Gentle.Mellow.Old-school
“You can’t go wrong with this one, son.” - My Dad, 96 points
In case you didn’t clock the vintage, this is a wine with 12 years under its belt, but it hasn’t been sitting in our cellar gathering dust. We’ve only just shipped it from the bodega, because they don’t release it until it’s in its perfect ‘sweet spot’ for drinking and boy is it just that! I took a bottle to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner and my dad took one sip and ‘cornered’ the bottle in a politely proprietorial way. “You can’t go wrong with this one, son” he said, pouring himself another glass and setting the bottle down beside him. For those of you who haven’t met my dad, that equates to a score of 96 points.
Never mind my dad, what I love about this wine is its sense of calm composure. Having spent 2 years maturing in oak barrels and a further 7 years in bottle, time has smoothed its wrinkled front, and now, instead of something rough around the edges, it pours soft and mellow, a hint of brick to its colour, with the texture of an unassuming gentleman’s claret, yet with the depth conferred by a warmer climate, as this comes from Central Spain. The flavours say damson and cassis, but smudged a little into indistinctness, by time. A hint of forest floor, the mulch of autumn, tobacco and orange peel. You will find your own. Drink it with roast beef, but be prepared to share. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2025.
NB Some of the corks can be a little dry and crumbly. Age isn’t kind to corks or people. Ideally, use a 'butler's thief' corkscrew or, if you are using a regular corkscrew, insert it as far as possible and pull it out gently.
Press review:
JancisRobinson.com: “The tractable intensity and sepia-edged sweetness of this 10-year-old wine draws you in with a slow, silk lasso. Tempranillo to its toes, it's strawberries and leather, tobacco and preserved cherry, black tea lightly steeped, dried flowers, a coffee bean, a touch of mace. Beautiful tissue-fine flavours layered leaf by leaf and then pressed into time and transparent tannins so that they infuse, one into the other. What a rare treat to be able to enjoy a quiet little beauty like this at the peak of its maturity. It seems to be crazy underpriced to me. I'd snap this up in a heartbeat. VGV (TC). Drink now-2026.” 17 points
Customer comments:
“Had the Tempranillo last night – lovely.” - Mr N.B.
“The 'La Pintora’ was so good that I thought I should add a case to my cellar without delay. No trouble with corks either although it’s always fun to have an excuse to bring out the butler’s thief.” - Mr. C. M.
Funny old world isn’t in it? It is a badge of honour for an artisan winemaker to describe their wine as ‘hand-crafted’, but it’s also a badge of honour for an artisan winemaker to describe their winemaking style as ‘hands-off’. So, it presents me with a bit of a ‘Schrodinger’s Cat’ dilemma, because this wine is simultaneously both ‘hand-crafted’ and ‘hands-off’. Domaine Guillot-Gonin oversee every tiny detail in the vineyard and the winery, the classic handmade approach, but they also take great pride in stepping back from the process and allowing the character of the vintage, the whims of nature and the unique expression of each vineyard’s terroir to shine through, unimpeded by human intervention. A philosophical cleft stick, if ever I saw one.
You’re probably wishing I would take a step back from this cod philosophy, as it’s the liquid in the glass that counts, so let’s press on. This is a really beautiful Fleurie, one of the most picturesque appellations in Beaujolais, with its folds of rolling hills, like a rumpled sheet, that allow for myriad pockets of perfectly-exposed vineyards. The wine is rich in flavours of bing cherry, blood orange and meadow flowers, but there’s also a stylish earthy undertone that brings an elemental quality to the wine and stops it being a fruity frivolity. Yes, it’s light and pretty, as a Fleurie should be, but has enough weight and complexity to please fans of both ‘hands-on’ and ‘hands-off’ Beaujolais. Or both. 13% alc. Drink now-2029. Sustainable farming. Unlike most other farming.
