Wine Box: New and Old World

Making wine? It's a doddle. Plant vines in the right part of the world, water them, prune them and wait for climate and terroir (soil) to do their stuff. Pick grapes, squeeze, ferment juice and, with a modicum of scientific jiggery-pokery, hey presto, bottles of wine. If only it were that simple.

The biggest dilemma for any producer is to make wines that we want to buy. Style and fashionability are all important. Simple labels clearly showing grape variety and style of wine are, to a large extent, the hallmark of the New World.

But now the Old World wants to be New, too. Modern wines, eg from the Languedoc in southern France where the vineyards have been updated to get riper fruits and brighter flavours, aren't so different from many wines made in Chile, Australia or California. Likewise, 'boutique' New World producers are heading in the other direction.

They're making premium wines in heavy bottles and taking the grape variety off the label. New World skills wrapped up in an Old World guise. Who said the wine world was easy?

New wanting to be old:

St Francis Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1996, Sonoma Valley, California (Waitrose, everywine.co.uk and Virginwines.com, £19.99). About as subtle as a baseball bat on the cranium, this stonking, high-alcohol red has massive flavour, complexity and a price to make your eyes water. Aged two years in American and French oak, it's richly flavoured, ripe, intense and inky black. A Desperate Dan wine to match any roast meat you care to think of (or, indeed, cow pie).

Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon 1998, Maipo, Concha y Toro (Safeway, £3.99). Although discernibly Latin American, this Chilean fruit-fest has blackcurrant, black cherry and plum accents reminiscent of heavyweight M?doc clarets costing twice and three times as much. A soft, balanced, class act for the price.

Old wanting to be new:

Cuv?e Gabriel Merlot 2000, Vin de Pays d'Oc (Waitrose, £3.99). Easy-drinking, juicy, plummy red with neat touches of mineral and herb. Organically grown grapes (from near Carcassonne in southwest France) may appease health zealots but this robust red needs no PC testimonials. It's a fun, balanced wine. Southern Hemisphere style, succulent Gallic twist.