First, a confession.  I don't really like Sauvignon Blanc.  I'm sorry if that makes me a failure as a wine critic.  But, I can't help it!  It may be due to drinking far too much of it circa 2005?  Or it may be that the makers are all completely overdoing the green flavours of grass and asparagus these days.  
On the plus side, it's a wine I can pick out at 50 paces, which is a big advantage in a WSET blind tasting exam, so I won't tell you what I think of Chablis!
A second confession...  despite it's popularity, I'm not a massive fan of sparkling wine either.  Despite this, I chose Brancott Estate's Brut Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc  as wine of the week.  Why?  Because I love my readers (and I'm quite a fan of Brancott's Pinot Noir too).  Dominique convinced me that I had to try this while it's on offer at £8 from Asda and who am I to refuse?  My mission at Purple Teeth is always to challenge my readers to experiment and try new wines to discover new favourites, so I  do have to do this myself or I'd be a hypocrite.  So try it I did, and I hope you will too.

So here's the deal.  It's got fizz and it tastes of Sauvignon Blanc.  So if you like one or both of those things, then this is a sure fire winner to brighten up your summer parties, back garden picnics, or barbecues.  
It's fresh, vibrant, full of tropical fruit, lemongrass and with a hint of green grass too.  The acidity is nicely balanced and not overpowering as it can be in some still Sauvingon Blancs.  Myr Purple Teeth found the combination of flavours a little hard to get his head around - "It's got an odd smokey flavour I don't associate with sparkling wine."  I didn't detect any smoke but perhaps it's a hint of asparagus he was finding?  In any case, the bottle was polished off within 90 minutes which, I think it's safe to say, is a good sign.  
I don't think I'd buy it again, purely because I drink very little fizz and I'd probably prefer to spend my £8 on a Cava or the Lindauer special reserve if I was going to do so.  My love affair with Sauvignon Blanc is over.  It may be re-kindled one day but until then, the other aromatic grapes will carry my heart.

Dominique's review is perhaps more flattering: "A perky little alternative to ubiquitous prosecco! Fresh and fruity....recommended."  Sarah from Australia describes it as "good fizz" and she's bought it several times.  While Lesley even served it at her wedding last summer, which is a pretty high recommendation.  So, a positive vote of confidence from the Purple Teeth public.  Why not give it a try?

Next week's Wine of the Week will be another £5 from Asda bottle, and at last, a Shiraz.  It's Wolf Blass Vineyard's Release range and we'll update you on our thoughts in about a week.  If you want to tell us what you think, please send views via the Facebook page, Twitter or Google Plus (links above).  I'm also interested to know if readers would like a scoring system (e.g. marks out of 10) for Wine of the Week, or if you're happy with my general reviews. Feel free to leave comments.

Glasgow Green's finest architectural landmark is arguably the former Templeton's Carpet Factory which, dating from around 1850, lay dormant for many years after the demise of the business. With a design based on Venice's Doges Palace, a German entrepreneur and beer aficionado saw the potential and in 2006, opened West Brewery.  They have outdoor seating, a bar which serves food and there are also organised tours of the brewing process where you'll get to taste the 4 main beers produced on site.  
I visited as part of an international Blues Dancing event. You can only begin to imagine how the thought of dancing in a brewery made friends jealous.  We were lucky enough to have an amazing private function room to dance in, and to have a tour of the brewery outside of the normal hours.

Our Belfast born tour guide certainly had the gift of the gab, and he made sure that all of our guests could follow his patter and interesting descriptions of the brewing process and the origins of the brewery, as well as giving us all the details on each of the beers we enjoyed.  
WEST is the only brewery in the UK currently producing all it's beers according to the traditional German Beer Purity Laws, or "Reinheitsgebot" for the uninitiated.  This law has been around for just 3 short of 500 years and I've heard claims that the purity of beers brewed in this tradition mean there is less likelihood of hangovers.  I'm sure that all depends on how much you drink, though!
The tour was well worth the money and provided all sorts of inspirational chants for the blues dancers across the weekend to follow.  Yeast!  Flocculate!  (Look it up, I dare you!)  
West's philosophy is to create premium craft beer's in Glasgow filling a gap in the market identified back in 1994 on a visit to some of Glasgow's nice restaurants.  Several other exciting new breweries have also come into existence in Scotland including Strathaven Ales, whose Bramble infused beer I had the great pleasure to sample the night after the trip to West. In any case, it's great to see some amazing beers being produced in Scotland after many years where the choice seemed to come down to a laughing cavalier or a busty girl on a can of mass-produced chemical slosh.

