Anthony Rose: Own-label wines offer quality and value for money
Today's new ranges of own-label wines emerging from Berry Bros and Corney & Barrow are bottled at source and transported overland
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Your support makes all the difference.An own-label wine is a brand aimed at inspiring confidence and loyalty in consumers looking for good-value wines. Even before Sainsbury's Allan Cheesman developed the supermarket own label in the 1970s, established wine merchants such as Berry Bros, Averys, Justerini and Corney & Barrow were shipping Bordeaux and Burgundy and bottling with their own names.
Today's new ranges of own-label wines emerging from Berry Bros and Corney & Barrow are bottled at source and transported overland. The best merchants are not just sourcing wines willy-nilly but taking the risk out of buying by securing relationships with quality suppliers. Berry's new 46-strong Own Selection for instance carries the pedigree of many top producers, proudly trumpeting the fact on the elegantly redesigned labels.
Its 2012 Extra Ordinary Claret from Jean-Michel Cazes, £13.65, is a fine modern Bordeaux, the Reserve White from Collovray & Terrier, £8.45, opulently peachy, a 2013 Sicilian Nero d'Avola from Valdibella, £12.45, lively and damson-fresh. From Bordeaux the cedary, cassis-rich 2012 Château Pessac-Léognan from Château Haut Bailly, £19.95, and appetising 2011 Pauillac from Château Lynch Bages, £19.95, are excellent. The voluptuous 2009 Gevrey-Chambertin from Rossignol Trapet, £29.95, is a star. Corney too has an enticing new range from which the classic, intensely flavoured 2010 Margaux (Maison Sichel), £20.95, the 2010 Pomerol (Jean-Pierre Moueix), £18.95 and scented, juicy 2011 Côtes du Rhône (Gonnet) £9.50 stand out.
Majestic, too, has just launched 12 new own-label wines under the stylish Definition label. The 2014 Definition Chardonnay is a refined, burgundian-style dry white from Jean-Claude Mas, £12.99, buy two = £9.74, the 2014 Chablis, £15.99, buy two = £11.99, textured, creamy and bone dry, while the 2014 Sancerre, £17.99, buy two = £13.49, is fragrant, refreshingly zesty and mouthwateringly minerally. Fine reds in the new range include a perfumed, strawberryish 2014 Marlborough Pinot Noir, £15.99, buy two = £11.99, and a voluptuous, smokily vanilla-scented, rich 2009 Rioja Reserva, £12.99, buy two = £9.74
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