UPDATED Top 10 Wines for Spring

UPDATE – 3rd April 2009

Since this Oddbins blog was posted, the wine experts at Decanter.com have come up with their own Top 10 Wines from Oddbins –
Click here to take a look at their own take on Oddbins’ best.


After a beautiful sunny weekend across the UK, now's the time to be thinking about those refreshing Spring whites while still clasping to the big juicy reds of Winter. Who better to guide us through the best on offer at Oddbins than Peter Ingram, Assistant Manager at the Marylebone High Street store.

I have more wine at home than my wine rack knows what to do with, and it's primarily down to one man -- Peter Ingram, Assistant Manager at Oddbins on Marylebone High Street. I frequently go in for one bottle and come out with six -- sheer lunacy. But the man has a way with words, and with wine, so what can I do?

Oddbins was bought out several months ago by the original owners and this is welcome news -- Oddbins' focus over the coming months will be to return to their 'small bins' of exceptional wines from lesser-known producers in prime regions. The core offering will be reduced so that more of the wines are rotated. Which is a long way of saying they'll have a great range that's constantly changing. Here are Peter's tips of the best currently on offer:

REDS

Quinta de Bons-Ventos, Portugal, 2007. £5.99
A Portuguese blend from Casa Santos Lima in Estremadura in southern Portugal. They specialise in Portuguese varieties but using modern techniques. A medium bodied wine with red fruits but with lights tannins. Soft, well-rounded fruit.
Pair with: Very tolerant of most pairings being medium bodied. Any light meat or light stew.

Punta Final, Malbec, Argentina, 2007, £8.49
Argentine malbec, further south than Chile which is also well-known for its malbecs which are lighter fruited and more earthy. In this example, you get dark fruit aromas with a little licorice on the nose as well. On the palate, a certain amount of jammy fruit which melts into a very mineral finish with comparatively restrained alcohol.
Pair with: Something fuller-bodied -- a richer stew or anything a bit gamey.

El Quintanal, Ribera del Duero, Spain, 2007, £8.99
100% tempranillo from an up-and-coming region of Spain. Made by a co-operative but the winemaker is a family-owned bodega which is becoming something of a cult winemaker. This is unoaked, lots of very distinct, clear fruits -- red cherries, a little white pepper, medium bodied. Very smooth and approachable.
Pair with: Chicken and lighter meats or with vegetarian foods.

El Quintanal, Vendima Seleccionada, Ribera del Duero, Spain, 2007, £12.99
Similar spec to the wine above, but this is oaked, much fuller-bodied, getting into rich cedar flavours, darker fruit flavours.
Pair with heavier meats -- roasts, steak or any sort of Spanish tapas.

WHITES

Caves de Lugny, Macon-Villages, Chardonnay, 2007. £6.99
100% chardonnay from southern Burgundy, France. Unoaked so distinct cream fruit flavours, citrus and apples with a little bit of stonefruit coming through -- peachy. A little creamy butterness.
Pair with: Very light foods, a light starter or ideal as an aperitif.

Dr Loosen, Riesling, 2007. £7.49
Off-dry, so a little sweetness to it. A tangy acidity to balance the sweetness. Again, stonefruits with a little lychee. Fairly light-bodied, slightly lower alcohol than the others -- just 8.5%. A German wine.
Pair with: Goes very well with Vietnamese, Thai or Chinese -- sweet and spicy Asian foods.

Gemtree Vineyards, Tadpole, McLaren Vale, Australia, Chardonnay/Viognier, 2008. £7.99
This is a chardonnay / viognier blend from the McLaren Vale, Australia. A bit fuller-bodied, quite luscious, tropical fruits. Some stonefruits, but that's a lychee tinge. Unoakced, very clear fruits.
Pair with: Generally a wine to have by itself but can also go well with shellfish, scallops particularly.

Domaine de Villargeau, Coteaux du Giennois, Loire, France, Sauvignon Blanc, 2007. £9.99
Loire Valley sauvignon blanc and quite similar to an unoaked Pouilly-Fume -- lots of herbaceous cut-grass and flinty notes. A little more gooseberry than you'd normally get with a Pouilly-Fume and more towards a Marlborough, New Zealand style. A little more body, a little more fruit.
Pair with: Very much with seafood.

WILDCARDS

Gemma, Vigna Florita, Moscato D'asti, Italy. £6.99
An Italian moscati d'asti -- sweet but light and fresh. Quite low alcohol -- they're usually 5% to 7%. A great finish to any heavy meal. Refreshes your palate and doesn't weigh down with lots of alcohol.
Pair with: Dessert, but nothing too sweet. Goes really well with a pavlova or chilled with a Spring picnic -- chicken and cold cuts.

Lustau, Dry Amontillado, Los Arcos, Sherry, Spain. £10.99 A dry amontillado sherry which I've included because I think it's massively underrated. You get a rich, nutty character to it. The thing with sherries is that it's not that expensive but you're getting quite an aged wine. They blend in different barrels and some of the sherry you're getting is up to 30 or 40 years old. You get a rich, developed flavour for £11 which you'd normally pay alot more for.
Pair with: Suitable as an aperitif or with a coffee and cheeses.