De Bortoli Windy Peak (2008), Pinot Noir ~ Sainsbury's (£7.99)

Betrayed. That’s how I feel: betrayed. Being unemployed I spend a great deal of my time watching DVD’s and was delighted last week when ILoveFilm sent me a copy of Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course. It’s a great little series that is thoroughly unpretentious and more of a travelogue (with a lot of grapes) than an out-an-out wine-bore's educational tool. In the episode on Sauvignon Blanc Jancis interviewed both an Australian and French producer. The difference was immense. The Aussie, whilst admitting that he thought the French had an overly snobby attitude with their own wine, refused when offered a sample to criticise it just because it was French, merely noting that it was a bit too ‘steely’ for his palate. In contrast, true to full-blown stereotype the French man first refused to comment on what he thought of his counterparts wine and then rather sniffily insisted that it might be ‘corked’ (it wasn’t). His only comment was – with face screwed up in disgust – “well, it is Australian”. Now, I’m partial to the odd bit of snobbery myself but it irked me that much that I decided to ‘go Oz’ for my usual Friday night quaffing session. Up the revolution. That’ll learn ‘em (or so I thought). Actually I think the Frenchman might have been narked that French wine sales are falling and Australian wine is still the most imported in the UK.

Having consulted the excellent http://www.supermarketwine.com/, I decided to go for a bottle of Windy Peak (2008), Pinot Noir. I must admit to being quite excited when I took it down from the shelf just looking at the wonderful light-ruby lustre visible through the bottle (yeah, such things do excite me). I really could just have looked at it all day. It promised so much. In any event, it might have been better if I did just look at it. Given that it’s a Pinot Noir, it was fairly thin-bodied but with a short, indistinct, though not unpleasant, nose. Now I forked out £7.99 for this wine on the understanding that I was performing some kind of fraternal service to our Australian cousins, trusting in Chrisopher Lasch’s maxim that ‘family is a haven in a heartless world’. Perhaps ‘hell is other people’ might have been nearer to the mark. I really found the acid balance to be all out on this and – for may palate at least – it was just a little too sharp. This is the kind of wine that might work well in a three for £10 offer but is overpriced at £7.99.

My fellow Friday night Quaffer, Paz, wasn’t that keen on it either. He tried to liven it up by eating Red Curry Walker’s Sensations (improved it a bit), some dry roasted peanuts (a no-no with wine – made it worse) and even some mature cheddar (as many writers now seem to acknowledge, a myth that it always goes with red wine). In the end we just drank it as quickly as possible and talked about winning the Ashes in 2011.