April Wines
The Wine and Food Diary of Giles MacDonogh
Easter was late again this year, with my birthday falling on Maundy Thursday, a day enlivened by the wilfully peculiar Rossetti Exhibition at the Tate and a sensational Turandot at the Opera House. We returned late for a picnic, a strawberry cake and a bottle of Gardet. Gardet is a reliable and good value champagne from the Montagne just south of Reims. There are still a few bottles in the house, bought for a little over £20 each before the price of champagne went through the roof. The now much lauded English sparkling wine is no cheaper mind you and in only a few cases does it challenge champagne. I had another bottle of Tesco’s English sparkling wine this month.
It It is certainly reliable and pleasantly understated in its elegant russet-apple sort of way. Compared to champagne it is now quite cheap at £21 (and if you are quick, it is only £16).
