Our Little Black Book

All the wines in our list come with a no “meh” guarantee. We don’t promise that you will love them all, but we confidently assert that you won’t find a single wine that makes you shrug your shoulders indifferently. This wine will raise an eyebrow at the very least, delivering a sunny splash of South-West France: zingy Sauvignon meets juicy Colombard in a rush of grapefruit zest, white peach and lemon sorbet. Crisp, carefree and wildly drinkable. It’s a real overachiever. 11.5% alc. Drink now – 2027.

“Great evidence of the value to be found in Portugal.” - Jancis Robinson MW

They say that you should try everything once, except incest and Morris dancing. It’s probably fair to assume that you haven’t tried a blend of Arinto, Verdelho, Antão Vaz, Fernao Pires and Chardonnay before, but if this wine is anything to go by, then you shouldn't waste another moment. It's a blissful combination, bearing a striking resemblance to a Côtes du Rhone Blanc with its delicate and dainty aromas of honeysuckle, cream soda, jasmine and apricot. There’s a suggestion of Viognier both on the nose and palate, which shows a delicate ripeness of yellow- and orange-fleshed stone fruits, lemon meringue and a wisp of vanilla thanks to the 3 months spent in French and American oak. The packaging is as elegant as the wine itself and we strongly recommend buying this by the case. 13% alc. Now in a screwcap. Drink now-2028.


Press reviews:

Jamie Goode (previous vintage): “Attractive and well balanced this shows nice pear and citrus fruit with some white peach richness and a beautiful fresh lemony finish. There’s generosity here but also great balance, and it drinks beautifully.” 92 points

Jancis Robinson MW (previous vintage): “Mmm. Really rather creamy, interesting and appealing on the nose and full, mildly floral and satin-textured on the palate. It’s certainly easy to drink now – not unlike an especially light marmalade (do they still make Golden Shred?) – but it also seems constituted for a few more years’ development. Great evidence of the value to be found in Portugal. Very good value.” 16.5 points

"It is one of the best-value wines I have had this year." -Hamish Anderson, The Telegraph

Customer comments:

"It's really quite exceptional!" - Mr. J.H.

"Very much enjoying the Portuguese wine - a perfect summer drink." - Mr. D.D.

"A great addition to the cellar." - Mr. T.M.

This may not come from a fancy village, like Meursault or Puligny-Montrachet, it comes from the less auspicious Maconnais region, but having a fancy postcode doesn't guarantee a great wine and this wine shows what can be achieved from humble origins. The stone fruit and hazelnut flavours float on a creamy texture and the acidity is completely in tune with the fruit. There are £25 Burgundies that don’t come close to the quality on offer here, so we are suggesting you load up, because it’s a cut above anything you will find anywhere in Burgundy at this price. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2028.

‘How to Holiday like a Hero’ - by Vin Cognito

Chapter 19: ‘Returning from your Summer Holiday’

As you drive away from your rented villa in the Dordogne, having promised the owners that you will return the following year (under no circumstances must you), you should doff your panama hat to the gardener, who despises you, and, with the labrador leaning out of the window, you head in the wrong direction for Calais. You miss lunch, because, as you should know, all French restaurants are closed to English tourists, so you buy a tube of Pringles and head for Burgundy, where you console yourself by buying a case of Macon from the wine merchant in the town square, who pretends he remembers you from last year and explains that the case is covered in dust, because he’s been keeping it especially for you. You glance at your watch and do a hasty mental calculation and realise that you might miss your crossing, so you bundle the family back into the car and floor it to Calais, ignoring pleas for toilet breaks from your furious children, only to arrive bang on time for your cancelled ferry. As you pass through French border control, you slow down, wave your passports in the air and announce pompously “British! Enough of your nonsense!” to the great amusement of your family and the utter disdain of the border guard, who will usher you to a lay-by where his colleagues will perform a full cavity search.

But, in all seriousness, if you do buy a Macon, make sure it has the word ‘Uchizy’ appended to it, because that’s the name of the little village beside the Saone River, which seems to be surrounded by the best vineyards in the region. This one is silky and elegant and tastes of white nectarine and hazelnut meringue, sweet citrus and peaches cooled by single cream. It has a perky little dash of acidity and a more than a dollop of serious Burgundian aplomb. We have sold this wine in previous vintages, but this is a real step up, hence the rallying cry to fill your boots (your car boots).

Customer comments:

“Incredible value for money!” - Prof. T.W.

 “I agree with your description ………. It is stingingly good.” - Mr G.S.

“Excellent value. I would like to order another 24 if possible?” - Mr P.R.

“The wine is delicious. I would like another 12 bottles. Is that possible?” - Mr. S. H.

“Just to say I am enjoying my first bottle of the Macon-Uchizy, what lovely wine! As usual, your description of it matches the experience of drinking it which is not the case with many of your competitors! “ - Mr. P. A.

“Thanks for your latest recommendation. I totally agree with you about Talmard Macon Uchizy.” - Mr. M.C-W. 

“It's fab and worth at least twice the price“ - Mr D.O.

“Three bottles of lovely Macon-Uchizy already gone! Lovely stuff, absolutely my kind of thing.” - Mr R.D.

“So good for £12.00!” - Mr J.C.

” We loved the Macon, it's a great find (particularly at that price!).” - Mr. A.H.

”The case of wine arrived safely and, as promised, is stonking good. Thank you so much!” - Mr. M.H.

”Amazing-so many compliments from friends this week, and from me!” = Mr. W.G.

”I loved this wine!” Mrs. N.R.

”The Macon Uchizy is a big hit!” - Mr. P. R.

”I ordered more Macon within 30 seconds of opening the first bottle. Unbelievable for 12 quid! “ - Mr. D.O.

”It’s way better than any Majestic offer!” - Mr. J. H.

”We loved it, additionally the price point is amazing.” - Mr. S.R.

“Barrel-fermented Semillon leads the way in this outstandingly good value white.” - Decanter, 93 points

“Will develop beautifully for quite likely a decade, which is pretty astonishing for a £15 wine.”- Tamlyn Currin for JancisRobinson.com

An astonishing value from South Africa, comprising 80% barrel-aged Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc. The fruit quality here is outstanding for the price, the Sauvignon Blanc coming from the highest vineyard on the Simonsberg mountain and the Semillon sourced from old vines in Franschhoek. It has the grassy notes that you find in some of the great Constantia whites from the likes of Cape Point and Steenberg, but also the density and concentration found in ageworthy Franschhoek Semillon like Boekenhoutskloof, showing notes of lemongrass, greengage, blackcurrant leaf and ginger. It’s a wine that should appeal to fans of cool-climate Sauvignon Blanc, as well as fans of barrel-fermented white Bordeaux. Match it with fragrant south-east Asian dishes, asparagus or white fish with dill, fennel or coriander. 12% alc. Drink now-2030.

Sustainably farmed
Vegan friendly

Press review:

Decanter: “Waxy, intense barrel-fermented Semillon leads the way in this outstandingly good value white, with the 20% unoaked (but long lees-aged) Sauvignon Blanc bringing aromatic zing and brightness. Exotic notes of coconut cream, lemongrass and pineapple complete the complex, food-friendly picture. Drink now-2032.” 93 points

JancisRobinson.com (previous vintage): “Lemongrass fragrance, and the smell of a long, lushly green lawn on a warm day after a summer rainstorm. If you've ever scooped out a teaspoon of passion fruit from its little purple shell just a few days too early, when it's practically spitting shards of acidity at you (while still tasting deliciously of passion fruit), then you'll get this wine. It's so addictively spiky and hissing green scalpels and pistol cracks of cordite that it takes a couple of gulps to notice the oak – a faint, hidden smudge of vanilla pod and cream behind the smoke screen, behind the sorrel screen. It's crackling with character and while bracingly drinkable right now (don't serve it too cold), I think this will be seriously good in a couple of years time and will develop beautifully for quite likely a decade, which is pretty astonishing for a £15 wine. Very Good Value. Drink now-2035.” 16.5++ points

Tim Atkin MW (previous vintage): “Wildeberg's white Bordeaux blend is always one of its finest wines, made with deftly assembled Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc. The old vine concentration of the two Semillon blocks is very evident on the palate, giving richness and texture to the blend. Kelp, pink grapefruit and mineral acidity complete the picture. Drink now-2027.” 93 points

Customer comments:

“What a wine! Do you have any more? If so, I'll take another case. I'm sitting here shaking my head - bags of flavour and at a quaffing price!” - Mr. A.S.

“That Coterie is bloody lovely.” - Mr B.T.

“I have a bone to pick with you. Your write-up on the Coterie didn’t do it justice. It’s even better than your description!” - Mr V.G.

”Yum Yum!” - Mr. J. F.

“We’re enjoying this immensely.” - Ms. V. J.

”Just wanted to say THANK YOU for finding the Coterie and at such an unbelievable price. This has to be the best value white wine in the UK right now, simply delicious.” - Mr. K. A.

”This was extraordinary. Thanks so much for the tip.” - Mr. J.C.

"Tasted like a really good white Bordeaux - the semillon really came through. Amazing for £15" - Mr. X.

”Fabulous and definitely lived up to the billing, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.” - Mr. P. R.

”This wine is DELICIOUS, you don’t happen to have any more do you? “ - Mr. A. F.

Some double-acts feel like they were destiny made manifest: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lennon and McCartney, Hale and Pace. You could add Sauvignon and Semillon to that list, a pair of grape varieties who work together so well that they feel joined at the hip. In this Bordeaux Blanc, Sauvignon plays the lead role, bringing bright green-skinned fruits and a touch of shiso leaf, ably supported by the Semillon (20%), which adds tangy grapefruit and something sappy, that reminded me of a freshly trimmed hedge. The wine spent 30 days on its lees, undergoing regular batonnage, which accounts for the wine’s elegant texture and, for me, puts in the category of gastronomic white Bordeaux, rather than a simple, fruity apéritif. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2028.

A delightful blend of Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc from one of the top Chateauneuf-du-Pape producers in the Rhone Valley, where the dainty Viognier aromas of honeysuckle, jasmine and apricot skin meet the crisp, thirst-quenching Sauvignon Blanc flavours of grapefruit, elderberry and green mango. A lovely springtime white for light lunches, picnics, barbecues etc. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2026.

“If it’s pure Chenin perfume at a good price you’re after, this is your wine. Good Value.” - Jancis Robinson MW

Secateurs Chenin Blanc is Adi Badenhorst’s calling card and the most important wine he makes, because it’s his entry-point white, the first wine that most people try before thinking “Wow! That’s lekker! What else shall I try?”. It’s made from dry-farmed Chenin Blanc bush-vines grown on decomposed granite in the Paardeberg mountain range, where Adi has his ramshackle homestead. I will never forget getting up early, sitting on his stoop with a cup of coffee and watching the run rise slowly over the vines. Mainly because I had underestimated the strength of the African sun at 7.00am and Adi was in fits of giggles when I came back into the house as red as a baboon’s buttock.

Where were we? Oh yes… fermentation occurs spontaneously with native yeasts, across a range of vessels including foudres, stainless steel and French oak barriques, but you don’t want to hear all this stuff do you? That’s not what this wine is about and, in any case, whenever I ask Adi anything technical, he just shrugs and pretends he can’t remember or accuses me of being a nerd. At least, I think that’s what he called me. It’s a wine that celebrates conviviality, giggles, bonhomie and disorder, which is probably why this mailshot is all over the place. It’s not a serious wine, but it’s a wine that conveys the spirit of South Africa’s ‘New Wave’ and the ‘Swartland Revolution’, which was founded by Adi and fellow winemakers Eben Sadie, Chris and Andrea Mullineux and Calli Louw back in 2010.

So, yes, it’s just a drink, if you want, but it’s also the contemporary face of a winemaking history dating back to 1659, when the first wine was made in The Cape. It’s a wine that South African’s pour with great pride, because it represents a modern benchmark for quality and price and has probably attracted more people to the joys of South African wine than almost any other. Enough from me, here’s what the experts have to say:

Press reviews:

Tim Atkin MW: “Aged in foudres, it has a stony top note, deftly judged flavours of peach, pear and pink grapefruit, good palate weight and a bright, tangy finish. Hugely drinkable. Drink now-2028.” 90 points

The Wine Advocate: “The 2025 shows bright freshness, with honey and yellow flower layered over clean orchard fruit aromatics. Drink now-2029.” 91 points

Jancis Robinson MW: “Intense, creamy nose that smells like a much more expensive wine. The palate is scrawnier than the nose suggests, but if it’s pure Chenin perfume at a good price you’re after, this is your wine. Good Value. Drink now-2027.” 16 points

Vinous: “This is bright and fresh on the nose, with citrus peel and light orange pith scents. The palate is well-balanced with a lovely texture, hints of orange rind and walnut on the entry, with a slightly smoky finish. Very fine. Drink now-2030.” 88 points

James Suckling: “"Orange blossoms, sliced pears, persimmons and melon on the nose of this fruity white. It’s medium- to full-bodied with good fruit ripeness and freshness combined.” 91 points

Adi Badenhorst

I’ve had some great nights out with Adi Badenhorst, although I usually can’t walk straight by the end. Not because I’ve drunk too much, but because he pulls my leg so much that one ends up longer than the other. I met up with him recently and he confided sotto voce that I had always been a huge inspiration to him. He leaned in closer: “Huge!” he repeated, for the avoidance of doubt. I accepted the compliment with a wry smile, knowing full well that he was yanking my chain, because with Adi, you take him at face value at your peril and that is one of the many reasons why he’s my favourite winemaker on the planet.

Born into extreme silliness, Adi has done more to raise the profile of South African wine than my cousin, Paul, a paramedic from Aberdeen. But don't let appearances deceive you, Adi may look like the secret lovechild of an Appalachian freight-hopper and a cartoon bear, but all of his outer tomfoolery can’t conceal the fact that he's actually incredibly smart and talented (he hates it when I remind him that he was ‘head boy’ at school), and his wines are beautifully imperfect expressions of the Swartland, its vineyards, its people and their dungarees.

Here’s a wine that tiptoes across the palate thanks to its relatively light alcohol content of 12.5% abv and the delicate character of its 3 grape varieties: Gouveio, Rabigato, and Viosinho. Flavours and aromas of grapefruit, lime peel and mandarin are stimulated by a mouth-watering acidity, like a squeeze of lemon juice. Sourced from vines on hardscrabble schist slopes at 500 metres above sea level, where it is significantly cooler than lower in the valley, which shows itself in the freshness and lightness of touch. Lucia and I tasted it together and, being a gentleman, I gestured for her to use the spittoon first. She gave me a guilty smile, which implied that she had swallowed it. I smiled back. And all the wine spilled down my chin. No, of course it didn’t! I had swallowed it too. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2028.

There’s something deliciously nostalgic about this wine. It takes us back to the early days of Cloudy Bay, when the world discovered that Sauvignon Blanc was a grape that could fully ripen and produce fruity wines and wasn’t, as the French had led us to believe, a member of the cooking apple family. This comes from the organically-farmed ‘Heritage’ vineyard, on the southern side of the Wairau Valley and is wonderfully vibrant and expressive, teeming with passion fruit, mango and pineapple, all tropical-flavoured fruits, but ones with mouthwatering acidity. Pour yourself a glass, get your Filofax out, put your Walkman on and party like it’s 1985. 13% alc. Partially fermented and aged in used French oak. Drink now-2028.

Press review:

Vinous: “The 2022 Sauvignon Blanc ‘Heritage Vineyard’ is round and mouthfilling with flesh and texture (15% wild ferment in oak) through the palate. Attractively-scented, there’s an almost mojito-like character to this wine with its fresh mint aromas alongside fresh fruit including pineapple and florals. Balanced and refreshing. Drink now-2026.” 90 points

“So much here! Flavours keep tripping over each other…So, so different from bog-standard Viognier.” - Tamlyn Currin for JancisRobinson.com, 17 points

The Viognier grape is a bit of a maverick. It’s low in acidity, which is unusual for a white grape, so harvesting time is critical (it can literally come down to a matter of hours); pick too early and the aromas won’t have developed properly, pick too late and the wine will taste blousy. Its sugars develop unevenly too, spiking suddenly around harvest time, so it must be picked before the potential alcohol goes through the roof. Chris Williams, ex-Meerlust winemaker and now doing his own thing at The Foundry, has a team of pickers on a hair-trigger, ready to dash into the vineyard, brandishing their secateurs, at a moment's notice and that military precision has resulted in a pitch-perfect Viognier, full of exotic scents (honeysuckle, coconut, jasmine) interwoven into the creamy stone fruit without turning lethargic and flabby from hanging too long on the vine. A wine worthy of a fine piece of turbot or lobster. 13.5% alc. From a vineyard just 3 miles from False Bay so it gets cool Atlantic Ocean winds which Chris says keeps the wine restrained. Fermentation in old barrels. Drink now-2026.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com: “Cobnuts and rhubarb-lime candy. Daphne flowers and then a little note of Darjeeling tea. Pineapple. So much here! Flavours keep tripping over each other. Straw on the end. Bauble-shiny acidity. So, so different from bog-standard Viognier. This could convince me that all Viognier should be grown within reach of cold ocean winds. Good Value. Drink now-2027.” 17 points

“You find the landscape in this wine.” - Luc Bettoni, winemaker at Les Eminades

“Most wine I taste gets given away. Not this bottle.” - Tamlyn Currin for JancisRobinson.com

The Montmajou is packed with minerally chic, but it’s not all sharp edges and paper-cuts, as can be the case with early-picked impersonators, there’s a toothsome succulence at its core too. It’s a blend of Grenache Blanc (80%), which, when grown on chalky soil, gives the flinty, limestone bite that we love, and Marsanne (20%) which brings a hint of honeysuckle nectar that tempers the wine’s elemental side. Drink it from a large glass, because the aromas will fill the void with citrus peel and quarry dust and jasmine. A beautiful, understated wine for fine-dining and an imaginative departure from the usual suspects. 13% alc. Drink now-2027.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin): “Hold the glass to your nose. And hold … hold … hold. You won't want to put the glass down. It’s the scent of daffodils, sage flowers, cold honey butter. It’s like stepping out the door of an old stone cottage on a remote coast where you can taste the dunes and the sea salt and the tiny wind-swept flowers on the whip of a wild, cold wind. It's sitting on those stone steps with a slice of buttered toast and lemon curd, sucking up the brusque morning with your slow, warm tea. It’s a rugged beauty that feels like silk tatters on salt-etched stones. Most wine I taste gets given away. Not this bottle. Very Good Value. Drink now-2032.” 17.5 points

Customer Comments:

“We absolutely loved the Montmajou, but I'd rather keep to myself than share!” - Mr T.F.

“It's a wonderful wine. I only had two sips before I ordered the other 6!” - Mr. N.R.

