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Friday 12 February 2016

This week's wine: Chilean Chardonnay

Chilean chardonnays and sauvignons do not figure frequently on this blog because so many of them are routine and, though perfectly welcome, seldom worth championing.

Every so often, however, something turns up to remind you that Chilean wines can be better than that, and one of Waitrose’s latest is certainly worth a try.

To claim that this 2015 Montgras Reserva chardonnay at £8.99 is like a white burgundy would be unfair to white burgundy as well as to this Chilean bottle. It is not a burgundy but it is definitely a chardonnay, better than many you will find on our supermarket shelves, with enough personality and zest to make it well worth drinking.

Though it does not require a meal to accompany it, it would go well with seafood and dishes with a certain amount of spice. Waitrose calls it fruity, with exuberant notes of pineapple, apricot, and peach melba - words that are  used of many wines but seem thoroughly apt in this case, even if melba is a word too many.

Its taste is bold and bright but, though high in alcohol, it stops short of of seeming overwhelming.  It’s a chardonnay I opened this week while cooking and continued pouring it during our Chinese New Year meal that followed.

But if £8.99 is more than you want to spend on a South American white, Waitrose also sell a Touraine Sauvignon for £6.99, which is no mere bargain basement tipple. The 2014 vintage is as fresh as they come.  It is a good example of a an unpretentious household wine,with a label depicting a lawnmower as proof that it comes from the garden of France.  A few bottles would be worth keeping  at the ready in your chiller.
12 February 2016



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