Top seasonal buys 1 Dönnhoff, Oberhäuser 2 Fabrizio Vella, 3 Kim Crawford, LIGHTER WINES FOR Leistenberg Riesling Catarratto, Sicily, Italy Small Parcels Spitfire Kabinett, Nahe, 2018 93 Sauvignon Blanc, SUMMER DRINKING Germany 2016 94 £14.99 Alliance Wine, Define Food & Wine, Marlborough, New Valhalla’s Goat £17.17-£19.75 Exel, Justerini & Brooks Zealand 2019 93 This bold, complex and utterly engaging Is there a more perfect summer wine than After tasting more than 280 wines at his Hampshire home, Peter Richards MW white was a real find in this tasting and £16.35-£19.99 (2018) Exel, KWM, has picked out his 78 top reds and whites with 12.5% alcohol or less, and priced this? Its thrilling combination of ethereal went straight to the top of the shopping Luvians, Martinez Wines, Vinvm, WoodWinters grace with steely tension is hard to better at under £20 – perfect choices to enjoy during the warmer days and evenings list. From its golden hue to the engaging Fresh, crunchy, unashamedly summery – a ballet dancer of a wine, underpinned aromas of glazed peach and tangy, dry, Sauvignon Blanc was always going to by vivid green-apple acidity suffused with pithy palate profile, it’s not for the feature prominently here. This is precise fleshy succulence typical of great Kabinett faint-hearted. There’s a touch of gently yet energetic, tangy but with complex wines. Dönnhoff’s emphasis on purity and oxidative marmalade and ginger too, but lime, nettle, curry leaf, gooseberry and hough I’m not in the habit of precision shines through, as does the it’s elegantly done. Brings sunshine into anis notes. It’s dry, linear and long – a reciting poetry to bottles of ‘When it’s warm, you want a Leistenberg vineyard’s minerality and any day – organic, and great value too. food-friendly style ideal for salads or wine, frequently during this elegance. Drink 2020-2030 Alcohol 9% Drink 2020-2024 Alc 11% goat’s cheese. Drink 2020-2022 Alc 12% intriguing tasting I could sense wine to seduce you with its Tthe famous opening lines of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 springing to my lips: ‘Shall I compare bright, vivacious charm… These thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.’ are wines to seize the day!’ Because that’s exactly what I was looking for: wines that were lovely. As I started the tasting, I pondered: what do we really want in a summer wine? Loveliness certainly. But those wines extensively in the magazine and there’s a lot more to it than that. When it’s online recently. Some of the more easily warm, you want a wine to seduce you with its comparable wines I tasted blind, the rest I bright, vivacious charm. This is not the season tasted non-blind. We’d expected to get about for shades of nuance and intricate subtlety. 80 samples but the final tasting numbered not These are wines to seize the day! far off 300 bottles, so the standard of my final In the idealised vision, summer is about selection is high. warmth, holidays and al fresco eating. We These are wines to be relished – perhaps reach for wines to slake our thirst, to refresh tucked into a car boot en route to a staycation and revive our senses. For this, the best wines retreat, or just savoured at home. And while Peter Richards MW is a are fresh and invigorating in style – and those enjoying them, we may let ourselves believe wine writer and author, that show well even when chilled (see box). Shakespeare’s line that ‘eternal summer and the DWWA Wines that aren’t too high in alcohol are shall not fade’. Regional Chair for Chile important in this context. The risk of dehydration, as well as sleeping poorly, means that quaffing high-alcohol wine is a risky Top tips for summer serving game in warm weather. Affordability also counts, so you can properly enjoy yourself n Chill whites in the fridge, but take 1 2 3 4 5 6 without feeling guilty. That’s why we specified them out 10 minutes before serving. a price range of £8-£20 (US$10-$25) and a n Good summer reds should be 4 Plan B! Wines, OD 5 Domaine Chavy- 6 Feudo Disisa, Lu maximum alcohol level of 12.5% on the label served at 10°C-16°C (50°F-60°F). Riesling, Frankland Chouet, Les Petits Bancu, Monreale, Sicily, for this tasting. Did this make it harder for the That’s significantly cooler than many River, Western Australia Poiriers Bourgogne Italy 2018 92 reds to shine? Perhaps – though there’s surely a summer’s day, so don’t be afraid to no shortage these days of easygoing reds pop them in the fridge for 30 minutes 2017 93 Aligoté, Burgundy, £18.95 Jeroboams majoring on lower alcohol and fresh flavours. before serving if the weather’s warm. Give this wine time to work its magic