Top 10s Top 10 wines for Easter

Date Published:

24/02/2009

It’s Easter, the first official break since you made your New Year’s resolutions. Time to get out into the spring sunshine, head for the coast, throw off dull care – and aforementioned resolutions. Let’s have a piece of beautiful new season’s lamb, with some tender-sweet baby carrots and the first of the incomparable Jersey Royals. But what shall we wash it down with? Wine expert, Stuart Walton, saves the day

Think pink

Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Rosé (John Lewis, £25)
Feuillatte’s pink fizz is right on the money just now. A deep, shimmering salmon in colour, it’s overflowing with notes of raspberries and all those summer fruits still to come. Chill it well, and serve it in long flute glasses as the perfect appetite-whetter.

Cheap but not nasty

Vieille Fontaine White 2008 (Tesco, £3.29)
We're all on the lookout for bargains in these straitened times, holiday weekend or not. The sad truth is that most wine this far under £4 is likely to be horrid, but here's an honourable exception. It won't win any prizes for complexity, but it’s clean and fresh, with a tang of green apple, and low enough in alcohol (11.5%) to make a decent lunchtime salad tipple.

Stands out from the crowd

Villa Leyda Garuma Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (Oddbins, £8.99)
We seem to be awash with Sauvignon these days – it's practically the new Chardonnay – and much of it can be disappointingly bland. This one's anything but. It's got all the tonsil-grabbing, grassy pungency the grape should have; all the crisp, shiny greenness. An unrivalled match with chalky goat's cheeses.

An aromatic riot

Alamos Viognier 2008 (Majestic, £6.99)
If it isn't Sauvignon, it's got to be Viognier, the grape that makes its presence felt with an aromatic riot of apricots and flowers. Argentina is making some of the best ones, and this is excellent value for its upfront, decadent ripeness, all kept in check on a long, taut leash of lemon acidity. Drink with smoked salmon.

The finest finset

Tesco Finest Navarra Garnacha Rosé 2008 (Tesco, £6.14)
I'm loving the juicy-ripe strawberry and rosehip flavours in this Spanish pink. It's straightforward, uncomplicated fun, and isn't that what we want rosé wines to be?

The American dream

Bonterra Merlot 2006 (Waitrose, down from £10.99 to £7.32 until April 21)
This California charmer is worth every penny of the original asking price, and is an absolute steal at this discount. I gave my lamb a thick black glaze of tapenade, mustard, lemon and garlic, and this sensational Merlot rose effortlessly to the occasion, with layers of luxuriant blackberry and plum emerging through the velvety tannins.

Well connected

Côtes du Rhône 2005, Guigal (Majestic, £8.99, or £6.99 each for 2 bottles till April 27)
The house of Guigal is one of the greatest wine producers in France’s Rhône Valley, a byword for huge, stately reds of massive complexity. Here, from the region's humblest designation (simple Côtes du Rhône), in a fabulous vintage, an object-lesson wine has been made. It's gently spicy, with a big uplift of deep, ripe purple fruit. Perfect with herb-crusted lamb.

Sweet tooth

Quady’s Essensia Orange Muscat 2006 (Avery's of Bristol, www.averys.com, £7.99, half-bottle)
California's Andrew Quady is a one-off, choosing to make only dessert wines. This for me is the best of his wines to go with chocolate, its spangly orange-blossom freshness offsetting even the darkest and bitterest chocolate. A combination that's much more grown-up than a chocolate orange.

Sweet spirit

La Gourgeonne Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise 2006 (Virgin Wines, www.virginwines.com, £7.99)
A Muscat in a totally different style, this comes from southern France, and is made by the same method as port (the fermentation is stopped while the wine is still full of sugars, making it naturally lusciously sweet). There are notes of honeysuckle and sweet green grapes in there, together with a powerful, spirity finish.

Last port of call

Cockburns Light Dry White Port (Sainsburys, £6.49, 50cl)
You may not even have known there was such a thing as white port, and it's fair to say you haven't really needed to. Much of it is ditchwater-dull. Here is a triumphant exception. It has exotic citrus scents all over it, and is weighty but tingly-fresh in the mouth, leading to a distinctly herb-tinged, gently bitter finish a little like superior vermouth. Chill well, and drink as an aperitif with almonds and olives, or as a closer to a great Easter feast.

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