Domaine Saint Ferréol Viognier, IGP Pays d’Oc, France 2017 (£14.99, or £11.99 as part of a mix six, Majestic) Earlier this year, Majestic Wine came very close to disappearing for good. Life on the high street (or in the former petrol stations, railway arches and other eclectic venues where Majestic have tended to set up shop) was looking too tough for the 40-year-old firm, and its stores were set for a rebranding by its former owners as Naked Wines – or to be closed down completely. With the company now in the hands of investment firm Fortress, Majestic’s 200 or so stores are safe for now, and the word from head office is that the merchant will be looking to return to its old strengths: focusing more on range than the sometimes gimmicky trading tricks that were such a feature of the Naked years. It’s a development that hopefully means we can expect more wines like the gorgeously floral, ripe, rounded, apricot-scented Saint-Ferréol Viognier.
Definition Rioja Reserva, Rioja, Spain 2013 (£13.99, or £11.99 as part of a mix six, Majestic) Another feature of Majestic’s recent past which may well now fade into the background is the emphasis on own-label wines. From a business point of view, you can understand why retailers are seduced by the practice: if a shop put its own name on the bottle it means they have greater control over who makes it, how it’s made and what price it goes out for – and it’s much harder to compare prices with other stores. The problem is that it can make for a rather dull and samey-looking set-up if you have too many own-brands; you don’t get the sense of abundance and variety you get, when, say, you’re shopping in a really good independent. Not that all the Majestic own-brands were bad by any means. Its in-house Definition Rioja is a wonderfully deep, mellow, savoury experience courtesy of the excellent traditional producer, La Rioja Alta.
Alheit Limited Release Red Blend, Western Cape, South Africa 2018 (£19.99, or £13.32 as part of a mix 6, Majestic) One thing that will never change at Majestic: the way the pricing works means you’re always better off buying a case of six than a single bottle. At a recent tasting of 100 highlights of the current range, I was surprised by how many bottles I’d be happy to put in my own putative “mix six”, with the Rioja and the Saint-Ferréol joined by a pair from new wave South African producer Alheit (the pale, graceful, light-alcohol Red Blend, and, for the same price, the shimmering apple-scented Alheit Limited Release Chenin Blanc 2018); and by two delightful dry whites from the swanky Soave producer Inama: the racy, pretty Soave Classico 2018 (£15.99, or £13.99 in a mix 6) and the more intense, macerated herbs and stone fruit of Vigneto du Lot Soave Classico 2016 (£27, or £24.30).
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