Stuck for new wine or food matching ideas? Grab a glass and read tips from our Q&A with the Times wine expert Jane MacQuitty
It’s cut-price heaven for high-street wine shoppers this Christmas. I have never seen so many juicy deals and discounts on such a wide range of wines. Anyone who thought you couldn’t find anything drinkable for £3.99 is proved wrong in these pages, not once but twice.
And our star buy Christmas red cracker, the stunning Chilean 2008 Errazuriz Estate Shiraz, is a gift at £4.99. Elsewhere you’ll find a usually costly bone-dry French classic chablis for less than a fiver. Claret drinkers are in luck too with a terrific Christmas claret for less than £6.
France has fought back with a vengeance in this winter’s top 100, a miracle given the dire euro exchange rate. Predictably, the French dominate the upper price brackets of under £12 and under £25, but what is really impressive is their fielding of 13 white and red winners in both the under-£6 and under-£8 sections.
At long last it seems that the French wine producers have woken up to the depth and strength of their New World competition, which has been as strong as ever this year.
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The only French region to have fielded some truly terrible wines in ’09 is Champagne. Forget about all those supposedly enticing half-price vintage champagne stories in the press; the reality is that apart from the two good bubblies that win through here, none of you should be seduced into parting with good money for such dross. Just because a wine is dirt cheap does not mean that it’s a bargain.
There is another hidden price to be paid for all this discounting. Many wine merchants and wine buyers are dropping prices because they are worried about surviving a second Christmas under recession — and not all of them will. Many feel that other outlets will follow Thresher and Wine Rack’s demise, and less choice on the high street will only be a bad thing for the consumer.
So make the most of any bargains you see here. For who knows what next year will bring?
STOCKISTS
Berry Bros & Rudd 0800 2802440
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Bibendum 020-7449 4120
Bristol Wine Company 0117 3730288
Cambridge Wine Merchants 01223 568993
Clark Foyster 020-8576 3731
D. Byrne 01200 423152
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Daniel Lambert Wines 01656 661010
Goedhuis 020-7793 7900
Harrods 020-7893 8777
Harvey Nichols 020-7201 8537
Hedley Wright 01279 465818
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Jeroboams 020-7288 8850
Justerini & Brooks 020-7484 6400
Lay & Wheeler 0845 3301855
Lea & Sandeman 020-7244 0522
Les Caves de Pyrène 01483 554750
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Liberty Wines 020-7720 5350
Martinez 01943 600000
Mill Hill Wines 020-8959 6754
Montrachet 020-7821 1337
No?l Young Wines 01223 566744
Philglas and Swiggott 020-7402 0002
Raeburn Fine Wines 0131-3431159
The Soho Wine Supply 020-7636 8490
Swig 08000 272272
Tanners 01743 234455
Taurus Wines 01483 548484
The Vineking 01737 248833
The Wine Society 01438 740 222
Selfridges 020-7318 2375
Stone, Vine & Sun 01962 712351
Waterloo Wines 020-7403 7976