AH, low-alcohol wines. Or rather... Oh. Low-alcohol wines.
Surely it kinda defeats the object, we hear you say, and weakens the tipple as well.
Well, yes, in some cases it does. There are a few attempts at de-alcoholised wine, too, that ends up tasting like some kind of stringent elderflower cordial.
However, for health reasons, it seems there are plenty of people seeking out such low-percentage tipples and trying to find a nice one that doesn't taste so out of place.
We came across one by accident, and it wasn't until the bottle was finished and we realised the tipsiness was lower than normal did we realise it had a below-average alcohol content, at 7.5 per cent. The fact we didn't immediately notice probably suggests it's a decent tipple - and a particularly good low-alcohol one.
The bottle in question was the Willi Haag Juffer-Sonnenuhr Brauneberg 2016 Riesling Auslese, from Mosel in Germany.
A Riesling that is more sweet than dry (maybe medium sweet), it has aromas of honeydew melon and passionfruit, with a nice balance on the palate and a long-lasting finish.
To be fair, its price tag at Waitrose of £18.99 is a little eye-opening, especially if you're drinking to help you, ahem, wind down or loosen up a little. It is, however, very lovely, and very highly rated. Oh, and it's on discount offer at £15.19 until August 8.
This Riesling is made from good-quality ripe grapes grown on the village of Brauneberg’s sheer South East-facing slope, which has been famous since Roman times. (Indeed, the town was known as Dusemond - from the Latin "mons dulcis", meaning "sweet mountain" and its wines were the most highly prized of all the Mosel.)
The Haag family, too, has been based here since 1500 so you'd like to think Willi knows what he's doing.
The low-alcohol content tastes natural too, rather than having suffered from a de-alcoholising process, and it compares well to other sweeter Rieslings we've had recently.
That said, there's a lovely normal-alcohol one (12.5 per cent to be exact) in Sainsbury's Taste The Difference range, namely the Niederosterreich, from Austria.
The Riesling grape can make various white wines, from dry to sweet and sparkling. This particular one is very dry, made by Markus Huber, whose family, like the Haags over in Germany, have been making wine for generations.
The Austrian climate can be ideal for these grapes, too, allowing them to ripen perfectly. This tipple, with a rich texture and a long finish, is packed full of delicate peach and apricot notes and a lovely, crisp mineral freshness. It's goes particularly well with fragrant Thai cuisine.
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