We first sample the Saint Mungo lager.  Saint Mungo was a brewer who also happens to be patron saint of Glasgow so no surprises in why that name was picked.  It's similar in style to a light pilsner  - a light golden beer at 4.9% abv and made with 3 different types of hops.  It's worth noting that all the West beers are suitable for vegans and vegetarians since they are fined and filtered with Kieselguhr, a natural clay, rather than Isinglass (from fish swim bladders) which is used in many commercially produced beers and wines.
Next up was the Munich Red.  Essentially this is also a 4.9% abv lager, but one which is darker in colour with a bit more in the way of caramel flavours deriving from the toast of the malted barley.  I enjoyed it, but expected a touch stronger flavour, considering the colour.  I'd have liked a bit more oomph.  My favourite was surely the West Black or Dunkel - the stout style (also 4.9% abv).  It's lighter and fruitier than many stouts, making it very easy to drink compared to say a Guinness and contains 5 different malts.  A pint or two of this may not have improved my blues dancing... I'll leave the leaders to judge on that score!

Finally we tasted the Hefeweizen, an unfiltered wheat beer in true German style at 5.2% abv..  It's cloudy because the wine contains the dead yeast cells and these, plus the hop selection, are thought to impart flavours of banana, clove, or nutmeg.  I really like this style of beer, though it's probably an acquired taste.  For summertime, assuming we get one, I'd probably choose this ahead of the stout, simply as it's more refreshing.

During the tour I also managed to answer some of my long unanswered questions about beer.  





What do hops do?  Well, they add the flavour, adding bitterness if added early in the process or aromatic notes if added late, and having a number of different varieties of hops, there are a large number of flavour choices to be made.
What's the difference between ale or lager?    It's all to do with the type of yeast.  Those which ferment at the top of the vat produce ale and those which are bottom fermenters produce beer/lager.  There's a whole world of beer out there, and much as I love wine, I'm not averse to a high quality craft beer.  Why not try some yourself?

Dear Readers, I know that you read this blog because you are fans of wine and perhaps the occasional tipple of something else.  You will know from regular reading that dance is my other passion and if you've spent most of the time reading this post wondering what on earth blues dancing is, you'll enjoy watching this demo by the instructors at the event which took place in the brewery.  Thanks for reading my slightly off-piste posts.  Hopefully the knowledge that dancing can take place in a brewery, or that we had dinner in a chip shop accompanied by our own opera singer may convince you to take up partner dancing.  Along with a love of wine, I'm convinced it's the way to world peace.  Cheers and Slainte!

On 17th April, it was World Malbec Day.  Purple Teeth celebrated by declaring it Malbec week.  I left the wine choice up to my dear readers, meanwhile enjoying one or two bottles of Mendoza's finest grape from my wine rack, and a sneaky Malbec Rosé for one of my readers who bemoaned the fact I'd so far not featured a pink wine... I didn't want to feature a grape we'd so recently featured with the Cahors, but a French Malbec and an Argentine are quite different so please forgive and enjoy.

"Malbec is a strong black grape which produces wines showing robust yet velvety tannins, a plum to prune full-bodied flavour and dark, opaque colours. Malbec wines are intense, rich and powerful and it's one of the 6 grapes that are permitted in the blend of red Bordeaux wine, even though it's hardly used there now. Argentina has commandeered the grape, using pioneering techniques in the hot, dry growning conditions to coax intense, dark, concentrated fruit into stunningly powerful wines.