“Luis Seabra’s style is clean, precise and elegant - wines that reflect their birthplace, the soils and varieties and the year when the grapes grew. Superb wines.” - The Wine Advocate

When taking a bottle of wine to a dinner party, there’s a certain amount of pressure when you are a wine merchant (as we occasionally pretend to be) to choose something that’s both delicious and original. We might feel like a flinty Chablis, but that would display a woeful lack of imagination, so we flick through our mental Rolodex of groovy alternatives and this Portuguese white often springs to mind first.

It’s very much a ‘mineral-driven’ white, informed by the schist (xisto) soil on which the vines grow, with a rocky undertow to the notes of lime cream, oyster shell and white flowers. It’s a blend of mostly Rabigato with 20% Arinto and 5% each Gouveio and Codega from 35- to 60-year-old vines, fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged in used French oak barrels, with 30% of the wine fermented and aged in stainless steel to retain its edgy freshness. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2028.

Press review:

The Wine Advocate: “The 2023 Xisto Ilimitado Branco feels very fresh and clean, with a shy nose and balanced palate with purity and precision and comes through as balanced and elegant. Excellent! Drink now-2030.” 92 points

Don’t buy this Sauvignon Blanc if you like Sauvignon Blanc, because you’d never know it was Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a wine that bristles with citrus and minerals. It's inadvertently cutting-edge, brushing shoulders with the ‘natural’ wine movement, without getting embroiled in all their dogma. It’s a wine that gives back as much in complexity as you give it in attention. It has clearly been shepherded from the vineyard to the bottle by a gentle hand; it’s not a technical wine that has been tweaked with knobs and dials. It’s minimalist, in the sense that it’s restrained, precise and linear, quite saline, but it’s spring-loaded too, serpentine, with a fine line of acidity from start to finish. It’s fruity, but earthy too - very earthy, in fact; petrichor and grapefruit; dry, but ample on the palate. Damn it, it’s just delicious! It goes extremely well with a simple grilled fillet of sea bream with just a sprinkle of salt and a squeeze of lemon. Or I can imagine it being great with charred squid or a lemony risotto. We put it through its paces with salmon sashimi and it worked a treat, the pristine fruit cleansing the palate. Why not try a bottle or two and give back your impressions. 13% alc. Aged in large oak barrels for 10 months. Low yields of 32 hl/ha. Drink now-2028.

Press review:

Jancis Robinson (Tamlyn Currin): “If ever a wine smelt like struck flint ... Or like the old moss-covered stones under a little highland waterfall. Don't expect conventional Sauvignon Blanc from this smoky, punctuated, green-and-gold wine that is ripped with herbal bitterness, rugged with stones, pithy with grapefruit peel and glistening with a tiny smudge of wild honey. If you can, give it time to warm up a little in the glass and relax – when it's cold it is a little bit hunched up in the shoulders. No hurry to drink this (so buy a few extra bottles to tuck away). It will evolve over the next few years. Drink now-2028.” 17 points

Koshu is the haiku of the wine world: subtle, layered, and quietly profound. You’ll find sweet, gentle aromas of green apple, candied nashi pear, apricot skins, Darjeeling tea, and old rose, with just a whisper of vanilla from eight months in oak. The palate is complex and textural, thanks to gentle skin contact with the Koshu grape, creating a remarkable three-dimensional mouthfeel. Château Mercian, Japan’s oldest winery, has been perfecting Koshu since 1870, when two brave young men were dispatched to France to learn how to make wine properly. Their descendants are still tending the vines today, keeping the story alive.

This isn’t a wine that shouts. It’s a wine that harmonises — like slurping ramen in a hillside noodle shop on a frosty night, where the warmth of the broth, the steam in the air, and the quiet depth of the wine all play their part. Understated, elegant, and deeply satisfying. 10.5% alc. Drink now - 2027.

Press Reviews (previous vintage):

JancisRobinson.com: “Skin-contact Koshu. The faintest tinge of pink. Satsuma, floral, dry rose petals and Darjeeling. Mesmerising. Hint of quince. I like the delicate skein of salty bitterness that runs through it like a fine line. It has damask texture. Ginger root. Grapefruit peel and nutmeg. Nori. Sesame seeds. For a skin-fermented wine, this is astoundingly gauzy. It has an exquisite ballet-dancer control. Strength tucked into fine, fine, fine control. (TC)” 17 points

The mesmerising label might play tricks of your eyes, but there’s no fooling your tastebuds - this is unequivocally delicious! It has made its way to these shores all the way from Crete, and it’s like drinking a little postcard from the Aegean. Its bright, silver-gold colour leads to aromas and flavours of star fruit, lemon barley water, bay leaf and a hint of salt-crusted, white rocks. A stylish, mineral-inflected, sea-breeze of a wine. 13% alc. Drink now-2027.

Press review:

Decanter (Olly Smith): “Pale gold with hedonistic yet pure aromas of peach, sage, gorse flower and lime blossom. This is a wine of great precision. With stone fruit and citrus vim, there’s also a gorgeous creaminess to the texture on the finish which lasts for an impressively long time. A bright start to a rich finish, this is moreish stuff. Drink now-2026” 93 points

The Wine Advocate: “Here's a sneaky label design. Only after I put my sample back on my office shelf and got some distance was I able to read the label with its dotted patterns that spell out the grape name. The Oenops 2023 Vidiano is an approachable mid-weight white with a special emphasis on firmness and texture. It offers stone fruit, honeydew melon and crushed stone, but the wine has the natural density to stand up to more important pairings of grilled swordfish or tuna steak. It sees a spontaneous fermentation in amphorae, concrete, barrel and stainless steel. It matures on the lees in amphorae for six months. Drink now-2029.” 91 points

I will always remember this wine, not for its special attributes, of which it has many, but because I had just taken a sip of the new vintage and was swirling it around my mouth in quiet contemplation, when Lucia announced that she was expecting a baby girl! I made a sort of squealing sound, widening my eyes to convey excited surprise and to buy time until I could swallow it, which I did as quickly as possible, before offering my congratulations, although I did let it linger for an extra second, noting the excellent minerality on the finish.

It’s an absolute beauty, sourced from various plots of Chenin Blanc around Saumur, with different top layers of soil (sand, clay, limestone), but all with volcanic tufa as their bedrock, bringing a real sense of earthy, pumice-laden minerality to the wine (if you like the white wines of Bernhard Huber, you will find a kinship here).

It spent a year in both new and old oak, and, unusually for a Loire white, underwent malolactic fermentation, to add complexity and to mollify the wine’s natural acidity. We found notes of struck rock, pear skin, kumquat, grapefruit and smoky, wispy cordite. It has a very ‘natural’ feel to it, as it’s as much about the soil as the fruit, but before you channel your inner Jay Rayner, it’s absolutely pristine clean. If your impression of ‘natural wine’ is cloudy cider, then this will recalibrate your bias by several orders of magnitude. 12% alc. Minimal use of SO2 only at bottling. Lightly filtered. Incidentally, their neighbours are none other than Clos Rougeard. Drink now-2027.

Press review:

Vinous: “The 2023 is an oaked style (aged in 40% new wood), almost Burgundian with toasty notes alongside reductive smoky bacon aromas. The team use lees to build texture in this light-bodied, finely-textured Chenin. It displays plenty of energy and citrus flavours. A little more concentration of fruit would be amazing, but the oak is of really nice quality.” 90 points

“Very good value.” - Jancis Robinson MW

“Taut and linear with a sapid finish that urges you back. Very fine.” - Neal Martin

As Mark Twain once said, “the only certainties in life are death and taxes and quotes being misattributed to me”, because it was actually Benjamin Franklin, who made that famous pronouncement, but he forgot to include one other certainty: the price of Burgundy going up every year.

The price of this white Burgundy has not gone up, however, seemingly making it the exception to the rule, but the sole reason for that is that this is Domaine de la Monette’s debut release under the stewardship of the highly-talented Pierre-Etienne Chevallier. You can be absolutely certain that it will go up a fair bit next year and in the years to come, because it’s radically underpriced for what’s in the bottle, but you can only charge so much without a track record, so we’re really excited to have discovered it on first release.

It’s a finely chiselled Bourgogne Chardonnay and feels as if the winemaker has chipped away at everything that wasn’t needed, leaving just the essence of the grapes and the place where they were grown. We love this style of white Burgundy – mineral and terroir-focused - the kind that leans a little more towards acidity and away from opulence, tasting of grapefruit, white peach, grapefruit (back for an encore), nutty oak and filo pastry drizzled with honey and orange water.

It would sit comfortably alongside village wines from Saint Romain or Saint Aubin and if I had to pick a domaine that it emulates in style, I would suggest Hubert Lamy: bright and crystal-clear wines, keenly acidulated, yet perfectly balanced by the fruit ripeness. 13% alc. Organic. Drink now-2028.

Press review:

Jancis Robinson MW: “Very savoury nose (more Côte d'Or than Chalonnaise). Nicely interesting and balanced. VERY GOOD VALUE. Drink now-2030.” 16.5 points

Neal Martin: “The 2023 Bourgogne Blanc originates from vines in the Bouzeron appellation and offers more complexity and nuance than the Bouzeron itself, with well-defined veins of yellow fruit. The palate is fresh and vibrant on the entry, taut and linear with a sapid finish that urges you back. Very fine. Drink now-2031. “ 88 points

Customer comments:

“We really enjoyed it--delicious white burgundy. Thanks for the recommendation. Can we get some more?” - Mr. J.S.

“It’s great stuff - should have ordered more to begin with.” - Mr. N. S.

What stood out at first was the lovely pale silver-sage colour with green flecks at the edge. It looked so refreshing and made me crave my first sip. The taste aligned perfectly with the visual impression, with cool, crystal-clear Trebbiano flavours awakening my tastebuds like a mountain stream flowing over aquatic grasses, although this mountain stream tasted of lime, pear, sweet apple and green melon! It’s the perfect wine for a dinner party, as it’s elegantly understated and has universal appeal, but it also has enough interest to merit a little quiet inner contemplation, should your dinner guest turn the topic of conversation to loft conversions. It can also be that idyllic glass of white wine, frosty from condensation, iridescent in its shades of green, that you have been thinking about all day at the office. It’s almost worth having an awful day at work, just to be able to come home to this! 13% alc. Unoaked. Drink now-2028.

Customer comment:

“Delicious!” - Ms A.S.

“Have you got any more of the Lugana? Tonight is the first time I have had an opportunity to try it. Really good. I will order 12 bottles if you have them.” - Mr I.M.

“The Lugana is the best I’ve drunk. Delicious.” - Mr. K.D.

“This wine was delicious! So easy to drink with or without food! So so good!” - Mr H.S.

Little Red Riding Hood strayed from the path and she survived to tell the tale, albeit covered in lupine gastric juices, so it’s worth venturing into the dark woods once in a while. Take this unusual and fascinating Slovenian white, for example, made from a blend of organically grown Welsch Riesling, Chardonnay and Sauvignon grapes. It’s delicious and really quite a serious wine, comparable in some ways to a textured, gastronomic white Bordeaux, displaying gooseberry fool, green plums and lemon posset held in a grip of salty minerals. It's textured and creamy and has lots of richness, but still with that lovely citrus and gooseberry dash that vitalises the palate. Enjoy it on its own, but fish and white meat is all the better to drink it with. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2027.

Organically farmed

Press reviews:

Jamie Goode: “Blend of three varieties from the three crus. 50% Welschriesling from 45 year old vineyards (quartz gravel, 2,500 litre Pauscha), 30% Chardonnay (marine sediments and shells, 600 litre oak) and then 20% Sauvignon (quartz gravel and sands, 600 litre barrels). Harvested separately. This is energetic, detailed and precise with lovely structure and acidity with some grapefruit pith and lime. Lovely yellow fruits, but also some mineral notes and good acidity. This is complex and layered, with good concentration and depth. Gastronomic.” 94 points

This beautifully stylish and elegant Italian white is a blend of Vespaiolo and Garganega, which would appear to be very comfortable bedfellows on the evidence of this. The two grapes are vinified and matured separately, the Garganega spending 15 months in oak barrels, while the Vespaiolo is aged in stainless steel. This is just the sort of wine, that we would love a sommelier to recommend to us, when looking for something delicious and unusual on an intimidating wine list. It’s interesting without being weird. It has the cutting, flinty edge that foodies love, as it brings a little dash to lighter dishes that benefit from a little mineral kick to add dimension (dressed crab, langoustines, scallops, oysters). It’s wonderfully clean, with a bright core of apples, lemons and frosty, winter fruits and a nervy acidity that drives the flavours across the palate and prepares you for your next sip. Organic. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2030.

NB You may have noticed this wine’s absence on our list for a few years, having previously been one of our all-time favourite white discoveries. Since the 2019 vintage, the winemaker has been playing around with the blend and ageing of the wine (both the containers and the duration). We weren’t as smitten with this “new” style as we had been with the previous vintages and our love for it waned a little. We explained our impressions to the winemaker, and it seems he has taken our comments into account. We are delighted to say that we think the wine is back on song with this 2022 vintage!  

Press Review (on the 2018, the previous vintage we shipped):

JancisRobinson.com: “I described the 2016 of this wine as vivid, restless, demanding. The 2017 as Machu Picchu; intense, fierce, massive, dramatic. The 2018 is different. It is still breath-taking. It still comes with a long, long spine of coruscating acidity, glittering with the crystalline, fractal complexity of hoar frost. It still carves the tongue with precision engineering, has a lensatic focus. But this vintage is more limpid. Kinder, somehow. There is a gentleness. The honeysuckle and apricots of the previous vintages have already unfurled, come forward, proffered a softer, let-me-lead-you-to-my-places hand. The 'golden' of the wine comes with a lime-sharp cast, but the golden is warm and the lime is simply etched poetry. It has this wonderful, soul-searching bitterness embroidered into the saline succulence of its sapidity. It is, quite frankly, impossible to have one glass of this wine. Unless you're made of stone. (TC) Very Good Value. Drink now-2028” 17.5 points

Customer comments on previous vintages:

“Delicious” - Mr S.O.

“I have to say… we are fully onboard with your enthusiasm here. This is a really great find! Such an incredible nose to it and it looks so unassuming in the bottle. I think we will be ordering a few more in short order.” - Mr D.C.

“Just opened one and it is outstanding, your marketing and tasting notes are spot on! Never heard of the grapes but the wine making is top drawer! Great find!” - Mr. P.W.

“That Il Pendio was so so good - I couldn't let it run out without grabbing a case.” - Mr A.T.

“I tried a bottle tonight - it was sensational!” - Mr V.G.

“I look forward to getting some more of this delicious wine on Friday. Superb stuff!” - Mr. R.W.

“Picked the Italian white to try with some risotto- very fine and elegant indeed.” - Mr M.B.

“We loved Pendio.” - Mr T.M.

“Just had some of the il Pendio 😁 smashing!” - Mr J.F.

“I’ve tried two bottles of the Il Pendioand I think it’s absolutely delicious!” - Mr J.H

”Lovely wine, quite flinty and buttery at the same time.” Mr. D.F.

”Thanks very much for letting me have some of this beautiful wine. If you get hold of some more I’d definitely buy more and would be keen to follow up with the next vintage.” - Mr. R.W.

“We loved the Il Pendio.....almost all gone now....do you have any more?” - Mr J.C.

”We opened the Il Pendio to accompany dinner and it was gone before the starter, sublime.” - Mr. G..O.

“We had another delicious Il Pendio last night. It really is a stonking wine.” - Mr T.M.

”I have to report back that it is superb. A little polite (and dairy) on the nose, but superb and food friendly chardonnay-esque flavour.” - Mr. R.G.

“I wanted to write to you to tell you how much I enjoyed my first bottle of Il Pendio. It is everything you claim for it and more, quite as good as a good Condrieu or Meursault at half the price.” - Mr I.G.

“That Il Pendio is excellent. Great find.” - Mr. A.P.

Our remit at Vin Cognito is not to recommend stars that have already risen, but to spot the next wave far out to sea before it swells to such a size that everyone can see it and wants to cut in and Domaine de la Monette is exactly what we have been looking for.

A little struck flint on the nose, giving it significantly more intrigue than you would normally find in a Bouzeron, while the Aligoté grape’s classic grapefruit flavour pulls through nicely on the palate, where it meets with the nutty oak, limestone minerality and wispy smokiness to give this the feel of a baby Meursault. There’s definitely a real frisson of excitement to be had here and it’s not often one hears that said that about a Bourgogne Aligoté.

In Jancis Robinson’s review below, she suggests that it’s “probably not as complex as Dom de Villaine's”, which might seem like a downgrading of this wine’s value, until you realise that she is referring to Aubert de Villaine, the owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti! 13% alc. Sourced from the lieu-dit, ‘Les Fias’, which is located on a very chalky, east-facing hillside. Drink now-2030.

Press review:

Jancis Robinson MW: “Quite a haunting nose. Excellent structure and acidity. Jewel-bright fruit. Probably not as complex as Dom de Villaine's but a good effort. Good Value. Drink now-2030” 16.5 points

Customer comments:

“Our love of the Bouzeron continues!  If you have any more we will take it.” - Mr L.D.

“This is one for those who like their Chardonnays with pizzazz.” - Rebecca Gibb MW

While there is still room in the world for experts (despite Michael Gove once announcing that “the people of this country have had enough of them”), we’d like to offer an expert opinion, based on qualified, empirical research, and state that this is a very good value Chardonnay. Contentious stuff, I know, but it had to be said. It’s easily on a par with those wonderful Kumeu River ‘Single Vineyard’ Chardonnays, which, you don’t need an expert to tell you, are the benchmark for New Zealand.

It’s lean, yet full-flavoured, with lime and toasted hazelnut to the fore and a sense of chalky cool that fleshes out the body and gives it a richness, without adding weight. If New Zealand Chardonnay isn’t the best value alternative to fine white Burgundy, then I don’t know what is, so I will have to ask an expert. 13% alc. Drink now-2030.

Press reviews:

Cameron Douglas (Master Sommelier): “A rich and nut-centric bouquet with smoky outlines then core flavours of peach and vanilla custard, grapefruit and nectarine. Firm and dry, a wine with tension and power, the fruit core for contrast and mix of tannins and acidity to deliver poise then length. A lovely example, youthful with plenty of development time ahead. Best drinking from later in 2026 through 2031+.” 94 points

Vinous (Rebecca Gibb MW): “The Marlborist’s 2023 Chardonnay is smart and saline, with a piercing line of acidity running through its textural core.  This has a barrel-fermented style that provides toasted nut flavours alongside the grapefruit-like apple fruit notes.  It is a shade more delicate than medium-bodied, with an element of richness on the mid-palate alongside delicate pastry notes pointing to its extended lees aging.  Thoughtfully constructed, this relatively new producer is forging a growing reputation. Drink now-2031.“ 91 points

Customer comments:

“Spectacular!” - Mr A.M.

“NZ Chardonnay v. good!” - Mr. M.G.

“This is incredible! Another twelve please.” - Mr I.S.

“We worked our way through several of the whites (the Marlborist being the favourite so far).” - Mr J.G.

