Buy mixed cases online from comfort of your own home and we'll deliver. That's right, you don't even have to leave your own home or office. You can order online from our web site and we'll deliver within a couple of days. Best of all, save AT LEAST 10% off normal prices plus FREE delivery in Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Competitive delivery rates for rest of mainland UK.   Choose from country themed Explorer Cases or varietal themed Taster Cases.

• Italian Explorer Case @ £112 (normal 12 bottle price before mixed case discount £124.50)
• South Africa Explorer Case @ £133 (normal 12 bottle price before mixed case discount  £148)
• New Zealand Explorer Case @ £184 (normal 12 bottle price before mixed case discount  £205.40)
• Southern France Explorer Case @ £113 (normal 12 bottle price before mixed case discount £126.50)
• Sauvignon Blanc Taster Case @ £146 (normal 12 bottle price before mixed case discount  £162.50)
• Pinot Noir Taster Case @ £164 (normal 12 bottle price before mixed case discount  £182.50)

Andrew's wines for Summer

I joined Wine Utopia in early March and since then it's been a whirlwind of tastings, events and meeting our lovely customers. Oh and building our brand new e-commerce web site!

So, now the dust has settled, I thought it might be fun to make a list of some of my favourite wines - everyone likes a list!

If you have any questions about the wines I've selected here please email andrew@wineutopia.co.uk 

Hope you enjoy trying some of the wines. Cheers! Andrew

Apéritif

Château Plessis Pineau de Charentes Blanc, France @ £14.50

Great memories of a family holiday in the Landes region of France as a teenager and managing to get more than my fair share at Dégustation Directe. Now my 'go to' Spring/Summer Apéritif

Sparkling & Champagne

Bisol Jeio Prosecco NV, Veneto, Italy @ £13.95

Light, fresh and mouth-filling with hints of lemon and honeysuckle – perfect for when friends drop in.

Vilmart Grand Cellier NV, Champagne, France @ £38.95

When the occasion demands more serious bubbles then none is finer than Vilmart (without breaking the bank!) Rich and lush with balancing piquant acidity.

White

St Cosme Little James Basket Press White 2012, Rhône Valley, France @ £10.95

'Little James' is named after Gigondas star winemaker Louis Barroul's son and is tasty blend of Viognier, Muscat and Sauvignon ideally suited to Spring imbibing. Try with Thai green curry.

Talmard Mâcon Montbellet 'La Bergerie' 2010, Burgundy, France @ £13.95

Talmard are my 'go to' reasonably priced Burgundy producers - so long as you're happy with me calling Macon Burgundy in generic terms! Super-charged Chardonnay with minerality and richness. Roast chicken Sunday lunch is transformed with a glass of this to accompany it.

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale Semillon/ Sauvignon Blanc 2011, Margaret River, Western Australia @ 14.95

I was lucky enough to visit Moss Wood on my last trip down-under and these guys make epic  Sauv/Sem with the latter giving the wine a bit of extra breadth and making it more food friendly. Partner with tomato and goats cheese tart for an al fresco lunch.

Neudorf Brightwater Riesling 2010, Nelson, New Zealand @ £18.95

I'm leaving Sauvignon to in-house New Zealand fan Rachel when she does her favourite wines, so I've gone with the divine Brightwater Riesling from Neudorf for my Kiwi pick. Ethereal, elegant and graceful sum up perfectly. I love this with Chinese inspired slow-roast Pork.

Rosé

Château Fontarèche Rose 2012, Corbières, France @ £9.95

Pale pink Rosé is de rigueur these days. None finer at under £10 than this little stunner from Corbières in Languedoc. Same style as more expensive Provencal types but without the price tag - trade tip for you! Summer picnic's cry out for this wine.

Red

Conviviale Primitivo 2011, Puglia, Italy @ £7.50

The first of four tasty and great value sub £10 reds. This from the heel of Italy where the Primitivo grapes get wonderfully ripe and exude spice and damson flavours. Great little BBQ number!

Solareña Barrel Aged Tempranillo 2011, Cariñena, Spain

Love Rioja but don't want to break the bank? Then give this Tempranillo a go. Smoky, brambly aromas lead to a soft, gentle raspberry core. Lamb steak on the BBQ or roast lamb in the garden.

'M' Grand Malbec 2012, Languedoc, France

For Malbec it all started in France and this Cuvee M is carefully nurtured in the warm vineyards of the south. Rich and dark this impressive wine really delivers bags of flavour that will turn heads at every outing. A good aged Steak is this bad boys preferred sidekick.

