With summer here, well, trying to be, you might be looking for a wine that’s just right to accompany the barbecue you’re planning, or attending, or to take along to the park in your picnic basket brimming with goodies. Laithwaites wines might have just the thing you are searching for to make that summer afternoon, or evening, that little bit more special and give some sharp fresh fruitiness to the occasion. We tasted three of their wines that we think are ideal for summer drinking recently, each of which filled our mouths with fresh fruity zinginess.
Nine Tails Moscato Rosé 2010, which, unusually, is closed with a beer bottle type cap, is a delicate pale pink in the glass and vibrant fresh strawberry with a hint of sherbet on the nose. As you taste it, the soft bubbles have a creamy texture and deliver sweet strawberry and lemon flavours. This is a very fruity wine and its sweetness is offset by a tangy acidity which, combined with its creamy bubble give a sherbet like taste and sensation in the mouth. After you swallow, your mouth is left with nice fruity sherbet in its length. The Moscato is a naturally effervescent wine and its fermentation has been stopped at 5.5%, which makes this a great wine to enjoy on its own on a warm summer day, with a light lunch or picnic. It would go very well with light salads and nibbles, or make a great accompaniment for fresh fruity desserts.
The Nine Tails Moscato Rosé 2010 retails through Laithwaites Wine at £7.99
Délice des Rois Pineau d’Aunis Rosé 2010 is the palest of pinks in the glass and as you lift it to your nose it has a great fresh citrus bouquet, with grapefruit coming through strongly and there is a distant pepperiness. On the palate, the clean sharp citrus comes through well as does a grapefruit zestiness, there’s also a hint of under-ripe strawberry. This is a dry nicely acidic wine that leaves you with grapefruit lingering on the palate in its finish. It would be ideal for quaffing on a sunny day, its dry acidity making it a wine to sip and savour. Absolutely a wine that you could drink on its own, but it would work well with salads, chicken and fish dishes, even fuller flavoured products like smoked salmon, where its sharpness would cut through, cleansing the palate.
Délice des Rois Pineau d’Aunis Rosé 2010 retails through Laithwaites Wine at £8.49
Abbesse de Loire Sauvignon Blanc 2010 is also very pale in the glass, with a greenish hue. Its bouquet is of sharp citric acidity, but there are grassy notes there too. You take a mouthful and there’s big bold fruit there and a great citrus acidity in which lime comes through well as does some peachy yellow fruit and passion fruit notes. This is a fresh sharp wine with clean flavours and although not a sparkling wine, gives you an effervescent tingle on the edges of your tongue. Having swallowed, you get grapefruit zest lingering in its length. This is another excellent wine to sip while you relax in the garden, the park, or indeed anywhere. However it would also work well with those summer salads, chicken and ham, as well as fish dishes, its bold sharp fruit would cope well with even more fully flavoured foods.
The Abbesse de Loire Sauvignon Blanc 2010 retails through Laithwaites Wines at £7.99
For more information about these and other Laithwaites wines, visit the Laithewaites site you could also pick them up at one of the Laithwates stores, like their London flagship store The Arch which is part of the Vinopolis complex at London Bridge.