Half price delivery until Christmas on all case orders (12 bottles per case).

We will half our delivery charge on every 12 bottle order up to Christmas, as well as FREE, yes FREE local delivery on all orders over 12 bottles. (local delivery is 15 miles from our shop in Wentworth, Barnsley)

For more details please ring 01709 468140

With over 600 wines in stock from around the world, Lightfoots is the place to browse for that something special or even just something to go with that evenings dinner.

Half price delivery until Christmas on all case orders (12 bottles per case).

We will half our delivery charge on every 12 bottle order up to Christmas, as well as FREE, yes FREE local delivery on all orders over 12 bottles. (local delivery is 15 miles from our shop in Wentworth, Barnsley)

For more details please ring 01709 468140

Chardonnay

Chardonnay dominates the white wines of eastern France, where it first appeared in the middle ages: it is a major constituent of champagne, it also produces all Burgundy whites including Chablis. DNA fingerprinting has recently revealed that Chardonnay is the offspring of Pinot Noir which is the red grape of Burgundy and is also used in champagne. Chardonnays adaptability and versatility in both the vineyard and the winery, combined with its ability to produce high quality wine, have resulted in it being planted in just about every wine producing company. In cool climates it produces a leaner, steelier style, with a pronounced acidity (e.g. Chablis). Whilst in warmer vineyards it develops honey and buttery characteristics (e.g. Puligny-Montrachet) and in the warmest vineyards, tropical fruit flavours like pineapple and mango, but at the sacrifice of lower acidity levels. These warmer climate wines are often barrel-fermented and/or aged in oak.

Chardonnay has a great affinity with oak, and is always dry, sometimes in leaner, steelier wines, very dry. It is also one of the best white grapes for ageing, the lean or sparkling styles have high acidity levels which act as a preservative. Oak tannins also act as a preservative in the barrel-fermented and oak aged wines. Aged Chardonnay, particularly those wines that have had oak contact, develop a rich, creamy, nut and fruit palate, backed with an integrated vanilla-oak finish.

Due to the wide range of styles that Chardonnay can produce there is a wine for most occasions. For light delicate seafood dishes try a Chablis style; with roast chicken or pork, a lightly oaked wine is a superb match; whilst the fruit-driven New World examples and top Burgundy’s are great with the richest fish and light meat dishes. Oaky Chardonnays are good with smoked fish and can be made interesting partners for mildly spicy south-east Asian influenced foods.

Port comes from the country of Portugal, and it is a popular belief that it was the British who were responsible for Port, however, this is not entirely true.  We can thank the Portuguese for inventing this most classic of fortified wines; the English merely capitalised on their original idea.  In 1678, two Englishmen were sent by a Liverpool wine merchant to Viana do Castello, North of Oporto, to learn the wine business.  Vacationing up the Douro river, they were entertained by the Abbot of Lamego.  Finding his wine ‘very agreeable, sweetish and extremely smooth’, they asked what made it exceptional among all others tasted on their journey.  The Abbot confessed to doctoring the wine with Brandy, but the Englishmen were so pleased with the result this had that they purchased the entire stock and shipped it home.

The orgin of the Port trade
The ancient house of C.N. Kopke and Co. had been trading in Douro wines for nearly 40 years by the time the above encounter took place.  8 years before they stumbled upon the Abbot of Lamego, another Englishman named John Clark was busy building up a business that would become known as Warre and Co.  In 1678, the same year as the encounter, Croft and Co. was established, and this was followed by Quarles Harris in 1680 and Tailor’s in 1692.  By the time the Mathuen Treaty of 1703 gave Portuguese wines preferential rates of duty in Britain, many British firms had set up business in Oporto.  Firms of other nationalities – Dutch, German, and French – followed, but it was the British shippers who virtually monopolised the trade.

In 1755, the Marquis of Pombal, who had assumed almost dictatorial over Portugal some 5 years before, put a curb on their activities through the Board of Trade.  The privileges enjoyed by British merchants under two 100 year old treaties were restricted.  He also established the Oporto Wine Company, endowing it with the sort of powers to which the British had been accustomed.  This infuriated the British, but their protests were to no avail and Pombal went on to instigate many worthy, if unpopular, reforms, including limiting the Douro’s production area to the finest vineyards, the banning of elderberries for colouring the wine, and the outlawing of manure, which reduced yields but greatly improved quality.

Krohn colheita 1995 tawny port
This type of Port is known as a COLHEITA Port and is identified by its distinct aristocratic quality, making it a precious rarity only possible in outstanding years when the climate conditions are exceptionally favorable. This wine enjoys the privilege afforded by the Port Wine Institute to bear on its label the date and the title COLHEITA.  Ripe raisins, sultanas and plums merge together with soft, nutty, oaky sweet tannins to provide a complex and distinctive Port of high quality.  The perfect accompaniment to the after dinner cheese board.  You can also try it with chocolate!  PRICE: £19.40.