The first Malbec we tasted was Catena Malbec 2010.
This is a beautiful, dark, deep and voluptuous wine made from grapes grown high in the Andes mountains. Mendoza and Argentina have made the Malbec grape their own and it seems that the grape here finds it's highest expression. The Catena family have been involved in wine-making in Mendoza for over 100 years, and the heritage shines through in the flavour.  Dark fruits, blackberry, plum and spice combine with meaty flavours which make this the perfect companion for steak. There's a real concentration of flavours here which in a wine at this price is hard to beat.  I'd recommend stocking up while the special offer is in force as it will see you through a whole summer of barbecues.

Mauricio Lorca Lirico Malbec 2011 (£7.99 Angel Price, Naked Wines) again, a deep coloured wine full of ripe plum, but this one tasted more youthful and strangely lighter given it's 14% abv. I didn't taste them side by side but perhaps this one has slightly higher acidity - it certainly felt juicier in the mouth.  The label indicated fresh cherries and white pepper.  It's by no means got as long a finish as the Catena, but it's still got a depth of flavour that can only come from long sunshine hours and the Malbec grape.  If you're new to Malbec, finding a good example at £7.99 is a great way to figure out if it's a grape you want to spend more time and money on.  We paired this one with pork meatballs and pasta with a tomato sauce, not wanting to eat steak 2 nights in a row.  It worked really well, with the food bringing out some of the spicier flavours in the wine and lifting the fruitiness rather than killing it.  Again, this would happily sit alongside your summer barbecues.

After drinking these, my husband declared Malbec's "the definition of Purple Teeth wines".  Yes, be prepared for extra scrubbing when you come to perform your dental routine after a glass or two of Malbec.  These dark wines aren't just dark in the glass.

Tesco Finest Malbec Rose £8.49.  This was a new one on me... I've never reviewed a Rose before on Purple Teeth, and one of my readers has been crying out for a hint of pink.  I've never tried a Malbec in any other form than deep, dark red before, so I was intrigued to see how this grape would convert into a lighter, more summery wine.  During my visit to Mendoza, rosé was never offered.  I have to admit I was sceptical.  From the first taste I was impressed!  This is a pink wine for drinkers of red. It's got a serious red wine nose with redcurrant and raspberry.  On tasting it, there's vanilla, raspberry and something that reminds me of the Paradise Martini I had a few months ago at Forbury's in Reading.  It's got body and character, and without a hint of sweetness, paired perfectly with the ginger and garlic prawns I prepared to go with it.  It's Malbec for the unconvinced about red, Malbec for a hot summer's day, Malbec for the fan of pink. Kudos to Tesco for doing it.  I was not at all convinced until after the first sip, but it's now on my summer shopping list - along with some sunshine!.

And what did the Purple Teeth readership make of Malbec Day?.  I was glad to hear of a few of you joining in with the fun.

Justine savoured the Don David in a local hostelry on Malbec World Day.  It can be bought for £9.49 online or in store for £11 at Tesco.  She found it to have "lively, violet and plum notes. Very enjoyable."

Sarah went to her local Co-operative store to get a bottle to join in the tasting.  I'd suggested trying the Fairtrade Organic Argentine Malbec. Here's what she said after finally finding it on the French shelf!
"The bottle is slightly wider than most at the top, which for me is great as it gives the illusion of more wine, I’m sure the 75cl bottles are smaller than they used to be aren’t you? Now I’ve never been much for matching food with wine - I drink what I like, so we had our £7.49 bottle with Thai salmon and noodles. The real cork released a slightly berryish scent upon opening with a hint of wood. In the glass it was a lovely colour... and the flavour was rich and oaky with a slight berry overtone. I’m a die hard Shiraz fan but would drink it again. With red meat."

All in all, it seems Malbec is a winner both at Purple Teeth HQ and with the readers.  Do give it a try!

Next week's Wine of the Week is something completely different - sparkling Sauvignon Blanc by Brancott Estate (£8 at Asda and also available at around £12 in Waitrose so check your other local supermarkets if you don't have an Asda nearby).

Cheers!

