DRINK DIFFERENT - MONBAZZILLAC

If you still have some of your Easter chocolate stash left, chances are that you will be considering a sweet wine, and the first name in the frame will probably be Sauternes.  Unfortunately, low yields, high demand, and the cost of making this wine from noble rot, means that for many, anything other than mediocre Sauternes remains out of reach.

Don’t worry, though, because just a few dozen kilometres further east is the region of Monbazillac, where sweet wines are made in exactly the same way.  This is no copycat wine – Monbazillac stickies predate their more famous neighbours by more than a century.

With a similar Semillon/Sauvignon make-up, but with the addition of Muscadelle adding a ripe fig and toasted almond note, Monbazillac sweeties are less than half the cost of Sauternes, a real incentive to drink different!