“Wow, so much life and vitality! I would love to serve this blind to bordeaux-philes.” -JancisRobinson.com, 17 points
They say that you should treat a wine like a prince and let it speak to you first. There’s no other option with this wine, it can barely get the words out fast enough, stumbling over itself in its effusiveness and cheery outpouring of warmth and charm. The aromas practically knock you over, as they surge forward to greet you. It’s like a gorgeously ripe Pomerol, with the Cabernet Franc element giving it wonderful cassis lift followed by sweet black cherry, blackcurrant pastilles, undiluted Ribena and pencil case notes. There’s a boisterous swagger to the nose that settles down on the palate, leaving you with a wine that has a lovely pinch of fruit-soaked tannins to keep it in check and to make it presentable at the dinner table. The blend is 44% Cabernet Franc, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon and 33% Merlot aged in new & seasoned French oak for 15 months. The 2014 vintage produced tiny, thick-skinned berries that stayed on the vine late into the growing season, achieving wonderful aromatic ripeness. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2030.
Press review:
Tamlyn Currin for JancisRobinson.com : ”I did a bit of a double-take when I was opening this wine and saw 2014 on the head of the cork. I hadn’t actually clocked how old it was! It’s transparent but still has lots of ruby colour, and it smells, incredibly, of fresh berry fruit. I only sensed the age when I tasted it. And even then, wow, so much life and vitality! Here’s a 12-year-old New Zealand red that I think would out-youth a great number of bordeaux reds of the same age. The tannins have eased but still hold their shape and do their job with style and comfortable class, like an old, well-worn but beautiful kempt Chesterfield sofa. The rose-hip fruit is steeped in cigar-box spices flecked with forgotten petals of dried roses and hibiscus, pencil shavings and anise. I would love to serve this blind to bordeaux-philes. Drink now-2027. ” 17 points
International Wine Challenge: “Lovely expressive dark fruit and chocolate aromas with savoury and herb mint. The palate shows leather and sour cherry, with smooth tannins and a spiced finish.” Silver Medal
Customer comments:
“The Waipara is fascinating. I let it settle, so only opened it last night and I'll see how it evolves. Very rich and dense, as befits it's age.” - Mr J.H.
“Just opened the first bottle and it is lovely. Please can we order another 6 bottles?” - Mrs. J. T.
Slow wine, like slow food, asks you to take time over things, which is my justification for this interminable tasting note.
It’s our very great honour and privilege to introduce you to Elisabeth van der Bent, the owner and winemaker at Domaine Langlade. Only a fool with an inflated sense of their own worth would try to convey, through words, the extraordinary personality that is contained within her slight but spring-heeled frame. So, here goes. The wine world is full of energetic young guns, but we have yet to meet any winemaker with such boundless intellectual curiosity, with such a profound understanding of nature (on a biological level), with such self-effacing honesty and commitment to scientific rigour (she was a doctor for 35 years, so she eschews anything unempirical and saves her most precious Gallic expletives for Rudolf Steiner!), but most of all a winemaker with such a visibly radiant joy in nurturing her ‘blessed plot’ as Elisabeth van der Bent, and she is approaching 80 years of age.
We have just returned from a visit to her domaine, a few miles to the west of Nimes, and our head is still spinning. Elisabeth is a one-woman perpetual-motion machine. She rises at 5am every day to check on her vines and her beloved pistachio trees (she swears by her homemade pistachio oil). Her eyes sparkle with wit and inquisitiveness, the conversation darts wildly between topics, her hands flapping in every direction while she speaks, her voice showing gravitas when an intellectual idea is fulminating, but she suddenly squeals like a little girl when she talks about her great love ("Mes vignes!"). We spent a wonderful morning bouncing around in her battered and splattered Peugeot 205 (vintage 1986), dashing from vineyard to vineyard with the same frantic urgency as the neurons firing along the pathways of her mind. Lunch was arranged for 1pm, where we would meet the person who tastes and passes final judgement on the wines before they are allowed to be released: her mother. There must be something in the water here.
