Lenza di Munti Etna Rosso, Sicily, Italy 2013 (£9.95, Booths)
Which are the best places to buy wine in Britain? The UK’s two big wine competitions – the International Wine Challenge and the Decanter World Wine Awards – both published their annual reply to that question recently. The differences in winners across numerous categories suggested a healthy competition. Actually, that isn’t really the case in the Supermarket of the Year category, given that most of the big names are still engaged in a Lidl/Aldi-inspired race to the bottom that leaves just three serious contenders: double runner-up Waitrose, the ever-adventurous, deserved IWC champion M&S and the DWWA’s choice, northern chain Booths, where funky choices such as this huskily refreshing, cherryish Sicilian are currently 25% off at a festival of wine that finishes today.
Lopez de Haro Tempranillo, Rioja, Spain 2016 (£8.50, Prohibition Wines; Hennings Wine)
Competition for prizes is much stiffer when it comes to independent wine merchants. These specialists have flourished in the past decade, with around 800 stores now offering an antidote to the sometimes turgid fare served up in most supermarkets. The best have none of the staid snobbishness that used to make a trip to a wine merchant an experience to fear. And they rarely lapse into the kind of hipster condescension that sometimes mars the new generation of wine bars. Two small but beautiful young favourites came up : Birmingham’s Loki Wines (IWC) and London’s Prohibition Wine (DWWA), the latter home to, among many treats,, among many treats, this supple, juicy bargain of a Rioja.
Tanners Argentinian Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina 2016 (£7.95, Tanners Wine)
The march of the upstart small indies has had a largely beneficial effect on the surviving traditional merchants, and some of the oldest names in the business earned deserved nods of approval from either or both of the IWC and DWWA. Lay & Wheeler once the genteel merchant of choice in East Anglia went through a bit of an identity crisis after being absorbed by Majestic, but it’s turned a corner recently, and its exciting range and improved website earned a Judges’ Choice award at DWWA. Both Berry Bros & Rudd (IWC Large Retailer of the Year) and Tanners of Shrewsbury (DWWA Large Independent of the Year) have also moved with the times, with vast fine wine stocks mingling with good value own labels, such as this vibrant Argentine red.
Follow David on Twitter @Daveydaibach
