Like many of us, I spend time with family at Easter and my approach to wine-buying is to treat it like a mini-Christmas. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say Christmas-lite because, while I’d never be without a couple of bottles of port at Christmas, we don’t usually get stuck into the fortifieds at Easter. But, as at Christmas, I do order wine by the (mixed) case, aiming for one or two treaty bottles to open with the Easter Sunday leg of lamb, plus a mixture of easy-going reds to slot into the days around it.
We had a rubbish Easter last year, so the Fuligni Rosso di Montalcino we had planned to drink is still waiting on the rack. Tuscan reds are great with lamb, particularly if the lamb is cooked with lots of rosemary and garlic and you serve Italian sides such as cannellini beans with a garlic and crème fraîche sauce, borlotti bean stew, cavolo nero or shaved-fennel salad. Lea & Sandeman has the 2019 Fuligni Rosso di Montalcino – a good vintage – for £30.50.
Left Bank claret – or any other cabernet sauvignon-based blend – is another classic with lamb. If you are not the sort of Bordeaux drinker who buys en primeur and has a cellar to raid, then Aldi has a very good one: Château d’Arsac Margaux 2016 (online only, £19.99) is 72 per cent cabernet sauvignon, with the remainder merlot, and combines the fleshiness and focus of the brilliant 2016 vintage with some Margaux perfume.
I also recommend that Bordeaux drinkers take a look at the red wines from De Martino in Chile, specifically the cabernet sauvignon and the carménère. These are made in such a restrained style I don’t think anyone tasting them blind would immediately place them in Chile. They are superb value, with a fine fragrance and good intensity of fruit. Waitrose has a couple in its online wine cellar and they are stocked by Great Wine, which also has a shop in Bath. De Martino Legado Carménère is a particular favourite (Waitrose Cellar online, £11.99).
Maybe it’s a bit early in the year to be going Mediterranean-style but if you are tempted down the butterfly leg of lamb and ratatouille route then the mourvèdre-based reds of Bandol in Provence are a gorgeous match. La Bastide Blanche Bandol 2018 (Waitrose, £14.79) is lightly feral, with a tang of dried herbs, savoury tannins and the warmth of grapes that have soaked up plenty of southern French sunshine. A joy.
Then there’s syrah. If you like this grape in a fuller, lusher style try Penfolds Max’s Shiraz 2019, South Australia (Waitrose, £15.99). This rich red reminds me of a tree laden with ripe mulberries all ready to splodge and squidge. There’s also a warm lick of vanilla with spice and a sprinkle of drinking chocolate powder. Or you could head to the Rhône and find it in pure form or in the blends from the south of that region.
Red Rhône blends are also, I think, a good option for the cheaper, serve-to-anyone bottles. I mentioned Domaine Roche Côtes-du-Rhône 2020 (The Wine Society, £9.75) a couple of weeks ago. Don’t forget it. It’s perfect here. Domaine la Montagnette Signargues Côtes du Rhône Villages 2020 (The Wine Society, £9.25) is also very good; rounded and chewy. Signargues is in the very south of the Rhône, to the west of the river, just south of Lirac and Tavel. There are three more French reds containing syrah in my wines of the week.
