Motoring, Arts & LeisurePaula's Wines of the WeekPaula's Wines of the Week ( Week starting 16th March ) Paula's Wines of the Week ( Week starting 16th March )
16/03/2010
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It's easy being green. So why not help the Irish along on Saint Patrick's Day this Wednesday and pour out some naturally green grape refreshment.
The inherent green coloured tinge of the top-selling varieties of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc make them a good choice for an Irish themed day and their versatility means they'll match all manner of party snacks and meals.
If you're planning on serving an Irish stew with some home-made soda bread then the accompanying drink choice must really be New Zealand Chardonnay. This apple and lime tasting wine will cut through some of the stew's meaty richness.
But there's more than one way of being green. Look along the wine aisles of your local supermarket and you'll find 'greener' alternatives to glass being used to contain wine. Glass may be recyclable but it's awfully heavy. Wine bottles made of plastic are only half the weight of glass and this means more can be carried in each consignment carried by ship, plane and truck or your car: reducing the number of journeys, fuel and consequent emissions.
And where can you find these environmentally friendly wines? Supermarkets that's where. Sainsbury's has been selling its own-label Vins De Pays D'Oc in a square-shouldered 1.5-litre plastic bottle for years. It's good to be green.
£3.99 and under
There are still some good bottles to be found that cost the same as a couple of National Lottery tickets.
Sainsbury's Vins de Pays D'Oc Cabernet Sauvignon 1.5-litre plastic bottle, £6.99 (equivalent to £3.14 for a normal 75cl-sized bottle)
Sainsbury's Vins de Pays D'Oc Merlot 1.5-litre plastic bottle, £6.99 (equivalent to £3.50 for a normal 75cl-sized bottle) Sainsbury's www.sainsburys.com/groceries
Two-bottles worth of easy drinking fruity red that not only come in handy square shaped plastic bottles (you can pack 'em in tight in the shopping bag with no wasted space) but are stonking good value too. Open and drink within 5 days to get maximum freshness of flavour, after that the air will start to turn the contents to vinegar
£5.99 and under
There are a few fruity, slurpable wines among the forgettable masses.
Tesco Finest Ken Forrester South African Chenin Blanc, £5.48 Tesco www.tesco.com
This light green coloured wine not only looks green but it tastes green too, of sharp green apples mostly. Well perhaps more like the flavours found in those juicily small apples with the red skin blemish that hang off many trees in English back gardens.
Douglas Green South African Chenin Blanc, £5.49 Morrisons www.morrisons.co.uk
Perhaps getting in a bottle of Douglas Green Chenin Blanc is a bit of an overkill on the green theme. But this South African wine smells so invitingly of melon and tastes wonderfully sweetly-sour that we'll forgive it: gooseberry juice with a dash of butterscotch makes a pleasant change from the many forgettable Chenins
.
Costs a bit more, but tastes great
Sometimes a bottle of wine tastes so fab it's still a bargain whatever it costs.
Douglas Green Shiraz, £6.28 Asda www.asda.co.uk
More Douglas Green but a red wine this time. It smells of vanilla and tastes wonderfully rich and spicy: expect flavours of blackberry juice with a pinch of black pepper.
Villa Maria East Coast Chardonnay, £8.99 Tesco www.tesco.com and Budgens www.budgens.co.uk
Quaffable vino with a bit of bite: grapefruit and lime sharpens up the slightly sweet pear and apple flavours.
If you want to tell Paula about a bargain bottle spotted at the supermarket or off-licence then contact her via kate.morley@maturetimes.co.uk or directly through her website link below.