Jonathan Ray

When I was pondering a theme for this week’s offer with Mark Cronshaw, operations director of The Wine Company, he sucked his teeth, stared into the distance and came up with a brainwave: why not simply offer The Wine Company’s best-sellers? Wines that have been tried, tested and loved by their customers, but offered with special discounts for Spectator readers only. A fine plan, I said — depending, of course, on the quality of the wines and the generosity of the discounts. Well, I’ve tasted them and they’re an excellent, well-varied bunch, whittled down to six from The Wine Company’s top dozen sellers — a surprisingly tricky task. And MC’s arm was well and truly twisted on the discounts.

We’ve four lovely wines this week that virtually chose themselves, so spot on are they. FromVineyardsDirect are great at this kind of thing — finding little treasures that others have either overlooked or were too slow to grab first. The Prosecco Collalbrigo Brut (1) is a typical example. I’ve come across a lot of lousy Proseccos of late, most of them far too sweet and far too pricey. The whole point of it is that it should be light, easygoing and charming. And inexpensive. Well, this is as good a Prosecco as I can remember and the first I’ve recommended here. Zesty, appley, lemony and exhilaratingly refreshing, it has plenty of body and a crisp, clean, dry finish. A great aperitif, it’s also an essential part of a fine Bellini or Sbagliato. £11.65.

For some inexplicable reason, the Loire remains a woefully underrated area. The longest river in France, its banks are home to a remarkable variety of grapes and wine styles — red and white, sweet and dry, sparkling and still. Lightness and freshness is the region’s signature and the following selection from the inimitable Yapp Bros, 2014 IWC Loire Specialist of the Year, is perfect springtime fare. Jason Yapp has lopped a quid off every bottle and I hope you find as much to enjoy here as I did. There’s nothing duller than a dull Muscadet, oh, except maybe a dull Soave, but the 2013 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie, Domaine de la Mortaine (1) is anything but, being full of vim and vigour.

Berry Bros & Rudd have done it again and come up with six fascinating wines at very generous prices. A couple are almost 25 per cent cheaper than on Berrys’ list and the mixed case is almost 20 per cent cheaper. And it’s a quirky selection all right. Berrys might have one of the finest lists in the country when it comes to cru classé claret, grand cru burgundy and vintage champagne but, with an unparalleled eight Masters of Wine in the company, their expertise is much further-reaching than perhaps one might imagine, something which is demonstrated perfectly by the vino below. First we have the 2013 De Martino Reserva Sauvignon Blanc (1) from the Casablanca Valley in Chile.

We’re heading south for the winter this week, specifically to South Africa and New Zealand, courtesy of Tanners of Shrewsbury. First to New Zealand, a country whose wines I adore. I’m not alone: we in the UK are New Zealand’s biggest market and happily spend more on each bottle of Kiwi wine than on wine from anywhere else other than France. New Zealand accounts for less than 1 per cent of the world’s total production, but it must all come here. The 2014 Tummil Flat Sauvignon Blanc (1) from Marlborough is unmistakeably Kiwi, being full of ripe gooseberry, cut grass and nettle aromas. And it is just so drinkable with perfectly balanced fruit and acidity coupled with an exhilarating freshness.

The end of the month is nigh and the sorry few still on the January water wagon are no doubt clinging to it by their fingertips, knuckles ever whiter. I’m not trying to tempt any of you to jump off prematurely, I promise, but we’ve some cracking wines this week courtesy of FromVineyardsDirect, those crafty runners-to-ground of hidden treats and treasures. I don’t know what the vinous equivalent of a truffle hound is, but FromVineyardsDirect must have a few in the kennel, because nobody is better at coming up with bargain parcels from the unlikeliest of places than FVD’s Esme Johnstone and David Campbell. The 2011 La Réserve Claret (1) is a case in point.

I’ve so many mates on the wagon this month that there is hardly anyone left to play with. It turns out that even my old chum Jason Yapp is doing a detox. More baby steps really, he tells me, a day at a time, but even so. Happily, though, before Jason went all virtuous, he and I sat down for a lengthy tasting in order to choose some seriously tasty fare for the first Spectator Wine Club of the year. And I am really chuffed with the final six that we picked, for they are excellent examples of what regional France has to offer the discerning drinker. All three reds and one of the whites are organic. We didn’t pick them because of this — it just turned out that way.

Just in case you missed it last week we’re showing again the details of the final Wine Club offer of the year, courtesy of Private Cellar, the East Anglian wine merchant which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. The great Jancis Robinson recently declared the company to be the finest independent merchant in the UK, which is one heck of a compliment and one with which many of our readers would agree, certainly the readers who joined us the other week to taste a dozen or so of their wines, of which the following selections were the highest scorers. The Henri Chauvet Brut Blanc de Noirs NV Champagne (1) is something of a favourite at the Speccie, having been featured in a number of Private Cellar’s tastings with us.

We’ve a really peachy quartet of wines this week courtesy of FromVineyardsDirect, all at extremely attractive prices. Messrs Johnstone and Campbell of FVD are dogged in their pursuit of bargains and have done us proud. The 2011 Château Bauduc, Bordeaux Blanc (1) will be familiar to diners-out as the house white in both Gordon Ramsay’s and Rick Stein’s restaurants. Don’t let that put you off, for it’s a beauty. It was very well received at our reader tasting in London the other week. A classic Bordeaux blend of 80 per cent Sauvignon and 20 per cent Sémillon from the Entre-Deux-Mers, it was applauded for its fresh, ripe fruit and its supple, deliciously rounded finish.

With the need to stock up for Christmas in mind, we have gone all trad this week with a brilliant selection of classic French wines from our old friends Berry Bros & Rudd. And I’m delighted to report that having softened up Mark Pardoe MW, Berrys’ wine buying director, with a large, chilled glass of his very own Extra Ordinary White, he has lopped between 10 and 20 per cent off the list prices. This really does represent a substantial saving on what weren’t steep prices in the first place. Berrys’ have been trading for well over 300 years and have built up rock-solid relationships with long-standing producers and suppliers, and I would argue that their own-label wines are as good as you will find anywhere.

It’s back to basics this week and pretty darn delicious basics at that. Corney & Barrow’s house selection has an almost fanatical following among Spectator readers and it’s a real pleasure to offer the core of the range here at extremely generous rates. In fact, if one takes advantage of the fabled Brett-Smith indulgence (£6 off per case when buying two dozen bottles or more) there is a double discount on offer. This makes the wines very accessible indeed and ideal for stockpiling in time for Christmas. The Corney & Barrow House White (1) is a deliciously drinkable and refreshing Gascon blend of Colombard and Ugni Blanc drawn from the vineyards around Saint-Mont, deep in d’Artagnan country.

It’s fair to say that they let their hair down a bit in the Spectator offices on a Thursday afternoon, the magazine having gone to press, and it could have been a rash move to hold a wine tasting in the boardroom. As it was, everyone behaved impeccably and went about the task of tasting 18 different wines on behalf of the Wine Club with commendable attention and diligence. We all took notes and gave the wines marks out of ten. The following six wines were our favourites and they did well to shine amid some pretty stiff competition. The 2013 Wide River Viognier (1) from Robertson in South Africa was the first to get a unanimous thumbs up from the Spectator tasters. It was adjudged to be delicate, fragrant, creamy, floral and gratifyingly easy to drink.