Domaine de Chansac Carignan Vieilles Vignes 2012, Languedoc, France

40 year old Vine Carignan vines give this wine depth and concentration that you don't often find in a wine under £10. Not a big blockbuster like the Malbec, but an inspired choice with garlicky lamb.

Boutinot La Côte Sauvage Cairanne 2010, Rhone Valley, France @ £14.95

Cairanne is a near neighbour of more pricey Chateauneuf du Pape. Same grape blend, different location, top winemaking and you get CDP lookalike for well-under £20. Hallmarks are finely grained tannins and finesse aplenty. Keep this one for the cheese course.

G.D Vajra Barbera d'Alba 2010, Piedmont, Italy @ £19.95

Alba in northern Italy is the land of Truffles and Barolo. Barbera is the other grape variety of pedigree thereabouts and Vaja is one of the regions most acclaimed winemakers (he makes pretty good Barolo too!). Spice, damsons, woodsmoke and appealing acidity make this a great choice for the richest of foods. Anything with a north african twist on the BBQ will relate to this.

Wild Earth Pinot Noir 2009, Central Otago, New Zealand @ £21.95

My star red of the season. One of the best New Zealand Pinot Noir's and a wine of been a huge fan of for a number of years. Refined, concentrated, savoury this Pinot has it all. Drink with roast lamb or drink it by itself with your other half when everyone else has gone home! Five stars!

Pudding wine/sticky

Dandelion Legacy of the Barossa 30 yr old Pedro Ximenez, Australia @ £18.95

Aged for 30 years in the Barossa cellars of Carl Linder this epic sticky wine is at once quintessential Aussie 'sticky' wine and totally unique given it's age and grape variety. A paradox definitely worth exploring. This and dark chocolate pud for afters for me!

Digestif

Dupont Single Estate Calvados VSOP, France @ £44.95 When dinner is over and it's time for coffee and banter then this apple brandy from Normandy will warm the hearts. Bruised apples, warm spirit and definitely a warm glow when this is your nightcap.

I always knew Wine Utopia (where I'm now working managing their web operation) offered amazing wines (have you seen our New Zealand selection yet - one of the best in the UK we think!). But I didn't realise just how many 'every day wines' we listed until I was updating our web site in the wee hours of the morning. Over 70 wines in the £10 or less category! (see our full range of wines by price, colour, region etc) With this kind of range for everyday drinking, alongside our wider range of eye-catching names (Hunter's from New Zealand, Allegrini from Italy, Pol Roger from Champagne and Chateau Talbot from Bordeaux to name just four!) we don't think you need to go anywhere else to discover great wines to tempt your palate this Summer - Hampshire or anywhere else!

More new mixed cases added to the web site: Pinot Noir Taster Case Sauvignon Blanc Taster Case South Africa Explorer Case Italian Explorer Case Discover the myriad of exciting wines that Wine Utopia has to offer - all without having to leave your own home! Just pick up your laptop, tablet or phone and order quickly and securely online.  

• At least 10% off all Taster and Explorer cases
• Buy online 24/7
• Free delivery in Hampshire, Oxfordshire & Berkshire
• £10 per case anywhere else in UK mainland

Do you buy wine online? I'm guessing you might at least be interested as you are visiting this blog now!

In which case, how would you feel about helping us improve our services by taking part in an online survey? Acting as a sounding board for some possible new ideas in the future, and generally being one of the first people to hear about our plans, new wines and producers that we are working with?

We're thinking of calling this new brains trust our 'Inner Cellar'.(Ideas for a better title also welcome!)

The plan is that we will eventually transform this group into a full on wine club with lots of interesting offers, tastings (mostly in the Oxfordshire/Hampshire/Berkshire area of UK to begin with - but possibly further afield if demand is there) and even some money-off coupons. Well, everyone loves a good deal!

As an added incentive, once you complete the survey we'll send you a voucher code for 10% off any purchase you might like to make via Surf4Wine this month (March 2010. Discount on wine only, not cost of delivery).

So, to take the survey and sign-up for the 'Inner Cellar' please follow the link for the Surf4Wine buy wine online survey.

We're gearing up for a rather special Burgundy offer later this spring (if Spring ever arrives, given the amount of snow we've had recently). Watch this space for a 2008 vintage special later. So it's perfect that we're now working with Caviste in Hampshire to select some amazing wines from some incredible producers for you. What Mr Caviste doesn't know about Burgundy isn't worth knowing.

