As a self-confessed wine-o, I'm often asked to name my "favourite" wine.
To me, that's like asking someone else to name their favourite child.
Of course, there are those standout wine moments, those incredible and iconic bottles, those perfect pairings. But there is so much more than just that, when it comes to wine.
​Wine is liquid art, and would you want to look at just one piece of art for the rest of your life?

I've been very lucky to study wine a bit, to travel with wine and to explore many of the world's wine regions.
I admit, I love wine!  And while there are those I prefer less, and of course, there I styles I choose more often, there is a time and a place for all kinds of wine.  Are you eating? Are you in company? Is it a celebration? Is it just a tipple?  Only allowed one glass? And perhaps most important of all, is someone else paying?
I love exploring the world of wine and finding new wines to enjoy, as well as relying on those wines we choose when writing a blog is too much work, or we just want to relax with an old, reliable friend.
​
But for the very insistent, I will choose a few fine favourites and their alternatives.

Let's start with an icon.

While individually not the most I've ever spent on a bottle, probably the fine wine I've enjoyed most times is
Valbuena 5° by Vega Sicilia.
A stunning Ribera del Duero I've enjoyed on great occasions such as my 40th birthday, Wedding anniversaries, and at Christmas.
It's been both a great wine gift and a gift to myself.

Last supped at Restaurant Arzak in San Sebastien, the 2006 was divine. The fact that we were married in 2006 and drunk this on our wedding anniversary last year surely added to experience. A memorable wine, from an impressive winery, it probably would take the crown of overall favourite it I had to choose.

Find out more.

Affordable Alternative
While in no way in the same league, one cannot drink iconic wines every day, or even every month. And though I love to give Purple Teeth readers a nudge to spend a little more, I would be foolish to expect many of you to part with £100 or more per bottle.

So, welcome Condado de Haza Ribera del Duero 2011 (by far the best vintage I've tasted) and currently available in Sainsbury's for £17. Accessible to most readers and still a bit of a splurge, I know several of you have sampled and enjoyed this in Spain based on my recommendation and it's a real regular favourite around here.
In fact, Mr Purple Teeth bought it for his team last Christmas.
Bold, smoky and almost chewy, it's a big wine for it's price, 

Find out more about this second wine of another iconic estate, Pesquera, here.

Choosing an iconic white is a lot harder.

My head and heart say Burgundy, but my memory brings Stag's Leap Karia Chardonnay to mind first.

Probably half the price of a Vega Sicilia, and many incredible Montrachets, it's still a stand out.

​Recalling the first time, as one so often does with these iconic experiences, I remember a Christmas Eve in a lovely hotel in Tenby, Wales, and enjoying this so much with friends that we ordered another bottle to have with out Christmas Day turkey. And yes, by Boxing Day, we had extinguished their stock.

I've had some amazing Meursault, Montrachet and other top French Chardonnays, but the memory of this one is stronger. And it's not insanely priced either, at around £40 a bottle.


​

Affordable Alternative

Still a little rich for many of my readers' blood, in the £20 or so price bracket, there are other great Californian Chardonnays.  
Sticking with Majestic, the Au Bon Climat Santa Barbara Chardonnay at £22 is a good choice, although I'd probably spend a pound or two more at Islington's The Sampler and buy a Clos du Val from the Carneros area of Napa. Oh wait.. I did. And I will sample and write about it soon.
​At £28.50, it's probably still a little way off affordable for many readers.  

So I'll opt for the £12.99 Argentinean Chardonnay by Catena that I've written about several times.
​

​Bag a Bargain
One of the great things about a wine education is knowing a "bargain" when one sees it. Around 12 years ago, hard though it is to believe, My local Tesco was stocking Penfold's Grange for just £99!


"Just" probably doesn't seem an appropriate word to describe ~£100 retail for a bottle of red, but compared with today's prices... Let's just say I wish I'd bought a caseload.  I can find stock of a recent vintage for £300 a bottle at The Wine Society.

