Domaine Jones Mlle Jones Fitou, France 2013 (£13.99, Majestic) For years, Majestic Wine was a rare success story in wine retail, thriving while its rival specialist chains disappeared one by one to the high street in the sky. Times have been tough recently, however, with Majestic challenged on price by discounting supermarkets, on range by the new breed of independent merchants, and online by more creative web-only operators. It’s the last of these that Majestic has tried to address by buying Naked Wines and taking on its founder Rowan Gormley as CEO. The businesses will still operate separately, but will no doubt share more suppliers. And if they’re as good as Domaine Jones, a Naked Wines stalwart whose sun-filled liquorice and herb-inflected red is one of the highlights of the Majestic range, that’s no bad thing.
La Garnacha Salvaje del Moncayo, Spain 2014 (£10.49, or £7.86 for two bottles, Majestic) During its imperial phase, when the fawning business press coverage always seemed to come with headlines riffing on “sparkling sales” and “bubbling profits”, Majestic had two things going for it: enthusiastic, friendly, knowledgeable shop staff, and a range that was strong in the £7 to £12 sweet spot. The staff are as good as ever. But the wines have been a little less exciting as the number of stores have grown. Still, if you accept that you need to have two bottles of a single wine in your mandatory case of six to get a decent price, there are good finds at Majestic. I’d be happy, for example, to fill up the car boot with this pretty, peppery, tangy Spanish garnacha.
Maretti Langhe Rosso, Italy 2013 (£11.99, or £8.99 for two bottles, Majestic) Another bottle I’d make a detour to buy from Majestic is Maretti’s rather brilliant red from Piedmont. Even though it only contains 30% of the famed region’s grape variety nebbiolo (the rest is the slightly less grand but more accessibly fruity barbera), it’s a baby Barolo, with the tannins pleasingly bristly, a pinch of earthy savouriness and a delicious core of gentle raspberry and cherry fruit that needs red meat, perhaps in a ragù, to offer its best. And to complete an Italian meal, you could throw in a couple of bottles of Inama’s textbook Soave (£14.65, or £10.99 for two), which is all soft acidity, gentle green and white fruit, subtle almonds and herbs.
