You’ve Got To Love ‘Em (I Hope)

Do you obsess about names, incant Parker scores religiously as if they were divine biblical utterances and indulge in vintage numberwanging and acute anoraksia – (I’ll see your Palmer 83 and I’ll raise you a Margaux 78). If I asked you to name a crisp little aperitif would you nerdle on about late-disgorged Selosse, recommend a teasing Riesling Schadenfreude Uberleutnant Kabinett Pricewein or advocate a glass of your favourite cheeky little Montrachet?

To enjoy a wine we don’t have to be in thrall to its excellence. Some wines can bring a smile to the lips by virtue of frivolity, irresistible fruitiness or downright oddness.

Muscat tradition, Domaine Albert Mann
What is it about Muscat that makes it a guilty pleasure? Is it that very particular nose redolent of pink grapefruit, tangerine, orange zest and sweet jasmine? Or the sensation that the wine never fermented and that you are drinking neat grape juice? Muscat is spring blossom incarnate: “If you’ve never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom” wrote Audra Foveo, yes, it is a veritable flibbertigibbet, a grape variety of easy virtue. Muscat will never takes its place in the pantheon of noble grapes, but when Keats wrote “burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine” you’ve got to believe he was thinking about the Muscat grape. The Albert Mann version sings more eloquently than most with enough minerality to suggest that substance lurks behind the perfume, but it’s still probably too delicious for people to take seriously.

Le P’tit Curieux, Patrick Rols
Last time I wrote about this Chenin it was an interesting two tone affair, some honey-coated quince sweetness balanced by jagged acidity. Since that time this uncouth wine has evidently begun a second fermentation in the bottle and now there’s renewed zip, verve, myriad tiny bubbles and offensive quantities of fun. Orthodox wine lovers would roll their eyes (and I saw a sommelier squirming in his straitjacket after trying this), but I love a wine that tickles my ribs whilst staying several steps ahead of my palate.

Trebbiano secco, Camillo Donati
This wild wine has already gained a bemused following. Trebbiano – workhorse grape, right? Sparkling Trebbiano – what’s all this about? This is about making a wine naturally, with no disgorgement or filtering. It is so natural you can see the yeast doing the backstroke in your glass. Cloudy and smelling uncannily of fermented apples the wine is bone dry on the palate, refreshing and with surprising depth of flavour.