Dining

Hand Picked White Wine

White wines at Hand Picked Hotels

View our white wine collection below, ranging from fuller bodied wines to a crisp, light white wine. Our white wine collection will be the perfect accompaniment to any meal.

White wine categories

Crisp, light & fresh wines

Fruit driven & aromatic wines

Fuller bodied white wines

Wine is simply made by crushing grapes & allowing natural yeasts present on skins to convert sugar in the juice into alcohol.

These light wines are perfect examples of this wine making approach. Made to be drunk young, they use less aromatic grapes, with an emphasis on freshness.

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As the description suggests these fruit driven & aromatic white wines are produced using grape varieties with a pronounced and highly distinctive aroma, usually with a spicy and slightly pungent quality.

Often the after taste or flavour of these wines are smelled rather than tasted.

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The fine French dry whites often come into this category. The high flavour often makes them taste rich, even when they are fully dry.

These wines are particularly suited to oily fish, white meat and also with cream based sauces. The Chardonnay grape often dominates this category.

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Crisp, light and fresh white wine

When a white wine is described as crisp or fresh, it indicates the wine has a lively, attractive, acidity, rather as you would expect from a nice juicy apple. This tends to be typical of wines made from less aromatic grapes or where fermentation takes place in cooler conditions.

Even in these dry wines some fruit will come through, whether the pear fruitiness of the Pinot Bianco Alois Lageder or the slight gooseberry undertones of the Pouilly-Fumé. Often it is only through careful matching with the right food that these flavours become apparent. Drunk with fish, the acidity of the wine brings out the flavour of the food, while the saltiness of the fish in turn emphasises the fruitiness of the wine.

Our crisp, light & fresh white wine collection

Bin		Price
201	Picpoul de Pinet La Côte Flamenc, Provence France 2010/11 Beautifully refined and rich, with mineral flavours and attractive texture.	£33.00
202	Argento Pinot Grigio, Mendoza Argentina 2011 Light and delicate with chamomile and apple notes.	£35.00
203	Valdivieso Sauvignon Blanc, Aconcagua Chile 2011 Herbal and grassy with refreshing citrus balance.	£28.00
204	Friendly Grüner Veltliner Laurenz V Austria 2010 Apple, peach and citrus with typical Veltliner white pepper spiciness.	£41.00
205	Frascati Superiore Vigna Ca dei Preti Villa Simone, Pierro Constantini, Lazio Italy 2010 Floral and pear character with real subtlety - a great food wine.	£37.00
206	Pinot Bianco Alois Lageder, Alto Adige Italy 2010 Italians drink this instead of Pinot Grigio - fine Comice pear with mineral undertones.	£39.00
207	Domaine Cheval Blanc - Signé Semillon Sauvignon, Bordeaux France 2010/11 Soft rounded Semillon balanced by grassy Sauvignon.	£31.00
208	Pouilly-Fumé Les Berthiers Claude Michot, Loire France 2010 Demure and restrained Sauvignon Blanc with characteristic flinty tones.	£45.00
209	Marotti Campi Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, Marche Italy, 2010 Aromas ofacacia, wild flowers, chamomile and almond. Dry, savoury, crisp and mineral	£33.00

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Fruit driven & aromatic

Riesling is one of the finer of the aromatic grape varieties. Often much maligned for the cheap and overly sweet wines sometimes produced in Germany, it rarely gets the credit for some of the wonderful wines it produces. In Australia, wine producers have become masters at creating excitingly perfumed, crisply dry Rieslings. These wines represent exceptional value, as consumers outside of the country have yet to realise their unquestionable quality and versatility. The wines will tend to show little or no influence from oak and its associated vanilla, butter or smoky flavours.

Chablis, in Eastern France is the spiritual home of Chardonnay where its clean mineral character makes it an ideal partner for shellfish and uncomplicated fish. The Premier Cru Chablis offers increased intensity and complexity. For something different drink the rounded but dry peach and almond scented Pinot Blanc or the exotic rose petal flavoured Gewürztraminer, both from the Alsace where French elegance meets German floral intensity. Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa and New Zealand tends to exhibit more tropical intensity than that from France.

Spy Valley is in the heart of Marlborough, New Zealand’s premium region for the variety, and offers intense gooseberry, passion fruit and nettly aromas. Drink it with seafood and Pacific Rim influenced food.

