Three random reds from Marks & Spencer
Posted on December 13th, 2007
A couple of weeks ago, instead of heading into Enowine, I nipped across the road into Marks & Spencer in Dublin’s IFSC and picked up three reds.
Domaine des Garennes Minervois La Livinière 2005 (€13.50)
- Looks: Deep, dark, ruby
- Smells: Dark cherries dominate the smell
- Tastes: a rich cherry fruit with a little bit of pepper
- Verdict: I really liked it, Marks & Sparks delivers on this one and I wouldn’t be afraid to buy here again based on the quality of this one.
Vacqueyras Domaine de la Curnière 2006 (€14)
Vacqueyras is incredibly easy to misspell. Apart from that what’s more interesting is that it’s just up the road from Châteauneuf du Pape in the southern Rhône, but a lot cheaper for the most part.
See the interactive Google Map
So is it any good?
- Looks: full-bodied, dark ruby colour
- Smells: slightly spicy
- Tastes: quite fruity with a definite spiciness going on two
- Verdict: Pretty good, enjoyable
Tasmanian Pinot Noir 2006 (€9.50)
Pinot Noir has a reputation for being difficult to grow, whether that’s true or not is open to debate. Whatever the case, it often commands a relatively high price compared to other grape types.
So, when you see one for under a tenner it’s either a rare find or, more often, disappointing. So what of this one, a Tasmanian Angel or Tasmanian Devil?
- Looks: Medium bodied, clear, much lighter than the Minervois
- Smells: of damp towels
- Tastes: Very fresh fruit raspberry or cranberry, and little earthy, but it’s all about the fresh red berries here which is all a little sour
- Verdict:While not offensive, the sourness (or really fresh fruit depending on how you look at it) puts me off it, even at this price. You can get far better Pinot Noir for the same price elsewhere (read my recent post on Pinot for under 10 euro).
Overall thoughts on M&S wine
Marks & Sparks do a decent job with food, so why not wine too? In addition to the pretty decent quality of the above wines, overall, I also like their labelling.
It’s a fairly good bet that there aren’t many wine experts on the floor of a typical M&S store to help us choose from their wide variety of wines.
Consistent back bottle labels attempt to answer common questions that anyone would have when trying to pick out a wine.
The back label is structured as follows:
- Style: what’s the wine like?
- Serving: what food does it go with?
- Keeping: how long can you keep it?
- About this wine: bumpf on where it’s from, bit of history etc.
Overall, my pick of the bunch was the Minervois (Domaine des Garennes Minervois La Livinière 2005)
Lar,
I think M&S have a really good wine selection and most wines are excellent value for money. They have some amazing producers making their wines but M&S then, for some unknown reason, remove the producers names in most cases and relabel them as M&S own. The result is that you don’t really know the origins of all the wines but are expected to trust M&S will deliver a consistant quality that you rely on. This is a really interesting branding/marketing effort that is quite different to most, who would be shouting the names of these producers from up on high if given the option.
Some of my favourites from their selection at the moment are Maranaga Dam GSM from Australia (~€15) made by Torbreck and Loan Range Gimblett Gravels Syrah from New Zealand made by Craggy Range (~€20). Both of these wines offer incredible value for money but you have to look around to find them (maybe not available in IFSC but I have seen them on Henry St). Check out this article from Jancis Robinson for more details on M&S wines (https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/20070604)
Hi Will,
that was quick! Thanks for those two – may check them out on way home this evening.
The Maranaga Dam GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre?)
How does it compare to a Rhône?
Hope the head wasn’t too sore after Killarney!
Lar
Lar,
The Maranaga doesn’t really compare to a Rhone to be honest. It’s much fruitier, more powerful and plummier than an average rhone wine. At the same time it isn’t as over the top or as spirity (I think that’s a word, isn’t it?) as some typical Aussie fruitbombs. I’d place it in a category like simpler/toned down/fresher 2003 CNdP. It’s quite delicious really! I like the fact that with the screwtop you can pop the unfinished bottle back in the fridge and revisit a few days later.
Head was ropey enough after Killarney, I’ll probably have some notes/photos up tomorrow about that.
Will
If you haven’t gone in there yet, now is a very good time. All wines are 20% off this weekend!!
Went in got 6 bottles, for an additional 10% off – 30% in total.
One of them was a Marlborough Pinot Noir “Clocktower”.
Absolutely SENSATIONAL for THE price (around 13-15 euro, can’t remember).
Wow, 30% off will make all of the wines you got (What else did you get?) absolute steals! Haven’t had the clocktower Pinot myself though. Looking forward to your posts on the wines.
Cheers,
Will
Hi Will,
Picked up the following on Sunday:
A Sauternes – excellent with blue cheese. Had it for dessert last night.
The rest, will open over Christmas…
* De Loach Pinot Noir (Russian River, California)
* An Earth’s End Pinot Noir (Central Otago, NZ)
* Ripasso, Valpolicella
* Chablis
* German Riesling
* M&S “Spanish Red” – for the mulled wine
[...] buying a few bottles of red wine in Marks & Spencer and having read some of the comments, I’m convinced there’s some brilliant quality and [...]