That crisp Greek white or French rosé enjoyed al fresco may not taste quite the same back in Britain. Our wine expert explains why – and recommends the bottles to buy when you get home.
In the wine business they’re known as the ‘vins de vacances’. Wines discovered in August, driven home by September, and thrown away by the end of October. Don’t get me wrong, many holiday destinations have delicious wines. But the worst place to discover them is when you’re there.
It’s sometimes known as ‘The sunset in Provence effect’. A wine can taste exquisite as the sun sets under the glow of fiery orange and deep purple in Avignon – but taste quite differently in Norwich in the rain. Which is a problem if you’ve bought five cases.
My advice is to save yourself the extra delivery costs and simply order a few bottles of Cuvée de L’Aubade Côtes de Provence when you get home (12.5%, £15.99). This is fragrant, dry and comes with a lovely aroma of fresh red berries. The reason this tastes so much better in Norwich is that the buyer chose it in Norwich. Even the most professional palate can be hypnotised by its surroundings.
If you’ve been to the Greek islands, head to Asda for a bottle of Cavino Historoots Assyrtiko (12.5%, £9, in store only). This is the zippy and tingling lemon-scented white you had with seafood in that little restaurant on the beach. And it will be just as good back home with fish kebabs.
Portugal seems to be the hot holiday destination right now. Please promise me you won’t buy something from the Algarve. (Cliff Richard bought a whole vineyard there but described the wines as ‘tainted and insipid’ in a blind tasting.) Instead, head over to Tesco when you get home and buy NV Wind & Waves Sparkling Vinho Verde (11%, £9), a fun, frothy, fresh white with lovely tropical fruit and a limey zest that will thank you for barbecued king prawns.
A couple of years ago, we went to Sicily. And the wine was fabulous. But you can spend a lot on fashionable and minerally Mount Etna reds. If your credit card took a beating, try Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Discovery No 53 Frappato Red Wine 2025 (12.5%, £9). This red is light enough to chill, fruity enough for a grill, and it perfectly captures Sicily’s warm days and cool nights.
Sometimes all the very finest wines from your favourite holiday destination were shipped over here months ago. I was in Tenerife and couldn’t find any of the legendary volcanic island wines. I had to come home to buy Envinate ‘Palo Blanco’, Valle de la Orotava, Tenerife, Spain 2023 (11.5%, £38), with an intensity that puts it among the finest whites in the world.
If you must bring something back, try a tip rather than a bottle. Like my friend who came back from Burgundy with a taste for (real) kir, part crème de cassis, part Aligoté white wine. Never, ever Chardonnay. The fruitiness of the kir needs the whip-crack minerality of Aligoté – not the soft creaminess of Chardonnay. Try La Buxynoise Bourgogne Aligoté 2024 (12.5%, £17.99). My friend was told one part cassis to five Aligoté (‘strong,’ she reports). I recommend whatever takes you back to that sunset in a blaze of fiery orange on holiday.
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