The case for Chianti — theguardian.com

Marks & Spencer Chianti Classico, Tuscany, Italy 2012 (£8.99) The Chianti name has been much abused, and not just by Hannibal Lecter with his liver and fava beans. It’s a wine that too often disappoints, with producers either failing to add fruit flavour to the distinctive, high-acid snap and rasp of the local sangiovese grape variety, or obscuring its character altogether with the clumsy use of toasty new oak and strongly flavoured international grape varieties such as cabernet, syrah or merlot. Not so M&S’s new and very decent own-label, a 100% sangiovese that has plenty of bright cherry and raspberry to go with the savoury tannins and juicy acidity that work so well with lamb chops blackened on the grill.

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