Wine of the Week was originally devised to help you, the readers, feel confident about trying new wines, different wines to those you'd normally drink, without spending a fortune.  I have tried to make the wines of the week as accessible as possible by using the UK's major supermarket chains.  I don't have a Morrison's anywhere nearby, but I will try to feature Co-op at some point in the not too distant future.  We've been to Asda, Marks and Spencers, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose, and so far we've been to Spain 3 times, Italy, France twice and the USA.  It's time the Southern Hemisphere had it's say.  After all, the wine makers from the New World of wine in the Southern Hemisphere are just as capable of making low cost and good quality wines as our European friends.  Some may say that keeping costs down is even easier in places like Chile and South Africa.  So, it's to Chile we go, to sample our second White Wine of the Week, courtesy of Asda (and according to the website, also available at Morrison's).

The Cono Sur range was born in 1993, founded "with the vision of producing premium, expressive and innovative wines that convey the spirit of the New World".  Their philosophy of innovation paired with sustainability and quality makes them a brand that's always going to produce something interesting.  
This week, I selected the Viognier from the Bicicleta range, named after the bicycles they use to get around the vineyards.  
Cono Sur were the first wine producers in Chile to produce and export this varietal, and this one comes from the renowned Colchagua Valley.  When I saw that this wine was on sale for £5 I had to pinch myself.  Surely it couldn't live up to the promise?  After all, the spiritual homeland of the Viognier grape is Condrieu in France's northern Rhone Valley, and an example from here is likely to set you back at least £20 retail. The reputation of the grape is that it's challenging to grow, and decent American examples have set me back at least £10.

I'm not suggesting that this bottle will rival a premium Condrieu to a connoisseur. However, as an entry level wine, it's a brilliant way to taste a potentially new varietal, and to gain a benchmark for whether or not you're a fan of it's apricot and peach aromas blended with white floral scents, elderflower, violet and pear.
A friend of mine loves aromatic wines as much as I do, and I know that she is partial to a Viognier, so I requested her help in sampling this one.  
Here's what Simone had to say:  
"For the price I think this is a fantastic wine. I would normally expect to pay more for a wine like this. I love that it is aromatic and was expecting it to go best with a spicy kind of oriental meal. My boyfriend had surprised me with a fab West Indian concoction on my return from the shopping expedition which complemented it perfectly. I also think this would go well with a halloumi/hoummus/bread/tapas kind of lunch.... Great value."

I'm glad Simone was convinced, as, like me, she had to seek out an Asda store specially to sample this one.  Do the Purple Teeth public agree?  Let us know via the blog comments.

If you love the texture, body and mouthfeel of oaked chardonnays but you're not a fan of those oaky creamy flavours, preferring fresh, bright stone fruit, I'd urge you to give this a try.  It's got apricot, peach and maybe hints of orange.  The floral aromas are not as strong as, say, a Gewurztraminer - more honeysuckle than rose.  The nose could almost make you believe the wine was sweet, even though it is dry or, at most, off-dry.   Indeed, Asda have even marked it up as sweet.  Trust me, it's not a sweet/sticky wine.  The acidity well balances the 6 grams of residual sugar and the impression is definitely that one is drinking a drier rather than sweeter wine.  
If you generally find white wine acidity too taxing for your palate,  for example after sampling Sauvignon Blanc, then you might find this a summer's white that won't set your teeth on edge.

Flavours come out more as it comes to room temperature after time in the glass so if you find it too overtly floral, just keep it super chilled.  I found that food actually seemed to improve it.  
I  served it with a home made Chinese sweet and spicy stiry fry with lots of vegetable and later found out that that's almost exactly what was recommended on the label.  I must be getting good at this.  

Purple Teeth will certainly give this a "buy again" rating. At £5 a bottle, it's too good to miss.  It's also on sale at Morrison's for £7.49 and that's a fair price for a wine of this quality.

17th April is World Malbec Day so next week's Wine of the Week is Malbec.  Yes, any Malbec from anywhere.  I've 3 Argentinean examples to enjoy and hope that you'll pick up a bottle from wherever is easiest for you and share your experiences with it, either on the Facebook page, here via comments on on my Twitter.  I'll include what I can in next week's blog post.  
Cheers!

