No sooner had I pressed 'publish' on my last blog than I noticed a mention for the Botani Moscatel from Jorge Ordoñez & Co on the Purple Pages section of  Jancis Robinson's web site (unfortunately you need to be a member of the Purple Pages section to read the report - but I thought it worth mentioning here)

Her colleague Julia Harding MW is cleary as enraptured with the wine as we all were on tasting it this morning.

And it also reminded me that I forgot to mention earlier the Malaga sweet wine from the same producer as the Botani.

The No. 1 Special from Jorge Ordonez is 100% Muscat; rich, unctuous, grapey - but lovely purity and balance. They are working with Kracher of Austria now, and this clearly shows in the sweet  wine. Excellent value sticky (very true description!0 and I think good value at £15-16 a half.

Clearly there are some good things happening in Spain. But as another tasting later in the day of some over-priced Ribera wines showed, it is definitely a case of looking carefully and sorting the wheat from the chaff - something you can be sure we do very diligently at Surf4Wine!

The Saturday newspaper round up at Surf4Wine...

Financial Times

Red and white go green, Jancis Robinson
Jancis Robinson has been running a campaign against extra-thick, extra-dark and extra-heavy bottles whose manufacturing and transporting costs are far more than those of regular bottles... [More]

 The Independent

Great burgundy vintages are usually thought of as red. But in 2007 the whites are better than the reds, Anthony Rose
'I wasn't going to comment on the latest burgundy arrival because the word on the grapevine wasn't sufficiently enthusiastic to justify it. That was before tasting the wines, and while I still don't believe 2007 is a vintage in which to sink your life savings, it merits attention for unexpected reasons. A great burgundy vintage is usually thought of as red, as in 1999, 2002 and 2005, and red wines and laying down are synonymous. 2007 is about the whites...' [More] 

 The Times

The Telegraph

 Bargain wines from Aldi and Lidl, Jonathan Ray
Aspirational thrift is the new byword among cash-strapped wine lovers

'Of all the supermarkets that crowd our streets (and I have half a dozen within five minutes walk), the credit crunch seems to have been kindest to Aldi and Lidl. "Our wine sales are up 40 per cent on last year," says Danny Gibson, wine buyer at Aldi. "We have just 65 wines on our list and I try to give as broad a range as possible. Some of our customers will only spend £3 a bottle and I have to get the best in that price range." .... [More]

The Guardian

Looking for a choice down under, Victoria Moore
There's more to New Zealand than sauvignon blanc.

"New Zealand," said a friend with the air of someone pleased to know what they're talking about. "They make good sauvignon blanc. Gooseberry tasting. Very delicious." And? I was subjected to another moment of preening. "Pinot noir. Delicious. Good enough to rival burgundy, and better value." Anything else? There was a pause and then, in a halting voice, "Something else white?"...  [More]