Le Grand Retour Malbec, France 2020, £12.99, or £9.99 in a mixed case of six, Majestic With the likes of Unwins, Thresher, Wine Rack and Oddbins all either severely diminished or departed to the great off-licence in the sky, Majestic is the last of the Mohicans when it comes to nationwide bricks-and-mortar wine retail chains. And, after a turbulent 2010s, the business has enjoyed a period of what seems, from the outside, like calm since being acquired by US investment firm Fortress in 2019. Sales and store numbers (there are 203 around the UK) are healthy, and, in the past couple of months, it has been joined in the Fortress stable by two very different businesses: upmarket wine bar/retailer hybrid chain Vagabond, and the no-frills retailer Poundstretcher. It was the latter’s pile-it-high discount vibe that came to mind when I recently tasted some sweeter, more commercial offerings in the Majestic range. But there are also wines that would not be out of place in one of Vagabond’s urban outlets, such as the snappy cassis-scented red, Le Grand Retour Malbec.
Definition by Majestic Barossa Shiraz, Australia 2021, £14.99, or £12.99 in a mixed case of six, Majestic) Le Grand Retour is a reference, by Cahors winemaker Georges Vigorouroux, to the malbec grape’s return to prominence in its original, southwestern French homeland. But it was a delightfully fluent and fragrant example of malbec from the country where the variety has found global 21st-century fame that was one of the highlights of Majestic’s newly revamped ‘Definition by Majestic’ own-label range. Definition by Majestic Uco Valley Malbec 2022 (£13.99, or £11.99 in a mixed six) is made by the excellent family-run firm, Zuccardi, and comes close to fulfilling the retailer’s avowed intention with the Definition wines of ‘capturing the quintessential qualities of the world’s greatest wine styles’. Another red in the range which enjoyably matches the brief is the classic vanilla-scented Definition by Majestic Viña Majestica Rioja Reserva 2018 (£14.99 or £12.99) made by La Rioja Alta; and the succulent Barossa Shiraz made by Dean Hewitson.
Definition by Majestic Limoux Chardonnay, France 2022, £13.99, or £11.99 in a mixed case of six, Majestic For whites, meanwhile, the Definition highlights took me back to France, with the ever-reliable Jean-Claude Mas taking full advantage of the relative cool of the elevated hills around Limoux in the Languedoc to produce his Chardonnay, with its balance of ripe peachy fruit, subtly toasty oak and brightness in a wine that I would want to drink with a buttery, garlicky roast chicken. Also in France, and another consistent producer, the southern Burgundy co-operative Cave de Lugnyhas come up with a ripely stone-fruited yet elegantly brisk Definition by Majestic Mâcon-Villages (£13.99 or £11.99), while the Definition by Majestic Côtes de Provence Rosé Organic 2023 (£14.99, or £11.99) is, on the mixed-six price, a very good-value example of the easy, subtly creamy, hazy strawberry and melon-fruited charms of Provençal pink from a producer that also makes one of my favourite (non-Definition) white wines in the Majestic range: the Mediterranean breezy, citrussy Peyrassol Les Templiers Côtes de Provence Blanc 2023 (£15.99 or £13.99).
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