on £14.50 Lanchester Wines France 2018 92 What’s more, the food we eat changes in you. Inititally it can come across as slightly n For rapid cooling, submerging a bottle in a mixture of smashed ice and If the Andrex puppy came with a bottle summer: we prioritise simpler, fresher flavours. £17-£18.99 Roberson, The Solent Cellar surly, with its earthy, woolly, anise and water is best. One alternative to ice cubes is to freeze a few whole grapes, rather than loo roll in its mouth, this would The wines that make a cheery partner for A rewarding white that conjours up the yellow fruit aromas. But on the palate it then you can pop those in your wine glass without fear of dilution. those foods naturally share the same kind of be the wine. A beautifully upbeat, fresh, sights, sounds and scents of Burgundy’s slowly unfurls, revealing wonderful character: keen, crunchy, forthright. But of n Be wary of dehydration when it’s warm – drink lots of water, and ideally eat pure, engaging Riesling brimming with glorious Côte d’Or. It’s ambitious and structure, grip and tang. Over time in the course summer isn’t all about blazing sun and food with a high water content too. green apple and lime flavours, and a beautifully made, with lemony acidity glass it just gets better and better: a beaches. Sometimes it’s miserable. So there’s n We specified a maximum alcohol level of 12.5% on the label for this tasting. wonderfully well-judged, off-dry palate. offset by gently creamy, yeasty flavours complex and multi-faceted white that’s also a place for wines to warm the cockles and It’s worth noting that the actual alcohol level in the bottle can vary, It got better over time and worked with all and a creamy texture. Subtle hints also of sunny and sumptuous but also refreshing. comfort the soul. depending on tolerances allowed within local legislation. For example, a kinds of food from monkfish curry to lemongrass and warm earth. Even at this Drink 2020-2024 Alc 12% ➢ Our focus is on white and red here; you wine in the EU labelled as 12.5% can be as high as 13%; the same wine in the butternut squash and sage risotto. Utterly price it’s a bargain, and great with fish won’t find any rosé – Decanter has covered US can be as high as 13.5%. refreshing. Drink 2020-2025 Alc 10.4% stew to boot. Drink 2020-2023 Alc 11.5% 18 | September 2020 • Decanter Decanter • September 2020 | 19 Top seasonal buys 7 Kelly Washington, 8 Framingham, Classic 9 Schlumberger, Les 13 Casa Silva, Cool 14 Gianni Tessari, 15 Langlois-Chateau, Organic Sauvignon Riesling, Marlborough, Prince Abbés Riesling, Coast Sauvignon Gris, Monte Tenda, Soave Sancerre, Loire, France Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand 2019 91 Alsace, France 2016 91 Paredones, Colchagua, Classico, Veneto, Italy 2018 90 New Zealand 2017 92 £14.35-£16.99 Bottle Apostle, Cork of the £15.19-£17.95 Hedonism, Partridges, The Chile 2018 90 2018 90 £16-£19 Bon Coeur, D’Arcy Wine Merchants, North, Dvine Cellars, Exel, Fine Wines of Mayfield, £19.95 Jeroboams Drink Shop, The Stroud Wines Co, Toscanaccio £12.99-£14.95 Amps, Cheers, DeBurgh, £14.95 Jeroboams Divine Fine Wines, Jaded Palates, RD Wines KWM, Majestic, No2 Pound Street, The NZ House ‘Not your average Marlborough There are some wines that just get you Palmers Wine Store, Penistone Wine Cellars, There’s Soave and there’s Soave. Ditch the Pristine aromas of nettles, fresh lime and of Wine, The Whisky Exchange, Tivoli Wines Sauvignon’, the blurb says. Tasting blind, excited, and this is one of those. Bright, gooseberry emerge in stately fashion Pure, balanced, perfectly summery Roberts & Speight bland, infinitely forgettable stuff and pure aromas range from red apple to from this elegantly rendered Sauvignon. I had this firmly in the upper Loire, given Riesling made by masters of this particular Sauvignon Gris is like a cross between the reach instead for this lemony, peachy, elderflower, honey and even lychee. On Langlois-Chateau is based in Saumur but the woodsmoke, lime, gunflint, wet wool craft. Times are changing at Framingham tangy green flavours of Sauvignon Blanc leesy Soave that’s bursting with character and honey aromas and dry, pithy, complex after head winemaker and Riesling the palate it’s broad, fresh, mineral and and the honeyed richness of Pinot Gris. and charm. Hints of tangerine rind and a makes wines from all across the Loire. This palate profile whose generous texture virtuoso Dr Andrew Hedley left in dry, with a gentle texture and touch of Chile does a fine line in it and this is an serious texture make it very food-friendly Sancerre is serious and dry, with fresh hinted at the use of old oak.