Wine review: Fox Creek Vixen Sparkling Red McLaren Vale

Fox Creek Vixen Sparkling Red
McLaren Vale, $23

As the weather warms up, it becomes harder and harder to drink a red wine. Still, there are those of us who will still have the occasional glass but the best way to drink red in summer is cold. This is where sparkling reds come into the equation. Now there are some who find the idea of a sparkling red wine too strange to grasp. Those would be the people who are missing out. For the rest of us, sparkling reds are a delicious way to enjoy summer drinking.

Fox Creek's Vixen is a great place to start. It's a powerful, rich, dense wine with deep purple colour and plenty of flavour in its inky bubbles. Layers of blackcurrant and blueberry fruits leap from the glass and flood the palate. There is a juicy, soft impression to its textures. This is a wine to enjoy happily on its own but it should hold up to many full flavoured dishes.

Of course, the best dish for sparkling reds is Christmas turkey – somehow the salty, caramelised flavours of a roast turkey cry out for a quality sparkling red. It's the liquid equivalent of having cranberry sauce with your roast. The Vixen would be a fine partner and at a tad over twenty dollars it's also great value.

* Fergus McGhie is marketing manager at Mount Majura Winery in Canberra.