Domaine Tariquet, L’Imprevu, Vin de France, France 2021

A 9.5% wine as a Winter Warmer? Really? Well, yes. Mainly because it is a 9.5% wine and such a fruity turbo-charged zinger. It’s like switching the headlights on full beam through a citrus frost. Lashings of sharply defined flavour here and slips down all too easily, I’m delighted by this lower alcohol find from buyer Marcel Orford Williams, simply because there is nothing else like it in the whole of France. 66% Riesling with 34% Ugni Blanc, the Grassa Brothers at Domaine Tariquet in Gascony deserve high praise here for creating something so deftly impressive and the perfect aperitif to brighten up the dreariest of days. Good value too.