Christine Austin's wines of the week from Booths, Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Morrisons
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Wines of the week
Bird in Hand Sparkling, Adelaide Hills, Australia, 12.5%, Booths down from £15 to £13 until February 11: Delightfully pale pink, this Australian Pinot Noir-based fizz has light strawberry fruit and a dry, crisp finish.
Leitz Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Kabinett 2021, Rheingau, Germany, 9%, Waitrose down from £13.99 to £10.49 until February 11: Full of clean, brisk, citrus zing, fresh minerally crunch and an edge of sweetness balancing the lemon zest. Try with grilled scallops.
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Graffigna Reserva Malbec 2021, Argentina, Sainsbury, down from £9.50 to £8 with a Nectar card until February 25: It won’t be long until the barbecue can be fired up, so stock up with this damson-filled spice-dusted, delicious wine.
The Best Vinsobres 2022, Rhône, France, 14.5%, Morrisons down from £12 to £10 with a More card until February 18: Terrific chunky forest-fruit flavours, backed by supple tannins and a touch of spice.
Quiz Winners
Congratulations to everyone who entered this year’s Fiendish Quiz. Clearly you are all getting far too knowledgeable because many readers scored full marks and almost everyone scored over 90 per cent.
However, I am puzzled by the response to Question 13 which asked the name of the dog at Yorkshire Vintners. If you had rung Yorkshire Vintners, they would have told you the answer - Wilfred. It was also posted on their social website.
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Hide AdSo how did a third of readers give Darcy as the name of the dog? I am thinking all kinds of conspiracy theories, or maybe a deliberate wrong steer from someone. Yorkshire Vintners do not have two dogs. But for so many of you to get the same wrong answer there must have been a glitch somewhere. If you are a Darcy entrant, please tell me.
Marking the entries was as fun as ever. I was disappointed that no-one was foxed by placing The Harewood Estate in Denmark, Western Australia. I was impressed that J. Ray of Scoreby managed to find the middle name of the missing sailor Thomas Timothée Felix and delighted that P. Smith of Church Fenton sent me a wine-based poem.
Because I recognise so many names these days, the winners were picked by numbering all the correct entries and asking my son in Canada to pick two.
In that way, the winner, who wins a six pack of excellent wines from House of Townend is A. Finn of Stillingfleet. This pack includes Champagne, a white Burgundy, a South African Chenin, a Gran Reserva Rioja, an excellent Bordeaux and a sensational Georgian Saperavi. Your prize will be with you shortly.
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Hide AdRunner-up is A. Hobson of Bradford who wins two of the fabulous collection of wine books recently published by Academie du Vin library. I will be in touch soon so you can choose which ones you want.
If anyone would like their individual score, please email me this week on [email protected]
Data regulations mean I must shred all entries soon. A complete set of answers will appear next week in this column.
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