The Times - UK (2022-06-11)

the times Saturday June 11 2022

Food + Drink 13

The white wine to drink this

summer Jane MacQuitty

2021 Miraval, Côtes

de Provence Rosé,

13 per cent

Booths, £16, down from

£20 My favourite, pot-

belly bottled Provençal

pink, with masses of fine,

savoury, hibiscus and

lemon twist fruit.

2021 Heritages Côtes du

Rhône, 13.5 per cent

Morrisons, £10

Punching well above

its weight, this rich,

spicy, cracked black

pepper French red has

minimal oak but

maximum charm.

2020 Cono Sur Pinot

Noir, Chile, 13.5 per cent

Sainsbury’s, Asda and

Booths, £6

Consistently good,

class-act, bargain-bucket

Chilean pinot noir, with

lashings of rich, gamey

red berry fruit.

its extra racy acidity. Helpfully, grüner

also ages gracefully and, with a good

2021 vintage boosted by an Indian

summer, the results are cheaper and

often outclass the 2021 Burgundy crop.

With almost a third of Austria’s

vineyards planted to grüner, it thrives

principally in Niederösterreich, lower

Austria, in the Weinviertel, north of the

Danube, and in the deep loess soil of

the Danube region’s steep vineyards.

That notwithstanding, the outlying

Traisental’s lime-rich gravel soil has

produced a tasty, spiced yellow apple of

a 2021 Taste the Difference Grüner

Veltliner (Sainsbury’s, £9). Or plump for

the lighter, zesty, citrus-spiced 2021 Peter

Mertes Era Grüner Veltliner (Tesco, £8),

but wait for Tuesday when it drops to £6.

It’s worth trading up to one of my

favourite producers, Salomon Undhof;

try the elegant, zingy, apple and pear

skin-styled 2021 Grüner Veltliner,

Hochterrassen (leaandsandeman.co.uk,

£14.95). Or splash out on Weingut

Bründlmayer’s 14.5 per cent Langenloiser

Alte Reben 2019 Grüner Veltliner

(Majestic, £34.99); made from 45-year-

old vines, it’s a gorgeous, steely, saline,

herby, peppery, lime zest triumph.

2018 Corney & Barrow

Rioja Crianza, Spain,

13.5 per cent

corneyandbarrow.com,

£11.95 Bodegas Zugober

makes brilliant red rioja,

including Corney’s tasty

truffle and sandalwood-

scented crianza.

G

rüner veltliner is getting

cooler by the minute.

Exports to the UK of

Austria’s awesome, food-

friendly flagship white

grape were up 20 per

cent again last year. It’s

all because this characterful, yet oh so

refreshing wine ticks every contemporary

drinker’s box: it’s white, crisp, dry,

aromatic, svelte yet spicy. Indeed, I can’t

think of another white grape that delivers

such a peppery, orchard-fruited, citrus

pizzazz, while retaining a mouthwatering

mineral-charged acidity, making it the

perfect summer swig.

Grüner veltliner is a natural cross

between spicy traminer and St Georgen,

a local grape from Burgenland, on

Austria’s eastern border with Hungary.

This combination makes for a unique,

indigenous and increasingly modish

variety, which, planted in the right place,

can and does challenge white burgundy.

Any drinker after the Côte d’Or’s

intense, creamy, textured fruit needs to

check out top-drawer grüner, grown at

the same latitude as Burgundy but with

sunny continental-climate days and

cooler northern European nights, hence

2020 Classics No 30

Grüner Veltliner, Austria,

12 per cent M&S, £8.50

Weingut Rabl’s No 30

is a zesty, saline,

mineral-edged, older-vine

wallop, given extra time

on its yeasty lees.

2019 Salomon Undhof

Ried Goldberg, Von Stein

Grüner Veltliner, Austria,

14.5 per cent leaand-

sandeman.co.uk, £30.95

Glorious grüner bursting

with yellow plum, lemon

peel and green pear fruit.

2021 Exklusiv Grüner

Veltliner, Austria,

12.5 per cent

thewinesociety.com,

£7.95 Tongue-tingling,

floral, peppery, salty yet

refreshing summer swig,

with a punchy finish.

Great

grüner

veltliner

2020 Specially Selected

Grüner Veltliner,

Austria, 12.5 per cent

Aldi, £6.99 Elegant, apple

blossom-scented, softly

fruited grüner, with a

dash of the grape’s sparky

white pepper spice.

This refreshing,

characterful

wine ticks every

contemporary

drinker’s box

This week’s best buys

Ingredients

Asparagus trimmings

50ml vodka (we use

Sapling)

15ml dry vermouth

(we use the London

Vermouth Company’s

SE Dry)

Method

1 Save the woody ends

of asparagus that you

usually throw away.

Pour your favourite

vodka over the top until

they are submerged.

Leave the vodka to

infuse for about 24

hours or until the

colour starts to drain

from the asparagus.

Remove the

asparagus ends and

chill the vodka until

required.

2 Pop a martini glass in

the freezer. Put ice in a

mixing glass and wet

with the vermouth. Stir

for 2 min or until the ice

starts to melt, and

discard the excess

liquid. Add a couple of

fresh ice cubes and

pour over the

asparagus vodka.

3 Stir the vodka for

another few minutes,

until you have about

twice as much liquid

and an ice-cold martini.

Pour into the martini

glass to serve.

Recipe from Apricity,

apricityrestaurant.com

Asparagus martini

Ingredients

100g ripe tomatoes,

roughly chopped

50ml vodka

10ml white balsamic

vinegar

Pinch of salt and

pepper, plus more to

garnish

Touch of sugar

Cherry tomato, to

garnish

Method

1 Put the tomatoes in a

cocktail shaker with the

rest of the ingredients

and muddle together.

Add ice and shake well.

2 Strain and pour

into a martini glass.

3 Finish with plenty of

freshly ground black

pepper and garnish with

a cherry tomato

seasoned with a little

salt and pepper.

Recipe from

LPM London,

lpmrestaurants.com

Tomatini

Ingredients

1 avocado

15ml Ancho Reyes

Verde, or replace

with freshly sliced

jalapeños (see

method)

40ml vodka

10ml agave

syrup

15ml freshly

squeezed lime

juice

1 lime, cut into

wedges (for

the puree,

and to rim

the glass)

Crushed sea

salt (ideally black

lava salt), to rim

the glass

Method

1 Peel and stone the

syrup and 15ml lime

juice, and some ice

cubes. Keep the

remaining avocado

puree in a bag/lidded

box with the stone,

which will prevent

it from going

brown,

to use in another

cocktail. (If you can’t

get hold of Ancho

Reyes Verde, replace

with two slices of fresh

jalapeño.)

3 Put sea salt on a

plate, rub a wedge of

lime around a martini

glass, then dip the

rim of the glass in

the salt.

4 Shake your cocktail

and strain and pour it

into the glass, and serve.

Recipe from

Isabel Mayfair,

isabelw1.london

Avocado

martini

avocado, then blend it

in a food processor,

along with a squeeze

of fresh lime, until

creamy.

2 Put 35ml of the

avocado puree in a

cocktail shaker with 15ml

Ancho Reyes Verde,

40ml vodka, 10ml agave