“One of Tenerife's greatest bargains… as good as Domaine Roulot's Bourgogne Blanc.” - Tim Atkin MW, 94 points

If you have been tempted to try a wine from the Canary islands, but were worried it might be a bit “too much”, then give this a try. It’s made from Listan Blanco (better-known as Palomino in mainland Spain) and has just a light touch of volcanic minerality, but not enough to scare the horses. With many of these Atlantic island wines, it feels as if the fruit and the terroir are in a tussle for supremacy and more often than not the terroir wins, whereas here it feels more like a split decision. There is grapefruit and kumquat, but there is salt and broken rocks too. As its volcanic character is quite mild, please be aware that it’s a bit of a gateway drink that could lead to stronger proclivities. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2029. Organic/ biodynamically farmed

Press review:

Tim Atkin: “One of Tenerife's greatest bargains, Artífice is a pure Listán Blanco from nine parcels around La Guancha, all facing north between 300 and 700 metres. Mostly barrel fermented, with a 20% concrete component, this has an enticing struck match top note, flavours of pear and waxed lemons and subtle wood spices. As good as Domaine Roulot's Bourgogne Blanc. Drink now-2030.” 94 points

This is like a spring meadow in a glass. White flowers, vetiver, edelweiss, gooseberry, lime and something slightly herbal or grassy. A fine line of green apple acidity brings all the elements into alignment, finishing on a dainty note of nutmeg. If you like Cantina Terlano’s Pinot Bianco Riserva ‘Vorberg’, then my human intelligence algorithm says that you should also like this. 13.5% alc. Dry. Drink now-2026.

Press reviews:

The Wine Enthusiast: “Delicate scents of tropical fruit, cake spice and citrus shape the inviting nose on this stunning white. The delicious, medium-bodied palate delivers juicy peach, grapefruit, nutmeg and wild herb while white almond and flinty mineral notes lend depth. It's vibrant, with bright acidity.” 94 points

The Wine Advocate: “Here's a pretty white that has not been reviewed in a while. The Pacher Hof 2021 Alto Adige Valle Isarco Kerner shows a bright personality with tropical flower, wild sage, crushed stone, tea leaf and green melon. There are distant hints of petrol or smoke that offer a loose indication of where this wine is headed as it continues its bottle evolution. I love its tight impact on the senses.” 92 points


Customer comment:

”I liked the Kerner hugely.” - Mr S.C.

“Serious power and finesse.” - JancisRobinson.com, 17+ points

If you were to draw a Venn Diagram with the features of our favourite white wines within each circle, then this German Chardonnay would lie entirely at the intersection. It has the wispy ‘struck match’ notes that we love in a reductive white, it has the ‘flinty’ notes that we hope to find in a great white Burgundy, it has the subtle ‘smokiness’ reminiscent of a volcanic white, and it has the poise and refinement of a ‘minerally’ Pouilly-Fumé, but most importantly, it is what it is, a very stylish and elegant, barrel-aged Chardonnay from the Rheinhessen. 13% alc. Drink now-2034.

Press reviews:

JancisRobinson.com: “Flinty-fumy matchstick reduction on the nose. Cool citrus, lemon peel coated in vanilla-bean powder. Oddly enchanting and refined. Salty, slender and cool; carving a deep, juicy path, a fjord between the steep cliffs of acid and stone. Serious power and finesse for an Ortswein. (PS). Drink now-2032.” 17+ points

JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin): “Fantastically smoky – right to the sulphurous line, right to the brink looking in. Sucked-in citrus so sharp it's a paper cut. The wine has focus so laser fine that it feels thin and faster than the speed of light and it's gone and then you realise that everything about this wine is what it leaves behind – like following an arrow shot to split a mountain in half and finding a meadow, wide and open and full of light. Candied angelica, candied lemon peel, baklava, lime pickle, apple blossom, white pepper and wild flowers. I would argue that this wine has not even spun its cocoon in its evolution towards beauty. Drink 2026-2032.” 16.5+ points

Vinous: “The 2022 Chardonnay Ingelheimer was picked in Erste Lagen sites, in both the Mainzer Berg and the Westerberg. The wine spent 18 months on gross lees in 500 litre barrels. Reduction and a touch of walnut skin predominate on the nose. The palate comes in with freshness, led by yeasty notions, slightly salty creaminess and a lovely chalky undertow. Drink now-2040.” 91 points

“Superb.” - Neal Martin, 94 points

When we tasted the first vintage of this Chenin Blanc, we didn’t realise that what we were tasting was potential. It was good, very good, but with the release of their fourth vintage we’re no longer tasting potential, we are tasting the realisation of a fantastic project and I have no hesitation in stating that this is one of the finest Chenin Blancs ever to emerge from South Africa.

Brookdale may be a new kid on the block, but they have really hit the ground running. The wily Duncan Savage made the first 2 vintages, but Kiara Scott, a graduate of the Cape Winemakers’ Guild Protegé Programme, is now firmly in the driving seat and the quality just keeps getting better and better. The 2023 is a little broader than previous iterations, reflective of the sunny year, but it is still precision-tooled, with sleek contours and discreetly concentrated fruit framed by the most delicious accents of nutty, toasty oak. In that respect it has echoes of white Burgundy, animated as it is by a granitic minerality and zippy acidity, which feels more like internal ‘energy’ than simply low PH, yet its overall architecture is defiantly ‘old vine’ Cape Chenin, broadening on the palate to encompass orange orchard fruits, white pear and salted lime, before tapering slowly to a fine, focused finish. 13% alc. Certified Heritage Vineyards (South Africa's old-vine certification). Drink now-2032.

Press review:

Vinous: “The 2023 Chenin Blanc comes from vines planted in 1985 and aged for 11 months in 500-litre French oak and Stockinger foudres. This is very pure and expressive on the nose: white fruit, melted candle wax and light papaya that blossom in the glass. The palate is very well-balanced, with gorgeous texture, tensile from start to finish, with a bright, seductive apricot and clementine-driven finish that is nigh irresistible. Superb. Drink now-2040“ 94 points

Customer reviews:

”We are already one bottle into the Brookdale, delicious, I will definitely be back for more in the future.” - Mr. F. W.

“One of the top 2 whites I’ve had this year.” - Mr O. B.

“Very Coche-Dury.” - JancisRobinson.com

“Amazing.” - Jamie Goode, 95 points

Blank Canvas’s winemaker, Matt Thomson, must have to pay for a lot of broken windows, because he has knocked it out of the park yet again. Billowing with golden-flecked stone-fruit and tangy grapefruit, there is a tease of struck match and notes of wood shavings and toasted sourdough. The balance between the rich, savoury characteristics and the toothsome oak is just perfect, while the fine, tinkling lemony acidity illuminates the fruit flavours with great clarity and carries the notes of hazelnut and peach with it on its long, silky journey. This is one of the yummiest wines we have in store and a wine I would recommend it to anyone who loves serious Chardonnay, including top notch white Burgundy. It is, quite simply, brilliant. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2032.

Press reviews:

Jamie Goode: “Concentrated, fine, mineral and expressive. A powerful wine with lovely citrus intensity, layered complexity and good acidity. Such refinement here allied to power. Amazing.” 95 points

JancisRobinson.com (previous vintage): “Seductive and well-judged ‘reductive’ (smoky, struck-match) aroma and really toasty as it opens up, something cedary. Very Coche-Dury but, most importantly, there is the fruit intensity to carry off this winemaking style. Nutty, creamy, mealy citrus. So many things going on that it makes you slow down to try to enjoy all this complexity. Deep, deliciously fresh and incredibly persistent with an aftertaste of savoury/mineral citrus. Worth every penny of its NZ price of $45. Classy and got better and better over the few days post opening.” 18 points

“One of South Africa's greatest whites. Bravo!” - Tim Atkin MW, 96 points

Cape Point’s top cuvée, the ‘Isliedh’ 2023, is an incredibly beautiful and profound white blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Sauvignon Gris. The vineyards are situated high on a south-west-facing slope, where the cold winds of the Atlantic Ocean meet the cool breezes of False Bay, making a daily temperature that is 10 degrees below that of Stellenbosch and ideal for aromatic grapes.

It is is similar to a barrel-fermented white Bordeaux, but it’s also a proud Constantia white with its signature herbaceous note, reminiscent of lawnmower clippings. The palate begins with gooseberry fool and grapefruit, but then it broadens out to release its more sumptuous side with tremendous depth and richness and is finely seasoned with sandalwood, ginger root and baking spices. The 2023 underwent regular lees stirring and contains 20% barrel-fermented wine, which adds texture and ageing potential. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2030.

Press reviews:

Tim Atkin MW: "This is the second year that Cape Point's top white has included a portion of Sauvignon Gris, which adds an extra nuance to the base of 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon. Barrel fermented in 30% new French and Austrian oak, it's one of South Africa's greatest whites, with layers of grapefruit, greengage, elderflower and sweet kitchen spices, chiselled acidity and perfectly judged wood integration. Bravo!" 96 points

JancisRobinson.com: “Smells chalky, and then of violets and freesia. So unusual! Remarkably floral which gives the impression of delicacy, a halo, a brume of ferns and moss and bergamot. But then the fruit starts to loom with mango-drenched intensity, showing discreet, punctilious power. Rose-grapefruit curd, blood orange, pineapple peel. Distinctive and very classy. Drink now-2030. (Tamlyn Currin).” 17.5 points

“Another superb Cartology release.” - Greg Sherwood MW, 95+ points

We are offering the Cartology 2022 on a 'first-come, first-served' basis, which, when you think about it, is nothing more than the usual terms of engagement between merchant and customer. In fact, supermarket checkout queues would be pandemonium if any other system were in place. 

We were lucky enough to attend a vertical tasting of every vintage since its debut in 2011, so we can safely say that Cartology is a wine that ages beautifully for at least a decade. The Chenin Blanc component (representing 92% of the blend) comes from a widespread patchwork of parcels in the Skurfberg, Tygerberg and Paardeberg, as well as Bottelary, Stellenbosch, Piekenierskloof, False Bay and Botrivier and the Semillon comes from the old La Colline block in Franschhoek. You pick up a lot of minerality and stony crunch on the nose, with impressions of crushed chalk and broken clay, leading to succulent stone fruit and quince flavours on the palate and a delicate hint of frangipane. This is an intense and striking wine that is rightfully held up as one of the most important pieces in the Cape's 'old vine' jigsaw. 13% alc. Drink now-2034.

Press reviews:

Tim Atkin MW: “"It was a vintage that gave you the chance to show what you were made of," says Chris Alheit of the "middling 2022 growing season". It certainly did. This is a brilliant cuvée of Chenin Blanc with 8% Semillon, sourced from ten different vineyards. Showing lots of energy from early picked grapes on granite soils, it has fennel, fynbos and lanolin aromas, citrus, green herb and wet stone flavours, and good ageing potential, despite the heat of the vintage. Drink now-2030.“ 95 points

Greg Sherwood MW: “This flagship blend from Chris Alheit is made from 92% Chenin Blanc and 8% Semillon grapes sourced from eight disparate old vine vineyards of between 40 and 60 years old. The youthful aromatics display a melange of granitic minerality over notes of peach, tangerine, orange oil and wet hay nuances. The 2022 is beautifully cool, harmonious and overtly mineral-led with dusty dried herbs, white peach, green pear and yellow stone fruits. The acids are gentle, soft spoken but deliciously tangy and the finish creamy, leesy and delightfully mouth-coating with and impressively persistent length. Yet another superb Cartology release from Chris ‘Butch’ Alheit. Drink now and over the next 10 to 12+ years.” 95+ points

JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin): “A mesmerising unfurling of fragrance from the moment you put the glass to your nose: wild-meadow grass and flowers, hay and summer honey, grainy pears. The acidity is ripe and broad and spreads across the mouth from side to side rather than beginning to end. Delicate bitterness forms the spine; apple pips, citrus peel, apricot stone. Very savoury finish. Fruit is muted. Texture is what’s left on the length. Rumpled linen. Drink now-2032.” 17+ points

This really is one of the great bargains in the whole world of wine. A nigh-on decade-old, oak-aged and bottle-aged white Rioja from one of the most legendary estates in Spain, founded in 1877. It's bold, rich, tangy, oaky and magnificent, with flavours of beeswax, verbena, hazelnut and camomile. 100% Viura, sourced from the Gravonia vineyard in Rioja Alta aged for 4 years in large American oak foudres.

Press review:

The Wine Advocate: “2016 was a superb vintage in Rioja, and the 2016 Viña Gravonia Blanco, which has the cellar aroma that all the wines, especially the whites, have, due to the longer time the wines spend in barrel. The white vines in this vineyard are now 92 years old and their juice was fermented in old oak vats with indigenous yeasts. They explained, "We have never used selected yeasts." It was matured in their well-seasoned American oak barrels for four years. It's paler than any of the other whites, and it has a little less pungency, with very good freshness. It's elegant, subtle, clean and ethereal. Drink now-2032.” 95 points

Vinous: "Whites from Lopez de Heredia are legendary, and Viña Gravonia rightfully earns its place in the pantheon. The 2016 Blanco Crianza Viña Gravonia, 100% Viura sourced from the Gravonia vineyard in Rioja Alta, underwent four years of aging on old foudres followed by an additional four years in bottle. This yellow wine, with a subtle, golden sheen features aromas of peach and fennel, accompanied by a floral tea note and a delicate layer of oak. Dry and refreshing, it possesses a bold texture. This flavourful white lingers on the palate with a hazelnut tone. Drink now-2036." 93 points

“Another fantastic Improvisacio.” - Tim Atkin MW, 94 points

Enric is something of a legend within the Catalonian wine scene, having established the Barcelona Wine Academy in the 1990s, where winemakers from all over Catalonia would show up to share ideas and seek advice. As well as this, he also worked in some of Spain's top restaurants and was crowned Spain's 'champion sommelier' in 1997. He then turned his hand to winemaking in 2004 after his grandfather passed away, leaving him the vineyards he had planted in 1945, and Enric now farms them organically and biodynamically, focusing on just one grape variety, Xarello. When we told another Catalonian winemaker that we were Enric’s UK importer, he was mightily impressed, which he thought best to illustrate by showing us a photograph of his dog, a dachshund, called Enric.

Enric's Xarello ‘Improvisacio’ 2023 is a fabulous rendition of this often-underrated variety and it plays like a clean guitar chord with no clumsy fingers muffling the strings, instead pressing down firmly on the frets: acidity, ripeness, concentration, varietal expression and length. Cool stone-fruits, orange blossom honey, sour pineapple and a raw almond feature subtly on the palate of this super stylish white. If you need a thumbnail sketch, imagine a Chablis made from lees-aged Albariño: cool, incisive, electric.

The grapes were sourced from an organically-farmed 1.3 hectare vineyard with vines between 45 and 65 years of age. It was fermented and aged for 8 months in Stockinger barrels and concrete eggs and only indigenous yeasts were used. If you like the ‘Louro’ Godello by Rafael Palacios, then this will be right in your wheelhouse. Whatever that means. 12.5% alc. 6,240 bottles produced. Drink now-2030. Biodynamic/Organic.

Press reviews:

Tim Atkin MW: “Lemon pith, fennel, freshly cut grass and a tight, toastiness on the nose; subtle, but the intensity is there on the palate, driven by a core of vibrant acidity. Another fantastic Improvisacio. Drink now-2034.” 94 points

 The Wine Advocate: “The 2023 Improvisació is Xarello from three plots that total 1.3 hectares. It fermented and matured in Austrian oak vats and concrete eggs for nine months and is possibly the wine with more impact from the vintage. Every year, the colour of the label changes, and in 2023, it is a pale orange. The nose is still a little spicy, denoting youth and the effect of the élevage. But the wine is harmonious and complex and should be wonderful with a little more time in bottle. It comes in at 12.5% alcohol. It finishes chalky, dry and tasty. 6,240 bottles produced. Drink now-2031.” 93 points

Decanter (previous vintage): “One of Catalonia’s top white wine producers, Enric Soler has made a chalky, stony Xarello with fabulous energy. It comes from his two main parcels of 45- to 65-year-old vines in the Penedes, and is fermented and aged for eight months in Austrian Stockinger vats and concrete eggs. Lively citrus fruit drives this wine, while there is a hint of fennel that speaks to its Mediterranean origins. It is electric and taut, serious yet mouthwateringly moreish. Drink now-2029.“ 94 points

Jancis Robinson.com (previous vintage): “At first a little smoky, then like licking the teeth of winter on a morning when the sun rises white and white-breathed and veiled behind a brittle-veined etch of grey-bone-sketched branches against a cold-pearl sky. A mineral wine, if minerals are river-stone pebbles roil-rolled smooth by decades of mountain-fern-drenched headwaters. A mineral wine, if minerals are the crystals of citrine chiselled from lemons petrified in smoky quartz. If you leave it long enough to warm in the glass, you'll find a little kiss of apricot. Pair with a kick-ass attitude, dawn and bare feet on cold stones. Drink now-2032.” 17.5 points

Customer reviews:

”I had a bottle last night - absolutely delicious!!” - Mr. M. G

“Absolutely fantastic.” - Mr S.C.

"Thank you for the prompt delivery of the wine ordered last week. The stand-out was the Improvisacio!" - Mr. D.R.

“I have waxed lyrical about this Rully producer for several years now. I always make a beeline for their wines on Burgundy restaurant lists. They are beautifully crafted wines that transcend their status.” - Neal Martin, Vinous

Keenly-priced for a Premier Cru white Burgundy, this comes from a walled vineyard at the northern end of the appellation, opposite one of Rully’s top sites, Le Clos St Jacques. It pours a pale silver-gold colour, suggesting luminescence and it tastes of sunlight and citrus, a little nutty warmth from its time in barrel, and that classic Burgundian paradox where lemon and single cream intertwine without curdling. 13% alc. Drink now-2029.

“Folie’s history dates back 300 years, but the recent renaissance at this Domaine is thanks to Clémence and Baptiste Dubrulle. It was Clémence’s grandfather who made the wines famous in the Sixties and Seventies and, after a prolonged slump, they are back to stellar form!” - Matthew Jukes

Press review:

Vinous (Neal Martin): “The 2022 Rully Blanc ‘Clos de Chaigne’ 1er Cru comes from the parcel equidistant between Rully and Bouzeron at the limit of the appellation. Its marn rouge soils are apparently uncommon in this locality (more common in Corton). The main part of the alcoholic fermentation takes place in barrel, where it matures for 15 months. The lifted bouquet is very aromatic, with white flowers and light praline orchard fruit scents. The palate is marked by a fine bead of acidity, keeping this Rully Blanc on its toes and delivering real complexity and purity on the finish. A very seductive Rully - keep a second bottle handy - you'll need it. Drink now-2035.” (91-93) points

A wine that will challenge anyone’s preconceptions about Australian Chardonnay. The pale silver colour immediately tells you that it’s neither over-extracted, nor over-oaked and the palate announces itself as a thoroughly modern wine, bristling with lean, sinewy energy and expertly-judged, fine-grained French oak. There’s a daring, green edge to the fruit, like under-ripe mango, which adds a piquant sourness to the white nectarine, grapefruit, lemongrass and ginger notes, scattered with shavings of white wood. If Australia had a ‘Grand Cru’ classification, you would have to include this wine, sourced from the low-yielding Birdwood vineyard and the Piccadilly Valley. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2030.

