Last updated 14:17, Friday, 21 March 2008

Top Tipples with Alan Irving

SUCH is the budget tax sin which is going to well and truly soak (good and responsible!) tipplers that I almost hesitate to recommend what may be termed expensive but I will all the same on the basis that if the vino is truly value for money then  it is worth paying a few pounds extra.

But as Whitehaven’s independent wine merchant Gerard Richardson quite rightly asks: “How on earth is slapping an extra 14 pence on a bottle of wine going to curb binge drinking, especially when comes to fine wine? We don’t like it but we will just have to lump it.”

My recommending this week is pinot noir, definitely a fine wine and my own favourite.

You do have to fork out a little bit extra for the really good stuff such as a Gevrey Chambertin or a Nuits St George, from this fickle grape’s spiritual home of Burgundy, but if you shop around you can still find decent pinot noir at an acceptable price.

After all, the Burgundian variety is steeped in religion, perhaps no wonder that one famed connoisseur once described Gevry Chambertin as something akin “to the good Lord going down your throat!”

And if you get the chance to taste a good gevry then you will know what he means.

There’s not many to be found locally but I like the one in Morrison’s something special basket at just under £15 – cheap for gevry. This particular one is from the 2005 vintage, hailed as one of the finest ever in Burgundy.

Weighing in just a little cheaper is a lovely offering from Tesco called Clos la Marche and also from the acclaimed 2005 vintage.

The beauty of this, beside the sensuality of taste, is that up to now it has been available only in the bigger Tesco stores, like quite a few other of the fine wines. Perhaps Tesco think our palates aren’t yet discerning enough to risk putting them on the shelves or we don’t have the spending power. Wrong, I hope, on both counts!

Gevry Chambertin is a jewel in the crown of the aristocratic Cote d’Or but the Clos la Marche comes from Mercurey, a less fashionable but generally good source of quality Burgundy especially when the budget is tighter.

This Mercurey on the reputable Louis Max label reeks of class – sumptuous, smooth medium-bodied and earthy (not spicy) which are hallmarks of good red Burgundy.