© by Nigel Lelew Welcome back to the first of my monthly wine columns in the year 2000. So the world didn't end and to my knowledge no aircraft fell out the sky as a result of the bug ... and the wine world is alive and well, having come through the trauma unscathed too! So what can we expect the new century, indeed the new millennium, to offer us in terms of wine. Well, the real answer is wait until the year 2100 and find out. But on the basis that I'm not going to be around then, (terrible thought!), I'll try and look into my crystal ball and predict some of the trends for you. The first new dawn that springs to mind is actually buying wine. In the not too distant future we're all going to be buying consumer goods via the internet, and wine will be no different. You even have a choice to do that right now if you're wired up and feel that way inclined. Sites like Waitrose.com already offer the ability to dial up and order online, with the wines being delivered to your door. So the days of wandering down the wine aisle in your local supermarket are numbered, and surfing the net for wine is coming to a computer screen near you soon! It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but the aimless search for an eye-catching label on the shelves will now be an informed search of a web site that will match wines with your requirements ... or that's the promise! that's the mechanics of 'doing the deal', but which kinds of wine will we actually be buying. Well the South American countries, I believe, will dominate even more than they do now. The drive for fruit in wines has already seen Chile take off in terms of wine sales. Don't forget there's Argentina starting to go the same way. One absolutely stunning Argentinean grape variety to watch is Malbec. That's my hot tip for the first few years of this century. The late 1980's passion for oaked whites from the new world has peaked and is now in quiet decline, so the trend is going to be for more unoaked whites. In these days of 'the naked chef' on TV, watch out for the 'naked wine writer' who applauds the coming of oak free zones! So the batteries on my crystal ball have given up the ghost, and the image Os getting more and more foggy, so that's all for the predictions. Now for some hard recommendations to gently ween you all off champagne, (as if!), and back into the real world! Why not see what all the fuss is going to be about before it happens with Balbi Vineyards Argentinean Malbec. A stunning deep dark wine with warm red berry fruit and some approachable tannins. So slip off down to Safeway and pick up a couple of bottles of the 1998 at £4.49 and taste the future! For the white let's get our teeth into Safeway's Sicilian White. It's got all the refreshment needed to wake up those tired millennium-soaked tastebuds. Its full of clean, freshness with a citrus grassey-ness to the taste. Even better news is that Safeway are virtually giving the bottles away at just £2.49. I suppose they need the room ready for the first of the new wines to hit the shelves in a couple of month’s time. Feel free to e-mail me at comments@vinrouge.co.uk
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