MIKE TIPPING tries some wine from the old and new worlds at M&S.

There are some new additions to the wine racks at M&S and this week I've picked a white from New Zealand and a red from the South of France to put to the Tipping's Tipples test.

Kaituna Hills Riesling, £5.99 at M&S, is from that place at the other side of Australia. I think New Zealand is hard to beat on the very fruity white wine front.

This riesling isn't letting the side down either. Light in colour and light in body, it is a really approachable wine. I just think that this cake is a little over egged with mango flavours and floral aromas. I'd rather opt for a decent German riesling with some Old World restraint but that is, as they say, a matter of taste.

Taste is something Domaine de Fontseque Corbieres 2001 isn't short of. You'll only get a penny change from ten squid for a bottle, but just think how much more enjoyable it will make your roast beef Sunday dinner!

It's not hard to imagine that this wine has had lots of love and attention. There's plenty of dark chocolate, spice, vanilla, a nice bit of oak and some aromatic pipe smoke, to excite the tastebuds. It's got a wonderful nose, full of natural yoghurt and soft cheese aromas - sour and mellow at the same time.

Powerful wine this and you are reminded that Tipping's Tipples cannot be held responsible for any reader, who sustains injuries, trying to drink this wine without food.

On the subject of Corbieres, I was reminded of a holiday on the island of Jersey in 1980-something. The holiday coincided with the Grand National. I'm not much of a gambling man but I usually have a flutter on the National. Anyway, there's an area of the island called Corbiere (without the 's' ), which just happened to be close to where I was staying. In the Grand National that year there was a horse running, which was also called Corbiere.

Guess which horse won. And guess who didn't put two and two together, despite the fact that the horse's name had jumped out at me from the list of runners. I'll be kicking myself again this year when Tipping Tip Me comes in first.

Now here's my tip. Spend your tenner on something with a winning nose, not on something you hope may win by a nose.

Kaituna Hills Riesling 2003, £5.99 at M&S

***

totally tropical taste

Domaine de Fontseque Corbieres 2001, £9.99 at M&S

****

red wine for red meat

Updated: 14:16 Tuesday, April 20, 2004