Regular readers of this column may recall that I was talking about wine descriptions a couple of weeks back and said I couldn’t understand why the word “lush” wasn’t used more often. Admittedly, it wouldn’t be part of your average Master of Wine’s lexicon, but if someone tells me a wine is lush, I want to try it. And not just because I live in Bristol, where “gert lush” is the ultimate term of approbation.
Anyway, having recently tasted a lot of whites I regarded as lush, I thought it might be an appropriate topic to return to for Mother’s Day. Not that I am suggesting for a second that your mother is a lush, even if she does have a glass every night – I wouldn’t blame her, given the unremitting tedium of the past 12 months.
What makes a wine lush? It’s a question of texture as much as anything: smoothness, richness, roundness, and no harsh edges. White wines such as pinot grigio and picpoul may be refreshing, but they’re not lush. Nor, to my mind, are heavily oaked cabernets or the sort of light reds you can chill, much as I like them.
As I thought more about this, it dawned on me that the grape varieties that are used to make sweet wines are often lush in their drier incarnations – semillon and sauvignon, the grapes that produce sauternes, for instance. In fact, sauvignon on its own can be, too, especially if it’s packed with passionfruit and other tropical fruits, as it tends to be in New Zealand.
Chenin blanc, the backbone of sweet Loire whites such as Quarts de Chaume and Côteaux du Layon, can be glorious – particularly as it ages. Aromatic wines such as riesling, pinot gris and gewürztraminer, ditto. And I’m a big fan of furmint, the grape used to make Hungary’s famous sweet wine tokaji, although I admit “Have a glass of furmint, Mum” doesn’t have quite the same ring as “Have a glass of prosecco”. Nonetheless, I suspect many mothers would enjoy a glass of Füleky Tokaji Furmint 2014 (13%), a delightfully exotic wine you can get for £16.49 from Borders Wines in Coldstream.
The downside is that lushness tends to come at a price. It’s generally achieved through low-yielding vines and expensive oak barrels, but put that in context: you can easily pay £30 for a bottle of champagne and, were we able to go to restaurants right now, you’d likely be spending a similar amount on a house favourite. And mums deserve the best, right? Nuff said.
Five wines to give on Mother’s Day
£5.50, 13%. Easy-drinking rueda is a good, affordable option for lovers of lushness. Good with a seafood platter.
Boekenhouts-kloof Semillon 2018
£20 (in bond) Lay & Wheeler, £20.83 (in bond) NY Wines, 13.5%. If your mum’s a bit of a wine buff, she’ll love this sensationally smooth South African semillon from Franschhoek (with roast salmon, I suggest). One of the best whites I’ve tasted this year.
Vasse Felix Classic Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2020
£12 Tesco, 13%. A combo that you’ll find in sweet wines such as sauternes, and that’s gorgeous in this dry Aussie incarnation from Margaret River. Another one for salmon.
Queen Bee Viognier 2020
£10.99 by the mixed case Averys, 12.5%. What better name for a Mother’s Day wine, and a rich, peachy viognier from the Western Cape to boot? Drink with roast chicken.
Seifried Estate Sweet Agnes Riesling 2018
£16.29 a half-bottle Waitrose, 10.5%. A brilliant Kiwi dessert wine that I’ve recommended before, but it deserves another airing, especially if your mother’s name happens to be Agnes (although there is a heated debate between Shelagh and Michael on the Waitrose website as to whether it’s too sweet).
For more by Fiona Beckett, go to matchingfoodandwine.com
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