Atlantis Hondarrabi Zuri Txakoli, Spain 2015 (£11.99, or £9.99 as part of a case of six bottles, Majestic, available from mid-October) Majestic Wine Warehouse has an interesting new sales wheeze: a section in each of its stores devoted to selling small parcels of wine outside its normal range. If the section’s branding, ‘When it’s gone it’s gone’ or ‘Wigig’, sounds like cunning marketing designed to make you think you’d better buy now before you miss out, well that’s because it is: compared to many of the tiny production wines you might find in an independent merchant, the wines in questions aren’t exactly rarities. Still, if you have a Majestic nearby, some of the Wigig wines are certainly worth snapping up, not least this typically bracing, cleansing, seafood-befriending bone-dry Basque white.
Inama Val Liona, IGT Veneto Rosso, Italy 2014 (£14.99, or £9.99 as part of a case of six bottles, Majestic) While you can buy a single bottle at Majestic these days, the way the retailer structures its pricing means it’s only really worth buying a case of six bottles (which can be mixed). The difference is particularly pronounced on another Wigig, the wonderful northeastern Italian red from Inama, a mix of Bordeaux grape varieties made in Valpolicella country in a light, silk-textured cherry-scented style. It’s a bit of a stretch at the single-bottle price, but a bargain on the six-bottle deal. There’s also the Riccitelli Vineyard Selection Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina 2014 (£22.99 versus £19.99) – but no matter the price this is a beautifully fragrant but savoury steak-friendly red.
Morandé One to One País Reserva, Maule, Chile 2015 (£8.99, or £6.99 as part of a case of six bottles, Majestic) The boldest new addition to the Majestic range isn’t part of the Wigig promotion. It’s made from país, a grape variety that despite being for many years the most widely planted in Chile, was never really considered for quality wines, and was instead used, anonymously, in cheap equivalents of vin de table. A new generation of Chilean winemakers has started to take it a little more seriously, however. In this case they have used a plot of very old país vines in the Maule Valley to come up with a deliciously juicy lighter red in the vein of Beaujolais or the paler end of northwestern Spanish mencía, and like both of those styles, it works very well with a plate of charcuterie.
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