Top of the tipples
Push the boat out this party season with a bottle of Finest. Peter Grogan selects the best
The Tesco Finest range celebrates its 10th birthday this year and, my, hasn't it grown up. The carefully chosen wines in the range – all 85 of them – are a whirlwind tour of the world's great wine regions, grapes and styles. Each one does exactly what it says on the tin, so if you want to know what makes a Sauvignon Blanc from Chile so different to one from Sancerre, you know where to come.
Once you've cracked that, you might want to go a step further and taste the Sancerre against the Pouilly Fumé (from just up the road) to get some idea of the more subtle differences between these two Loire valley classics.
If you're feeling adventurous (and discovering wine is one big adventure as far as I'm concerned) 26 new wines have been added this year, with more to come. This includes one from Tautavel, which I have to confess I'd never heard of, so if you don't know your Rueda from your Riesling don't worry, the Finest label is as near as you can get to a guarantee of quality when it comes to wine.
Here are some of my favourites from across the range, everything from a lacy Alsace sparkler to a treacle-toffee sherry that's a pudding-in-a-glass. I hope they'll help to make this your Finest Christmas ever!
WHAT MAKES A FINEST WINE?
Wines rewarded with the Finest label have to be as good as or better than well-known brands from their region or appellation.
They need to be typical of their variety and have a sense of place or 'terroir.' After spotting a gap for a new Finest wine, Tesco visits a region's top producers and works with winemakers to create the best unique blend.
Producers of Finest wines are
required to work to high food safety
and quality standards and are 
routinely audited to
ensure compliance.
Reds
Barbera d'Asti 2004, £6·99 for 75cl. Joyfully, brightly Italian, it has a hint of bitter cherries. I'm surprised to be suggesting you enjoy it (lightly chilled to bring out the crunchiness) with a plate of very English cold cuts. Bigger than its pert pink looks, and worth roasting a ham for.
Napa Valley Merlot 2005, £8·19 for 75cl. Packed with blockbuster New World fruit lifted by old world freshness, a touch of mint on the nose and rich fruit cake flavours. Roast beef would be ideal but a home-made burger with best minced steak would be good, too.
Viña Mara Rioja Gran Reserva 2001, £9·99 for 75cl. Silky, mature Rioja, from a top vintage, with the decadent, slightly stewed fruit flavours and vanilla-chocolate overtones that go so well with hearty stews and casseroles. Wines like this are what winter was invented for.
Hermitage 2004, £18·99 for 75cl. Lovely, mature Syrah aromas of leather and black olives and something like bacon under the grill. All this and masses of sweetly ripe, coffee-tinged fruit. A grand, complex wine for a grand, complex meal.
Whites and pinks
Alsace Riesling Crémant 2005, £8·99 for 75cl. Masses of superfine, delicious bubbles (they'll get everyone in the party mood!). When it calms down, the apple charlotte flavours come through. Be warned: if you're having friends round, one bottle may not be enough!
Grüner Veltliner 2007, £6·49 for 75cl. Looking for a change from Sauvignon Blanc? Then try 'GV', Austria's signature grape. Pale and sophisticated but with loads of concentrated white fruit flavours and a grind of white pepper to finish. This is terrific with smoked salmon on a toasted bagel with cream cheese.
Block 7A Murray Darling Viognier 2007, £7·19 for 75cl. If it has to be a white for the main event, this is definitely a wine you can talk turkey with. Or goose, or duck or even pork for that matter. A big, aromatic box of flavour fireworks with the long, intense flavours you need for big food.
Chablis Premier Cru 2006, £11·99 for 75cl. Notice the dense, oily look as you swirl it in the glass; that's the premier cru pedigree showing through. The subtle nutty, buttery flavours and mineral edge are a cut above as well. Made for a mountainous fruits de mer on crushed ice.
Fiano 2007, £5·99 for 75cl. It's no surprise to me that this sultry Sicilian is a gold-medal winner. It's big and bold with bags of ripe fruit balanced with lip-smacking sappy notes. It's got plenty of stuffing too – enough to be a contender for a traditional Christmas roast.
Navarra Garnacha Rosé 2006, £5·99 for 75cl. Nobody will bat an eyelid when you serve a rosé at Christmas these days, especially one with really vibrant, jammy cherry fruit like this. A few slices of that cold turkey and a simple green salad is just the job (and don't forget the cranberry sauce – it's a perfect match).
The sweet stuff
10 Year Old Tawny Port, £10·99 for 75cl.
This is so good I thought it was a 20 year old at first. Surprisingly pale if you're used to late-bottled or ruby port, it has lovely orangey, celery salt aromas (honest!) and flavours of dates and almonds and allspice and ginger... I could go on.
PX Sherry, £5·49 for 50cl.
Short for Pedro Ximénez, which is the grape variety (Pedro's the easy bit, then 'he-men-eth'). The darkest, sweetest, nuttiest, most over-the-top sherry of them all. Lots of people say pour it over vanilla ice cream. I reckon you should sip it... and dream.
Sauternes 2004, £12·49 for 37·5cl.
If you haven't tried the ravishing dessert wines of Bordeaux you're in for a treat. Forget any preconceptions about sweet wines and give this luscious, tooth-coating beauty a go. Bags of peach and marmalade fruit with enough acidity to stop it cloying. Chilled, it's perfect with Stilton.
Raise a glass with Peter
Each issue wine buff Peter Grogan invites you to crack open a
great Tesco wine and taste it with him. This time he suggests
(after all, it is Christmas)
Finest Premier Cru Champagne Brut NV £17·98 for 75cl
This Champagne ruffled a few feathers when it won a gold medal at the International Wine Challenge in 2005 and for my money it's even better now than it was then.
The top The pressure inside a Champagne bottle can send a cork as much as 50 yards, so new-fangled screw tops won't cut it here.
The label 'Premier Cru' translates as 'first growth' but really means something like top rank in terms of being wine from the best vineyards. There's no date, so it's non-vintage (NV), being a blend of wines from different years. The wine's producer, Union Champagne, is one of the biggest, bringing together nearly 2,000 individual growers.
First impressions Loads of enticing, tight bubbles and quite a deep colour, which shows it's mature – it's been aged for up to three years in bottle.
Check the nose Very beguiling with toasty, yeasty overtones like the smell of freshly-baked brioche coming out of the oven.
Take a good sip The toasty, nutty thing carries on but then starts to mingle with something more like citrus and baked apple – all rather lovely and distinctly more-ish.
My verdict If there's a better value Champagne around, lead me to it.
Do you agree with Peter?
Email us your own tasting notes for any of these wines at tesco@cedarcom.co.uk.
Or write to Tesco magazine, Cedar Communications, 85 Strand, London WC2R 0DW. Buy Tesco wines online at www.tesco.com/winestore.