Uncover Waitrose’s Spectacular Wine Collection: Jancis Robinson’s Top Picks will Blow Your Mind!

Among the supermarkets that dominate UK wine retailing, waitrose is widely recognized for having the best selection. Twice a year it invites wine media to taste a significant part of the wines on offer. I went last month and was quite surprised to find that I had managed to sample 96 of the 148 wines on display, despite deliberately avoiding most of their private label bottlings on the grounds that they are only available in the UK.

As an activist against unnecessarily heavy bottlesI am delighted that the bottle weights are included in your notes on each wine. Clearly overall progress is being made here, with many at Waitrose’s tables weighing less than 400g when empty.

Sinners included several producers who are loud speakers of sustainability, such as Ch Maris, whose Les Planels Minervois weighed in at 600g. Given the additional carbon emissions involved in manufacturing and transporting such heavy bottles, this is a bit rich. Waitrose’s Savennières comes in a bottle that weighs 785g, and Bersano’s Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato San Pietro 2021 is 750g.

But you’re almost certainly more interested in the best (and best value) wines. My average score was just over 15.5 out of 20, but I gave two 17.5s and nine 17s. What is perhaps notable is that of this total of 11 high scores, three were champagnes, five sherries, and one was a port. , leaving only two table wines, each with a score of 17.

After sampling the first, Simonnet-Febvre’s 2020 Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume (£35 a bottle, from Waitrose Cellar online only), I wrote: “Adequate Chablis without too much ripeness and real cut and juiciness, though not cheaper than in the independents. Quite long. Well selected!” Millésima appears to be the only UK retailer to offer it, charging the equivalent of £33.33 a bottle for a case of six. So if you’re looking for a single bottle of premier cru Chablis – one of the few types of white burgundy to offer real value and aging potential – this would be a wine to head for, especially when Waitrose runs one of its regular promotions which They offer 25 per cent off six mixed bottles.

The other table wine I got 17 was a stalwart from the Waitrose range: Leitz, Rüdesheim Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Kabinett 2021 Rheingau. I gave it the same score when I tried it last October. It’s low alcohol (9.3 per cent), juicy and fresh and, at just £13.99 a bottle, it’s a steal. But it would arguably be even more appealing in the summer, as a refreshing snack, for example. It has notes of pure fruit and such a great balance that it doesn’t taste sweet. Kabinett is the current favorite Riesling among German wine connoisseurs.

One of my 17.5s I gave it to the incredibly complex, completely dry Bollinger Rosé Champagne (£59.99 and available in over 200 stores), which really deserves to be served at the table rather than on its own. The other was for another widely available wine, a dark, completely dry oloroso sherry from Lustau, from a single barrel untouched for the past eight years and aged in the darkest, dankest corner of Lustau’s La Emperatriz winery. It’s so tense it almost gives you an electric shock, and would be stunning to whet your appetite or with a nice cheddar or comté. It’ll be available from Cellar from mid-July, and at £19.99 a pint, it’s far more exciting than the unusually ripe, pale fine version at the same price.

The four sherries I thought warranted a score of 17 included the Oloroso and Amontillado dry bottlings from a range called Pedro’s Almacenista Selection, almost ridiculously cheap at £9.99 for a full 75cl bottle with an attractive label.

Even more creatively labeled are fellow 17-point Sánchez Romate Oloroso Encontrado (£15.99 a half bottle) and Cayetano del Pino Palo Cortado Solera (£14.99 a half bottle), both completely dry and highly appetizing sherries. Clearly, if you like your oloroso dry, Waitrose is the place to head. (The Wine Society, which rarely wins on price, charges £17 for a half-bottle of Found Oloroso.) Stock up now before the world wakes up to the bargain nature of aged sherry.

Another fortified wine obtained 17 points, the Quinta do Noval LBV port, which I considered “VGV” for its very good value for money. As I noted when comparing this beautifully crafted wine to a young aged port, “Like a second wine in Bordeaux, this would only be overshadowed by serving the grand vin alongside.”

Then there were two champagnes that were almost as outstanding as the Bollinger Rosé. The non-vintage Louis Roederer mix changes each year and the most recent is Collection 243 (although 242 may also be on sale). It’s based on the 2017 vintage, but given real depth by the inclusion of 44 percent even older wine, some of it aged in oak. The blend was then aged on the lees (yeast sediment) in the bottle for three years, much longer than most NV champagnes. Waitrose is asking £59.99 for it, but it’s available for much less at many independent retailers. Liverpool’s WineTime sells it for £39.99, for example, according to Wine-searcher.com.

Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru NV Champagne is a bold, slightly rustic, fully Chardonnay blend from the cooperative in the Grand Cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger that has benefited from five years of aging on the lees in the bottle. . Only one other UK retailer, Marlo Wine, is listed and charges £4 less than Waitrose’s price of £39.99, a bargain at either price. This was one of a total of 17 wines that I marked “GV” for its good value.

I scored two very, very good value for money wines and another 10 very good ones. (As usual, South Africa and Spain stand out for their cheap bottles.) So 30 percent of the wines I tasted I considered to be at least good value for money. All 12 are listed in the chart below.

But mass market retailers rarely offer great value above £12 a bottle where they can’t buy in bulk and economies of scale are hard to apply. For more expensive wines, it’s probably best to go to an independent wine dealer, who can offer much more personal advice and service.

Tasting notes, scores and suggested drink dates in the purple pages of jancisrobinson.com. Some international distributors in wine-searcher.com

Continue @FTMag on Twitter to find out about our latest stories first