“One of South America’s greatest whites.” - Tim Atkin MW, 98 points

Semillon is such a fantastic grape variety, contributing to some of the world’s finest wines without getting the credit it deserves, whether in the sweet wines of Sauternes, the exquisite dry whites of Bordeaux, the age-worthy wines from the Hunter Valley or cult New World expressions from producers like Boekenhoutskloof and Riccitelli.

Matias Riccitelli has crafted a stunning wine from the 2023 harvest of these gnarly old Semillon vines in Patagonia. Aromas of waxy lemons and green melon skin, cut grass and whetstone lead to a palate that is deep and complex, with lanolin, wild honey, lime peel and fresh dough cut through by wonderfully tangy acidity and a touch of salinity that puts one in mind of a Cretan Assyrtiko. This is Riccitelli’s best vintage yet and is a wine that belongs at the very top table with some of the finest white wines in the world. 12% alc. Drink now-2032.

Press review:

Tim Atkin MW “Volumes are small at just 4,000 bottles, alas, but this is one of South America’s greatest whites. Sourced from vines planted in Allen in the 1970s, this is a layered, effortlessly complex delight, combining aromas of honeysuckle, fresh hay and wet stones, citrus and pear flavours, subtle wood spices and a tapering finish. Still affordable, given the quality, at $60. Drink now-2035.” 98 points

Customer comments:

“The wine went down a storm!” - Ms. R.L.

“Utterly delicious.“ - Tim Atkin MW, 97 points

Enric Soler has all the necessary minerals to make great wine. He produces a range of daringly beautiful whites grown on soils with distinctly different mineral contents, where each vineyard imparts an elemental signature to the fruit. This pure Xarello is sourced from a biodynamically-farmed, single-hectare vineyard on ‘radical clay’, as Enric calls it, named ‘Espenyalluchs’. It underwent a wild yeast fermentation and spent 8 months in 4 and 5 year-old Burgundy barrels to harmonise the young wine without imparting any oak flavours.

The aromas are markedly mineral, with impressions of powdered stone and chalk dust, very pure and chiselled, and then a cascade of crystalline lemon and white nectarine that broadens as it reaches the open waters of your palate. If forced to pigeonhole it, I would file it in the same cabinet as white wines from the Loire, the driest Cape Chenins and bone dry Riesling or Albariño. Only 7 barrels were produced (2,670 bottles). 12.5% alc. Drink now-2030. Organic/ biodynamic.

Press review:

Tim Atkin MW: “Espenyalluchs is produced from a vineyard planted in 2010, using cuttings from Nun Vinya dels Taus. At 500m above sea level, this is high altitude plantings for Xarel·lo. Ripe lemon, white peach, flint and a subtle smokiness, this really comes alive on the palate with such precision and verve. Waxy, fresh and electric, this carries the herbal character of Xarel·lo into a long, savoury finish. Transparent and utterly delicious. Drink now-2034“ 97 points

Customer Comments:

”This was possibly the best still Xarel.lo I’ve ever had. Pithy and saline, lovely stuff. Bravo Enric Soler!” - Mr. A.R.

If gold leaf had an aroma, this might be it, but seeing as it doesn’t, we picked out lime and apricot, petrichor, chalk dust, whetstone, grapefruit and warm hay. The palate is full of tension and youthful sass, only hinting at the complexities waiting off-stage. This is one of the most arresting and ageworthy expressions of Chenin Blanc we have ever tasted and it will drink beautifully for at least two decades. Fans of Chris Alheit’s ‘single vineyard’ Chenin Blancs or Richard Leroy’s declassified Anjou whites will find themselves in their happy place with a glass of this in their hand.

‘La Vigne Cendrée’ is Thibauld Boudignon’s smallest parcel (0.5 hectares) situated on purple schist, granite and clay soil in Savennieres. 12% alc. Organic. Biodynamic. Drink now-2040.

Press review:

The WIne Advocate (previous vintage): “The 2021 Savennières La Vigne Cendrée, the sole parcel from Thibaud Boudignon that is located in the Savennières village, near the Roche aux Moines, offers up an austere, complex bouquet with aromas of yuzu, lemon oil, spring flowers and spices. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and complete, resonant and vibrant, it’s perfectly balanced with a long, penetrating and ethereal finish enhanced by a racy bitterness. This wine, matured only in stainless steel tanks, should see its 20th anniversary in fine form.” 96 points

Customer comment:

“I have recently bought this wine from you - Thibaud Boudignon Savennieres La Vigne Cendree 2022 - I have now tasted it and it is stunning!” - Ms I.S.

The word “ouillé” in the name of this wine means that the barrels were topped up with more of the same wine when the levels started to drop through natural evaporation, as is common with conventional white wines. It is to distinguish it from the ‘oxidative’ style of white wines that you find in the Jura, where the level is deliberately allowed to drop and a thin veil of yeast covers the surface, giving those wines their famous nutty, yeasty, salty flavours. We’re not brave enough for those wines, we prefer the “ouillé” style, which is so-called, because whenever people taste it and realise it’s not the oxidative style they say “Ooh yay!”.

Stéphane Tissot has produced a dazzling 2022, bristling with energy and intensity. Aromas of grapefruit peel, charred lime, preserved lemons and white flowers lead to a palate full of tang and verve. It’s a full-flavoured Savagnin, to be enjoyed with adventurous friends, bold dishes and/or strong local cheeses. 13.5% alc, Drink now-2030.

Press reviews:

The Wine Advocate: “The bottled ouillé 2022 Savagnin from Arbois, of which I had tasted some components the previous year, contains wine mostly from Trias clay soils, vinified, aged and bottled without added sulphur. It's ripe without excess, quite fresh and balanced for the year, coming in at 13.5% alcohol and displaying a yellow, almost fluorescent colour. It's open and expressive and reveals varietal notes, mixing citrus, yellow fruit and some herbal notes and a hint of white pepper. Drink now-2032.” 94 points

Vinous: “The barrel sample of the topped-up 2022 Arbois Savagnin evokes fragrant lemon peel, yellow apple and dried blossom. Focused and tight on the medium-bodied palate, the 2022 strikes a remarkable balance between flavour concentration and zesty acidity. Drink now-2032.” (91-93) points

“This is an impressive Silvaner with Burgundian characteristics.” - The Wine Advocate, 93+ points

“Carsten Saalwächter is undoubtedly onto something in demonstrating that Silvaner can do anything Riesling and Chardonnay can do. His wines are liquid testimony.” - Anne Kriebl MW

We don’t have a Sancerre on our list, but don’t panic, we do have two Silvaners from the Rheinhessen! That either tells you that we have a terrible head for business, or that we can’t choose between them, because they are both so good (although I realise those two premises aren’t mutually exclusive).

This is the cheaper of the two, which doesn’t mean it’s cheap, in fact it’s pretty expensive for a Silvaner, but that’s only because Silvaners don’t tend to be expensive. Are you still there? I’m not sure I am. The point is (there’s a point?), this is roughly the same price as a good white Burgundy, so it would be an act of peculiar self-sabotage to price it alongside a top Cote d’Or if it weren’t a bit special. Well, special it most certainly is and ! It has the kind of beguiling aromas that you might find in a Puligny-Montrachet from Domaine Leflaive, with a wisp of flinty reduction, a tumble of citrus fruits, a distinct impression of cool limestone and even a hint of oyster shell, or maybe I’m just imagining what it would taste like with one. It’s beautifully delineated with perfectly-pitched acidity, that is perky, yet not intrusive. 13% alc. Drink now-2040

Press review:

Jamie Goode: “Amazing reduction with spice, smoke and minerals. Textural palate shows pear and citrus fruit with good detail. Salty and profound.” 95 points

The Wine Advocate: “From old vines planted in 1964 and 1968 on the yellow limestone plateau above the ‘Grauer Stein’, Saalwächter's 2022 Silvaner ‘Steinkante’ opens with a pure, intense and nicely reductive bouquet with flinty notes combined with clear, ripe and open fruit intertwined with herbal as well as chalky notes. Very elegant and round on the palate, this medium to full-bodied Sylvaner develops an intense, mineral and layered character with a long, enormously saline finish with fine, stimulating phenolic grip. This is an impressive Silvaner with Burgundian characteristics. Drink now-2045.” 93+ points

A sense of place is usually the first casualty of inexpensive wines, but this red tastes inescapably Italian. There’s a glossiness, reminiscent of shiny Morello cherry skins, a tangy hint of orange peel, as you might find in a Cinzano, a ripeness of red-fleshed plums, typical of a Sicilian red, and a hint of glamour, bringing a touch of La Dolce Vita. It’s a crimson ribbon of a wine, flowing easily without the friction of tannins, a wine for early-drinking and thanks to the high altitude of the vineyards, there’s a juicy freshness to the palate. 12.5% alc. A blend of Nero d’Avola (85%) and Syrah (15%). Drink now-2029.

John Lennon is reported to have said: “When I was 5 years old, my mother told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told them I wanted to be happy. They told me that I didn’t understand the assignment. I told them that they didn’t understand life.” We like the uncomplicated Zen-like simplicity of that philosophy and we apply the same outlook to the wines we enjoy. Drink what makes you happy and at £11.95 a bottle, this juicy, crunchy Carmenere is a gleeful burst of fruity pleasure that demands nothing more than to be enjoyed. Sit back and give your glass a swirl: blackberries, blueberries, plus notes of raw padron peppers and Carmenere’s trademark leafiness giving the fruit some added lift. Don’t be surprised how moreish you find it. Drink now-2024.

'Metic' is a project by the enigmatic Luca Hodgkinson. Luca consults for many wineries around the country and sources grapes from sustainable or organic vineyards. Easy, breezy wines made with minimal intervention. The name was inspired by the famous song ‘Le Métèque’ by Georges Moustaki - a favourite of Luca's.

Organic farming/vineyards

I know, right? A Californian Pinot Noir for £12.95? It’s gotta be awful! Ha, ha! What kind of chump would buy Californian Pinot Noir for that sort of price? It’s probably made from grapes they picked off the ground! Ha ha! It’s probably got more sugar in it than a pot of jam! Ha ha! It’s probably made from formaldehyde and glue. Ha, ha! They must think I was born yesterday. I bet it doesn’t taste anything like Pinot Noir, I bet it’s jammy and sweet. I bet it turns to vinegar within a day of opening it. Ha, ha! These charlatans aren’t going to pull one over on me! 13.5% alc. Vegan. Drink now-2030.

Customer Comments (previous vintage):

“It’s brilliant. I would say very Gevrey like.” - Mr. B. W.

“It’s as nice as some US or NZ I drink, but at half the price, so a great ‘cellar saver’!” - Mr. C. S.

“Just to let you know we are currently having a tasting of Odd Lot. You are right. Excellent value.” - Mrs. J. T.

“Delicious wine!” - Mr. A.P.

“The Odd Job Pinot is very nice.” - Mr L.B.

“How are you stocked for Odd Lot, any left? It went down a real storm.” - Mr D.C.

“It really is good. It’s not spectacular, but it’s undeniably a really good wine” - Mr N.S.

”It is everything you guys said it was. Astonishing for the price…” - Mr. W.G.

”Am much enjoying the Pinot ! Hope you haven't sold out, as I'll take another dozen, if available!” - Mr. J.P.

“We are enjoying the Odd Lot Pinot Noir an awful lot!! Do you have any left?” - Mr D.M.

”Just wanted to let you know that the Odd lot pinot is absolutely incredible for the price.” - Mr. I.S.

“The Odd Lot Pinot has lived up to everything you said about it” - Mr. A.W.

“Just to let you know that the Odd Lot Pinot Noir lived up to its promise. Such a bargain!” - Mr C.C.

“Lots of fruit, structure and pizzazz! Who couldn’t like this?” - Jancis Robinson MW and ‘Wine of the Week’ (January 10th 2025)

A superb wine for the price and, without wishing to toot our own horn, the price is a reflection of our hard endeavours on your behalf, snooping around the outer creeks and tributaries of the wine trade for bargains. We found this wine at a quirky little event in London recently and were about to place an order, when the shipper contacted us saying that he could offer us a clearance price that would allow us to sell it for £14.95 if we took it all. Given that we were about to place an order anyway, when it would have retailed for £19.95, we dropped the gavel immediately!

It's a light, perfumed, medium-pale-coloured Garnacha (mostly) from vineyards in the Gredos Mountains, west of Madrid, where Garnacha takes on a much daintier, Pinot Noir-like personality than elsewhere in Spain or, indeed, France. That said, it is still packed with flavour, displaying cherry, sour plum and something slightly savoury (tomato consommé?), and it has a bit of gravitas too, with terracotta dust tannins, meaning it can stand up to food. 14% alc. Drink now-2028.

Press reviews:

Jancis Robinson MW: “Lots of fruit, structure and pizzazz! Who couldn’t like this? Lightly gamey with real personality. Very Good Value. Drink now-2028.” 16.5 points and ‘Wine of the Week’ January 2025

JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin): “Transparent in colour and still so remarkably fresh that it even tastes transparent. Tight tucked tartness bursting with character and flavour: sour plum, cherry tomato, tamarind and tomato vine, sumac. No sweetness, all twang. The tannins have an ochre-earth feel and ferrous drawl. It's mouth-watering and somehow both fine and rustic, both youthful and evolved. It was really lovely with super-thin slices of cold, very rare roast beef. A crazy price! If you love unshowy reds, you should snap this up. VGV. Drink now-2028.” 16.5 points

The Wine Advocate: “The red 2018 GR-10 Tinto contains a little less Cariñena and Syrah (10% and 20%, respectively) and, therefore, a little more Garnacha than the 2017 I tasted next to it. 2018 is a more complete vintage, with perfect ripening of the grapes, better yields and more balance in the wines. The fermentation and élevage were similar, with native yeasts, 90% full clusters and nine months in different sized barrels and a 4,200-litre oak vat. 2018 is clearly a great vintage, very complete, and the wines have more of everything: They are still young but are going to be superb, and you should wait on them while you drink your 2017s. This is like a more complete version of 2016, perhaps a vintage that is going to require more time. This is drinkable, but it's going to get better in bottle. It's ironic how in a great year the grapes are perfect, you work less, you get more wine and the result is better!” 92 points

Brimming with southern French warmth and personality, this luscious Corbieres is a blend of Syrah and Grenache Noir aged for 14 months in French oak and offers a rich nose of dark berries, currants, liquorice, sweet woody spices and dark chocolate. Drink it with rustic dishes, like ossobuco, boeuf bourguignon, coq au vin or Chinese duck with hoisin sauce. 14.5% alc. Drink now-2026.

Smokkelman (or the smuggler) is a multi-vintage blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, which offers the holy trinity of style, content and value. The anti-mainstream, hipster-friendly label and the wax seal are normally attributes of a wine that sells for a higher price, but this wine retails at a price that makes it available to the common man, meaning that it won’t be of interest to any satchel-carrying Shoreditch bro on his way to getting his banjo restringed.

The Syrah comes from the same plot that supplies Duncan Savage (Savage Wines) and Reenen Borman (Boschkloof) with grapes, while the Cabernet Sauvignon was smuggled in from a prestigious producer’s cellars on the famous Heldeberg Mountain (only the Smokkelman knows who it is!). It pours a deep, inky crimson colour and has rambunctious, bawdy flavours of red-fleshed plums, black cherry yoghurt (i.e. creamy as well as tangy), hand-squashed blackberries and smoky spices. Perfect for barbecues or noisy parties, but absolutely not for drinking while listening to the latest vinyl by Fontaines DC. 13% alc. The Cabernet Sauvignon was aged for 2 years in old barrels. Drink now-2030.

Decanter: “Cassis and cedar lead bright cherry and berry. Glossy palate, supple, chalky tannin and juicy freshness. Polished, vibrant finish.”

Customer comment:

 “Thoroughly delicious.” - Mr M.G.

If there were a device that could measure value and you pointed it at this wine, it would overheat. The quality is truly astonishing for the price. The Grenache grapes were hand-picked from gnarly, 90-year-old vines in Seppeltsfield on Barossa’s western ridge, then fermented with indigenous yeasts, with 20% whole-bunch fruit, and the remainder destemmed, before being gently basket-pressed into seasoned French oak hogsheads where it matured for 12 months. There is nothing about that sentence that says £15.95 and there is nothing £15.95 about the way it tastes either. Decanter Magazine awarded it 95 points and you can read about what the judges had to say below. It’s rich in spiced cherry and black plum flavours with a savoury, earthy undertone, notes of tobacco and a smooth palate that offers ripeness and creamy roundness. A wine for chocolate lovers, perhaps! 14.5% alc. Drink now-2032.

Press reviews (previous vintage):

Decanter (Sara Muirhead MW): “Musky spiced raspberry aromas. Ripe blackberry flavours with some spice and tobacco. Toasty vanilla sweetness and zippy acidity on the finish.” 95 points

Decanter (Ben Chan): “Maraschino cherry, violets, oak spice, nutmeg. Opulent and full-bodied, with waves of complexity and savoury meat and cigar notes. A very long finish.” 95 points

Decanter (Beth Pearce MW): “Cola, vanilla and cream. Mouthwatering acidity, plum and blackberry. Bold, concentrated, with dark, brooding flavours that build to a rich finish. Overt oak flavours may soften with time.” 95 points

JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin): “There is a blackbird who lives, we think, in the recklessly unruly verbena hedge in one part of our garden. Crack of dawn on summer mornings he struts a bit and then settles himself on the increasingly mossy stone table under our study window where the morning light spills first. It's here the light sifts through roses, verbena, philadelphus, but always leaves the leaves in peace to dapple enough shade to keep the wild strawberries looping their babies from one flagstone crack to another. The blackbird loves this place. He comes back every year. And he sings. He so damn sings. The purity and the thrill and the lusty, uncensored, untrammelled, all-heart, all-soul welcome to the sunrise is beautiful enough to make you laugh. And cry. And stop. And rethink life. If I could somehow bottle all that, I know it would taste like this wine. How the hell is this wine so cheap? I'd buy a case! VGV (TC). Drink now-2030.” 17 points

Jancis Robinson.com (Florencia Gomez): “Pale crimson. At first the nose suggested very ripe and jammy fruit. However, on the palate it shows fresh, very pure-fruited and modern. Tannins are delicate and velvety. The wine is long, savoury and very inviting to take the next sip. Love it. Glad I found this wine. GV (FG)” 16.5 points

A wonderfully juicy Stellenbosch red made from Gamay, the Beaujolais grape. The word ‘juicy’ can sometimes be used as a euphemism to mean ‘eye-wateringly acidic’, just like ‘powerful’ can mean borderline flammable or ‘flinty’ can mean the fruit has left the building, but I’m using ‘juicy’ in its rightful sense here, to mean succulently tangy. There’s a whole punnet of strawberries in this wine, a little smoky cherry and the moreish quality of tangerines (I don’t know about you, but I can get through a string bag full of them in a single sitting). This is a great wine for parties, picnics and barbecues, with its soft tannins and a relatively low alcohol content of 12.5% abv. Screwcap. Drink now-2030.

