The end of pink

T-Mobile are the latest corporate sponsor to pull out of professional cycling citing . We'll miss them. T-Mobile's bright pink shirts have been a cheery splash of colour in the peloton for years.

To bid them farewell here's the last pink wine of the year, a Cune Rioja Rosado 2006. It's not quite T-mobile, but it is a bright and cheerful candy pink. It smells of strawberries and a little of raspberries and a lot of summer. Just off dry it has a refreshing acidity, as a good balance to the sweet fruit, like lemon curd and strawberries. It has a satisfyingly full body for a rose, boosted by a hefty 13.5% alcohol.

I'll miss the T-Mobile pink next summer, but look forward to enjoying rosado's again next season.

Nothing goes better with a board game than Rioja, and a personal favourite combination is Cune Rioja Reserva 2001 and The World Cup Game.

CUNE is a reliable producer, making wines with traditional care and modern equipment. This one was clear with a garnet colour with a mahogany rim and strong legs. It smelled clean with quite a pronounced aroma. There was vanilla, cassis, leather, black cherries and just a hint of chocolate.

It was dry, with a medium high acidity. The tannins were ripe and soft, carefully managed into the wine. Medium alcohol at 13% added to an above average body. It tasted of pepper, black cherries, oak and tobacco with a gentle hint of blueberries and strawberries. There was quite a lot going on, but it blended wonderfully into a long, velvety finish.

This was a lovely wine, lending a balanced stability to an evening in which Turkey won the World Cup. Expect to pay around £8-10 a bottle.

Making me happy

Rioja makes me happy – tinto, blanco or rosado – it’s all good. Well, not all of it is good, and white Rioja is a slightly risky option. Marques de Murrieta is always divine, but a good red doesn’t guarantee a correspondingly good white, so the search is always on for a reasonably priced one for midweek drinking.

CVNE is one of my favourite Rioja’s, largely for romantic reasons, so I was happy to spot Vina Real 2004, a Rioja Blanco from them.

It’s a bright, straw colour with thick and gloopy legs. It smells inviting, with oodles of crisp grapefruity goodness balanced by rich toasty oak. It’s dry and wonderfully crisp. It’s of medium body, enough to be satisfyingly chewy, but light enough to enjoy midweek with paella (OK, so it’s ready-meal paella on a Tuesday, not home made). It feels a little less alcoholic than the 13.5% on the label.

This is carefully made wine with manual harvesting and fermentation in oak. This bottle cost me a fiver at Majestic. The regular price is £7, but if you buy more than one bottle of Spanish wine you get 20% off the lot. It’s reasonable value at £7, certainly standing up well against big brand New World wines at that price. At £5, it’s a steal.

Spanish elegance

Spain take on Tunisia tonight so it’s time for a nice Rioja! CUNE is a widely available brand, and one of the premier Rioja producers. It’s actually CVNE - Compañía Vinicola del Norte de España, but if you ask for ‘Coo – Nay’ at a wine shop people will know what you mean.

They’ve been making Rioja for over 125 years, but they’re not complacent about it, constantly updating their bodegas to ensure maximum consumer pleasure! Cune take the grapes seriously too with hand picking to ensure top quality fruit. You can pay a lot for a great CUNE Gran Reserva, but the 2003 Crianza is a mere £7 at Majestic. I’ll work my way up the range if Spain get beyond the group stages.

I cycled through Rioja in 2003 and it was hot, hot, hot. However, the previous winter had been seriously wet so there was plenty of ground water to carry the vines through. The heat seems to mean faster aging so it seemed worth a try.

It’s rich and ruby, bright and positively brimming with colour. The American oak comes through on the nose, with light vanilla. It’s inviting rather than overpowering. There’s plums and damsons, with just a smidge of ground coffee.

The smooth vanillin carries through onto the palate with more rich plums and fresh cherries, with fresh roasted coffee. It’s dry with balanced acidity, and a full mouth feel.

The flavour hangs around a while and grows on you further. It’s made from 80% Tempranillo,20% Garnacha Tinta and Mazuelo. At 13.5% alcohol it does sneak up on you a little. I enjoyed this wine on its own but it would benefit from food and could easily handle steak or lamb, as well as patatas bravas.

Get stuck into this Crianza now, but if you’re feeling flush, the older CUNE’s have never disappointed me.

CUNE Vina Real Blanco