A few minutes walk from my house is a huge dyke. It's twenty-four metres deep, a kilometre long and over 2000 years old. It formed part of the boundary of Veralamion, Royal capital of the Catuvellauni tribe. The King continued to rule under the Romans after they invaded in 43AD and the town developed into the walled Roman City of Verulam, third largest in Britain and the future St Albans.

Royal City
Apart from several earthworks nothing remains above ground of the Catuvellauni but it would be a mistake to think of them as a tribe of ignorant savages' cut-off from the rest of the world. We know quite a lot about them from excavations. We know they traded wide and far, even importing olives, olive oil and amphora full of Mediterranean wine. Last weekend I visited an archaeological dig on a farm just outside Snorbens. Two rich burials had been found; among grave goods were copper jugs, exquisitely crafted silver brooches, arrowheads and amphora. The site has evidence of pre-roman buildings, then a roman villa, and later round huts erected over roman ruins. Modern farm buildings standing nearby show the site has been continuously occupied for centuries.

I find it comforting that, just like me, my Catuvellauni ancestors settled down after work and enjoyed imported wines. No doubt they compared vintages and estates, and eagerly waited the latest trendy wine. Did they buy blind, or were they able to taste from merchants samples? We'll probably never know.

The modern Briton buys wine mostly from supermarkets which account for about eighty- percent of all wine sold in the UK. Sainsbury's is one of the leading chains and I regularly steer my chariot there to buy wine imported from far off lands.

Sainsbury's
Sainsbury's opened their first shop in 1869, now they have 355 stores throughout the UK, plus a wine and beer store in Calais, France, and the US Shaw's Supermarkets Ltd chain. In the UK they also operate a bank and a web-based home delivery service. See www.sainsburys.com.

Sainsbury's stock thirteen white New Zealand wines, priced from £3.99 (Azure Bay Chardonnay/Semillon & Timara Dry White Wine) to £8.49 (Grove Mill Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough). Montana and Sanctuary have their Sauvignon Blancs and their Chardonnays on the shelves (all £5.99), and Nobilo are represented by White Cloud Müller-Thurgau/Sauvignon Blanc (£4.99). Apart from the dry white and blends already mentioned, all the wines are either Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.

Sainsbury's have a large supermarket in Snorbens, and a short drive away is a combined Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's superstore.

Villa Maria
Last time I was there, even though I was in a hurry, I took a quick scoot along the wine shelves and saw a familiar name. It was a Villa Maria Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and there was just one bottle in the bin. Villa Maria won best Sauvignon Blanc Trophy at this year's London International Wine & Spirit Show. I'd been waiting for the winning wines to appear in the stores and it looked like shoppers had taken nearly all of them. But was this the winner? My memory is poor, but the back label mentioned trophies won and I was certain it was the correct vintage - 2001. So I took it home.

Checking the International Wine & Spirit Competition site at www.iwsc.net reminded me the trophy winner was Villa Maria Reserve Clifford Bay 2001. What I had bought was Villa Maria's Private Bin - which sounded pretty special to me I imagined the winery owner going down to the cellar, taking out a large key to open a barred door to his own private bin.

Class System
Villa Maria has three ranges of wines, Reserve, Private Bin and Cellar Selection to identify the quality of the wine. Reserve is best - and most expensive. But how to rate the other two? I looked them up but I soon forget whether Cellar Selection or Private Bin is bottom of the pile. And what about other wineries with their individual naming schemes?

In olden days railways offered three types of seating. First Class was best, followed by second then third class. Airlines offer First, Business and Economy classes. English breweries used to offer Ordinary or Special versions of their draft beer.

I am sure the wineries aren't intending to deliberately confuse consumers, so perhaps Villa Maria, and the others, would like to make it clearer on their label what they mean. Or indeed, label them 1st, 2nd and 3rd class.

When I found I had bought the Private Bin instead of the Trophy winner I was thinking uncharitable thoughts about Villa Maria and their naming schemes, but didn't regret the purchase once I tasted it.

In fact both wines are excellent examples of Sauvignon Blanc and immensely enjoyable. Even though Private Bin, at £7.99 is the least expensive in the range it offers a wonderful refreshing slate tinged gooseberry flavoured tangy wine. I found the Reserve Clifford Bay SB 2001 in Oddbins at £10.99. It has an intriguing nose, like when you pop open a freshly picked pea pod, and a green theme runs through it with green peppers, newly mown grass, nettles and muted gooseberries. But it also tasted a teensy bit oily, perhaps a result of a whacking 14% alcohol.

I can't decide whether to buy more of the Reserve or save £3 and enjoy the Private Bin. I think I'll get half a dozen of each and give some serious consideration to which I prefer.

© Peter May
2 September 2002

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