Press reviews (including previous vintage):

JancisRobinson.com: “Mid, vibrant crimson. Totally inviting aroma of tangy, vibrant dark-red fruit, very slightly herbal, even a touch floral, while perfectly ripe. Deep, generous and mouth-wateringly fresh, pure Gamay fruit. super-fine tannins – and a million miles away from a fly-by-night nouveau style. Succulent, juicy, perfectly balanced and refreshing. You could drink this now, with or without food, but there’s no rush thanks to the impeccable balance between structure and fruit. (JH)” 17 points

Jamie Goode: “So fresh and direct with red cherry, raspberry and black pepper, and even some redcurrant. There’s a really creamy, smooth mid-palate with ripe fruit and then a nice focused finish. Subtle green hints here. Beautiful. ” 94 points

“This wine is so damn good that I keep thinking that maybe someone made a typo with the price. Very, very good value.”- Tamlyn Currin for JancisRobinson.com, 17 points

From one of Europe's oldest wine-growing regions this Braucol (a member of the Cabernet family) is full of old-word charm and has spent 18 months in new and old oak barrels followed by 3 years ageing in bottle, so it was released at a perfect state of maturity. It doesn't take any persuading to show its class, immediately displaying its softness, fleshiness and approachability, with charming aromas of leafy blackcurrant fruit, creamy blueberries, a hint of oak spice and a teasing suggestion of the carpenter's workshop. In the mouth it is juicy and mouth-filling with supple, fruit-soaked tannins, suggestions of cedar and a sweetness of fruit that makes it succulent and velvety. It’s a ringer for a classy Saint Julien, like Chateau Talbot or Chateau Saint Pierre, and when we’ve served it at tastings ‘blind’ from a decanter, we’ve heard jaws dropping when we’ve revealed the price to them (most people placing it as a £20+ Bordeaux).  This is the kind of tipple that would be sipped heartily at Downtown Abbey but equally round a modern and rather more modest dinner table. One of the best value wines in our troupe. 13% alc. Drink now-2032. NB This wine ages incredibly well, like a gentleman’s claret, so our ‘drink by’ date of 2032 is extremely conservative!


Press review:

JancisRobinson.com: “100% Braucol aka Fer Servadou. 18 months in new and old oak barrel.
If I’d picked this up and smelt the wine without looking at the bottle, I’d have thought: Chinon. Rain on graphite; kiss of redcurrant. Then tasted it and thought: Bourgueil. Graphite and granite; guitar string of redcurrant on a city rooftop at midnight. It’s not. It's Braucol. From Gaillac. Graphite, granite, rain, midnight, bitten lips and scarlet blood, tears and kohl-smudged cheek bones, redcurrants crushed in broken glasses. The scrape of concrete under finger tips as you lean over and watch the city anxiously breathe fifteen floors away. It's a wine from the depths of French countryside that somehow tastes like New York. I may have written this last year ... surely, surely not £15.95??? VGV (TC)” 17 points

JancisRobinson.com (previous vintage) “This wine is so damn good that I keep thinking that maybe someone made a typo with the price... should the 1 have been a three, or a four? £34.95? Surely, surely not £14.95? It's the second vintage I've tasted, and for the second time it set my spine tingling. For the second time my first thought was, 'hauntingly beautiful'. It's a wine with the mycorrhizal soul of Pinot Noir inside the sumptuous blackcurrant flesh of fine Cabernet Sauvignon inside the earth-leather skin of Gaillac. It is as transparent as light through a gem-cut ruby, transmitting the story of vineyard stones and vintage and variety with unnerving candour. But it's so much more than that. If you've ever sat in an old chapel on an old wooden pew as the sun sets through ancient stained-glass windows and watched the light glow and bend, refracting gently through the rippled glass, long shafts and pools on stones catching silent dust motes, old hand-smelted iron shaping the shapes of glass, you'll know what this wine tastes like. Ruby-red, amethyst-purple fruit, iron, dust, dark lines, old-glass and light-shaft-fine tannins, faint cedar. VVGV (TC). Drink now-2030.” 17 points

Customer comments (including the previous vintage):

”Gosh, that stuff is seriously good. I love cellaring wines for a good few years but may not be able to resist this. It’s drinking beautifully now but would clearly keep going for some significant time yet. Really super. “ - Mr N.L.

“It’s going down alarmingly well!” - Mr. P. B.

“This wine is amazing. It tastes like the love child of a left bank Bordeaux and something scrummy from Tuscany. Could I get another 12?” - Mr. A. P.

“I came across the wine at a dinner party at the weekend. Excellent wine. We could not believe what it was as we tasted alongside some very expensive wines, but were served blind.“ - Mr M.H.

“It’s such a lovely wine.” - Mr K.B.

“It's superb, and a really good value too.” - The Wine Advocate, 93 points

We enjoy testing proverbs to see if they can withstand rigorous analysis under experimental conditions, and so far, we have managed to disprove quite a few of their claims. We have observed numerous clouds without silver linings, we have gathered a wealth of evidence showing that laughter is not the best medicine and we found that every single pot reached boiling point regardless of whether it was being watched or not. We also tested the old saying, “You don’t always get what you pay for, but you never get what you don’t pay for” and this turned out to be the hardest nut to crack, but we finally did it, thanks to this wine. It gave us a singularly wonderful ‘fine wine’ experience, but without the associated price tag. At £16.95, it’s just remarkable value and Jancis Robinson and The Wine Advocate both agree (see below)!

In the glass, it looks like a Pinot Noir, as it’s morello cherry-red and translucent, but it leans back towards Spain in terms of flavour, with a lovely cold stone mineral aspect that enlivens it as much as the natural acidity and it puts you in mind of those Raul Perez wines from Bierzo, but there’s more fruit in the centre, it’s less edgy and nervy than those, so it’s not wholly dissimilar to a New Zealand Pinot Noir. 13.5% alc. 60% Bonicaire and 40% Monastrell. Drink now-2029. Vegan-friendly

Press reviews:

The Wine Advocate: “The 2022 La Lloma is their young red from old vines, a blend of 60% Bonicaire and 40% Monastrell from head-pruned vines planted in 1946 and 1979 that they took over six years ago and had to recover. The varieties fermented separately, the Bonicaire with 100% full clusters and carbonic maceration and the Monastrell with 30% full clusters, and then they aged separately in used 500-liter barrels for two months before being blended and put back in barrel for another four months. It has 13.56% alcohol and notable freshness and acidity, with a spectacular nose, perfumed, floral, fresh and elegant, and a medium-bodied palate, fine-boned, with chalky tannins and very good grip. It's superb, and a really good value too. Drink now-2029.” 93 points

JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin): “Someone told me once that I can’t write, ‘it smells like blood’ in a tasting note because that would put people off. Unless, I’d argue, you have a little bit of vampire in you. I do. I think. I like to suck the marrow out of bones. I like this scent in a wine, that is wild and dangerous and a little bit feral. It’s the smell of rusting iron on the hinges of an abandoned cellar door. It’s the smell of raw, rain-drenched earth on the edges of forests with humus-dense, red-earth-rich soils. It’s the scent and taste of a bitten lip. It’s the taste of the tang of wrought iron, cold and old and curled around windows and basement stairs in once-aristocratic Victorian mansions. It’s what his hands smell like when he’s been in the garden with a spade, for hours, in spring. It’s a vulnerable smell and it tastes like licking tears off someone’s cheek. Blood is beautiful. It’s crimson and it’s calligraphy. It’s the ink of life. It’s what this wine tastes like. Very Good Value. Drink now-2028.” 17 points

Customer comments:

"Just tasted the La Lloma and loved it!" - Mrs. G.H.

“Really like La Lloma. Great choice. Very much to our taste.” - Mr P.C.

“Had a bottle over the last 2 evenings and it was stunning, I reckon it would have been even better on day 3.  Great find, thanks!” - Mr N.J.

“I really enjoyed the La Lloma - great value I reckon!!” - Mr. A. T.

There is so much character and beauty in this wine! The high-toned aromas summon thoughts of sautéed plums, cherry jam, sweet saddle leather, loose tea and puréed blackcurrants and those sweetly ripe Puglian flavours make welcome the mouth-watering acidity. The palate is wonderfully generous and full-bodied, but favours fleshy succulence and fine-grained opulence rather than tannic heft with more of those sunny flavours given further complexity with notes of sweet tobacco, wood polish, cigar box spices, fruit-drenched wood and something mysteriously evocative, like the old library in a faded stately home. It leaves you in no doubt as to the wine’s place of origin – the flavours guide you there as if you were following a GPS signal. This is downright delicious! A rambunctious, heart-on-its-sleeve bargain of a wine, which comes with our highest recommendation. 14% alc. A blend of Negroamaro (90%) and Malvasia Nera (10%) aged for two years in wooden barrels and then in bottle. Drink now – 2028.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com (previous vintage): “Leather and vanilla and cherry tobacco and raspberry-leaf tea. Everything on the nose, a potpourri, tumbles into the palate like dry petals and spices and leaves blown by a wood-fire-smoky wind into your chest. Tender tannins, honest, heart-felt, gentle. But by no means frail or understated. This wine has soaked up all the sunshine of southern Italy and melded it into melting prunes, marshmallows by an open fire under the stars of a warm night, the crisp of pork fat caramelised onto the spit, the smell of a fat cigar, vanilla pod, cherry wood. The Perfect Christmas Wine, the tannins fine enough for ham or turkey, the sweetness of fruit robust enough for cranberries and bacon and butternut, the acidity bright enough and the spice dense anything for anything else you care to throw at it. Very Good Value. Drink now-2020-2025.”

Customer comments:

“Really, really big fan of this. Loved it.” - Mr O.M.

A deceptively good wine, in that it feels quite simple in some ways, with its perky, crunchy red berry fruit and hints of satsuma peel and purple flowers, but there’s an undertow of more powerful Garnacha below the surface, giving it a sense of flow and plenty. Outwardly, it’s not wholly dissimilar to a young Beaujolais or a young Bourgogne Rouge, but then it deepens, with the granite soil bringing a mineral aspect to the finish. ‘Vi del Mas’ is Catalan for ‘house wine’, which cheekily understates the quality here and we were delighted to see that Jancis Robinson saw the value too and picked it out as her ‘Wine of the Week’. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2027.

Jancis Robinson MW: “Pale garnet. Very pale rim. Nose of warm strawberries and delightful freshness on the palate with a little fine minerality on the very end. This is not a furrowed-brow, serious wine but it could not be more direct in its appeal. Low tannin, lots of sweet, honest fruit on entry and pure, appetising tingle at the end. A bit lighter than the 2021 but a very satisfying clean, medium-length finish. Drink now–2026” 16.5 points and ‘Wine of the Week’!

Charlotte Kristensen (You Magazine): “Playful and delicious Spanish red, a lesser-known gem boasting wild strawberry notes and a hint of white pepper. Serve slightly chilled.”

“Charming and delicious and so elegantly structured. Masses of delicate pleasure.” - Julia Harding MW for JancisRobinson.com

“Spicy and fragrant, it combines smoky raspberry and strawberry scents with a touch of chocolate. Fleshy cherry fruit and flecks of tobacco, herbs and spice emerge in the mouth, fresh and textured.”- Decanter Magazine

Xinomavro is our favourite Greek variety, which is probably because it tastes like a cross between Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo, two of our favourite grape varieties. This brilliant value example stopped us in our tracks at a wonderful Amyndeon wine tasting where it stood out for its haunting aromas.

The winemaker told us that low yields and a gentle extraction are key to the wine’s soft and mellow character, as the low yields confer intensity of flavour while the gentle maceration teases those flavour-packed molecules out of their shell without excessive force. The result is a wine with the bodyweight of a Pinot Noir and the aromatic lift of a Nebbiolo, simultaneously supple and juicy, showing morello cherry, strawberry, tomato leaf and dried orange with just a wisp of gunpowder smoke, like a November field at sunrise on the day after Guy Fawke’s Night. 12% alc. 6 months in French oak. Drink now-2028.

Press reviews:

JancisRobinson.com (Julia Harding):“Mid to light cherry red. Highly distinctive and seductive aromas of sweet, partly dried, red fruit but also tangy and lightly peppery, not in the least overripe, nor underripe, the aroma seeming to swing from sweet to savoury, with a touch of stone dust adding refinement. The tannins are extremely fine and there is real delicacy here. Fresh, unusually gentle for a young Xinomovro. Charming and delicious, especially aromatically, and so elegantly structured by the tannins and the acidity. Good persistence and masses of delicate pleasure with sufficient structure for harmony and to age in the medium term. This was even better on the day after opening, suggesting it might be worth decanting or aerating it in the glass. (JH). Drink now-2026.” 16.5 points

Decanter: “Red fruit, sweet spice and herbal aromas. The palate has notes of bacon, liquorice and forest floor. Long finish.” 92 points

Customer Reviews:

“That Xinomavo: I had a glass midweek. Tasted nice, but didn’t blow me away. Had the rest of the bottle tonight. Wow. Really opened up and had an almost smoky vibe going on. So good.” - Mr. J.C.

Amyndeon

As you might expect from us by now, this wine comes from a region adjacent to a more famous region. It hails from Amyndeon, which lies next to Naoussa, where some of Greece's finest and most expensive red wines are produced.

There is already something of a Klondike ‘gold rush’ for land in Amyndeon, as it shares topographical, geological and climatic similarities with Naoussa, but it sits at higher altitude, between 1,500 and 2,000 feet above sea level, which suits Xinomavro to a tee, because, like Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo, it’s a grape that benefits enormously from cool nights and warm days.

Techno, techno, techno…

Vines planted at 590–750 m on sandy soil. The grapes are hand-harvested, transferred to the winery in a refrigerated truck and are chilled to below 10 °C before they go into the pneumatic press. There, after being destemmed, they are left to cold soak for 4 days at 10 °C in order to maximise the extraction of colour and aromas. Fermentation lasts for 2 weeks at temperatures that do not exceed 26 °C, while pumping over is used for colour extraction. Malolactic conversion takes place in the tanks before the wine is transferred to oak barrels, where it matures for 6 months in 300-litre medium-grain and white-toasted French oak. After that time, the wine ages in the bottle for 12 months before being released into the market. pH 3.34, TA 6 g/l. RS 2 g/l.

“Saint Jacques is by far the most important wine I make.”- Raúl Pérez.

An astonishing value Mencia from one of Spain’s most important (and hairy) winemakers, Raúl Pérez. It pours a bright, glossy, crimson colour and the appearance seems to translate into flavour, as the palate evokes shiny purple- and blue-skinned fruits (damsons, blueberries, blackcurrants) with succulent acids, black pepper and a hint of cherry blossom. There’s a seamless feel to the polished fruit and you can really taste the quality of the harvest, which is clearly the winemaker’s intention, as there is no oak flavour. It’s vibrant and beautifully supple with fine-grained tannins and a hint of cool graphite, which elevates the fruit. Raul makes some stunning ‘single vineyard’ expressions of Mencia, which have a bit more structure than this blend from old vineyards on different soils, but if you want to get beneath the skin of a grape, a winemaker and a region, then this is your backstage pass. 13% alc. Drink now-2030.

Organic farming

Press review:

The Wine Advocate: “The 2023 Ultreia Saint Jacques has a lifted nose. In the rainy 2023, they selected from the many plots in different lieux-dits of Valtuille, which this year included El Val and El Cepón in Villafranca, mostly from very old vines, with 50% of the grapes purchased from growers. It fermented mostly with full clusters and had a long maceration and matured in used barrels. It has contained ripeness and less than 13% alcohol. All the 2023 reds from the Ultreia range are very clean. Drink now-2030.” 93+ points

Jancis Robinson MW (previous vintage): “Thoroughly satisfying, complex, lifted perfume that already shows some integration even if quite a hit of acidity and a little tannin on the palate. It doesn't have the sweet majesty of Bierzo reds costing many times as much but is clearly an artisanal product from the heavily bearded Pérez. Refreshing and only medium body in terms of impact on the palate. Very Good Value.” 17 points

Customer comments:

“This is an amazing wine.” - Mr. P.D.

”Another case of the Raul Perez Saint Jacques Ultreia if available; it’s brilliant!” - Mr. A.R.

”A hit! Muy, muy bien. Should have had a whole case. Please may I have another 6? - Ms. V. J.

“By the way, the Raul Perez, Ultreia St Jacques was absolutely brilliant for the money.” - Mr M.B.

“Love that Ultreia. I will do another 12!” - Mr. P.N.

”Outstanding!!” - Mr. P. J.

“Very much enjoyed the first bottle last night. Lovely fruit and balance. Slipped down very - too! easily!” - Mr J.G.

”Drank a bottle of the Ultreia St Jacques on weekend. Lovely!” - Mr. D.A.

”This is a damn good wine.” - Mr. D.A.

“I should say I have really enjoyed the Ultreia St Jacques - quite delicious!” - Mr S.C.

”Delicious and superb value.” - Mr. A.T.

We seem to find ourselves increasingly drawn towards pale red wines, made from thin-skinned grape varieties like Nebbiolo, Pinot Noir or Nerello Mascalese, which are responsible for Barolo, red Burgundy and Etna Rosso respectively. We love the way the flavours are held within a loose grip, where the wine not only looks translucent, but seems to let you taste through it to the terroir.

This Gaglioppo, known as the Barolo of the South, pours a pale, red-brick colour, which is typical of of the variety, and the aromas are evocative of the grape and the region, with notes of tomato greenhouse, terracotta dust, tobacco leaf, loose tea, wild strawberry and orange peel. The comparisons with Barolo are most evident on the palate, where the silky fruit displays the character of a light Nebbiolo, gripping slightly on the finish, with a hint of Campari bitterness. You can drink it on its own, but it goes especially well with the local smoked cheeses, such as Caciocavallo or Provola. 14% alc. Unoaked. 85% Gaglioppo and 15% Magliocco. A blend of the 2018 and 2020 vintages. Drink now-2030. Organic.

This is not a wine for fans of closure, because it’s infinitely moreish! It’s a seriously delicious blend of Blaufrankisch (70%) and Syrah (29%) combining soft-bodied red fruits, a whiff of bonfire, a twist of white pepper and the citric kick of blood orange and you just can’t help coming back for another sip. Fans of closure might also be frustrated by the blend percentages. Fans of closure might also find this tasting-note extremely. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2026.

