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January 2023 WineUncorked Newsletter
English-made Sauvignon Blanc hit the headlines (well only a few of them – the Evening Standard was one) when Cotswold vineyard Woodchester Valley came top of a blind tasting (so no bottle labels were on show) in the Global Sauvignon Blanc Masters with their 2021 Sauvignon Blanc (now sold out at £21.95 a bottle). Its gooseberry aromas and ‘juicy mouthfeel’ (jargon alert: it’ll clean your teeth with its sharp taste) beat the more famous New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs we’ve become used to seeing on our shelves. But when wine comes from our green and pleasant land you have to pay three times the price of something like the Co-op’s Yealands Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (3-star rating, £8). So will you bother seeking out the later Woodchester’s 2022 vintage, or even their 2023?
The 2023 won’t be ready for a while yet. Nor will anyone else’s. Wine Q&A: When will I be able to buy 2023 wines? looks at this in more detail. Australian 2023 wines will be the first to arrive in the shops here in the UK around about August. But if you can’t wait then try some 2022 wines – the article gives some links to these 4 and 5-star wines as reviewed by wineuncorked.co.uk.
Are you taking part in the no-alcohol Dry January challenge? Good luck if you are. But if you’re seeking out no-alcohol wines to replace your usual input then it’s bad news. I reviewed 25 no-alcohol wines last year and only two tasted reasonable. One being Aldi’s Zerozecco sparkling, now £2.79, which I rated 4-stars (very good at an attractive price) and is now consistently the top searched for wine review on wineuncorked.co.uk. Clearly you want more non-alcoholic wines that are reliably tasty! I’ll seek them out but I can’t promise any will taste great.
My slurp of non-alcoholic stuff is currently straight cherry juice from the Kent cherry orchards run by Michael of RentACherryTree.co.uk. Each 1-litre bottle costs £7.99 and contains pure pasteurised juice – so there’s no need for any sugar. The blend of juices from the cherry varieties Kordia, Areko and Karina gives a drink that tastes like unsweetened port. And being pure juice you’ll only want to sip it in small quantities at a time. But it’s waaayy better than much of the de-alcoholised rubbish that has a wine label on it.
While I sup I’ll continue adding more wine reviews and insights for your delight. So keep coming back to wineuncorked.co.uk!
Latest wine reviews
Co-op £8.35 Estrada Douro White 2021
Many supermarkets £13 Whyte & Mackay Blended Scotch Whisky
Sainsbury’s £6 Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico 2021
Tesco £3.15 Tesco Low Alcohol Sparkling
Virgin Wines £5.99 Amatista Moscato Rosado lightly fizzy 5% alcohol
Many supermarkets £15 Faustino Gran Reserva Rioja I 2010
Latest articles
Lidl Italian Wine Tour starts January 19th
Wine Q&A: When will I be able to buy 2023 wines?
Review: #DryJanuary No-alcohol wines
Top Ten Wine Bargains of the Week
More Top Ten Buttery Tasting Chardonnays
More wine reviews and educational articles follow in our next newsletter. In the meantime let us know what you think of the wines you've been quaffing recently or ask us your wine questions: Email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or find me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest as @wineuncorkeduk
Cheers!
