Edgebaston The Pepper Pot, South Africa 2013 (from £10.99, sawinesonline.co.uk; rudewines.co.uk) I’ve always been suspicious of wines named for the specific flavour they contain. It suggests the wine has been made to a formula, rather than being a spontaneous reflection of a vineyard. The South Africans have a bit of a thing for coffee flavour. Diemersfontein Coffee Pinotage 2011 (£11.99, thegeneralwine.co.uk) is the best, but unless you have a hankering for espresso-flavoured oak, I wouldn’t recommend it. Edgebaston’s The Pepper Pot red blend tastes as if it has a shake of pepper, but it’s far more appealing, adding seasoning to the dark berry flavours.
Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage Les Meysonniers, France 2012 (£16, Sainsbury’s) If I have a higher tolerance for pepper flavour in wine than coffee, it is because it’s derived from the grapes rather than a toasted oak barrel. Syrah is the variety most associated with this characteristic, particularly when grown in the various appellations of the Rhône Valley. The pepper crackles in the background behind silky blackberry in a biodynamic example from Chapoutier in Crozes-Hermitage. And it lends a deliciously savoury counterpoint to the vivid red and black fruit of Gilles Robin Cuvée Papillon Crozes-Hermitage 2013 (£15.95, leaandsandeman.co.uk).
Winzer Krems Grüner Veltliner Trocken, Niederösterreich, Austria, 2013 (£8.99, Wine Rack) For a more affordable take on the peppery syrah style, head to the Languedoc, or even the New World, where many producers now look more to the northern Rhône than Australia (shiraz is the same grape as syrah) for inspiration. Tesco’s Château de Fauzan Minervois, France 2012 (£8.99), and Porcupine Ridge Syrah, Swartland, South Africa 2014 (£7.99, Waitrose) have a hit of peppercorn. You find it in whites, too. Wines made from Austrian grape Grüner Veltliner often come with a pinch of white pepper, accompanied, in the case of Winzer Krems’ example, with plum and herby freshness.