Last weekend I danced until breakfast 3 nights in a row.  I did a 10 hour intensive training course on West Coast Swing.  I competed in 4 competitions and made finals in all of them.  I placed 2nd in my best performance with a guy I met on the Thursday before the competing started on Friday night.  All in all, a successful dance weekend!
 But perhaps the biggest success of the weekend was getting dancers from Poland, Hungary and Russia to drink English Vodka...  albeit a liqueur style vodka-based drink.  Caralicious from the Fabulous Vodka company based in Marlow, Bucks (£19 from fabulousvodka.co.uk) was the fuel for the weekend.  At 25% abv it's not going to knock your dancing off par (unless you drink it in wine like quantities).  It gives a gentle glow and takes the edge of the nerves.  It is beautifully sweet and for serious wine buffs, it has enough of the "tawny port" toffee tones to pair with dessert.  

For my next bottle, and there will be more, I intend to try mixing it into different cocktail variants and pouring it on ice-cream where it might work as well as a Pedro Ximenex sweet sticky sherry.  It's not wine, but it has an unctuous quality, and a breadth of sweet flavours that made it a huge hit with the ladies.  I have orders for 3 more bottles which I'll be fulfilling at my favourite Marlow shop, Alfred the Grape, tomorrow.  Now that's what I call a success.  That's where I also had the pleasure of tasting the Oak Aged Vodka Cask Two which was aged in a dark rum cask. It has a slightly spicy flavour reminiscent of Christmas.  The Fabulous Vodka company (also based in Marlow) have an interesting range including a sparkling vodka and a Polish potato vodka.  They also have a gin on offer.  So, if you're looking for something different, then there's sure to be something here to tempt you.

Being Scottish, it was only right that I shared plenty of single malt, and the drink of choice was Auchentoshan triple distlled lowland malt.  Growing up just a few miles from the distillery, I could never have imagined that one day I would be drinking it at daccing  event with 470 people from over 20 countries! It's smooth, delicate with citrus and vanilla tones and has now been a hit at dance events on both sides of the Atlantic.  I'm proud of my local products!

As for the wine, the weekend of dancing meant it was going to be about what worked best at room temperature and mixed with sparkling water, not an easy task for any wine...  so, in my dance shoe bag I carried Hilltop Estate Gewurz from Hungary, sadly now discontinued by Waitrose.  At the clearance price of £5.99 it was perfect for the job.  

Being the UK and European championships, I was lucky enough to socialise with friends from home and abroad.  I was offered a lovely tasting of a red Sancerre which certainly livened up the proceedings on Sunday night.  Pinot Noir is such an expressive grape that every one tastes different, yet can only be Pinot Noir.  I will seek out more of this and do a proper review another time.  From my beloved international dancers, I also received gifts of a beautiful Hungarian Eszencia dessert wine, and a wonderful Grand Cru Gewurztraminer from Alsace.  I shall take great pleasure in drinking them both and sharing the experience with you, my dear readers, in the near future.

To share in the joy of the weekend, feel free to buy and taste the drinks mentioned.  Or, watch the clip below.

I like to keep my customers happy.  So when readers requested that I feature some wines from Asda in the Wine of the Week choices, I was happy to agree.  It was a bit of an adventure.  I'd never entered my nearest Asda store, which is buried deep in a housing estate several miles away.  Intrepid as ever, and armed with nothing but the Google Maps app, I set off to find some reasonably priced wines for the Purple Teeth public to purchase, pour, partake and ponder.
This week, we toasted Spain again with a Rioja Reserva called Espartero, priced at £5.50 (rolled back from £7.98).  I was a Rioja drinker of long standing until I met Mr Purple Teeth, but he deemed the wines he first tasted 10 years ago to be "sherry-ish" (a hint of oxidation?), and they didn't grab him in the way that Bordeaux wines tickled his tastebuds. So, my love affair with Rioja dwindled to nothing more than a casual fling from time to time.  No commitment, and no questions asked.
It was time to get re-acquainted and I invited Mr Purple Teeth in for a threesome.  