A long and leisurely lunch took place in the sun-dappled kitchen. Elisabeth's mother sat at the head of the table, warmed by a shaft of winter sunlight ("Je suis vieille, mais je suis pas bête" she confided), and we tried several vintages of their estate red, simply called ‘Langlade’, while Elisabeth talked animatedly about the history of the domaine, including an anecdote about when Thomas Jefferson, a great fan of ‘Langlade’ wines, came to visit (presumably sometime around 1785 when he was serving as U.S. Minister to France). Over baba-au-rhum, which is served every Friday without fail, her mother (102 years’ old) reminisced about her early childhood, remembering how she used to drink naturally-carbonated water from a little spring in the nearby village of Vergèze, which had been purchased and was being bottled for local consumption by the neighbourhood doctor, a chap called Louis Perrier. I told you there was something in the water! We were given a tour of the cellar, were introduced to the tortoises and bid farewell, so that they could prepare for a visit from the owner of Roc d'Anglade, one of the great domaines of the Languedoc, who comes around regularly and sings opera to the very great delight of the centenarian.
I'm sorry for waffling on about baba-au-rhum and opera and not talking about the wine, but I fear we are in danger of losing our 'human connection' and disappearing into a world of artificial intelligence, altered reality and siloed communities of the like-minded. Meeting Elisabeth and her mother reminded us that the most interesting wines are made, with love and care, by interesting people. I hope that if you give these wines a try, it will show through in their character and you will discern the 'house personality' of these soft and tender hooligans, wines made from hardy vines, whose grapes have withstood the dry Mediterranean climate and been tempered and cajoled into Pinot-like elegance by a pair of brilliant and devoted hands.
Their 2021 vintage is cool, calm and collected, softened by slow ageing, a supple wine, with the tannins fully integrated into the gentle plum and damson fruit. As with all of the Langlade reds, it is a proud, 'barrel-aged' wine, matured like Barolo or Volnay, in large oak casks for 3 years in the vaulted cellars beneath the house, to relax and mollify the fruit. Grenache is at the heart of the wine, ably supported by Syrah, Mourvedre and Cinsault. Elisabeth doesn’t do chemical analysis, she does everything by taste, so I feel that it would be going against her principles if I were to list blend percentages and technical details. You have to feel your way with these wines.
Madame Dufès, Elisabeth's mother, is obsessed with old, red Burgundy ("Faîtes-moi un vin vieux bourguignon!" she regularly insists) and is particularly pleased when her daughter makes a vintage that mirrors bygone Burgundy in weight and texture, if not exactly in flavour, as the wines are made from grapes indigenous to the Mediterranean, but this wine really does have a Pommard feel to it. Barolo too, with its long soak in oak drawing out an aged Nebbiolo character. The core fruit flavours are poached plum and cherries steeped in their own juices, but there are secondary flavours of chocolate and dried orange peel too, all cut through with this wonderful morello cherry acidity, bringing a jewel-like, ruby glow to the wine. The alcohol content is ‘old-fashioned’ too (12% is relatively light for this region), so the wine sits quietly on the plate, not agitated by too much spirit (Elizabeth writes on her website: “The Langlade red is a subtle wine with a rich colour and is especially agreeable in that it does not have the characteristic alcoholic violence common to wines from the Midi.”). Drink it, as we did, with slow-cooked lamb and root vegetables, or roast venison, beef wellington or just a classic Sunday roast. It's a lazy Sunday in a bottle. Drink now-2030.
Press review:
JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin): “Exceptionally transparent – in character and weight as well as colour – for a Languedoc GSMC blend. Look at that alcohol ... just 12%! It smells of sun-dried tomatoes and has the tang of sun-dried tomatoes, barberries, sumac; the vegetal scent of tomato vine; the sweetness of raisins steeped in tea shrub. Tannins lightly raspy, like old lichen-gnarled twigs rubbing against each other. Peppery vault in the mid palate and tightening to a fine-ground-pepper texture and fragrance on the graceful finish. Drink now-2029.” 17 points
Customer comments:
“I have nearly consumed all of the Langlade I purchased, what a wine!” - Mr H.T.
“We’ve opened our first bottle of Langlade 2021 this evening and really enjoyed it. Absolutely lovely with a rare steak and such depth. Really high quality indeed and exactly the type of lovely find you are known for.” - Mr C.L.
“Excellent wine. The wine and the storytelling do justice to each other.” - Mr Z.B.
“The Langlade was amazing - florals soaring from the glass like notes from a choir soaring to the ceiling of a cathedral.” - Mr L.E.
