“Are we going to run out of wine?” someone asked me last week. At first I thought they were referring to me personally, you know, at home. Which, frankly, just wouldn’t happen. We might frequently run out of milk, bread and bin liners but I have never, ever knowingly run out of wine. In fact, they were referring to something they’d seen in the news about a possible world wine shortage. Fear not; there isn’t. Last year’s total wine production was down, but this year’s will be up again. Read my friend Victoria’s article for a glass-half-full explanation. And just in case your stocks are low…
Current white in the fridge: Taste The Difference Greco di Tufo 2012, £10.49 (currently £7.86 on offer), Sainsbury’s
Prepare your chops for this one. It’s crisp, fresh and quite the ray of sunshine on these dark stormy evenings. Greco is the grape and the Greco di Tufo region is in Campania, in Southern Italy. The volcanic soils of the region help create positively explosive flavours, including grapefruit and green apple. And needless to say, it slips down like molten lava. Just add crab & avocado salad for a truly perky supper.
Current red in the rack: La Tunella Cabernet Franc 2011, £10.95, Corney & Barrow
So, I tasted this one with a crowd of 80 at the Lennoxlove Book Festival last weekend and it went down very well indeed. Literally. It’s quite unusual to find a 100% Cabernet Franc wine outside of the Loire Valley nowadays and they can be on the austere side. But this one is an absolute charmer. Made in the Friuli region in northeastern Italy, there’s soft black fruits and enough tannin to remind you who’s in charge. Needs food though.
Ps. The current series of The Alan Titchmarsh show finishes this week. Tune in on Thursday and you’ll see what happens when you taste Snowballs with Status Quo. It has been quite the adventure, and I’ve loved every minute of it. Here are some parting highlights.
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| My kids on the Halloween edition, terrorising the guests in the Green Room. |
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| AT & Me! I’m smiling so much, my eyes have actually disappeared. |
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| Rocking all over the studio. That’ll be the Snowballs. |
My first post here but its great to come across a wine that I recently enjoyed. The Taste The Difference Greco di Tufo is a lovely wine. Absolutely bursting with flavor!
Very happy to hear that!
Wine shortage indeed! I'm sure there are at least a hundred wineries in Napa that would love to sell out of all of their product and suffer from their own personal wine 'shortage'!
Ha, exactly. Lots in that position from what I know…