His first sip said sherry and the psychological barriers were raised.  I nudged him to cleanse his palate with a couple of salted crisps.  (Burt's get my vote as the cleanest and most fabulous potato chips out there.)  Sweetened with salt, he sipped again.  
"That's not bad.  It's a big wine.  Good mouthfeel, plenty of body.  It can't be Rioja can it?"
Well Rioja it is, and the salty seal of approval was a great result for a wine in this price range.  
To clear something up: you can get white and rosé wine from Rioja too, and jolly nice it is!  But all of the information in this post will be about the more famous red Rioja, or specifically about our Wine of the Week.

When buying Rioja, you need to understand a little bit about the Spanish labelling terms to work out in advance what the wine might actually taste like.  Rioja wines are generally made from Tempranillo grapes (occasionally with a small proportion of a couple of other indigenous grapes in the blend, such as Garnacha and Graciano), but all Riojas are not created equal, and I'm not just referring here to the different strains of Tempranillo out there.  Let's not get into that level of detail just yet!

The most obvious difference between Riojas, aside from winemaker style, quality and cost, is the recognised and regulated Crianza aging system.  Keep in mind that such terms as Reserva have a legal meaning in Spain (Portugal and Italy too, though the meaning is a little different), whereas terms like Reserve are often just clever marketing in other parts of the world.

So here's the short, and by no means perfectly formed, Purple Teeth guide to these Spanish labelling terms which give some insight into how the wine was made, and hopefully, a rough guide to how it should taste
.
Joven: means ‘young’ and implies that the wine is fresh, probably from the most recent harvest/vintage (or Cosecha).  It has probably spent little, or (most likely) no time in contact with oak during the wine making process.  If you have a Joven on the shelf, don't think about keeping it for 5 years.  It won't suddenly become a Gran Reserva, and the wine is made to be drunk while young, fresh and fruity. You'll often find this style of Rioja in wine bars as it's generally soft and easy to drink, can be food friendly but doesn't need food to be at it's best.  Note that the vast majority of white and rosado (rosé) wines from Rioja fall into the Joven category. Occasionally the wine may not say Joven, but instead just say Cosecha along with the year of harvest.  At times, this may be supplemented by a phrase such as ‘X’ Meses en Barrica or simply Roble, implying the wine has spent some time in oak barrels, but not enough to qualify as a Crianza or one of the other aging levels.

Crianza: meaning 'breeding' or 'raising' tells us that wines have been aged for at least 2 years with a minimum of 12 months in oak barrels and 12 months in the bottle before being sold. Crianza wines have a bit more body and good acidity helping them to pair well with heavier foods such as roast meats, thick sauces, and those yummy cheese and chorizo based tapas.
(For those rare white or rosado wine that are labelled Crianza,  wines are required to spend at least 6 months in oak and 6 in bottle.)

Reserva: meaning 'reserve' tells us that wines are aged for 3 calendar years with a minimum of 12 months in oak and 24 months in the bottle. The Tempranillo grape stands up well to aging, and winemakers will reserve the best suited grapes to make into their wines destined for aging.  In the right conditions, Reserva and Gran Reserva wines can be kept for quite a few years.  In a Reserva, you'd expect to find rich, concentrated wines tending towards a silky flavour which mellows further with age. For the traditionalists out there, this makes a great pairing with roast lamb.
(White and rosado wines Reserva wines are even rarer, but if you see them, they'll have spent a minimum of six months in oak and and 18 months in the bottle before being released for sale).

Gran Reserva: meaning 'great reserve' wines are the most expensive and, reputedly, the best Riojas, though that's all a question of taste. They're aged for at least 5 years with a minimum of 24 months in oak and 36 months in the bottle.  Many will spend several more years aging before being released. Despite their hefty prestige and price tag,  Gran Reserva wines in the past could become overly oxidized and excessively woody, losing fruit and giving that sherry tinge that Mr Purple Teeth found so unappealing. Modern winemaking techniques and the improved care of the best wine-makers now means this perceived problem is rare. The long aging allows Gran Reserva wines to marry a perfect blend of fruit and oak creating wines with complex flavours and a long finish.