​Grange is arguably Australia’s most celebrated wine and is officially listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. Pre-dating the smartphone, I have no notes nor a photo to recall the vintage, but I vividly recall the sensation of pulling the cork on Christmas Day, giving it a good old sniff and crying out with joyful anticipation.

This house loves a bold wine, and they don't come much bolder than this. As memorable wine moments go, that Christmas Day is etched in my mind forever. 

Affordable Alternative

Australian Shiraz is omnipresent now and ranges from sublime to dreadful.
Price is important, and there are many great Penfold's wines that come in at around 1/6 of the price of the average bottle of Grange, nowadays.
Sadly that still puts them in a bracket of £50 or more!

If Chateau Purple Teeth is known for any one "old friend" wine, it's probably The Hedonist Shiraz (£13.99 from Waitrose).
​
Many a friend of Purple Teeth has been turned on to the little piggy and while it's never going to beat the Grange in a blind tasting, it certainly knocks its socks off in relation to affordability and ease of access.

Dessert
When comes to dessert I've had some amazing wines. Ranging from incredible and unctuous Pedro Ximenez sherry through Tokay's most incredible Aszu wines all the way to Sauternes and Barsac.

But while amazing Ice Wine is probably the "best" dessert wine for me, my favourite would have to be the Elysium Black Muscat we served at our wedding.

Almost affordable, at around £10 for a half bottle from Majestic and other stockists, this Quady winery gem has flavours of violet, lychee and rose and is as at home with chocolate as it is with blue cheese. Versatile, and highly enjoyable, you must try it if you like a sweet wine.

I have many more "favourite" wines, from the icons like Opus One to the less well known such as Swiss Petite Arvine, and maybe I'll share more of them another day.

Yet, I keep exploring. Always looking for that supermarket bargain, the local gem, the interesting experience, the off the beaten track surprise is what Purple Teeth is all about.

And if anyone wants to let me sample again some of the wine icons I've been lucky enough to try before, and those that remain distinctly out of reach (e.g. Screaming Eagle, Romanee Conti etc), I'm fairly sure they'll leap to the top of my friend charts!

Whichever wine is your favourite, please keep exploring, and keeping your wine mind open, and do let me know via Twitter or Facebook about those gems you've found that you'd like me to share with the rest of the readership.

Cheers!
​

Italian Reds don't get much of a look in at Purple Teeth.
Merlot gets even less of a write up.
So it's a brave man who buys me a bottle of Italian Merlot.

The Corte Figaretto "La More" Merlot from the Veneto region of northeastern Italy is no supermarket wine, though you could purchase it online from Uvinum if you so wished. This one has a bit "La More" of a story...

Corte Figaretto is a family-run vineyard in the heart of Valpantena, a valley situated north of Verona. South facing vines and a Mediterranean climate, combined with the passion of the family, make for quality reds.

My Italian isn't great but a cursory glance of the label suggested rich red fruit flavours, violet and vanilla, coming from time in oak.

I wasn't sure what to expect. Sometimes wine labels exagerate. And for me, red fruit flavours can often be too tart.

Luckily, this wine impressed. It's always nice to be able to give genuine thanks for a wine you've been given.

My first impression was of the texture. Very soft and smooth, rounded tannin with a very non-tart level of acid on the tongue. The fruit is red, but it's not the Sangiovese cherry red. Instead, it's dark red plum, super ripe. I'm not going to say i found violet, though I did go looking for it.
There is some kind of light floral note and as well as vanilla, the oak has imparted a very delicate note of sweet nutmeg. Despite the rather huge 15% alcohol level, it didn't feel hot or out of balance, though I did flush up like a beetroot after a few sips. Some would say that's the sulphite, others would just blame my age!

All in all, it's a rather pleasing drop, as befits it's story.

Lovely Roger brought this to my "off the beaten track" tasting at Southport last month. He'd visited a barber in the town before our dance event started and found what appears to have been an illicit drinking den. Wine bottles on the walls and samples on offer, I hope it was a licensed premises!
In any case, this was a really nice Thirsty Thursday wine. After 3 days on the road with work, staying in soulless business hotels where a glass of rather ordinary wine would set you back over £8, this was lovely to come home to.