Press review:

The Wine Advocate: “Muhr's 2019 Carnuntum offers a ripe, pure and floral, finely intense and Burgundy-like bouquet of dark forest berries and cherries. On the palate, this is a silky-textured, very elegant and well-concentrated red wine with juicy, ripe fruit with fine and spicy tannins and a saline finish. This is a pure, fresh and intense as well as concentrated red wine of excellent class.” 90 points

JancisRobinson.com: “Garnet with a dark core. Elegant aromas of black fruit, plum, wild cherry and a captivating spice of nutmeg and black pepper. One feels the full range of Blaufränkisch, from the lifted ethereal notes of thyme and juniper to the depths of ripe black fruit, and then comes the concentrated dark soul of the Syrah. Polished tannins and a long, savoury finish. Supple and sleek. Drink now-2026.” 16.5 points

“Excellent-value.” - Decanter

A sweetly juicy and elegantly oaked Frankovka, otherwise known as Blaufränkisch (which I realise to many people would be like me saying Rumpelstiltskin, otherwise known as Tűzmanócska). It feels full, yet fresh, with comfortingly rich impressions of plum skins and warm leather, animated by cherry, and those tiny, flavour-packed wild strawberries. 13.5% alc. 18 month in large Slavonian oak barrels. Drink now-2030.

Press review:

Decanter: “Earthy and vibrant, with elderberry, spiced plum and fresh red-black berry fruit. Medium-light bodied with grippy, rustic tannins and lively acidity. An excellent-value Frankovka (aka Blaufränkisch) ideal for roasted vegetables or midweek stew.” 90 points

“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.

I wish it to be known that I loved this wine before realising that I had been to the domaine many years ago, otherwise you might accuse me of confirmation bias, because it was the first vineyard I ever visited with my daughter and she still has the sunflower seeds that she harvested in a little keepsake box. So, this is not the product of golden summer memories, but of rigorous, dispassionate, sterile research.

Beautiful tangy cassis, balanced by the sweetness of black cherry, which gives the wine a fleshy core, with underlying notes of pencil lead and sandalwood. The texture is soft, thanks to the sweet tannins, allowing for joyful early drinking. It shares the aromas and flavours of a really good Saint Emilion, but the supple structure and the joyful ripeness give the wine a sun-drenched feel. 13% alc. A blend of Malbec, Tannat, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and  Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now-2030. Certified organic and biodynamic.

Customer comments:

“Had a bottle of the Entras Rouge last night and loved it. Thought I had better get another case ready for the Christmas visitors.” - Mr K.T.

The Australian Wine Companion: “This is a fine example of a saline, robust maritime cabernet. It maximises the Vale's exposure to retain varietal typicity without the excess of examples from other warm regions: blackcurrant, hedgerow, plum, tapenade and a twine of sage and bouquet-garni-doused tannins, pliant and salty. The oak (25% new French; 75% seasoned French and American) is nestled into the fray nicely. The pH better tuned. The finish long and snappy.” 91 points

JancisRobinson.com: “Silver-green needles of cedar and capsicum and dawn-dew-cold-clenched laurel threads woven deftly through plush fruit that starts red-bleeding crimson and spills and spreads, bruising into the purple blues of cassis and bramble berries. Tarragon and chocolate mint throw cold but sensuous semi-colons between the effusively smooth glide of ripe rhapsody. Harp-lines of pale-green herbs. A wine that is trying to do nothing but cajole, entice and persuade you to be here right now, nowhere to go, all efforts at resistance abandoned. A Cabernet that is leaning into its place, its time, its space, not trying to be anything else and you can just feel that almost zen-like sinuosity. For the yoga practitioners out there, I would describe this as a Cab Bālāsana, in child's pose. Very Good Value. (TC). Drink now-2026.” 16.5 points

According to Italy’s prestigious ‘50 Top Pizza Awards’, the best pizza restaurant in Europe isn’t in Naples, Palermo or Rome, but Chiswick, West London. It’s actually my local, or at least it used to be, but I can’t get a table anymore, because it’s full of Instagram tourists, so I have to make do with the occasional takeaway. The only good thing about that is that I discovered the wonderful combination of their pizza diavola with this Nero d’Avola. Not only does it rhyme, but the flavours chime too, with the spicy spianata sausage and basil finding their perfect match in the sunny Mediterranean flavours of wild, dark cherry, sweet, black plum and tangy cassis in this hearty Sicilian red. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2030.

Click here to see the ‘50 Top Pizza Award’ winners.

Such a pretty wine, with cherry, strawberry and flint held within a delicate frame of lacy tannins and a sense of warm terracotta, which I romantically take to be the terroir shining through. If you haven’t tried Païs before, also known as Listan Prieto, and you like light-coloured, delicate reds, then this one is a great introduction. It’s like a cross between Pinot Noir and cold strawberry tea! 13.5% alc. Drink now-2030.

It is thought that one of the main reasons why Merlot gained such a strong foothold among the public is that it is easy to say when ordering in a restaurant, in much the same way that Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso isn’t. It’s a shame, because Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso is a grape that can make fantastic wine, especially in Friuli, where its noble history dates back over two millennia (Pliny the Elder cited it as the favourite wine of Augustus’s wife, Livia, circa 20 BC!).

I was curious to see if Jancis Robinson had reviewed many Refosco dal Peduncolo Rossos on her website and I only found a handful, but the same adjectives recurred several times: “gorgeous”, “generous”, “seductive” and “sassy”. That chimes with our experience, because it’s a really expressive wine with dramatic aromas, and this example has theatrical swagger to burn. It’s a flamboyant and sensual red, serpentine as its flavours coil around your tongue, evocative of blood-red cherries steeped in orange juice, sweet spices from the bazaar, the juice of red-fleshed plums combined with cinnamon, neroli and mandarin oil. So, why hasn’t Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso caught on? It’s really hard to say. 13% alc. 12 months in barriques and tonneau. Drink now-2031.

Press review (previous vintage):

JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin): “Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso, with its naturally high acidity and often alarmingly firm tannins, can sometimes be pretty hard work. This wine is anything but. Light ruby-to-garnet colour and a nose that smells sweet and fragrant, perhaps a little vanilla pod and cinnamon from oak, perhaps a little orange blossom. There is definitely the fragrance of oranges on the palate – I can almost smell the oils in the air as I'm peeling the orange in my head. And the fruit is so sweet and bright and pumping flavour and alacritous that I can't make it stand still for long enough to be identified. Was that red cherry? Or tangerine? Or maybe rose hip with a sidekick of pitanga? Did I spot a red splat of fresh pomegranate somewhere in there? Yes. Yes. Yes and yes and yes. And the fruit is festooned with lilac blossom, white thyme flowers, a dusting of sumac and baharat. The tannins weave, deft, dextrous, dancing through fruit like ribbons in a Dunhuang dance. Light clouds of white pepper that simply get washed away by wave after wave of this flagrantly seductive wine. Is this really less than £20? VERY GOOD VALUE. Drink 2024-2030” 17.5 points

Customer comments (including previous vintage):

“Please reserve me another 6 bottles of the delicious Refosco - which provides the very drinkable combination of good concentration without excessive weight… Oh, and it's tremendous value too.” - Mr T.M.

“Just tasted it - terrific!” - Mr A.S.

“The red from Friuli is excellent.” - Mr E.C-W.

“We had the Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso last night, we both thought it was lovely, can we order some more please?” - Mrs. S. G.  

“The Refosco has been a huge success. I bought some recently and thought it SUPERB. Such a lovely, balanced, interesting wine.” - Mr. S. R.

“We didn’t try the Refosco until last night but I am pleased to say that we really enjoyed it. I would therefore like to purchase another 12 bottles!” - Mr. I. C.

“We had some of the Refosco last night, love it!” - Mr M.A.

“Just wanted to say, we are really enjoying the Refosco, delightfully fruity and (too) easy to drink! “ - Mr. H.S.

In my defence, I was genuinely just checking that I hadn’t taken leave of my senses, because the terrific quality didn’t seem commensurate with the extremely reasonable price, but I don’t think the lady pouring the tasting samples saw it that way, judging by the way she audibly tutted when I returned for the seventh time. The trouble was, it was not only delicious and incredible value, but so incredibly moreish! It’s a pure Syrah from granite soils in the northern Rhone and billows with fresh aromas of sweet cherry, violets, apricot, woody spice, black pepper, orange peel and bacon fat. You can see why I kept going back! The palate is supple and juicy, a wonderfully refreshing red wine that draws you back for another sip, like a siren song. 12.5% alc. 15 months in oak. Drink now-2029.

“You simply cannot go wrong with this. It's complex, beautifully structured, long, deep, generous, fresh, delicious. I'd happily pay £30 for this.” - Tamlyn Currin for JancisRobinson.com

A wine that doesn’t need the words ‘Made in Italy’ printed on the label. Just one swirl and the aromas take you to the warm south, to the land of tomatoes, olive oil, focaccia barese, orecchiette and burrata. It pours a lovely healthy colour, not inky black, but more like a gentle claret with a hint of terracotta at the edge. It’s wonderfully warm and inviting on the palate with impressions of scented wood, morello cherry, sun-warmed plums, sweet raisins and ‘plate juice ‘ (as Americans euphemistically call the pale, red liquid that oozes from a rare steak). It’s a cracking value red from Cantina Coppola full of rich, sunny, Mediterranean fruit (100% Primitivo), with a creamy vanilla softness from the ageing in barriques, but a vital dash of cherry acidity to bring it all to life. 14% alc. Drink now-2030.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin): “Ridiculously, recklessly delicious. Roasted plums, roasted cinnamon, raspberry coulis, cloves. So scrumptious you'll want to lick the glass out! The fruit is iridescent crimson with flashes of violet and indigo, so glossy you could glide in on it, and despite its lavish sweetness the wine is soaring with a freshness so cool it could almost be menthol. The tannins keep trying to stand up and make out like they have big muscles but that fruit just keeps buckling their knees. What's more, it's a wine that stayed this glorious and fresh even though it was open for five days. You simply cannot go wrong with this. It's complex, beautifully structured, long, deep, generous, fresh, delicious. I'd happily pay £30 for this. GOOD VALUE. Drink now-2030.” 17 points

Customer comments:

“We have just had a lovely dinner tonight and the Primitivo was highly praised; could I have another couple of cases?” - Mr L.W.

“Silly me, I should have gone for 12. I don’t suppose you have any left?” - Mr. R.D.

A beautifully aromatic Nerello Mascalese sourced from pre-phylloxera vines on the slopes of Mount Etna, fermented with wild yeasts and aged for 6 months in French oak barrels. The combination of the altitude (2,000 feet above sea level) and the rich, mineral soil, give the wine extraordinary aromatic lift, almost exotic, suggesting chopped red cherries, peach fuzz and whetstone, while the palate is as buoyant and fresh, as the somewhat pale colour suggests it will be, but there's real fascination and depth in there too, as you might find in a ripe Nebbiolo or a richly-scented Pinot Noir. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2029.

Biodynamic farming.

Customer comments (including previous vintage):

“All the hype about this wine is more than deserved..... absolutely stunning!” - Mr. R. H.

“As always, thank you for spotting the wine - another absolute banger, which blew away the conventional Burgundy we had at the same meal.” - Mr. R.E.

”That Etna Rosso is absolutely amazing. Thanks so much for the recommendation” - Mr. A.D.

“Loving it (too much!). Would be happy to take two more cases if you have them.” - Mr. I. W.

”I much enjoyed your Etna Rosso last night – it was lighter than I expected but very smooth and delicious." - Mr. A.M.

"Like drinking liquid silk, really light and cherry-scented but with that dark, basalt thing going on too. Ethereal and magnificent. Love it." - Mr. J.W.

"I did just cracked open a bottle of Ciauria and it is excellent!" - Mr T.J.

"I thought the Ciauria was really lovely! Great find." - Mr. J.L.

"It's incredible! I've never had anything like it." - Mr. G.D.

"Tried the Etna Rosso last night and it was delicious!" - Mr. J.F.

"You can tell from the repeat order that the Ciauria has gone down very well. Looking forward to receiving the order, looking forward to drinking it more." - Mr. G.S.

Prepare to swoon. A gloriously aromatic red wine made from the Samso grape, aged for 18 months in American oak barrels, and the combination of glossy fruit and shiny new oak gives the wine such a polished aromatic sheen that you can almost see your face in it (I have a mixed metaphor licence and I’m not afraid to use it).

It’s a heady fruit and oak double-act, displaying sweet ripe cherry and new saddle leather, crimson-fleshed plums and vanilla, tangy pomegranate and sweet balsam notes. If you like full-bodied Ribera del Duero, Rioja or even modern Saint-Emilion, then this will make you very happy and will save you a few bob to boot. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2027.

Press review:

Jancis Robinson MW: “Smells like sweet red bordeaux! Very cleverly made and much more sophisticated than most of the old Samsos I have tasted so far. A successful production. Hints of balsam.” 17 points

“This is a hedonistic and decadent Bordeaux Malbec that could challenge a few Mendoza wines in terms of density” - The Wine Advocate

I love Malbec! Or at least I think I do. I’ve definitely liked the ones I’ve liked and I have paid more attention to those than the ones I haven’t liked, which I tend to forget about. Fans of ‘confirmation bias’ will be keenly aware of the tendency here. We ratify our beliefs by noticing the occurrences where those beliefs are upheld, while paying less attention to the times when they aren’t. So, now that I think about it, I’m not sure that I do like Malbec, because the supporting data isn’t great. I do fondly remember a bottle shared with friends of the Achaval-Ferrer Malbec 2014, but I’ve worked my way through every Malbec at my local Argentine steakhouse and they’ve all been pretty lousy. So, is Malbec the Radiohead of wines? You think you like Radiohead, you want to be a groovy Radiohead-liker, you even learned the chords to Fake Plastic Trees, but then you play a whole album and you realise, oh no, you don’t really like Radiohead.

The fact remains, however, that I still want to like Radiohead and I still want to like Malbec. So, imagine my delight when I poured this inky Malbec into my glass and it tasted like I was hearing Karma Police for the first time. There was none of the discordant brashness of a young Malbec, as this is from the exceptional 2016 vintage in Bordeaux ("the best Bordeaux vintage I will probably ever taste" - Jancis Robinson MW; “an incredible vintage” - The Wine Advocate), so it has had 10 years to mellow and integrate, becoming something compellingly serious now. If you enjoy a full-bodied red with sleek, blackcurranty acidity to give it lustre and sheen, then this belongs in your wine rack.

It’s bursting with opulent cassis and sweet black cherries, combining the sort of heady ripeness you might find in an Argentine Malbec, with the sleek, cool, upright quality that you can expect from Bordeaux. It is sourced from a tiny plot that barely covers 2 hectares and was aged for 5 months in new French and American oak barrels. Drink now-2028

Press reviews:

The Wine Advocate: “The 2016 La Viminière from Fleur Haut Gaussens is a pure Malbec. Opulent and generous on the nose, bilberry jam and blueberry scents storm from the glass as if their life depended upon it. The palate is medium-bodied with a core of sweet black plum laced with blueberry and honey, the acidity keeping everything balanced. This is a hedonistic and decadent Bordeaux Malbec that could challenge a few Mendoza wines in terms of density. Give this a year in bottle and you will have a fine, powerful Malbec. Drink now-2023.”

Jancis Robinson MW (previous vintage) “It could easily be mistaken for an Argentine. But it does smell like Bordeaux, even if the colour is almost Mendoza! Very rich and flattering. Velvety texture and perfect for those who like to be enveloped by their wine. Probably not a long-distance runner but massively delivers pleasure.”

Customer Comments:

“Loved it!” - Mr. D.A.

“The Malbec is terrific.” - Mr S.T.

This glorious Sangiovese/Merlot blend teleports you straight into the heart of Tuscany with its inviting, high-toned nose of spiced plums, morello cherry skins, weathered brick, tea leaves, freshly squeezed orange juice, wet leaves and old oak spice, and envelops you in its warm perfumed layers. It has a big yet entirely proportioned structure, rich, bold and mouth-filling with fine-grained tannins and a tangy vibrant finish. The flavours are at a lovely state of maturity, but the wine remains beautifully fresh. Made in a baby Super Tuscan style, this is a seriously classy drop. And to boot, as the name intimates, this estate has a rather special history of its own having initially been owned by Michelangelo in the 16th century! 14.5% alc. Drink now-2032.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com: “Sangiovese has the mic and owns the stage in this blend, strutting its 'lick my raw bricks' and 'eat my dust' stuff while tossing streamers of sour-cherry favours and bitter-bark teasers at all the fans. The Merlot follows, trying to tone down the terracotta-tile cavalcade by mopping up the dust with plum juice. It's sinewy, chewy, fresh and uncompromisingly Tuscan, tasting of hot dry summer days and dusty roads and wild figs in little spots of shade. Drink now-2030.” 17 points

Customer comments:

“Tried Langelo - amazing! Can I pls order another 12 bottles?” - Mr H.L.

“We tried the Langelo over the w/e – absolutely delicious!!” - Mr. A.T.

“Lovely!” - Ms. A.S.

“The Langelo is a good find! Thank you.” - Mr K.M.

I was hoping to buy some more of the Langelo Rosso. It was so good!” - Mrs. J. G.

“Do you have any more of the Langelo? I could take another six bottles if they were going. It's great.” - Mr S.S.

“We had a bottle of it at the weekend and it was a delicious!  Also looking forward to seeing how it evolves if we manage to hold on to a few of the bottles for a year or two as it definitely felt like it had “space to grow”.” - Mr. D. W.

The ‘Violet Hour’ is a term that was coined by the essayist, Bernard DeVoto, to describe the period of transition from day to evening and the pleasures to be found in coming together for drinks (not to be confused with the ‘Violent Hour’, which comes shortly after closing time at Wetherspoons). I find it very evocative, a moment of impending change, from light to dark, bittersweet with promise and passing.

There’s a bittersweet quality to this Shiraz too, with its lustrous blackcurrant perfume and its darker notes of tobacco and cocoa nibs. On the palate, inky black cherry and damson are held in a supple, medium-bodied texture, with surprisingly light tannins and a mineral tension that keeps the wine vivid and succulent, more attuned to the northern Rhone than archetypal Ozzie Shiraz. Enjoy it during the hours when day slides gently into night, whatever they call that. 14% alc. Sourced from the ‘Rayner’ vineyard, planted in 1947 (named in the ‘Top 50 Vineyards in Australia’). Aged for 10 months in seasoned oak. Drink now-2036.

Press review:

The Wine Companion: “The value here has always been super keen. That’s as true as ever with this iteration from a cool year, typically lifted and fragrant but also with some serious import. A tick up from mid-weight, this is spicy and peppered ferruginous minerality, along with blackberry, dark cherries, tapenade, violet, cassia, bay, coffee bean and salted liquorice. Red berries swell up on the palate, with a thoughtfully woven skein of tannins underwriting its class. Excellent." 96 points

Bondar in a nutshell:
‘Winemaker of the Year 2024’ - Halliday’s Wine Companion (finalist)
Takes over the famous McLaren Vale ‘Rayner Vineyard’ planted in 1947
‘Young Gun of the Year 2020’ – Halliday’s Wine Companion (finalist)
Assistant winemaker at Alain Graillot in the Northern Rhone

Previous vintages reviewed by Halliday’s Wine Companion:
2022 vintage – 95 points: “This is a tremendous bargain.”
2021 vintage – 97 points: “Bargain bonanza.”
2020 vintage – 97 points: “One of the great bargains.”

