La Catina Pinot Noir , 2010 (£7.50, The Wine Society) Poor old Romania never seems to get a good press, and its one of the many countries that the wine snobs don’t give a second glance to. Amazingly though you can get a good red east of Strasbourg. It’s not the best wine you’re going to drink this year, but at £7.50 a bottle it’s good value band is a very drinkable bottle. Medium bodied, fragrant and bursting with black cherry and raspberry this red from the Dealu Mare region is definitely worth a try.
Semeli Feast Agiorgitiko, 2012 (£6.95, The Wine Society) If only the same could be said for this Beaujolais-type red. Greece has even less of a reputation when it comes to wine than Romania and a glass of this won’t change that. It should be medium bodied but it was extremely thin and tart, and there wasn’t much to say for the supposed cherry and blueberry bouquet. If you pay peanuts you’ll get monkeys. And if you pay for vinegar, you’ll get vinegar. Not one to bother with.
Vranac 2010 Plantaze (£6.95, The Wine Society) Montenegro is a tiny little country in the tinderbox of Europe but Vranac is a Surprisingly big wine. It’s probably a pound or so more expensive than you’d pay for a similar new world wine but it’s worth it. Ripe, juicy and bursting with flavour it’s very drinkable but would go well with aromatic food, perhaps a curry. If you fancy something a little different at an affordable price then Vranac is the wine for you.
