30 great New World buys under £30
When I was asked to compile a selection of thirty great New World buys under £30, my first thought was: what does New World mean?
And my immediate reaction was: excitement.
That’s what I want wines from new countries to give me – a real sense of exhilaration, of joyous abandon and freedom from the constraints of European laws and traditions (as eminent as they may be).
What I found was a world of exciting wines. It was tough making the final selection – never has there been a better time to drink New World wines. We’re thankfully past the era of mass homogenisation, of blandly over-ripe chest-beating cuvées made to please certain uber-critics. Now we’re seeing winemakers glory in the detail of what makes them unique, of gleefully heterogenous styles, a delightful championing of esoteric, refreshing, food-friendly styles that make you thirsty for more.
It’s a wave of experimentation and fine tuning that paints a very bright future for not only New World winemakers but also us enthusiastic wine drinkers.
Cheers to that!
[Peter Richards MW’s 30 great New World buys under £30 from Decanter magazine February 2018]