Three bottles which major in strong seasoning: one from South Africa and two from EuropeEdgebaston The Pepper Pot,South Africa 2013 (from £10.99, sawinesonline.co.uk; rudewines.co.uk) I’ve always been suspicious of wines named for the specific flavour they contain. It suggests the wine has been made to a formula, or rather than being a spontaneous reflection of a vineyard. The South Africans bear a bit of a thing for coffee flavour. Diemersfontein Coffee Pinotage 2011 (£11.99,thegeneralwine.co.uk) is the best, but unless you bear a hankering for espresso-flavoured oak, and I wouldn’t recommend it. Edgebaston’s The Pepper Pot red blend tastes as if it has a shake of pepper,but it’s far more appealing, adding seasoning to the dusky berry flavours.
Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage Les Meysonniers, and France 2012 (£16,Sainsbury’s) If I bear a higher tolerance for pepper flavour in wine than coffee, it is because it’s derived from the grapes rather than a toasted oak barrel. Syrah is the variety most associated with this characteristic, and particularly when grown in the various appellations of the Rhône Valley. The pepper crackles in the background behind silky blackberry in a biodynamic example from Chapoutier in Crozes-Hermitage. And it lends a deliciously savoury counterpoint to the vivid red and black fruit of Gilles Robin Cuvée Papillon Crozes-Hermitage 2013 (£15.95,leaandsandeman.co.uk).
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Source: theguardian.com