“The last red we bought with your help was the Langlade which has been delightful.” - Mr. J.S.
“The 2012 is a beautiful old-school Rioja.” - Vinous, 95 points
“A true classic.” - Decanter, 95 points
A gloriously distinguished, old-school Rioja aged for 6 years in oak barrels, which achieves the seemingly impossible paradox of tasting old and young at the same time. Neither age before beauty nor beauty before age. They walk through the door together. One of the world’s iconic wine treasures. 13% alc, Drink now-2036.
The Wine Advocate: “The 2012 Viña Tondonia Reserva comes from a very dry year, with 25% less rain than the average (at the time), resulting in lower yields of very healthy grapes that delivered wines with nice balance between alcohol and polyphenols, making it very apt for the aging in barrel. It had a slightly longer élevage in barrel, six years. The wine is aromatic with a developed profile, spicy and tertiary (forest floor, a touch of brick dust and iodine), complex and nuanced. The palate is full and round, with polished tannins and a long, dry finish. Drink now-2035.” 95 points
Vinous: “The 2012 Viña Tondonia is a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, cultivated on the meander of the Ebro River in Rioja Alta. This garnet wine reveals aromas of ash and plum marmalade, with a faintly herbal core and hints of oaky cedar. Dry and lean, the fairly chalky texture lingers long, concluding with a compact, flavourful and lasting finish. The 2012 is a beautiful old-school Rioja. Drink now-2035.” 95 points
Decanter: “After six years in barrel (produced at López de Heredia's own cooperage) and three in bottle prior to release this is all you can expect from a classical Viña Tondonia with its focused intensity and muscular yet super elegant tannins. Assertive but also super silky, with juicy fruit gliding through the palate while being pleasantly pulled back by an energetic, smoky verve. Broody while at the same time mature - another accomplished vintage of a true classic. Drink now-2040.” 94 points
Fans of northern Rhone Syrah at its plumpest and most opulent best will not want to miss the 2020 vintage of Vincent Paris’s Cornas ‘Granit 60’. It’s delicious now, a furiously dark and dangerous adolescent bursting with youthful energy, but will age beautifully in a cool cellar for at least 15 if not 20 years.
Organic (certified)/ biodynamic farming
Press reviews:
Decanter: “There are herbal depths here, but they're currently filled by the intense, powerful berry fruits. Medium- to full-bodied, this has good concentration and intensity of fruit, coupled with powerful but very ripe tannin. There's good energy here, the wine is upright and not as soft and easy-going as some other Cornas this year. Great vitality and salinity, this is well-balanced, fresh and classically Cornas. A satisfying and energising wine with a long finish. 50-year-old vines on very steep slopes, 70% destemmed. No pigeage, natural yeasts, then spending 16 months in two to eight-year-old barrels. Drink now-2035.” 95 points
JancisRobinson.com: “Subtle. An understated yet concentrated wine with lovely sweetness of fruit, fine tannic structure, integrated oak. All the components here are in fine balance. Dark olives, sweetness of berry fruit. Intriguing mineral and floral finish. Drink now-2032.” 16.5+ points
“I loved it so much I bought it on the spot.” - Rebecca Gibb MW, 95 points
It’s lovely to have a Bourgueil with a bit of bottle age, because it’s a wine that needs to soften and mellow. When it’s young, it’s like a novice yoga pupil, all stiff and angular, but after 6 or 7 years, it becomes supple and pliable. Domaine du Bel Air have crafted an absolute beauty from the 2018 vintage, a pure Cabernet Franc that tastes molten and silken and very ‘grand vin’, if that makes sense. The colour is rich, but graduated from deep cherry at the core to lighter red brick at the rim, and the aromas are classic Loire Cabernet Franc in their perfumed sweetness, showing steeped cherry skins, wet hedgerow and musk, deepening on the palate to blackcurrant, pencil shavings and red flowers. 13.5% alc. Organically farmed. Drink now-2039
Press review:
Vinous (Rebecca Gibb MW): “The 2018 Grand Mont is elegant and savoury. It is dense and yet incredibly transparent and light. For those who love right bank Bordeaux, this will give you that classical reassurance of a high quality, complex red wine. It's not fruit forward, it's all dark chocolate, black cherry, almost like a roast beef dinner. The wine has gorgeous chalky tannins that coat the mouth, and there's a fragrant, log fire-like character on the long length. I loved it so much I bought it on the spot. You could enjoy it now with Sunday lunch but it has 20 years in it. Drink now-2042.” 95 points
Argiano’s ‘Solengo’ might just be the last of the affordable SuperTuscans. Deep and inky in colour, the 2019 is a rich and opulent blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Syrah and Merlot, which stains the palate in sweet black fruits haunted by ethereal notes of sandalwood, soft tobacco leaf, vanilla and sweet spices. It’s like Chateau Palmer in sunglasses, returning from a summer holiday in Tuscany. Drink now for up-front exuberance and show-stopping intensity or wait 5 or 6 years and drink from 2027 onwards for a more subtle and mellow experience. 14% alc.
