Schloss Gobelsberg Sekt Brut Reserve NV (from £22.50, Bottle Apostle; Theatre of Wine) How should a left-leaning wine lover see in election night? First it’s necessary to bury the myth that fine wine belongs only to the other political side. As the late Edmund Penning-Rowsell, card-carrying communist and wine columnist for both the Financial Times and Marxism Today, once asked: why should the conservatives get all the best bottles? He saw no contradiction in being a champagne socialist. I have no idea about the politics of the people who make it, but I’m going to adopt this creamy but incisive Austrian fizz to celebrate (or commiserate).
Spice Trail Rosé (£5.19, Waitrose) For more moderate lefties, a rosé might fit the bill, if you can swallow the literal-minded idea of pink wine for the proudly pinko. Waitrose’s Spice Trail is just off-dry, and is specifically designed with Indian takeaways in mind. As a Hungarian wine, however, I like to think its punchy berry fruit would work well with a recreation of paprika-laced goulash from that famous Westminster insider’s restaurant, the Gay Hussar in Soho – a venue where Tory voters might prefer to sup the late MP Alan Clarke’s favourite, a German Riesling, such as Dr Bürklin-Wolf Trocken QbA 2013 (£12.30, Tanners).
Maverick Twins GSM 2012 (£16.80, Amathus Drinks; Park and Bridge) The most overtly political wine I’ve encountered was made by the late, great Piedmont winemaker, Bartolo Mascarello. A Second World War partisan, he was an opponent of both new-fangled winemaking techniques and right-wing politics. His daughter Maria Teresa keeps the flame burning, and a bottle of one of her fabulous Barolos (the 2007 is £500 for a case of six) would be a fine way to see in a new dawn. Slightly easier to source is a new-wave Australian from the aptly named Maverick Twins. It’s a dark savoury red whose impeccable biodynamic credentials make it a worthy choice for Green voters, too.
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