goat cheese Archives - It Must Be Wine O'clock

A delightful, refreshing Chardonnay from California

A delightful, refreshing Chardonnay from California.

Dark Horse Chardonnay 2021 (California)

This is a delightful, refreshing Chardonnay from California. It is a rich, mellow wine with aromas of vanilla, peach and pear on the nose, and flavours of honey, nectarine and caramel on the palate.

The rich, buttery mouthfeel is nicely balanced by the wine’s crisp acidity, all leading to a smooth, lingering finish, and the oak ageing adds a hint of smokiness to the wine.

Enjoy by itself or with a creamy seafood or chicken dish, or a mushroom risotto. It will also pair well with a creamy curry, or a mild goat cheese.

Available from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose (£9-£10)

An elegant, refreshing Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from the Awatere Valley

Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Awatere Valley (New Zealand)

If you enjoyed the Grove Mill Sauvignon Blanc 2021 I recently reviewed, you might like to try this Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc 2021. Although part of Foley Wines, the same group as Grove Mill, the Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc comes from the Awatere Valley in Marlborough, a smaller, cooler, windier and drier valley than the region’s main winegrowing valley, Wairau Valley.

The Sauvignon Blanc wines from the Awatere Valley tend to have higher acidity, with more herbaceous characteristics, and lack the tropical fruit flavours which are often found in wines from the Wairau Valley.

This Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is an elegant, refreshing wine with notes of citrus and peach on the nose leading to stone fruit flavours and a pleasant minerality on the palate. It is a wine with a lively acidity, a creamy mouthfeel and a long finish, which is perfect as an aperitif, or with a seafood or white meat dish. It also goes well with goat cheese.

Available from Co-op (£11)

Wine of the Month – a new discovery from an urban winery in the Cotswolds

Freedom of the Press Bacchus 2021 (Oxfordshire)

This excellent wine from Freedom of the Press winery, an urban winery located in the Cotswolds, 15 miles outside Oxford, is a new discovery for me. And it certainly ticks all the boxes.

Set up by Gavin Carver in 2020, Freedom of the Press aims to ‘make small batches of beautiful still wines from exquisite English grapes, selecting techniques and vessels best suited to crafting each wine’s distinctive style’. And they have certainly achieved that with this outstanding Bacchus.

With aromas of apple, pear, peach and blossom on the nose, and lemon, apple, pineapple and grapefruit on the palate, this is a splendid first Bacchus vintage for the winery and augurs really well for the future.

Produced from grapes grown in Essex, principally the Crouch Valley, it is a well-balanced wine, with lively acidity and a smooth, lengthy finish.

Enjoy by itself, with seafood, or with sheep and goat cheese. It will also pair well with spicy Asian dishes.

Available from Grape Britannia (£15.49)