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Strictly speaking, this article should be entitled Red Wines Made From Organically Grown Grapes because the winemaking process isn’t, and can’t be, organic from both an economical and also health and safety angle. If wines are made without any chemicals they’d be susceptible to all sorts of infections and they’d cost a fortune because in order to get them clear they’d have to spend months or even years in barrels to enable any small particles to drop out. These particles are colloids and are so light that sinking is not in their nature. The wines would then need to be kept cool in the shop and at home and drunk within a short period of time.
I recently sat next to an older, and fairly opinionated, gentleman for lunch who assured me that all wine should be made without any chemicals. He reasoned that wine had been made for centuries without chemicals and that the whole modern winemaking process was health and safety gone mad.
Can you imagine if you went into Sainsbury’s and there was a handwritten label on the shelves saying “Sorry, the Cabernet’s cloudy and the corks sometimes pop out, but the bottles only very rarely actually explode. Probably best to drink the Chardonnay by the end of the month and don’t leave the bottles sitting on any priceless antique tables, because they dribble sometimes.”
Sadly, our favourite wine was the most expensive. M Chapoutier’s Rasteau 2004 is £8.49 from Oddbins. Chapoutier is a leading light in organics. You’ll recognise the labels because they have brail titles. The smell was attractively smoky with some sweet cherries. The taste was of sweet raspberries and frangipane.
Morrisons Cotes du Rhone Villages 2004 is a much more reasonable £5.34. The difference in marks wasn’t proportionate to the price hike. ie this is a better buy. It had a minty, attractive smell – quite perfumed. It was chewy in the mouth, but still quite fruity. Very likeable. Their Corbieres 2002 is £5.79 and came third. The smell was of sweet fruit and was also quite spicy, which we found interesting. The taste was farmyardy, which I think the panel marked down, but which I like.
The Co-op’s Merlot/Shiraz Vin de Pays d’Oc 2005 is only £4.99 and was my favourite wine. It had an oaky smell, which rich blackcurrant fruit. It was very gentle and smooth in the mouth. Perhaps it could have done with a little more acidity and bite, but I thought it was a very good buy for £4.99.
Sainsbury’s SO Organic Shiraz 2005 is £4.99 and it didn’t smell much at all. It was very tannic in the mouth, really gripping the sides of your mouth, but there was also some fruit. This level of tannin would be fine if you were serving it with a hearty stew or a steak.
Our least favourite was Chateau Pech-Latt Corbieres 2005, which is £5.99 from Waitrose. It was unanimously disliked. It had little smell and was dry, dry, dry.