There was a glass or so left on Friday night. I know! Most unlike me... Flavours remained pleasing, even by Friday night standards.
I'd be happy to buy it again were it somewhat more easily available.
​And for those who've scoffed at Merlot since the movie Sideways, try a good one again sometime soon. You'll probably enjoy it. And if you're ever looking for a haircut and wine experience in Southport.... http://www.barbersparlour.co.uk/
Cheers!

Finally, summer seems to have arrived in Britain. And not before time. It's the season for crisp whites and to give these Purple Teeth a bit of a bleaching.

Italy tends to be under represented here at Chateau Purple Teeth so I've taken advantage of the supermarket discounts to sample some Italian whites.

Greco is an aromatic (but not too aromatic) white grape from Campania in the south of Italy, with the Tufo DOCG being the most well-known quality zone for producing it.

Known as a full bodied, herbaceous and mineral wine with hints of apricot, this £10.99 Tre Fiori (before discount) wine was a little lighter in body than I'd expected.

Mr Purple Teeth's initial thought was pineapple - but not sweet almost slightly underripe.

It has a good streak of acidity with an almost steely mineral finish. Medium bodied and 12.5% alcohol makes it a pleasant afternoon or lunchtime pairing for fish, or even salads. Clean and elegant in style, with hints of melon or papaya and a fairly herbal note, almost basil like, it's fresh yet has bags of complexity,
Without oak, it's accessible to anyone who likes a light and crisp style and is ready to explore a bit more. £7.50 with the 25% off at the moment, buys you a good wine worthy of talking about
Mr PT rates it buy again.

Sticking with southern Italy, I returned for Fiano, a grape whose best expression is found in Avellino (& can be found paired with Greco in blends). Rich and usually with a strong flavour, it is becoming more fashionable. I'm always looking for affordable versions.

This £7.50 (roughly) M&S version was smooth and rounded but with a clean crisp edge. Not overly waxy or aromatic, with a predominantly melon flavour. It may be past its best in this 2014 vintage. I'm afraid I have to keep looking.

I also tried the Petit Chablis (not Italian of course) and similarly found little to recommend it. Both are drinkable and not a rip off during the discount period, but I won't buy them again.

Meanwhile, the 2015 Picpoul de Pinet (2015), with a Decanter silver medal, represents my safe bet at £9 (before discount) for summer aperitifs or pouring with fish and seafood.
​Cheers!
​

This time last year, I was swanning around Shanghai and enjoying a month of travel. I'd been helping out freelancing at Milton Sandford Wines for about a year and when I left, MD Debbie handed me this wonderful bottle of Malbec as a parting gift.
She knew I was a fan of Catena - the first South American to wine Decanter's Man of the Year.

Today, as I pondered which good bottle of red to open from my wine rack, Instagram advised me that today is Argentina's Independence Day. In fact, it's the 200th anniversary. I took it as a sign that I should open this 2002 Malbec.

A wine of great structure, the tannins physically adhered to my tongue with the first few sips, giving me the trademark purple teeth, and a purple tongue. Despite this, it's actually very supple. Acidity comes next. Despite its age, this is still a fresh and juicy wine, even after an aperitif of rather good Paul Cluver Riesling.
Alcohol is in balance and the punch of dark fruit comes next, quickly followed by meaty, leathery notes of a well-aged wine. The spice lingers on the palate, and a hint of cocoa comes through minutes later.

Mr Purple Teeth is a huge fan. Almost Cabernet blackcurranty rich fruit wins him over for the very first sip.
A wine with layers, and great length, the complexity is just what I had in mind for tonight. It may be summer, but outside it looks more like winter, and who cares about seasonality when the wine is as good as this.

This year, I may be working in the corporate world, rather than voyaging and enjoying daily proximity to wine, but I still know a good day when I see one.
​Cheers!

PS. The Paul Ckuver Elgin Perricrete was a delightful, light (10.5% abv) Riesling aperitif, served with garlicky prawns. Full of lime and mineral notes, it punched through the garlic and stood up to be heard. (Available from M&S).