that particularly stood out for me, along with my notes:
Jackson Estate Stich Sauvignon Blanc 2023, Marlborough – £14.99, 13%
100% Sauvignon Blanc, harvested in the early hours of the morning to reduce field heat and enhance flavour. After fermentation, the young wine was aged on light lees for up to three months. The aroma is intensely typical of Sauvignon Blanc and truly outstanding. The mid-palate also delivers a deep, zesty blend of grapefruit, lime and a subtle hint of vanilla. While I usually spit out during tastings, the impulse with this wine was to swallow.
Wildstone Reserva Roussanne 2024, Colchagua Valley – £8.99, 13.5%
New to Waitrose, this wine is made up of 85% Roussanne and 15% Marsanne, sourced from the rich granitic soils of Chile’s coastal Colchagua Valley. A special yeast was used to enhance the wine’s aromas and it was aged on its fine lees in oak for three months. The aroma offers a great bouquet of orange blossom, peach and honey. On the palate, the ripe peach flavour is even deeper and more pronounced. For its price, I found this to be the best white wine of the tasting in terms of taste.
Sorcova Fetească Regală 2023, Banat, Western Romania – £8.99, 11%
New to Waitrose, this wine is made from 100% Fetească Regală. The grapes were harvested at night to ensure they arrived at the winery cool, preserving their freshness. The wine offers vibrant, ripe notes of raspberry and strawberry, with a finish that pleasantly lingers on the palate.
Leckford Estate Blanc de Blancs 2015 Magnum, Hampshire, England – 150cl, £59.99, 12%
Made from 100% Chardonnay grown in the Waitrose vineyard on the Leckford Estate in Hampshire, this wine spent an average of 18 months on its lees. It is a very small, limited edition parcel. The aroma is rich with orchard fruit and hints of nectarine. On the palate, there’s an excellent brioche flavour with fantastic length, making it very memorable.
Ferdinand Bonnet Vintage 2014, Champagne, France – £39.99, 12%
New to Waitrose, this Champagne is a blend of 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay, aged for eight years on the lees. The nose reveals toasty and spicy notes, while the palate offers an exceptional experience with deep honey and ripe apricot flavours. It’s like tasting ripe apricots wrapped in butter pastry. A truly special Champagne, available from Waitrose Cellar.
Waitrose No.1 Margaux 2021, Bordeaux – £24.99, 13%
New to Waitrose, this wine is a blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, made exclusively for Waitrose & Partners in collaboration with Château Soussans and the historic Maison Sichel. The wine was aged for 12 months in French oak barrels. The aroma is rich with black fruit and hints of wood, while the palate offers a deep blackberry and cassis flavour. The tannins are perfectly balanced, with layers of cedar and tobacco adding depth.
Waitrose Loved & Found Sousão 2022, Lisboa – £8.99, 14%
New to Waitrose, this wine is made from 100% Sousão and aged for six months in oak barrels. The wine offers an aromatic, oaky nose, with fruity and floral notes of violets on the palate. For its price, it delivers excellent quality.
Eisenstone Koonunga Shiraz 2021, Barossa Valley – £49.99, 14.5%
New to Waitrose, this wine is made from 100% Shiraz, sourced from Becker Vineyard in the Koonunga sub-region of the Barossa Valley. Fermented in small batches with neutral yeast, it was matured for 20 months in a mix of 50% new and 50% older French barrels. The winemaking process emphasises minimal intervention, with the wine being moved as little as possible before bottling, and it was not cold stabilised or filtered. Clarity was achieved naturally over two winters through settling. This Shiraz has a deep red-purple colour with an oaky aroma. On the palate, it offers red fruit flavours complemented by dark chocolate, with a long, powerful finish. It’s was hard to believe it was a Shiraz as I’ve never had one tasting like this. My favourite of the tasting, it’s a limited release with only 4,400 bottles available.
Tommasi Amarone Classico della Valpolicella 2019, Veneto, Italy – £44.99, 15%
This Amarone is a blend of 50% Corvina, 30% Rondinella, 15% Corvinone, and 5% Oseleta, from Tommasi’s Conca d’Oro and La Groletta hillside vineyards in the Valpolicella Classico region. After fermentation, the wine was matured for 30 months in 35-hectolitre Slavonian oak barrels and then aged for an additional year in bottle before release. It has an intense ruby red colour, with an aroma rich in wood. On the palate, you’ll find flavours of cherry and fig cake, with a touch of herbal notes. The wine is smooth, ready to drink and not overly tannic. Available from Waitrose Cellar.
Schug Carneros Pinot Noir 2022, California – £29.99, 14%
Made from 100% Pinot Noir, sourced from the Los Carneros district at the southern end of both the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, this wine was aged for 10 months in French oak barrels, with 25% of the barrels being new. New to Waitrose, this wine stands out as an excellent offering. It has a wonderfully perfumed, full-on yet delicate cherry aroma. The palate offers rich red-cherry fruit flavours with a hint of spice and herbs, complemented by fine tannins and a layered richness with a subtle touch of oak. I’ve had something similar from California before, but it cost nearly 50% more.
I have to admit, it was very difficult to narrow the selection down to my usual 6 to 10 wines. This is usually a good number because, in a typical tasting, it naturally comes down to that number and people reading this don’t have the patience to read more. However, this tasting was different, with a much larger number of wines that impressed me. Here’s the surplus that didn’t quite make the top 10 list, but might easily have been included. You really can’t go wrong buying any of them.
Waitrose Brut NV Champagne, France £24.99
Waitrose No.1 Castillo Perelada Cava Brut 2022 Catalonia, Spain £11.99
Penfolds Cuvée Brut NV Champagne, France £42.99
Muga Rioja Blanco 2023 Rioja £12.99
Waitrose No.1 Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc 2024 Awatere Valley, Marlborough £12.99
Waitrose No.1 Albariño 2023 Rias Baixas £13.99
René Jolly Blanc de Blancs Brut NV Champagne, France £36.99 (Waitrose Cellar)
Château Lalande d’Auvion 2020 Médoc £14.99
Montecillo Reserva 2017 Rioja £15.99
And as an extra extra I suggest for the holiday season:
Waitrose Blueprint Fine Tawny Port NV, Porto and Douro, Portugal £9.49
Prices are subject to change. Please note that not all wines are in all stores but they can always be ordered online at waitrosecellar.com and there’s also next day click and collect from any Waitrose shop, excluding Jersey and Guernsey.