Our fruit driven & aromatic white wine collection

Bin		Price
301	Chablis Domaine les Marronniers, Bernard Legland France 2009 Gently buttery with classic mineral hints, hazelnuts and flint.	£42.00
302	Villa Lucia Bianco, Tuscany Italy 2011 Fresh with floral aromas, rounded fruit and a citrus finish.	£23.00
303	Sancerre Le Pierrier Domaine Thomas, Loire France 2010 Ripe and grassy with elderflower notes and clean crisp freshness.	£42.00
307	Macon-Villages, Cave de Lugny, Burgundy France, 2011 Juicy, soft Chardonnay with peach, melon and granny smith apple flowers and a wave of crisp citrus acidity	£32.00
304	A2O Albariño Rías Baixas, Galicia Spain 2010 Apricotty, bone dry and richly textured wine that would satisfy lovers of traditional, unoaked white Burgundy.	£42.00
305	Springfield Firefinch Stone Sauvignon Blanc, Robertson South Africa 2011 Brilliant greenish appearance, this is a dramatic wine full of ripe red pepper and passion fruit flavour.	£32.00
306	The Stump Jump Chardonnay, McLaren Vale Australia 2009 Smooth texture with intense peach, nectarine and lime complemented by a touch of vanilla.	£32.00
309	Knappstein Hand Picked Riesling South Australia 2011 Lime and honey flavours backed up by mouth-watering acid balance.	£42.00
310	Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough New Zealand 2011 Punchy gooseberry and elderflower from the new cutting edge of Sauvignon production.	£39.00
312	Chablis 1er Cru Montmains, Bernard Legland France 2010 Pure mineral intensity and steely concentration from this small grower.	£57.00
315	Gewürztraminer Rolly-Gassmann Rorschwihr, Alsace France 2009 Sumptuous off dry and rich, packed with rose petal and lychee fruit.	£64.00
316	St Hallett Semillon Sauvignon, Barossa Valley South Australia 2010 Fresh, bright and fruity with mango, pineapple and peach notes all cut with a squeeze of juicy lime on the finish.	£34.00
317	Huia Pinot Gris, Marlborough New Zealand 2008/10 Rich and rounded with perfumed pear fruit athe elusive and enticing talcum powder aromatoic notes.	£46.00
318	The Shee'wah Houseboat Chardonnay Australia, 2011 Grapefruit aromas alongside Asian spices and some classic nuttiness with French oak spice elegance	£29.00

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Fuller bodied white

The fine French dry whites often come into this category. High flavour often makes them taste rich, even when they are fully dry. These wines are particularly suited to oily fish, white meat and also with cream based sauces.

The Chardonnay grape dominates the wines in this category where the ripe tropical character integrates with sweet oak from fermentation or maturation in wooden barrels. Other oak influenced wines here include the fascinating rich and complex ‘Fume Blanc’ style Sauvignon Blanc from Morgan.

Catena Chardonnay has a golden colour with green hues. Aromas are of pears, apples, and minerals. The mouth-feel is soft and full, with ripe fruit flavours interwoven with nuances of vanilla, honey and toast, and a long, persistent finish.

In the Burgundy Côte d’Or and Chablis regions every appellation is governed by a central wine classification system. Grand Cru is the highest, followed by Premier Cru (which also happens to be the highest Bordeaux wine classification). So seriously is the classification taken that vines within the same vineyard can be separately classified. That said, excellent vineyards can be badly farmed and there are some Premier Cru wines that certainly match those of their Grand Cru neighbours.

Our fuller bodied white wine collection

Bin		Price
401	Crooked Mick Viognier, Murray Darling Australia 2011 Fresh peach varietal characteristics, taut fruit oith sweet, ripe lychee flavours and a citrus twist on the finish.	£31.00
402	Pouilly-Fuissé Les Reisses Denogent, Burgundy France 2009 Luscious honeysuckle flavours and complex minerality. Superb structure and great finesse. A long sumptuous finish.	£63.00
404	Stellenrust Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch, Paarl South Africa 2011 Rich and elegant apricot and pear with gentle oak influence.	£32.00
406	Alamos Chardonnay, Mendoza Argentina 2010/11 Ripe tropical fruit with a hint of mineral. Bright and crisp with sweet fruit flavours, vanilla and toast.	£32.00
407	Catena Tupungato Chardonnay, Mendoza Argentina 2011 Exotic aromas of apricot, orange, honey and smoky oak, rich but firm with very intense flavours.	£47.00
408	St Romain Sous Le Chateau Domaine Buisson, Burgundy France 2009 St Romain may not be as famous as neighbouring villages such as Puligny-Montrachet but on this evidence it should be. Open and ripe with zesty white peach and bags of refreshment.	£59.00
410	Meursault Villages Domaine Michelot, Burgundy France 2008 Fine buttery notes with opulent ripe fruit and elegant brioche aromas.	£81.00
411	Savennieres Chateau Pierre-Bise, Loire France 2009/10 Intense Chenin Blanc with baked apple richness and crisp cleansing acidity.	£55.00
412	Clay Station Lodi Vineyard Viognier, California USA 2009/10 Winner of the Best Viognier in California, delightfully perfumed with distinctive peach and apricot flavours	£43.00
414	Newton Johnson Chardonnay, Hermanus South Africa 2009/11 Ripe and juicy with crisp, lean citrus and peach fruit and Burgundian style elegance.	£43.00
415	Domaine Lafage Cuvée Centenaire, Côtes du Roussillon France 2010 Intense stone fruit and ripe softness mark this outstanding example of Grenache Blanc from France’s most dynamic winemaker.	£39.00
416	Stellenrust 45 Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc Rich tropical wine, with intense flavours of pear, carried forward onto a caramle creamy plate of well judged oak	£50.00