Organically farmed
Press review:
Vinous: “The 2019 Solengo seduces with its richly decadent display of vanilla and mocha-tinged dark fruits and spices, which are wonderfully lifted by minty herbal tones and white smoke. This enters the palate like weighted velvet, smooth and fleshy at first, yet lively, as mineral-tinged black currants mix with fine-grained tannins, clamping down with youthful poise. Like the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove, this tapers off incredibly long and staining, with echoes of liquorice beneath an air of cedar and tobacco; yet somehow, through it all, the palate is left watering for more. It will be many years before the 2019 is ready to show its best, but it will certainly be worth the wait. The Solengo is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Sangiovese that spends eighteen months refining in a combination of 60% new to 40% second-pass barriques. Drink 2026-2039.” 96 points
The reason we love Flaccianello is because it takes Sangiovese to church! The Flaccianello 2018, which garnered the famous 100 points from The Wine Advocate, is not only spectacular in youth, but has the ability to age for two decades or more. It's one of the most glorious expressions of Sangiovese you will ever try, a gloriously plush and opulent wine. Drink 2025-2045.
Press reviews:
Vinous: "The 2018 Flaccianello della Pieve is another stellar wine from Fontodi. It is the richest Flaccianello ever made (in terms of dry extract), with elevated acidity that trails the 2016 by just a touch, but it does not taste like that at all. Dark cherry, violet, lavender, spice, mocha and graphite build with a bit of time in the glass. The 2018 Flaccianello is not a wine of size, as in most previous years, but rather a wine that exudes vibrancy, energy and class from start to finish. I absolutely loved it. Drink 2020-2050." 100 points
MAXIMUM 3 BOTTLES PER ORDER. UK MAINLAND DELIVERY ONLY. MUST BE PART OF AN ORDER THAT MEETS OUR MINIMUM REQUIREMENT OF 6 BOTTLES.
“Pretty darned good” says my tasting note and that’s probably the most enthusiastic review I have ever given a Roble from Spain. Roble is the name given to a red wine that has been lightly oaked, typically around 6 months, so it sits between a Joven and a Crianza. I usually find they are neither one thing nor another, a bit like brunch or drizzle, but this one has tons of flare and panache, as well as good looks. It spent 7 months in new oak - 40% American, and 60% French, with varying levels of toast - and is dark and sweet-fruited and spicy, displaying black cherries, red plums, baking spices and gentle floral notes. The fruit is so ripe and concentrated that any oak flavours are drowned within it. I think I prefer this to their Crianza, which spent 18 months in oak, as the balance here allows the succulence of the fruit to shine. Perfect with lamb chops or indeed anything with a bit of charred fat on the outside (and I’m not referring to me on a sun-lounger). Outstanding value! 14% alc. Drink now-2029.
Press review:
JancisRobinson.com (previous vintage): "Smoky definition framing the deep dark fruit. The oak is present, but not overwhelming, and showcases the fruit. Approachable and layered nose. Deep, ripe, sweet-fruited on entry but plenty of chalky tannins as it heads to the finish – vanilla, spice and black-fruit finish. Bold and rich, but with fresh, balancing acidity. Plenty of complexity at this price. GV (OC). Drink now-2028." 16 points