Yesterday, a three-strong buying team left the UK by EuroStar for a two-day tasting tour of the region. They've just sent me their first update, and already I'm jealous of some of the wines they've been tasting! Especially as it's just been announced that this is officially our coldest winter since 1978, so a good hot cuppa seems rather more appropriate! Although it's funny how life always seems better after a glass of a stunning Mersault or Montrachet.

Mr Caviste, though, insists that they're working hard to sniff out the best wines at the keenest prices. Here's his first update, sent by one of the team from the back of a moving car driven by a grinning and very happy Mr. Caviste...

Earlier this morning we were treated to a showing of the wines from Bruno Colin. Bruno's wines demonstrate an incredible purity of fruit and are so elegant. The whites have a real mouth tingling acidity and are wonderfully fresh. The Chassagne Rouge 2008 was the pick of the reds for me with lovely ripe fruit and an alluring smoky, vegetal nose.

We've just finished a tasting at Bachelet Monnot where the brothers (see picture) have been producing exceptional quality Burgundy for the past 6 years. These young guys are incredible: their wines improve with every vintage and we were all blown away by their 2008's. Across the board their whites are rich, very concentrated wines with layer upon layer of rich, buttery almost tropical fruit characters. They also have a terrific acidity which gives them a streak of lemony freshness.

We all love these wines and are looking forward to showing them off to all our customers later this year.

Next up are Rene Lequin Colin and Vincent Bouzereau. Then a dinner in Puligny Montrachet tonight with many of the growers we met today.

We're focussing more on red Burgundy from the Cotes de Nuit tomorrow...

Why, when it's made from audulterated wine sold to look like Pinot Noir by fraudseters in the Languedoc wine region of France to major Californian producer Gallo!

I first got tipped off about this story by Alison when it appeared on the news wires while she was at work. It wasn't every long before it made the likes of Decanter online and the Guardian newspaper and even Radio 5 Live - thanks for the early tip Ali!

With such illustrious news content providers as those above i'm not going to comment much about the story itself. I'll leave that to Decanter editor Guy Woodward who labelled the episode a 'comedy' saying that this was Gallo's 'clumsy attempt to ride the post-Sideways Pinot Noir craze by peddling Red Bicyclette as an authentic French Pinot.'

'The world's biggest single wine producer being hoodwinked by a group of errant French vignerons is funny and depressing at the same time.'

'It doesn't say much for Gallo's professionalism that its buyers couldn't tell the different between Pinot, Merlot and Shiraz,' he said.

But it did make me think a bit about Pinot Noir. This is a grape variety that is very yield and site sensitive. To get the best out of it costs money in time and effort. Red Burgundy is the epitome of great Pinot Noir for most wine drinkers. Sure, the New World is fast catching up in many ways. In particular New Zealand Pinot Noir I think offers the best value Pinot Noir experience in the £15-20 bracket, but Burgundy is definitely where the heart is

In Burgundy especially it is the producer that is all important. Vintage matters, but even in so called 'off vintages' the good guys will make interesting wines.

Which is why we like to have people on the ground to taste the latest releases for ourselves, searching out the very best wines to offer to you here on Surf4Wine. We are just about to despatch our Burgundy buying team to check out latest release from some of our favourite producers - the likes of Christian Moreau in Chablis, Vigile Lignier in Morey Saint Denis, Vincent Bouzereau in Meursault, Bruno Colin in Chassagne Montrachet, Rene Lequin-Colin in Santenay and Bachelet-Monnot in Dezize les Maranges.

We'll try and post reports here direct from the vineyards, and then they'll be a full report on their return.

 Meantime, look out for wobbly red Bicycles! ;)

In these economically challenging times everyone loves a good deal.

At Surf4Wine we constantly strive to find the best value possible for our customers - searching out new wines and the best deals possible. Our selection of Wines under a Tenner is a great place to look for really good value, imaginative wines offering tremendous value for money. But then the eternal dilemma... which wines to choose?

To help solve this dilemma we've developed two mixed cases of some of our favourites from the Under a Tenner range. One six bottle and one twelve bottle case.

Even better, if you've signed up to our Facebook page to follow us then we will email you coupon codes to get 10% of both cases. Bargain! There will also be more offers via Facebook over coming months, plus lots of news on tastings, events, and special offers. Definitely worth signing up for...

Plus don't forget, our blog updates over on Facebook too. So, if you are signed up to our page there you'll always be up to date with what's going on AND our save money on latest offer! Maybe you should tell your friends too? They sure to love you for the tip off!