Mini mid winter wine guide
If you've ever walked into a wine store only to wander and wonder what to buy and where to look for it, here is a mini mid winter guide to three great wines in store now that each tick the box of big bodied and fully flavoursome - just the ticket for winter drinking.
Cheeky French Carignan
2020 Mas Des Agrunelles Carino RRP $44.99
It’s rare to encounter red wines made entirely from the Carignan grape in this country so it makes sense that this one comes from the home of this under rated red grape variety, the south of France. In this case, the wine comes from the vast Languedoc region which stretches around the southern coast of France from the west of Provence to the east where it rubs shoulders with Roussillon, another southern French wine region.
This wine has a deliciously deep purple colour, pronounced aromas of sandalwood, hazlenuts and a hints of fresh earth, black cherries and a long, satisfyingly memorable finish with flavours of dark fruit and nutty aromas.
Certified organic and a wine of real beauty.
Buy 2020 Mas Des Agrunelles Carino here
Big buttery Chardonnay
2021 De la Terre Barrique Fermented Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay RRP $24.99
A big old fashioned buttery number with green herbal aromas and very overt malolactic fermentation dominating on the nose of this wine. Rich in style with pronounced creamy flavours and will find favour with Chardonnay lovers but it has some greenness that I find unpleasant.
Buy De la Terre Chardonnay here
Seductive Italian red
2020 Corado Visner di Pergola Visciole RRP $28.99
Here's a quirky wine if ever there was. This deeply flavoursome Italian red is made from 60/40 Sangiovese/Montepulciano grapes, which are blended with wild cherries. This makes the wine a more concentrated example of itself, being blended with cherries for a deliciously intense, super rich and concentrated taste, without being cloying at all. A great wine to drink with chocolate.
It comes from the Marche region on central Italy's east coast; opposite Tuscany in other words.
Visciole is the Italian name for wild cherries.
Buy 2020 Corado Visner Visciole here