With a Spring in our step!

With winter at our heels what can we expect to see in our glass!

With the snow melted and the growing optimism that spring and even summer are once again on the horizon we thought we would share a few of the trends you will be seeing and hopefully drinking in the coming months!

No one can hide from the phenomenon that has been GIN in the last couple of years; crisp, bright, fruity delights that give our taste buds that immediate hit, the gin market has been driven by new experiences and new products.  Well this is something we can start expecting to see in our wines.

Our whites are taking on this trend and giving us that instant gratification from the first sip, think fruit lead Vila Nove Vinho Verde or Sileni Pinot Gris. 

Reds are becoming lighter, brighter with fruit forward flavours with the ability to be served slightly cooler without losing their impact.  Pop Percheron Old Vine Cinsault or La Madonne, Fleurie in the fridge for an hour before drinking.

Our choices are often made before a bottle has been opened so with this in mind we are seeing wine packaging becoming more of a feature to entice new drinkers to try so expect unusual, unique packaging to start making an appearance.

We are also becoming a population that is much more conscious of eating and drinking natural, sustainable produce made from producers who care about the foot print they leave behind.  Nearly 38% of wine lists contain at least one organic, biodynamic or natural wine. This is a 28% growth from the end of 2016. 

This is steering the choices wine producers are making in both the vineyard and the winery.   Vineyards such as firm favourite of ours False Bay in South Africa's Western Cape are treating their vineyards as a ‘living and receptive organism' and putting practises in place to transform their wines into ones that have had minimal mechanical and chemical intervention.  Therefore, using wild yeast ferments, no acid addition and letting the grapes have all the time to do what they do best. 

But best of all these wines which would previously have come with a high price tag are now accessible.  So we now can choose products that not only give us quality but an experience and something we can align our own ethical and social aspirations alongside.

And finally, Chardonnay, the marmite of the wine world, loved and hated in equal measure or is it…?  Some of the finest wines in the world are 100% Chardonnay so forget what you thought you knew and look out for a new breed of chardonnay hitting wine lists near you with ripe, aromatic fruit characters, crisp minerality and acidity and no oak.Try Soldier Block from Australia and Bellefontaine from the Languedoc region of France

So if any of the above gets your taste buds dancing like ours make sure you come visit us at one of our many events around the county or visit us in the shop where we can help plan your summers parties with wines from £6.50, free glassware hire and free delivery in the local area.