On the weekend we bought a new car. This was not an exciting car purchase – more one borne of necessity after our trusty old car was crumpled by an SUV neglecting to stop. With both time frame and budget severely limited we were so pleased with our efforts that I decided celebratory bubbles were in order.

I ducked into a wine shop I don’t normally visit and I felt that I was a little bit spoilt for choice with novel wines. After some umming and ahhing, I chose the 42° South Premier Cuvée made by Frogmore Creek in Tasmania. This decision was ultimately based on the fact that, at $25 a bottle, it was $5 cheaper than my initial choice!

Pale gold in the glass, with the nose requiring some thought. Milk arrowroot biscuits and lemon are the two things that immediately spring to mind. In the mouth, the mousse is fine, persistent and foamy. There’s good acidity which drives lemon, shortbread, a hint of brioche and some simple red berry fruit (strawberry). There is even a hint of chalkiness. The length is pretty good.

This is a good wine: it’s straightforward and not particularly complex. The flavours are not so much obvious as a little one dimensional. Having said that – I am talking about a wine that retails at $25 and is a non vintage bubbles, and both the wine’s length and acidity deserve a big tick.

Sparkling wine at this price point seems to be particularly competitive at the moment. There are equivalent (or even slightly better) wines that you can spend less on, and there is a lot of choice out there. $25 is fair money for this wine and if I were to spot this on special, I’d definitely buy this again. If you have the spare $10 or so, then I would buy this in preference to Blue Pyrenees Luna.

This wine was purchased from Cellarbrations, Brighton for $25.
Closure: Diam.
12% abv