Customer comments:

“A bottle opened this evening of the Bondar Violet Hour Shiraz. My years in the fine wine trade lead to only one comment: good juice. Perhaps even an exclamation mark thrown in. Certainly worth £25, if not 30 smackers.” - Mr P.E.

“Tried this last night. Remarkable how packed with fruits and flavours yet delivered with a light touch and freshness. My friends and I loved it and wish I’d ordered a full case. So please put me down on your list next time you get any!” - Mr J.G

“This is my new favourite winery!” - Ms. H.D.

“It’s a wonderful wine!” - Mr. P.E.

“Delicioso!” - Mr O.D.

This is a sensual, fluid, elegant beauty, which spent 6 whole years in oak before being released! It’s made from the Corvina grape, most commonly associated with Amarone, but this is much lighter and drier in style, yet still wonderfully succulent, with lots of light, red berry fruits mingling with the lovely tertiary flavours of leather, tobacco and autumnal woodiness. I enjoy making a fool out of myself, so I would love to be given this ‘blind’, as I would probably think it was a German Pinot Noir or a Jura Trousseau. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2028

Certified organic.

Customer Comments:

“Beautifully balanced wine that feels to be just approaching its peak. a light, bright and extremely quaffable glass of Italian autumn fruits that, as I write, is proving a heavenly partner with a cassoulet" - Mr. K.A.

“Glorious… I'd take this over Amarone any day” - JancisRobinson.com

Rather excitingly, this tasting note operates like a self-assessment tax return form, so if you already know the story behind this wine, please proceed to Section (b). Otherwise please begin at Section (a):

Section (a). The Rosso Dorigo NV is a wine from northern Italy, which tastes like a serious Amarone, one that would certainly set you back anywhere between £30 and £50 a bottle, but the beauty is that it’s only £22.95 a bottle. Why? Well, like Amarone, it is made from grapes that were hand-harvested and dried on straw mats before fermentation in order to concentrate the colour, aroma, texture and flavour. Unlike Amarone, however, it is made in the Friuli region, not the Veneto region, and from Refosco grapes, not Corvina, the traditional Amarone grape. The bureaucrats responsible for appellation (DOC) law in Friuli do not consider this a ‘traditional’ or ‘typical’ style of wine for the area, so Alessio Dorigo is only allowed to call it a humble vino da tavola (table wine) and isn’t even allowed to mention the vintage on the label (“That’ll show him!” cackled the bureaucrats, ghoulishly rubbing their hands together in vengeful glee, “How dare he make a delicious wine that raises the profile of our region!”). The great benefit for wily consumers, however, is that Alessio can’t charge a lofty price for a ‘table wine’ without a DOC sticker, so this sensational wine arrives on your table at a price that’s nothing short of very good.

Section (b). This is the best bottling Alessio Dorigo has made so far and that’s saying something! It's a glorious mouthful of richly upholstered fruit that imitates Amarone in every respect, except the alcohol isn’t 17% (the average for Amarone), but a much more drinkable 14%. The colour is a deep, velvety crimson and the flavours are big and bold, but it cleverly manages to feel sleek and focused, because Alessio is a genius. We had a bottle that was cool from the cellar and that temperature worked well, adding a brightness to the inky black fruits, but as it warmed up it became even more expressive, bringing out cocoa dusting, orange fondant and violet notes. As the tannins are so smooth and velvety, you can actually drink it on its own, preferably beside a roaring fire in a ski chalet, but, failing that, it would go brilliantly with a cheese course. 14% alc. Drink now-2032.


Press reviews:

Jancis Robinson: “Amarone style, made from sun-dried grapes, but not allowed to be Friuli DOC because of the higher-than-regulation residual sugar. Refosco. Quite a tapestry of orange zest and Christmas cake, cardamom and chilli pepper and mint. Wonderfully rich yet shot through with candied orange-peel brightness. Dense structure. Long and mouth-filling and broad and glorious. I'd take this over Amarone any day because at 14% it's not going to knock me sideways with one glass. Perfect aged-cheddar wine. Good Value” 17 points

Luca Maroni: “Its combination of texture, suppleness and authenticity make it a true champion.” 95 points

Customer comments:

“I drank one of the last batch over the week and it was wonderful.” - Mr. R. W.

”The first batch was greatly appreciated by friends and family – and hence the latest, larger order!” - Mr J.V.

“OMG, thé Dorigo! Wow.” - Mrs. V.J.

“It’s absolutely incredible! Just wonderful. It’s so rich in flavour and so smooth. An extraordinary find.” - Mr. A.R.

”it’s absolutely delicious” - Mr. E. B.

“Just a note to say thank you for the Dorigo and your previous recommendation of Patritti Chardonnay. Two outstanding recommendations.” - Mr. P. P.

”I’ve sampled the Dorigo and it is a treat. It needs a while to open up but then it is stunning – not what you’d expect from an NV! Superb value when you think what a top notch Amarone costs.” - Mr J.W.

”Wow! Sumptuous yet silky, and intense but still lively and full of fruit. We had it with a rich (vegan) mushroom lasagna, with more than a hint of truffle, and they sang in utterly perfect harmony. It was pure joy. At this price, it's stupendous.” - Mr A.T.

”I drank a bottle, yesterday evening , with an old friend. Had he not been driving, I am certain that we would have moved onto a second.... In fact, I have had a text from him this morning extolling its virtues(!) -one of the smoothest, fullest wines he has ever drunk.” - Mr. T.M.

”The wine was wonderful.” - Mr. J.C.

”Tried the wine and it is all you said it would be. Excellent.” - Mr. T.K.

”We had dinner with friends, the wine was discussed, we had a bottle of Dorigo and a bottle which had cost in excess of £100. Everybody present agreed they preferred the Dorigo - enough said.” - Mr. I.K.

"Very impressed with the Dorigo, James. Brought out the oohs and aaahs from our dinner party guests without any prompting." - Mr. T.D.

"Wow!" - Mr. M.W.

”Do you have any more of the Dorigo? It's great!” - Mr. J. P.

"Stunning for the price." - Mr B.A.

"Big fan of the Plane Turning Right and the Dorigo. Yumbo!" - Mr D.C.

"I did enjoy the Dorigo a lot!" - Mr. A.S.

"We had our first taste of the Dorigo Rosso last night and thought it was wonderful. Do you have any bottles left?" - Ms K.S.

"What a beautiful wine. I love it!" - Mrs J.H.

"Btw. Had the Dorigo yesterday. Wow that was nice." - Mrs M.E.

"I don't suppose there's any of this left? I love it!" - Mr. B.F.

"We really liked the Dorigo you recommended last time" - Mr J.B.

"The Dorigo is lovely." - Ms H.S.

"Any chance of you getting more Dorigo? Just drinking our last bottle. Really great!" - Mr J.C.

"Everyone really enjoyed the Dorigo, even my wife who 'doesn't like Italian wine'. Do you have any left?" - Mr. B.W.

"We were impressed! Can we have a case please?" - Mr P.J.

"It was sublime!!!" - Mr. D.L.

"We love it so much...please can we have a full case?" - Ms. A.B.

”Just having a bottle - delicious, a great choice, thank you.” - Mr. A.F.

”We enjoyed the Dorigo from last order so much that had to secure another case immediately.” - Mr. T.K.

“The best Sortilège vintage I've tasted. Very Good Value.” - Tamlyn Currin for JancisRobinson.com

The character of the region flows through every pore of this rich-yet-juicy (very) old-vine red, which manages to be both deep and bright, graceful and powerful, showing a delectable array of flavours, including red and black cherry, garrigue herbs, a little smoked meat and pure blackcurrant with tiny inflections of red and purple flowers. It’s complex, supple, approachable and full of local character with a refined mineral (slightly chalky) texture and lovely freshness and acidity. Traditional vinification, total de-stemming, crushing and pumping-over. 18 months in old oak barrels. 14% alc. Drink now-2030.

Organic.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com: “Quite shy on day one, after a day and a half of being open, this wine is soaring out the glass. Rose petals and dark-red plums, it has a tenor tremolo that is both exquisitely sweet and sends tiny goosebumps down my spine. There is a tenderness to this vintage of Sortilège that I've not seen before, and the tannins bend and curve and glow, as if it has a heart of cello tonewood. The fruit is soft and deep, there is a hush of woodsy spice (like when you walk over ancient forest carpets of pine needles and mushrooms in the early morning). The finish is a cashmere caress. I think the best Sortilège vintage I've tasted. VGV (TC). Drink now-2032.” 17.5 points

Decanter (previous vintage): “Made from Syrah, Grenache and 110-year-old Carignan vines, this is smooth and supple, ripe and juicy with bright cherry and blackcurrant fruit. It's elegant and powerful with garrigue elements as well as a refined mineral edge that gives texture and adds interest. A lively acidity on the mid-palates gives real freshness and there's a drive all the way through to a long finish. A remarkable and complex wine that is good to drink now or age. A great signature example of St Chinian.” 93 points

The Artifice Tinto 2022 is made from Listan Negro and has everything you could desire from a Tenerife red, evoking wild cherry, pomegranate, strawberry and burnt orange peel. It’s only medium-bodied and fairly dainty for a red wine, with a tender core of sweet red cherry and raspberry fruit, similar in its flavour DNA to a Pinot Noir, but with intriguing background hints of smolten rock and the iron forge.

It’s the sort of wine I would love to be served at a groovy wine-bar like Sager and Wilde or The Remedy, either on its own or with food, or on my own or with company, because even if I’m on my own, it’s bound to pique the curiosity of my fellow drinkers and I probably won’t be drinking alone for long. 12% alc. Organic farming. 10 months in oak. Drink now-2029.

Organic farming

Press reviews:

The Wine Advocate (previous vintage): “The 2021 Artífice Tinto follows the path of 2018, with concrete, foudre and barrels, part of stems and a fresh and more Atlantic character. It has a moderate 12% alcohol but is still juicy and gentle, with its medium-bodied palate and fine-grained texture, floral and always peppery with volcanic echoes. Drink now-2028.” 93+ points

Decanter (previous vintage): “Inheriting the family estate in 2011, former racing car mechanic Borja Pérez opted to make his own wine rather than sell off his grapes locally – a crucial decision that led to him becoming one of the best viticulturists in the Canary Islands, sourcing old-vine fruit from small growers locally. His Artifice Tinto is a definitive expression of the Listán Negro grape grown on the Tenerife’s volcanic soils. Floral and dark fruit notes. Full-bodied, with a line of fresh orange acidity. Ultimately there’s a citrus freshness, and a long, concentrated finish." 95 points

Jancis Robinson MW (previous vintage): “Very stinky nose - too much for me!” 14.5 points [i.e. it’s not to everyone’s taste!]

Customer comments:

“The Tenerife wine is delicious!” - Mr A.R.

“The super bargain of the portfolio has to be the red 2017 Viña Cubillo Tinto Crianza.” - The Wine Advocate

When I was in my early twenties, I was working in southern Spain and went to a local bar after work with a few of my Spanish colleagues. The alpha male among the group ordered a bottle of wine, something called ‘Rioja’, and a terracotta dish containing something fried, which the barman had cut into strips with a pair of scissors. The alpha proffered the dish towards me and I found myself in a circle of expectant Spanish men, staring at me as i picked out a piece to try and bit down. It had the texture of gristle and the flavour of something worryingly ‘close to the tail’. As I pulled a face of horrified revulsion (exaggerated for the purposes of amusing the group), I was told that it was pig’s ear and they all fell about laughing. Realising that the crunchy cartilage wasn’t going to disappear through chewing alone, but only break into infinitely smaller fractal elements, I grabbed a glass of the ‘Rioja’ and used it as a sort of mouth-flush. As the little shards of porcine lughole went down the hatch, I did stop to notice that the ‘Rioja’ had a faint note of plum and coconut, which I found rather pleasant.

Life coaches will tell you that you can always turn a negative experience into a positive one and that evening in that bar in Murcia has stuck with me, not so much because of the local ‘delicacy’ (have you ever noticed that local delicacies are rarely ‘delicate’?), but remembering the delicious flavour of that Rioja with its mellow, woodsy, soft-bellied fruit. I have loved Rioja ever since and if I had to pick one that represented everything I love about it, it would be the 'Vina Cubillo' from Bodegas R. Lopez de Heredia. Not only does it taste steadfastly ‘classic’, a fine-boned, juicy example of traditional Rioja, but it’s incredible value too. And who knows, it may have been the same wine I drank, all those years ago, in the first flush of youth. Enjoy it with oreja a la plancha. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2032.

Press reviews:

Tim Atkin MW: “Cubillo is always sold as a Crianza, partly because it's always been done that way, but has nothing whatsoever to do with the kind of high-volume wines you find on supermarket shelves. Pairing Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 5% each of Graciano and Mazuelo, all from the 80-year-old Cubillas vineyard, this is sweet and savoury, with lots of racy cranberry acidity and sinewy tannins.” 94 points

The Wine Advocate: “The super bargain of the portfolio has to be the red 2017 Viña Cubillo Tinto Crianza, which this year shows more development and faster aging, with more tertiary notes than the other reds from 2013 and 2014 that I tasted next to it. It has notes of damp earth, mushrooms, truffles and forest floor, dry leaves and decayed flowers and herbs. It has a polished palate and is medium-bodied, with mostly resolved tannins, and it feels a little lighter. But it's still worth it. It was produced with a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo from vines averaging 53 years of age. It fermented in their old oak vats and matured in used American oak barrels for three+ years. Drink now-2036.” 93 points

We were at a tasting recently, with the usual array of wines lined up on trestle tables, but I spotted a member of the company wandering around with a bottle that wasn’t in the line-up, furtively pouring it for a few of his favourite contacts. Ever the master of discretion, I sidled over to him and said “Oi, Pete! What’s that? Slosh a bit in here!”, holding out my glass. Fortune favours the ill-mannered and it turned out to be the star of the tasting, only there wasn’t much to go around, hence the surreptitious pouring. We put our hand up for as much as we could get.

It’s made from the indigenous Limniona grape variety, which ‘Wines of Greece’ describe as “the rising star of the Greek red varieties and sure to be a driving-force for the development of numerous top wines around Greece for years to come”. It pours a wonderfully glossy ruby colour, not black or opaque, but vivid and translucent, and the fruit aromas are a mix of sour cherry, raspberry and quince with a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg from the new French oak in which it bathed for a year before release. A really stunning example of modern Greek winemaking. 13% alc. Drink now-2030.

Organic (certified)

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:

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

“Gleaming with concentration… lustrous… magnificent.” - Tamlyn Currin for JancisRobinson.com, 17 points

One of our most exciting recent discoveries. It’s a lavish, unmistakeably Italian blend, led by Barbera with the additions of Bonarda, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, made in the style of a traditional ‘Riserva’. It’s deep and plush in both colour and fruit weight, high-toned and glossy from the Barbera, unfiltered to keep all the goodness in, and saturated in inky cassis richness and wood-polish top notes and tastes as if the barrels soaked up the wine like a sponge and then gave back this masterpiece! At 10 years of age, it is still vibrantly fruit-rich, but dark and stormy too, a little fuzzy and unkempt, as if it has just got out of bed after a 10-year slumber. We left a bottle open for a whole week and it tasted even better on Day #7 than on Day #1, so do consider decanting it.

The word ‘Riserva’ gets bandied around a lot in Italy (often meaninglessly in my opinion, especially with Brunello di Montalcino), but this is a what a true ‘Riserva’ should be, a selection of the best grapes on the estate, aged for a long time in traditional, large oak casks to bring the wine together ready for drinking on release.

We went to visit Il Maiolo a couple of months ago and tasted a raft of vintages going back to 2003 and the quality is exceptionally high, year in, year out, and always very reflective of the year, and as anyone with an interest in Italian wine will know, 2015 is widely regarded as one of the greatest vintages in recent memory.

We hope this wine will become a permanent feature on our lists in future vintages. It has that wonderful combination of richness, vitality, heart-on-sleeve joyfulness, autumnal age and detailed complexity. As with almost all Italian reds, it is best enjoyed with food, especially game, braised or roast meats or just some thinly-sliced local Parma ham or tagliatelle al ragu bolognese. 14% alc. Decant for aeration and sediment. Drink now-2036.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com: “Sombre richness, gleaming with concentration and deep, high-back, solid curves; like an antique church pew polished to dark lustre by generations of pious prayer and petition. Tannins as tense, commanding and lustrous as organ pipes rumbling bass hymns over ancient flagstones and dust. Leather and iron. Blackberry and prune. Magnificent and, judging by Walter's tasting note of the 2004 last year, it still has a long road ahead of it. (TC). Drink now-2035.” 17 points

Customer comments:

“We had a bottle of this on Sunday night with some friends and we all thought it was excellent. Do you have any more knocking around please?” - Mr B.M.

“My wife and I were quite astonished when we tried a bottle of this last night and so we wondered if you happened to have another half dozen still available?” - Mr A.D.

“I can only say one thing and that is : WOW! We had a friend round for dinner last night so I did as you suggested and decanted the wine just after you delivered it. By the time we sat down to eat around 8.30 it was absolutely delicious. I was blown away. Unfortunately I won’t be able to test your ‘it’s even better after being open for a week’ advice because I don’t think it lasted even an hour - but it was very very much enjoyed.” - Ms C.J.

“We enjoyed the Il Maiolo. I did prefer the 2004, but my budget this time will only stretch to the 2015!” - Mr A.B.

“All the hype about this wine is more than deserved..... absolutely stunning! We opened it last night, and will follow it along for a few days - assuming that we can resist finishing it much sooner! Would you be able to let me have another 6 bottles?” - Mr. R. H.

“I’ve recently been enjoying the Il Maiolo.” - Mr C.M.

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.

“Fine, long, perfectly harmonious and very Languedocian.” - ‘Coup de Cœur’ in the Guide Hachette

A great expression of Syrah from the Languedoc-Roussillon, which is only made in the best vintages. The colour of dragon’s blood, it beckons you into its inky core with sweet and succulent aromas of dark-skinned forest-fruits, pummeled blackcurrants, lilac and that lovely peppery top note that you find in northern Rhone Syrah, but once you stray inside, you lose your bearings amid the sheer intensity of its dark, swirling depths and vaulted gothic arches. Approachable now, thanks to the way the fruit has saturated the tannins, but it has decades on its side. 14.5% alc. 18 months in French oak barrels. Unfined, unfiltered and with a minimal use of sulphites. Only 216 cases produced. Drink now-2035.

