Lloyd Evans

Red wine… with a hint of Diet Coke

Improvise in my wine tasting? Is this what you meant?

• From magazine issue: 28 June 2014

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Next up, Il Barroccio, Veneto, 2013 (£7.13), which looks too pallid to be a white. It’s almost clear, like vodka. Some antique prejudice tells me that a decent ‘white’ ought to be tawny yellow, like the border of a sepia photograph. I pour a big glass. Down it goes. Wallop. Quite a sharp crack. Perhaps ‘uncomplicated’ might be a kinder word. Easy enough to knock back, all the same, and if it weren’t for the others waiting I could happily sink the bottle and make a rousing speech in front of the mirror.

For choice, I prefer red. The full-bodied, tooth-staining, hangover-inducing quality appeals to my blokeish side. White is for wimps. I pull out Il Barroccio’s ruddy sibling made from the black grape of Sicily, Nero d’Avola (£7.13). I swish it around. A simple, inviting aroma. Down the little red lane it goes. Vroom. An instant impact but there’s not much complexity and it tastes better with a chunk of Parmesan.

Next, to France for another red. The Domaine de Saissac, Pays d’Oc, 2012 (£7.84) gets top marks for graphic design. The title of the wine dances across the label in lavish, artful swirls. The contents are pleasing enough, if perhaps a little insipid, so for contrast I take another glug of Il Barroccio which suddenly seems meatier, bloodier and more interesting.

Even better is the Casa Felipe Carmenère, a Chilean red from 2013 (£7.13), whose dark and potent flavours somehow remind me of thunderstorms. By far the best is the Puertas Antiguas Shiraz 2013 (£7.13), also from Chile, which is crammed with fruity richness. A truly lovely wine, at any price. But I can’t resist a spot of sacrilege. I half-fill a glass with the Shiraz and add an equal measure of Diet Coke. I lift the foaming cocktail to my lips, feeling a little Jekyll and Hyde-ish. Down the hatch. My palate records one its strangest ever encounters. It’s like drinking a mug of fizzy, lukewarm tea spiked with Night Nurse. I won’t do that again.