A Year With a Special Rhythm This was the year to really know your vineyard in the Douro; each location and each variety developed at its own individual rhythm and winemakers had to be constantly in the vineyards. Deciding to harvest on a hunch or following fashion was definitely not a good idea in this […]
As The Grape Club will no longer be in business from next week onwards, this will be our last official blog post on our Original and Red Box wines.
However, this blog will continue – Hooray! Every month there will be four wines written up that are affordable, delicious and interesting. These wines will be ones that you can find in the shops or online so everyone can maintain their wine racks with satisfying, value-for-money wine and not go back to drinking discounted, mass produced cr*p… If there are any particular wine regions or styles you’d like to know more about please do write any comments below.
For now, here are the final wines chosen that have been the most popular over the past two years. They are some of our favourites and of our members’. They’ll always have a special place in our wine lists. We hope you enjoy them and continue to follow us as we endeavor to get the people of the UK drinking better wine, or a small group of us at least…
From: Nelson, New Zealand
Grape: 100% Grüner Veltliner
Case price of 6: £68
This wine featured in our second ever Grape Drop in October 2014 and was immediately a huge success. Not only is it a wine from New Zealand that isn’t Sauvignon Blanc, it is also a grape native to Austria. 2014 is now Seifreid’s fifth release of Grüner Veltliner showing it is only getting better and, quite rightly, more popular.
Flavours consist of pear and a slight spiciness which the wine world likes to call ‘white pepper’ when referring to white wine. You can certainly taste the pepper in this wine which adds a nice bit of complexity to it. An incredibly refreshing wine that incorporates the best of what Austria can offer mixed with New Zealand’s perfect climate for this grape. A real joy that forever more has become a firm favourite variety.
From: Castilla y León, Arribes, Spain
Grape: 100% Malvasia
Case price of 12: £93
In keeping with the Grape Club’s theme of finding new wines that aren’t so popular on supermarket shelves, we found this Malvasia from Spain in late 2015. The variety is little known in the UK but produces some spectacular wines under many different synonyms in lots of Iberian countries. Arribes is near Salamanca in Spain and only a stone’s throw away from the border of Portugal. It’s a very interesting and beautiful little place that gets extremely hot in the summer months, perfect for this Malvasia grape.
This wine can be described as ‘easy-drinking’. It’s light and crisp but still has those aromatic flavours, such as kiwi, that make it a real pleasure to drink. You can see why this has been one of our absolute favourites from the past two years. It’s a refreshing alternative to the typical whites out there.
From: Côtes du Rhône, France
Grape: 60% Syrah, 35% Grenache, 5% Mourvèdre
Case price: £65
Whilst Guigal, a highly respected winemaker, makes outstanding top level wines every year, their entry level wines are just as impressive. This wine has stood out as one of Grape Club member’s top four wines ever since it featured in our November 2014 grape drop. Its smooth flavours and ability to handle a variety of foods makes it a very popular wine, not to mention the very modest price tag. This Côtes du Rhône epitomises the phrase ‘value for money’.
Syrah, known as Shiraz in Australia, is a deeply coloured, rich wine with black fruit flavour. Grenache has a red-fruit character of strawberry and raspberry with some spicy peppery notes. Adding Grenache to Syrah can result in a wine with lower levels of tannin. They’ve also included a bit of Mourvèdre, which is the classic Rhône blend. Mourvèdre adds intense fruit and perfume to the mix. The end result delivers the typical black cherry from Syrah and a smoky, earthy taste due to the oak ageing, making it an overall intensely aromatic and delicious wine. We don’t think you’ll forget Guigal wines any time soon.
From: Colchagua Valley, Chile
Grape: 100% Malbec
Case price: £94
Because this delicious Malbec is from Chile and not Argentina it makes it that much more interesting and Grape Club members certainly took notice with this bottle. Only released four months ago, it was time for a comeback for our last ever month. This silky, fruity, toasty wine is not as sweet as the Argie Malbec and what beautiful flavours it has of dark fruits and spice.
Throughout our two years of finding wines we’ve always come back to Montes. Not only do they produce outstanding wines, they’ve also done a lot for Chilean wine over the past 25 years. Aurelio Montes personally takes care of the vineyards making sure they are lovingly maintained and cared for. We’ll always love them and hope you will too.
From: Paarl, South Africa
Grape: 100% Pinotage
Case price: £60
We waited till the warm months to send you the perfect Pinotage last year and it proved to be one of the most popular wines we’ve sent out. Fairview have a spectacular portfolio and this has now become a true favourite and a perfect wine for the summer BBQ’s ahead (lets hope we get some good weather to go with them).
Pinotage is South Africa’s speciality made from a crossing of Cinsault and Pinot Noir grape varieties and is considered to be one of the world’s best crossings. It’s flavours are said to consist of cinnamon spice, plum and lavender. Those flavours together are the epitome of a good wine: a little spice with some dark fruit flavours with an aromatic smell, it’s pretty damn good.
From: Douro, Portugal
Grape: Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca
Case price: £60
We couldn’t have our final month of Grape Club wines without including one of our families wines. Luckily for us it has been one of the most popular and most purchased wines over the past two years. Featuring in our first ever month, it only seems right to be in our last. Altano Quinta de Ataide Organic is, as the name suggests, 100% certified organic wine and portrays the unique characteristics of the beautiful Douro.
This wine is made using traditional Portuguese grape varieties, perfectly suited to the very harsh conditions of the Douro valley in Portugal. This creates a strong, bold wine of brambly fruit, spice and ripe tannins. As the wine is aged in barrel for 10 months this gives the wine subtle hints of vanilla on the nose due to contact with the wood. We hope this wine does enough to get you interested in the Portuguese market. There are some serious wines coming out of this country so keep a look out for them next time you’re shopping.
Thanks for following us over the past two years, it’s been a great project for the both of us. Have a lovely summer and we’ll be back soon with suggestions for your wine racks.
All the very best,
Louisa and Ant x
The Grape Club 