Freixenet and Mia range looks to the younger market

I HAD a rotten day  the other day and  was in need of comfort.

I stood in a supermarket  aisle in front of something  which declared itself to be fresh and crisp. I wasn’t in the fruit and vegetable section. It also had  “sparkling”  on the label. I  certainly wasn’t near the   household cleaning  products.

Crikey no.

It goes without saying I was in the wine aisle; just as well as this column is about  wine and not furniture  polish or kiwi fruit.

After some pondering my  eyes drifted towards Mia  Light & Crisp (£9.75, Asda).

It’s  a very pretty bottle, but I’m not normally  tempted by girlie things.  I  was interested because a  couple of years ago I met  the ambassador of the  Mia range, Gloria Collell, when I visited the parent company Freixenet in the heart of cava country  near Barcelona.

At that point, Gloria  had been developing two simple fruity still wines, Mia – Signature  No.1 (red, tempranillo  grapes) and Mia –  Signature No.2  (white), a  blend of  the cava grapes  macabeo, xarel-lo  and parellada.

Gloria is a stylish,  classy  woman, with  a determination  clear for all to see, but also elegantly feminine, in that effortless way of    continental ladies. Gloria developed her Mia still wines with modern women in mind, but was also staying close to her roots using Spanish grapes.

It’s difficult not to be  won over by wines when the person who has created  them  is enthusing and  tasting alongside. So I saw the sparkling  Mia  on the supermarket shelf and thought “Gloria.  What’s she up to now?” Freixenet introduced two  sparklers to the Mia range to appeal to younger wine  drinkers after research   showed a  trend for  drinks  such as fruity ciders.

There’s  two sparkling  Mia wines,  Mia Light & Crisp (11.5%  abv, the one I bought) and  Mia Fruity & Sweet Moscato (7% abv).   Freixenet wants them to appeal to the “young  consumer’s palate”.

So my wine. It is a blend  of  macabeo and airen –  which, believe it or not, is  the world’s most widely  planted white grape.

There’s apples and pears   on the nose,   citrus  reminiscent of a cava, and a lemon  aftertaste.

I wasn’t  blown away, but I wasn’t  disappointed.  If Freixenet have laid claim to a  particular marketplace then  I can  see girlies drinking  this Mia.

So Freixenet will  have done their job.

But I had chatted over a  fascinating  lunch with  Gloria while tasting amazing cavas with style and depth;  they are the  kind of wines I  would love Gloria to  make for me.  I am, after  all, a modern woman.   (No sniggering at the  back please.)

 Also in my glass

Champagne  Bruno Paillard  Brut Premier  Cuvée (RRP   £44.99, Selfridges,  lokiwine.co.uk  and www.spiritedwines.co.uk).   Bruno Paillard is considered by some to be “Champagne’s  best kept secret”. Only the finest  grapes (a classic blend of  pinot noir,  pinot meunier   and chardonnay)  are  selected. Brioche on the  nose, but with an understated  subtle  elegance; think Audrey  Hepburn. A fizz which fizzed longer than most and  apples to taste, cut through  with some minerality.

Morrisons Pinot Noir (£4.99) Sometimes I wonder if it’s  me. Described as  “brimming with fresh  raspberry and cherry  flavours” I found this  thin  on the fruit and dry and  dull on the palate, with not much of an after-taste.

If it is me, then by all  means let me know.

Published in the saturday extra magazine April 5, 2014