El Garbí Garnacha Tinto, Terra Alta, Spain 2020 (from £17.95, ewwines.co.uk; vincognito.co.uk; red-white.co.uk) We can start Dry January soon enough. But with a bank holiday in store tomorrow, ending the festivities today feels just a little too early. Better to follow that other, much older January tradition, the new year resolution, which, when it comes to wine, is for me all about adding new styles, places and grape varieties to your rotation of favourite bottles rather than thinking of various punitive kinds of abstinence. One currently fashionable style that I would strongly recommend if you haven’t tried it before would be the new wave of wines made from grenache aka garnacha. A variety that was once known for most part for big, sweetly fruited, massively alcohol-ed fruit bombs is, in the hands of Spanish winemakers operating in highland vineyards such as the Sierra de Gredos near Madrid and, in El Garbí’s case, Terra Alta in southern Catalonia, producing wines of exquisite pinot noir-like lacy, red-fruited prettiness and freshness.
J Bouchon Block Series Semillon, Maule, Chile 2019 (£16.99, or £9.99 as part of a mixed case of six, majestic.co.uk) Another grape variety I’d be happy to try more of this year is semillon, which is famous for its role in the whites of Bordeaux, is widely planted all over the world, but which has never had quite the same level of appeal and renown as its frequent blending partner sauvignon blanc. That it can make fabulous wines on its own has been proved repeatedly in Australia’s Hunter Valley: wines such as Tyrrell’s Hunter Semillon 2019 (£16.99, farehamwinecellar.co.uk) are among the best in the world for illustrating wine’s ability to transform over time, starting out limey and light, pristine and tight, ending up with layers of honeyed, toasty intensity as the years roll by. But the semillons that have surprised me most over the past couple of years have been made by Argentinian and Chilean winemakers who have rediscovered old semillon vines to make dry whites of real originality and depth, such as J Bouchon’s pithy, mandarin-scented example from 80-year-old vines in southern Chile.
Seméli Mantania Moschofiliero, Peloponnese, Greece 2021 (£11.95, thewinesociety.com) Every year the wines of Greece become much easier to procure in the UK: there’s a real diversity of supplier and wine available, these days, and the wines themselves have never been better. As a fast track to transforming your regular drinking repertoire, I can think of worse ideas that sticking solely to Greek wines for a month or two, a crash course that could include among other things: the expressively peachy-floral Thymiopoulos Vineyards White Xinomavro-Malgousia (£13.99, or £10.99 as part of a mixed 6, majestic.co.uk); the muscat grape-like aromatics and succulence of Seméli Moschofiliero; the “grand cru Chablis in the Aegean” smoky mineral crackles, lemon zest and racy energy of Gaia Estate Wild Ferment Assyrtiko, Santorini 2021 (from £29, vinvm.co.uk; fortnumandmason.com); the sinewy yet supple and juicy, aniseed, pepper and dark cherry dry red Avantis Estate Mavrokoudoura, Evia 2018 (£20.50, amathusdrinks.com), and the wonderfully intense preserved lemon, blood orange, fennel and gentle chew of the orange wine Menexes Orange Vilana, Crete 2020 (£26.50, maltbyandgreek.com).
Follow David Williams on Twitter @Daveydaibach
