AIrving

Last updated 01:00, Thursday, 11 October 2007

THERE’S nothing like a virus to dull the palate over the last fortnight, but now comes the tonic – a couple of stunning wines, reds from different countries.

The first is South African which I dedicate, reluctantly, to the Springboks who are odds on to reach the Rugby World Cup Final in France.

Rugby may be the biggest sporting passion in South Africa but the wines are pretty good, too, having soared in popularity since 1955 when the Springboks actually won the world cup.

Wines from the Western cape, which is South Africa’s biggest wine region around the rugby stronghold of Stellenbosch, were boycotted for years, but happily The Rainbow Nation has changed all that: so much so that the county is now sells around 12 million cases a year in the UK market.

There’s no shortage of them on the supermarket shelves and I’ve just come across one of the best – it’s actually called The Best in the Morrisons range.

It’s a pinotage, which is South Africa’s own red grape, a hybrid cross between pinot noir and the much less familiar cinsault. Being labelled The Best doesn’t necessarily mean it is anywhere near the best, but I chose this one because it has recently picked up a silver medal in the International Wine Challenge, one of the world’s most prestigious in which the wines are tasted blind.

One of the hallmarks of pinotage is its raspberry aroma and flavours, this might have a hint of plum, too, but it really is luscious stuff: the fruit absolutely bursts into the mouth with a long, lingering finish.

I don’t like to compare wines between countries, but if anything my other “tonic” is even better than The Best, and it comes from Italy.

It’s a Chianti and comes from Tesco, also a silver medal winner in the same IWC competition. I’ve tasted many a chianti, but this one is in a class of its own. Until now it’s only been available to members of Tesco’s wine club, but I discovered it in the Whitehaven store.

The wine is called Selezione Oro, the label is a distinctive cold label bearing a knight’s helmet and it’s a chianti riserva, just the same as a classico, and special. The flavour here is more cherry than raspberry, a lush wine of substance and so, so smooth.

Also full marks to the Co-op for its good range of South African wines, red and white, which ensures under the Fair Trade label that some of the profits go back to co-operative growers as well as putting money into underprivileged communities in the Cape. One on current offer is a Fairtrade Cape reserve sauvignon blanc, bursting with those refreshing gooseberry and citrus flavours.