WINE REVIEWS
Mat h e w
Goodwill to all wine lovers
es Juk
What would I like to drink this Christmas? DESKTOP www.matthewjukes.com ENVELOPE vineyard.ed@kelsey.co.uk
© COPYRIGHT VETRERIA ETRUSCA S.p.A., 2021
I have decided to perform a radical U-turn in this year’s December column, so you will see no sparkling wines and no gift boxes whatsoever opposite. I am taking a stand against over-elaborate packaging, forever. Less is definitely more in this season of more is more. I can’t see the point in paying over the odds for phenomenally intricate and no doubt extremely clever packaging when all that happens to it, when you decide to drink the wine, is that it gets tossed in the recycling bin. This year, having been subjected to wave upon wave of COP26 advice, I am solely concentrating on what is inside the bottle while bringing in my secondary theme of ‘What would I like to drink this Christmas?’ So, let’s set the scene – you have the fairy lights blinking on your tree, you have already decided which of your English sparklers to pop first and you have knocked off half an hour from the agreed time at which this moment will occur because you are gasping for a drink. What follows is, if my household is anything to go by, controlled chaos where wellplanned bottles of wine are like Tarzan’s lianas – lined up in order and ready to grab onto at a moment’s notice. But what do you reach for once the sparkling wine has been exhausted? I have three wines liana-ed up for you to ensure that you and your crowd will enjoy a very indulgent feast. Each bottle is a bit of an outlier. These quietly rebellious wines are brave, pioneering and utterly delicious. I have a feeling that each style will rapidly grow in popularity, too, over the coming years. Firstly, this is because they are wonderful to drink and, secondly, they are styles that we don’t yet have in any great numbers on our shores and which we already know that punters adore. So, feel free to draw inspiration from Greyfriars, Bluebell/ Ashdown and Ambriel – these are all visionary estates with clear ideas about what works and sells. If this isn’t a message of goodwill, then I don’t know what is.
Vetreria Etrusca Sustainable and Recyclable by Design.
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