34 25 MAY 2023 Food&Drink Wine list PIERPAOLO PETRASSI Partner & Master of Wine TROPHY International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) Wine Supermarket of the Year 2023 S CAN T HI S CODE TO S HOP T HE WI NE S PIERPAOLO’S EXCLUSIVE RECOMMENDATIONS For an even wider choice of wines and spirits than you’ll nd in store, order from waitrosecellar.com. You can buy single bottles, compile your own case of wine or choose from cases put together by our experts, including monthly o ers. Collect your order from your local Waitrose store, have it delivered to you, or simply scan the QR code to shop the wines Pierpaolo recommends each week. This alcohol-free sparkling wine from France displays elegant notes of orange blossom, green tea and bergamot on the nose. Hints of almond are underpinned by oral highlights, leading to a dry and refreshing nish. Perfect as an alcohol-free apéritif or mocktail, and lovely with desserts such as lemon tarts or fruit salads. LOW- AND NO-ALCOHOL OPTIONS Nozeco Sparkling White £3.50/75cl McGuigan Zero Chardonnay £4.50/75cl (selected stores) Thomson& Scott Noughty DealcoholizedRed £9.95/75cl (selected stores) Waitrose Low Alcohol Cider 1% £1.50/500ml It’s not so long ago that alcohol-free beers, wines and spirits were a niche category, but with sales growing at almost 10% a year, they’ve become a real success story. There are all sorts of reasons for that, but one is that quite simply the quality has come on in leaps and bounds. Take wine, for example. Traditionally, no-alcohol wines weremade by stopping the natural sugars turning into alcohol, which left you with a lot of sugars and therefore quite sweet wines. But winemakers are increasingly using sophisticated techniques that separate out the individual elements of the wine, then putting themback together minus the alcohol, giving amuchmore palatable result. If no-alcohol wines aren’t for you, but you’d still like tomoderate your intake, it’s worth knowing that some grape varieties are naturally lower in alcohol – Riesling is the classic example, but Soave too rarely comes in at more than 11%. Or do as the Austrians do and have a spritz – choose your favourite dry white, and add sparklingmineral water. You’ll halve the alcohol, but still enjoy a refreshing drink. Renowned Australian winemakers McGuigan start by making a classic Aussie Chardonnay, then gently remove the alcohol. The resulting wine has attractive white peach and vanilla aromas, stone fruit and honey melon avours, with toasty oak ensuring a rounded nish. Pairs well with roasted vegetable dishes and grilled seafood. This deliciously wellbalanced red is produced with Syrah grapes from Darling in South Africa’s Western Cape. Grown in selected sites which get the warm sun and cooling e ect of the Atlantic, it’s deep ruby in colour with hints of ripe red fruit, crushed black pepper, dried rose petal and candied cherries with French oak tannins. A lightly sparkling cider made in the Herefordshire countryside from traditional varieties of bittersweet apples. It’s matured in old oak vats, then blended with pressed apple juice to produce a low-alcohol cider that’s still full of avour. Wonderful with a ploughman’s lunch or just sandwiches full to the brim with thickly cut ham. The taste and quality of alcohol-free beers, wines and spirits is getting better all the time, says our expert Lucky Saint Alcohol Free Unfiltered Lager £1.80/330ml Lucky Saint takes six weeks to brew and the result is a gold-coloured beer with a light haziness, because it’s left un ltered to retain maximum avour and body. The alcohol is gently removed by a process called vacuum distillation with no impact on the beer’s delicate avours. It’s delicious with barbecued food or poached salmon. Guinness Draught 0.0%Alcohol Free Stout £4.50/4x440ml The Guinness brewers have worked tirelessly to ensure that Guinness 0.0% retains the beautifully smooth, cool and dark taste of the famous stout. It’s dark ruby red with a creamy head, and hints of chocolate and co ee, all smoothly balanced with bitter, sweet, roasted notes. A good match for full- avoured foods, particularly peppery dishes.
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