Wine of the week: Pere Ventura Primer Reserva Cava

Finding bottles of sparkling wine under £10 that are not prosecco is increasingly hard so snap up this very attractive Pere Ventura Cava which Waitrose is selling (In larger stores and online) at an introductory price of £9.69 until next Tuesday instead of its regular price of £12.99.

It’s made from local Catalan grape varieties macabeo, xarel-lo and parellada and is aged champagne-style in the bottle for 15-18 months

The alcohol is quite low - just 11.5% - but it has real elegance and a really attractive peachy character without that overt yeastiness that often characterises cava. And although the residual sugar is comparatively high at 12g it tastes quite dry. A Cava for drinking with food (like fish and chips or tapas I’d suggest) rather than on its own but well worth laying in even if the party season doesn’t look like happening this year.

Also worth snapping up on the same promotion is De Bortoli’s new 17 trees shiraz which is on an introductory deal of £6.99 rather than £9.99. It started as part of a project to plant 17 trees for each company-owned vehicle and now the proceeds from each six bottles that are purchased go towards planting a tree. A good juicy everyday red to have to hand over Christmas, if not before. (The pinot grigio from the same range is not as good btw)