So what of our example?  The Espartero on the shelves at the moment is from the harvest of 2007, which is officially a "very good" vintage. If you want to add an element of snobbery to your next order of Rioja in a restaurant, then the recent recognised "excellent" vintages are 2011, 2010, 2005, 2004, and 2001.
It's a Reserva, meaning it's had a year in oak, and has had twice the legal minimum of bottle aging so it's certainly ready to drink now.  Considering the attention needed to create a Reserva wine, at £5.50 this is definitely a bargain.  It's undoubtedly the cheapest 2007 Reserva I was able to find, and it's far more common to find them at twice this price.  But it's only a bargain if it's any good.  If you like the Reserva style of Riojas, then you'll like this.  It may not be the most complex, and it doesn't have a particularly long finish, but it's well integrated, smooth as silk (especially coming back to drink it on day two), and packs a punch of black plum veering to prune, with vanilla and spice, and a hint of leather. If you're going to be making spring roast lamb a Sunday staple for the next month or two, then grab a few bottles of this and you can't go wrong.

Did the Purple Teeth public agree?  Please tell me in the blog comments area.  I'd love to know if you agree.

If this has whet your appetite to learn more about the wines of Rioja, the official source is http://uk.riojawine.com/en 
Or you could just buy a few more and learn by tasting.  Next week's wine of the week will be Cono Sur Viognier in the Bicicleta range from Chile.  It's rolled back from £7.48 to £5 at Asda so grab a bottle and tell me what you think.
Cheers! Salud!

You may have noticed there's not been much Italian wine featured on Purple Teeth, so it was time to change that. And at £5.99 a bottle from Marks and Spencer, the Puglia Rosso  2012 seemed like a good place to start.    I wanted to feature a wine that's available in a small bottle size as one of my readers was bemoaning the lack of decent wine in little bottles.  This was one I'd picked up several times back in my days of subsisting on M&S meals after room service became just too boring.
It's made from the Negroamaro grape, another first for our reviews, and a grape almost exclusively grown in Puglia, which is in Italy's "heel" of the south.
The label claims the wine should be easy going with blackberry and cherry flavours, so let's see...

It's been a while since I've had this wine, and I'd forgotten quite how light in colour it is. Negroamaro translates as black and bitter, but this wine is neither.  It's a bright, light to medium ruby colour, and very smooth on the finish.  It works extremely well with cheese, and with tomato-based pasta dishes, containing plenty of red and black fruit flavours, and has a vibrant acidity that makes it surprisingly refreshing for a red wine.

As far as hotel room or train journey picnics go, this is a delicious match for the M&S Feta and Sundried Tomato pasta salad, and though that's hardly a sophisticated recommedation from the girl who enjoys nothing more than Michelin star meals and fine wines, sometimes you just have to roll with what life gives you and find a way to be discerning with whatever's available.  The mini bottle size is a great way to try it if you remain unconvinced, but unless you only like extremely tannic, heavy cabernets, I can't really imagine this wine offending anyone.  It might even tempt white wine drinkers over to the Purple Teeth side.  What did the Purple Teeth public think?

"I like it. It's light and relaxed," said Claire, who is more known for downing  a glass of Rosé.
Mr Purple Teeth, however, remains unconvinced... "It's a bit thin, I'd rather spend a couple of pounds more for something with a bit more oomph". I think what he means in winespeak is that this is a light to medium bodied wine. 
 I still get a nice mouthfeel, but to each his own, and remember this guy isn't a fan of Pinot Noir...


If you fancy an easy-drinking red that's perfectly quaffable, light and without complications, look no further.

Next week's wine of the week will be from Asda. It's a Rioja Reserva, Espartero and priced at £5.50.
I hope plenty of you will get a reasonably-priced bottle and join in with the fun.  Share your thoughts and photos using our twitterfeed or facebook pages and we'll include them in next week's blog.
Cheers!