WHAT do three Masters of Wine, 100 wines, and the name of a football team have in common?
The link is actually a new wine website where QPR is scoring very highly.
It stands for Quality Price Ratio and only wines with a ratio above 90 – as chosen by three Masters of Wine – appear on the website winetrust100.co.uk.
So how does it work.
The trio, who taste thousands of wines every year, have regular taste-offs and pitch wines for a slot in the WineTrust100.
They score the wines independently and then together agree on the very best.
Each wine is rated first for its quality; they consider how we, as customers, would be drinking it; then they judge whether they think it would “delight us” within those circumstances.
They take that score and relate it to the selling price to give the QPR – the final score on the website.
New wines are added every month on a “one in one out basis”. Here’s my thoughts on a red, a white and a rosé.
Les Archères, Carignan Vieilles Vignes. (£9 each, £8 when buying six – the site’s minimum order. QPR = 90, 12.5% abv) This is from 80-year old carignan vines in Pays de L’Hérault, the Languedoc. It’s a large wine-producing region and many wines can be so-what bulk slurpers. But old vines can bring concentrated fruits and finesse. Aromas of berries and spice entice on the nose and to taste, those berries and spice mingle wonderfully into liquid velvet.
Pink Moscato 2012 Innocent Bystander (£7 for a half bottle, £6 when buying six. QPR = 90, 5.5% abv). A pink frothy treat from Swan Hill vineyards in north west Victoria, Australia. It’s a bulk-producing region, but Innocent Bystander has been created by winemakers turning their back on big brand dominance. This moscato has shy, fresh strawberries on the nose and to taste, a fizzy tickle of strawberry ice lollies. You wouldn’t want to share this half bottle with a friend.
Eins-Zwei-Dry 2011 Riesling Trocken Leitz Rheingau (£13 each, or £12 when buying six. QPR = 93, 12.5% abv) Just love the name. Love the wine too. Crisp, bright, citrus on the nose and to taste, grapefruit and squeaky lemons play mouth-watering ping pong.
I drank with a pea-mint dip and some bread and couldn’t have been happier.
Published in the saturday extra magazine August 3, 2013
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