Wines on offer in Shropshire

Wines from Australia and New Zealand are proving great value for Shropshire customers.

A range of whites and reds are presently on offer at discounted prices at a Shropshire supermarket. Waitrose, in Newport, is offering bargain prices, which means customers can snap up good quality vintages for a fraction of the normal price.

With Antipodean wines managing to combine quality with affordability, that makes the deals good news for local wine buffs.

Jackson Estate

The New Zealand Jackson Estate Stich Sauvignon Blanc 2008 Marlborough is presently priced £7.99, a 20% saving on its normal £9.99. It’s a medal-winning wine that’s high in quality and low in quantity. There is never a huge amount of this Wairau valley estate wine, and it never disappoints. It offers crunchy gooseberry and kiwi fruit with a cleansing minerally finish. Jackson Estate is a perfect apéritif and just the thing with meaty fish, chicken or pork dishes.

Critics are big fans, saying:“One of my favourite NZ sauvignon blancs, this has lovely tropical fruit, brilliantly balanced by limey freshness. It’s not cheap, but worth every penny,” Jamie Goode, Sunday Express, 22 March 2009 (2007 vintage). Another writer said:“Tangy and ripe, with rich elderflower fruit,” Joanna Simon, The Sunday Times (2007 vintage)

Craggy Range

Craggy Range Old Renwick Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2008 Marlborough, New Zealand is also on offer, with the price falling 20% from  £11.99 to £9.59.

Craggy Range is a family-owned winery specialising in the production of expressive Single Vineyard wines. Its vineyard in the heart of Marlborough, is one of the country’s most prestigious Sauvignon Blanc vineyards. The wines are planted in outcrops of stony greywacke based soils found in small parcels near Renwick township. The soils impart a unique textural character to the wine – a dry, stony, mineral feeling on the palate which underpins the intense lime and gooseberry fruit flavours that are Marlborough’s trademark.

Samson's Range

Plantagenet Samson’s Range Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc 2008 hails from Western Australia and is on offer with a 20% saving, from £7.99 to £6.39.

Plantagenet Wines was the first winery in the Great Southern Wine Region of Western Australia and has since 1975 developed an enviable reputation for producing elegant wines with complexity, finesse and balance. In 2007, Plantagenet appointed John Durham, ex-head winemaker at Cape Mentelle for 21 years. John’s experience, combined with the fantastic cool climate growing in the South West of Australia, ensures that Plantagenet continues to produce wines of the highest quality.

This is a classy white wine – really refreshing and thirst-quenching summer drinking, offering hints of gooseberry and herbaceous blackcurrant leaf on the nose, followed by tart lemon flavours with a round mouth-feel and a long vivacious finish.

Hardy's Crest

Hardys Crest Cabernet/Shiraz/Merlot 2008 SE Australia is our bargain of the month with a 50% saving from £9.99 to £4.99.

It is a blend of South Australian fruit from the best regions.

The vintage combines elegant ripe blackcurrant and cherry fruit and its smooth finish is enhanced by hints of mint and vanilla from ageing in French and American oak barrels. It is ideal with lamb, beef, chicken or turkey.

Wolf Blass

Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 S Australia is another variety presently on offer with a third off at £5.99 from £8.99.

It is a rich and fruity Australian Cabernet Sauvignon.

Wolf Blass is one of Australia’s best-known wine names and this is one of their most-loved wines. The warm growing conditions have resulted in a luscious plummy red with soft spicy oak. It’s perfect with roast lamb or casseroles.

Craggy Range

Finally, Craggy Range Merlot 2007 Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand is on offer with a 20% saving from £11.99 to £9.59.

It’s a luscious Merlot from New Zealand’s Craggy Range winery.

The superb, dense Merlot shows notes of blackberry fruits, chocolate and spice. It’s rich and concentrated with a complex long finish – the perfect choice with a roast lamb. The wine can be cellared for 10 years from stated vintage.