It’s the time of year for good will to all, isn’t it? But in this technology drenched world, despite it being C* time, cowards continue to hide behind the anonymity of the internet and get fired up over the strangest of things. The C** word in question is Chardonnay. If you didn’t know already it’s experiencing a revival, and it’s got a bunch of C*** words seriously het up! Victoria Moore, wine columnist at The Telegraph got the brunt of it, she’s been blazing a trail of glory for Chardonnay all year (see here) and although I despise most of the use of the comments section following her piece, it has at least proved that wine really can get the pulse racing!!

………

[In song] On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me…. three french wines, and a partridge in a pear tree!
.

There’s one thing we can all say about Christmas and that is it’s predictable. We have turkey, family, friends, too much food, too much booze, a credit card in the red and a stack of New Years resolutions about to be broken. When it comes to wine the same could be said for the choice available on our high street, little is new and most is predictable. So, discovering wineries that are actively doing something different is a real joy. Calmel & Jospeh are one such French winery based in the Languedoc region that caught my eye having declared a penchant for creating wines that will it’s tasters into uncharted taste territory. Not many wineries could make such a claim and actually deliver. ………

[In song]
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me an unusual white that’s wintery!

There’s been big debate in the wine world over the use of heavy weight bottles for so called Icon wines; you know the ones I mean, they look like they should be playing rugby with their overly broad shoulders and have a massive dent or punt in the bottom.

The use of these mega bottles can be a way of marketing your wine to seem more special than it is in a manner of “it must be good, look at the bottle!” I often regard it as an expression of a winery’s insecurity, think of some of the most expensive bottles in the world from the likes of Bordeaux and Burgundy, none of them are ponced up in oversized glass. Which is what makes this bottle of Terres Viognier-Chardonnay 2011 Domaine de la Baume* unusual. Firstly Viognier-Chardonnay blends are not all that common and secondly it’s from the Languedoc in the South of France and the French just don’t do macho bottles.

………

[In song] On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me some Chardonnay, a favourite Aussie….

Chardonnay is back, it never really went away, it has held its position in the list of the nation’s top 3 white wines for years and is the world’s best selling white year after year. It’s the mars bar of the wine world, while everyone is talking about their 70% cocoa bar of Green & Blacks (read Sauvignon Blanc for wine), they’re secretly looking forward to tucking into the squished mars bar at the bottom of their handbag on their way home (or unloved bottle of Chardonnay they sneaked into the basket at Tesco). ………

[In song] On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me a Touraine from the Wine Society….

A Christmas Day classic is Sancerre served with a starter of smoked salmon but finding a decent one for less than £15 is hard, and it adds up if you’re catering for more than a handful of people.

Touraine Sauvignon Blanc is also from the Loire Valley in France, same as Sancerre, it is made of Sauvignon Blanc, same as white Sancerre and over the last few years the region has been working with flying winemaker and Master of Wine Sam Harrop (who comes from NZ, the land of Sauvignon Blanc) to perfect the regions’ style of Savvy. Put a wine importing heavy weight like The Wine Society behind all that and you’ve got a seriously good alternative to Sancerre at half the price like Les Hauts Lieux Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2012 which is an honest steal at £7.50.
………

Here’s a little insight into what happened at the Ideal Home Show Christmas Drinks Theatre the other day, for a breakdown of my top wine picks and what they tasted like stay tuned for my seven days of Christmas series featuring all wines and gifts I presented at the show. Starting on the 1st December. There’ll be singing and everything…!
.

.
With huge thanks to Harvey Nichols, Piggy Bank wines, Hardy’s, Concha y Toro, Sopexa and the guys at knockknockstuff.com who helped make my debut tastings at The Ideal Home Show happen.