Moneyweek - by Matthew Jukes

18.04.08

The best Own Label White wine is the 2006 Waitrose Sancerre, La Franchotte, Loire, France (£10.49, Waitrose).

I recently chaired a panel of judges at the inaugural ‘Own Label Awards Championships’. This new wine initiative is the brainchild of wine writer Caspar Auchterlonie and logistics wizard Richard Chappell. They decided the thousands of ‘Finest’, ‘Extra Special’, ‘Taste the Difference’ and other products out there needed to be looked at closely. In theory, these wines should be superior because they carry the retailers’ stamp of approval.

Yet often you chance upon a cracking bottle and delight in your choice, but then just as easily stumble across a frightener, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason why.

As it turned out we found a lot of well-made wines and it has to be said, some dreadful dogs, too. I hope that these results will spur wine buyers to up their game and put more effort into this massive category of wines. Just in case you were wondering, the awesome Sancerre won the trophy for Overall Best White Wine. No surprise really – Waitrose has a very strong wine division and this wine is made for them by the mercurial genius Joseph Mellot. Cheers.

MoneyWeek, written by Matthew Jukes, a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year Trophy