Press review:

Le Guide Hachette des Vins: “A strict selection of Syrah, complex vinification, partially in whole clusters, with only indigenous yeasts, then a long aging of 18 months in barrel: the result is commensurate with the efforts. Very ripe red fruits, chocolate, liquorice, all refreshed with garrigue and menthol: the nose is magnificent. Round attack, smooth texture, firm but silky tannins, discreet aging which nuances the fruit with sweet spices, remarkable length: the palate drives the point home. It's fine, long, perfectly harmonious and very Languedocian.” Awarded a Coup de Cœur

Customer comments on the 2019:

“I just wanted to let you know I tried a bottle of L’Etendoir des Fees last night and it was just as good as I remember!” - Mr C.B.

“I felt compelled to let you know that this was absolutely knock out. Seriously, seriously good.” - Mr A.W. 

“Really very good.” - Mr N.M.

“This is very yummy.“ - Mr W.B.

“Stunning” - Mr C.M.

”The Syrah is absolutely delicious, excellent value for money!” - Mr. S. W.

Customer comments on the 2016:

“Great wine.” - Mr E.W.

“Wonderful”- Mr C.W.

“We drank the first bottle of the case tonight. I have straight away ordered another case.” - Mr. T.H.

”I feel compelled to let you know that I opened one of these at the weekend and from the first sip to the last Ihave to regard it as one of the most enjoyable wines I can remember having. I won’t embarrass myself by trying to describe it other than to say it was simply sensational. What a find.” - Mr. N.H.

”We have tried L’Etendoir Des Fees, delicious... just great, thanks for recommending.” - Mr. P.H.

“It's absolutely ridiculous value. Really lovely.” - Mr. H.A.

”it was beautiful!” - Mr. D.L.

”That’s a gorgeous Syrah” - Mr. F.A.

”This wine is quite delicious and special. Thank you for introducing it to me!” - Mr. P.J.

Drinking this intensely beautiful Crozes-Hermitage reminded me that wine is made from grapes. Quite a “Eureka!” moment, I’m sure you would agree, but in the daily ebb and flow of the wine trade, you tend to forget that wine is made from something that has a primary purpose over and above that of being fermented for the pleasure of human beings. In nature, fruit is a lure. It’s made to attract birds and insects for the vital business of pollination. So, it needs to look, smell and taste good. Birds don’t read reviews or choose grapes with high scores, they don’t do vertical tastings or keep cellar notes, they just want to eat tasty, ripe fruit and when I tried this wine, made from the Syrah grape, all of the extraneous noise that surrounds wine just fell away and I imagined how delicious the grapes on the vine must have been to produce such a heaven-scented, fabulously delicious wine, redolent of violets, perfumed blueberries, peonies and deeper notes of red-fleshed plums and orange rind on the silky and sweetly succulent palate. 12.5% alc. 100% Syrah. 70% whole bunch. Drink now-2030. Organic

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com (previous vintage): “Beautifully fragrant nose – black pepper, sappy green-stem aromas, a bit of smoked meat and wonderfully pure plum fruit. Finishes with a charred-meat character and a gradual, perfumed fade. Very convincing.“ 17.5 points

Vinous (previous vintage): “Brilliant violet colour. Smoke-accented aromas of cherry, blackberry, violet and olive show very good freshness and are joined by a spicy nuance that builds in the glass. Silky in texture and sharply focused, offering spice-laced red and blue fruit flavours and a deeper liquorice note. The peppery quality comes back on the long, clinging finish that’s shaped by discreet, even tannins.” 92 points

The Wine Advocate (previous vintage): “Loads of black cherry fruit are nicely balanced by savory hints of licorice, espresso and black olives. Enjoy it over the next few years for its youthful exuberance—it's an ideal bistro-styled red.” 90 points

“Truly distinctive.” - JancisRobinson.com, 17 points

Very pale and pretty, like the lovechild of a Pinot Noir and a Nebbiolo, conceived in the rose garden of a church, just as the doors open and the incense wafts out. It’s a pure Gaglioppo, from 60 year-old bush vines in Calabria, and enchants the palate with notes of molten cherry, tangerine peel, sandalwood and pressed flower petals. A delightfully different alternative to Barolo, but more importantly, a quintessential example of Gaglioppo. Drink it with local dishes like polpette alla mammolese (pork meatballs) or fileja al sugo nduja (pasta with Calabria’s famous spicy sausage). 13.5% alc. Drink now-2032. Certified organic

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com (Walter Speller): “Very pale ruby. Earth with hints of black cardamon, wild strawberry and Moroccan leather. Hints of tobacco and wild strawberry over a thick layer of fine, gravelly tannins. Something for Nebbiolo lovers, or those who like tannins, but in terms of character this is truly distinctive. Drink now-2032.” 17 points

“This is simply gorgeous.” - JancisRobinson.com, 17.5 points

This stunning Malbec from Cahors in South West France is a wine that has needed every minute of the time it has spent maturing, but all patience has been rewarded, as it's now in seriously fine shape. Rich, smooth, sweetly-ripe, plush, inky, sexy and serious. Those aren't the adjectives I usually write after tasting a Cahors. Dark, brooding, tannic, muscular and grippy tend to be the ones I reach for, so it was a joy to taste such an uplifting example that marries the bass grunt of Malbec (known locally as 'Cot') with fabulous grace notes. There had to be a reason.

Speaking to the owner, Philippe Lejeune, it became clear that 3 factors were involved. Firstly, the vineyards sit at a higher altitude than their neighbours and the diurnal temperature flux can be as much as 20 degrees, which contributes enormously to aromatic complexity. Secondly, the soil in this part of Cahors is rich in limestone, which gives a sense of 'minerality' sometimes absent in the wines sourced from vineyards based on clay. Thirdly, the winemaker eschews a heavy extraction and keeps the temperature relatively low during fermentation in order to avoid the 'cooked' or 'stewed' flavours that dog so many reds from this region, known famously as the 'black wines of Cahors' (and note the alcohol level of 13% abv, which is well below the average for wine from this region).

The result is a wine that would knock the spots off any red Bordeaux at this price. There's an abundance of black fruits, as you would expect, but complicated by notes of turned soil, tobacco leaf and wet clay, not wholly dissimilar to a top-flight Saint Emilion. The sweet-sour balance is perfectly achieved, making it mouth-wateringly succulent, and the wine just oozes finesse in its long, glossy, cassis-laden finish. Highly recommended. 13% alc. Drink now-2035.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com: “This is simply gorgeous. It's silky and shining with energy, with deep-core red fruit, with that little special je ne sais quoi that some wines just have and you cannot put your finger on it. It's one of those wines that you can say, 'it tastes of cherries and cinnamon and girolles and camp-fire embers', but that doesn't capture this wine. It's all those things but more than that: it's a wine that has found its pole star. It pulses with focus, mission, purity of fruit. The tannins are endlessly long and endlessly elegant. Every bit of this wine comes together in an orchestra of voices, everything makes sense. (TC). Drink now-2035.” 17.5 points

The Wine Enthusiast (Roger Voss): “A bold juicy wine, with beautifully intense fruits layered over fruit that is almost mature. There is a spicy, smoky character to the that has been softened by wood aging. Organic and biodynamic.” 92 points

We’ve been looking for a wine like this for a long time, a northern Italian red with seriously sexy fruit and by ‘sexy’, we mean hedonistic, opulent and seductive and by ‘seriously’ we mean structured, rich and true to the region. It’s the ying-yang combination of those two features, which make this wine so utterly beguiling, the ‘sexy’ high-toned, sweet-plum and hibiscus flavours underpinned by a skein of ripe, yet ‘serious’ tannins and Barbera’s whiplash natural acidity to give the wine structural integrity, otherwise it would collapse under the weight of its own beauty. If you want your guests to finish every sip with “Oh wow!” then this wine belongs on your dinner table. 14.5% alc. Drink now-2030.

PS I’m having another glass of this now, later the same night, and it’s really quite fabulous. There are Barolo and Barbaresco flavours swirling around here, but immersed in the richness that comes with Barbera, so there’s none of the astringency associated with Nebbiolo, just luscious black cherry acidity piercing through kola, orange and cinnamon.

Organic (non-certified)

I’m drinking this instead of Brunello for a number of reasons. Firstly, it has the aromatic ‘wow factor’ that I yearn for, but seldom find, in a lot of Brunellos. Secondly, it is utterly faithful to the character of the grape variety, Sangiovese. Thirdly, it’s incredibly well-priced when you compare it to serious Brunello and, trust me, it tastes like serious Brunello.

It has a gentle side, with sweet cherry, floral notes, orange peel, cinnamon and scented wood yet it also has a brooding side, a touch of the gothic, with lilies and and black ink, velvet tannins and terrific length. You might notice that it’s closed with a screwcap, which is about the only thing about this wine that doesn’t scream ‘Brunello’! A blend of Sangiovese (95%) and Canaiolo (5%) aged for 20 months in Burgundian oak (20% of which was new). 14.5% alc. Drink now-2036.

Such a beautiful, pale grenadine colour, you can almost taste it. It’s a daringly light Bourgogne Rouge (Pinot Noir), as delicate as a watercolour brushstroke of rosehip, wild strawberry and blood orange. It’s so lithe, so gentle, so pretty, I would love to have a glass of this in a wine bar, on my own, swirling occasionally, pretending to be entranced by the lambent liquid, but actually eavesdropping on my neighbours. 13% alc. Declassified village wine. Drink now-2028.

“This winery must be counted among the handful of great producers of Gigondas.” - Josh Raynolds, Vinous

A Gigondas tasting is only for the brave and if there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that wine merchants are as tough as nails. Lucia survived on the mean streets of Putney and I’m straight outta Chiswick. So, when it comes to tasting full-bodied, tannic Gigondas, who ya gonna call?

Normally, when we taste Gigondas, the wine gets a quick swirl in the mouth (before it can do too much damage to our tooth enamel), and is then expelled into the nearest spittoon, but something most unusual happened when we tasted this Gigondas. Reader, we swallowed it. It was glorious! It had an exotic perfume and a weightlessness on the palate that was more aligned to a Pinot Noir than a Grenache/Mourvedre/Syrah blend, which could be attributed to the winemaker, Benjamin Gras, having done a stage at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti!

The wine is mellow and supple and so very easy to drink, yet still a faithful incarnation of Gigondas, with flavours of orange rind, sweet cherry, leather, rosehip and sweet spices from the bazaar. There is so much finesse allied to a layered complexity, that I am tempted to compare it to Chateau Rayas, as it breaks the Gigondas mould in the same way that Rayas did with Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Absolutely delicious and within the context of the best southern Rhone reds, incredible value. 14.5% alc. 18 months in Stockinger barrels and clay amphora. Drink now-2030.

Biodynamically-farmed. Organic.

Press review:

Vinous: "Brilliant ruby. Intensely perfumed, mineral- and spice-driven aromas of ripe red and blue fruit and potpourri show sharp definition; suggestions of woodsmoke and incense build in the glass. Shows outstanding depth as well as energy on the palate, offering powerful raspberry, kirsch and floral pastille flavours and a strong note of exotic spices. It finishes with an alluring sweetness and harmonious tannins that lend shape to a wonderfully long, spice- and floral-accented finish." (95-96) points

Love, love, love this! A delicately pale Pinot Noir from steep terraced vineyards in the Mosel Valley. It has that ineffable quality that you occasionally find in a Chambolle-Musigny, where you feel like you are drinking molten rubies. It has finely-detailed aromas and flavours of red cherry, tangerine, agarwood, rosehip and orange oil, but despite its light footprint, it has amazing concentration and length. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2032.


Press review:

Decanter (previous vintage): “Light, lifted, floral. Juicy cherries, raspberries and a hint of Black Forest gateau. Silky tannins and linear acidity support a sappy, crunchy frame. Elegant, ethereal and subtly old-school.” 94 points

“Giornata did a fantastic job with the 2022 Sangiovese.” - Vinous, 94 points

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Biondi-Santi should be blushing, because this wine does an amazing impersonation of their Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, especially as it’s not even from Italy. It’s a pure Sangiovese from Paso Robles, roughly halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, an area where Italian grape varieties are being planted with increasingly exciting results and this wine stood out from those we have tasted. It’s utterly delicious.

It has real depth of flavour, but the high tones are where the fun begins, with beautifully perfumed Italianate aromas - a heady mix of cherries, blood orange, fresh bark, tangerine peel, warm terracotta and a hint of sarsaparilla root to give it a local twist. Bring out your best glasses and a decanter if you have one. Close your eyes and breathe in. It will remind you of a hedonistic Brunello before you have even put the glass to your lips. The palate is rich with sweetly ripe tannins, yet driven along by the most perfectly balanced acidity, once again, reminiscent of those wonderful Tuscan reds that go so well with the local cuisine. I have a glass next to me as I’m writing this and I keep going back to it, as it develops in the glass, and I really can’t believe it’s from California! 14% alc. Aged for 12 months in Italian botte (huge wooden casks made of Slavonian chestnut), then a further 10 months in neutral oak. Drink now-2040.

Press reviews:

Vinous: “The 2022 Sangiovese is intense, showing a balsamic tinge up front that gives way to crushed cherries and cedar tones. Silky smooth, it offers masses of ripe red berry fruit and depths of minerals and spice. Slightly chewy, yet exceptionally long, the finish delivers a tart cranberry twang. Despite being a darker and more concentrated effort, Giornata did a fantastic job with the 2022 Sangiovese. Drink now-2030.” 94 points

The Wine Advocate: “The 2022 Sangiovese weaves woody, resinous, earthy aromas around a pure, vibrant core of ripe red fruits that increases in volume after even a short while in the glass. The palate is equally deep, rich and tensile, leading into a lively, soaring finish that lingers with taut, dusty tannins and enough fruit padding to avoid a semblance of harshness. Another year or two in the bottle would do this well, and it should drink quite well through its 10th birthday. Drink now-2033.” 94 points

JancisRobinson.com (previous vintage): “Smells of cherries, herbs and incense. Wonderfully juicy and bright flavours of cherry, citrus peel and dried herbs are wrapped in a fleecy blanket of tannins that turns quickly muscular as the tannins stiffen and notes of fresh chopped herbs linger with citrus peel in the finish. Excellent acidity. Give this a couple of years before opening and you’ll be rewarded.” 17 points

You can immediately see the family resemblance to its little sibling, the Terra F Spätburgunder, which we also sell. The nose is hypnotic. It draws you in with its striking, high-toned perfume, combining sappy wild berry freshness with autumnal mellowness and distinctive smoky/flinty edge. You are taken on an intoxicating journey of molten rubies, kola, blackcurrant pastille, sweet juicy cherries, the forest floor, violets, a burst of orange, all framed by a smoky/flinty depth. This is a wine with extraordinary richness of flavour and fruit intensity – almost opulent, yet it remains beautifully fresh, lifted and graceful and has a good backbone of acidity. From one single vineyard site. 18 months in (2nd, 3rd and 4th fill) oak barrels. Only 800 bottles (3 barrels) made per year. 13% alc. Drink now – 3030.

JancisRobinson.com: “The heat of afternoon sun on this vineyard can be tasted in the power, dried fruit and quiet ferocity of this smoky, stony wine. It's Pinot with its roots, surely, in Mordor. The fruit glows with underground, furnace-lit ruby intensity. Tightly controlled. A Pinot channeling Syrah's soul. But it hasn't lost its Pinot-ness. Drink now-2032.” 17 points

Falstaff Guide: “"Sweet" wood aromas of caramel and vanilla meet a slightly reductive note and intense fruitiness of maraschino cherries. The tannins are very fine, yet firm, and the tactile sensation clearly reveals a limestone mineral undertone. The wine has tension, but also a certain generosity.” 94 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. 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

"The whole Valley was laughing at me, saying you can't do whole bunch Cabernet!" says Timo Mayer, who explained that he doesn't want to extract heavy tannins from his Cabernet, so he eschews new oak and ferments this wine using the technique of 'whole-bunch carbonic-maceration', which gives a soft extraction of flavour from the skins without the stalky, drying tannins that come from regular pressing-down and pumping-over. It makes for a hedonistic, silky wine, woven from delicate threads of blackcurrant, pomegranate, blueberry skins and purple petals - fabulously atypical for an Australian Cabernet. Timo's wines are now in huge demand and no one in the Valley is laughing at him now. 13% alc. Drink now-2040.

Press review:

The Wine Companion: “Cabernet from a north-facing slope on Hans and Anna Orth's vineyard in Coldstream. A combination of crushed fruit, whole berries and whole bunches. Matured in hogsheads (10% new). Fragrant with cranberries, boysenberries, plum skins, a little olive tapenade and well-judged florals from the whole bunches. Medium bodied, this juicy red is neither forced nor extracted and the sinewy, fine and long tannins are already in perfect harmony with the fruit. A delicious and atypical Cabernet.” 95 points

Vinous (previous vintage): "Brilliant violet. A heady and highly complex bouquet evokes fresh red and blue fruits, exotic spices, incense and vanilla. Stains the palate with vibrant bitter cherry, blueberry, spicecake, mocha and botanical herb flavors that become sweeter through the back half. Shows excellent clarity and floral lift on the youthfully tannic finish, which emphatically repeats the spicy note. The use of whole clusters (100%) really shows." 95 points

I’m so glad I’m not you when it comes to choosing a red Burgundy without tasting it first. Would I choose a Premier Cru from a great producer in an average vintage or a Bourgogne Rouge from a great producer in a great vintage or a Village Cru from an average producer in an average vintage? And that’s before you start thinking about the age of the vines or the producer’s decision to add whole bunches that year or the percentage of new oak. And you have to do all this in the face of the price too, which could be affected by quality, rarity, reputation or the winemaker’s need for a new sundeck. Good luck!

We are occasionally in the very fortunate position to be able to taste hundreds of red Burgundies side-by-side (the wines, not Lucia and I) and it’s the quickest and most effective way to determine which wines exceed the expectations of their price tag and we found this Gevrey-Chambertin standing out like a sore poppy/tall thumb at a tasting of over one hundred red Burgundies, flanked on one side by a Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru (£250) and a Gevrey-Chambertin Clos de Combes (£80) on the other. It was one of those moments when we both went weak at the knees, but luckily we were standing side-by-side, so we held each other up. It has all of that magical, ineffable Burgundian perfume that takes you to a mystical market somewhere where the aromas of fresh strawberries, sweet paan, oudh, gulkand, pomegranate syrup and dried orange peel fill the air and the palate makes you feel like you are tasting molten rubies. 13.5% alc. The lieu-dit 'Aux Corvées' lies close to the village, a stone’s throw away from the Grand Cru, Mazis-Chambertin, vineyard. Drink now-2036.

Customer Comments:

“This is so so good (for a more special occasion)!” - Mr. H. S.

“Their finest effort to date.” -The Wine Advocate, 100 points

This comes from one of the most dramatic vineyards in Tenerife, clinging to a cliff face on the north-east corner of the island. The wine itself is quite pale, like rosehip cordial. So fresh, so pure, so elegant, so Tenerife! The fruit is beautifully pared down, as if reduced to its bare essence. Thinly sliced strawberries, watermelon, rose petals and cold embers. Elegance… from a volcano!

A blend of Listán Negro, Baboso Negro, Negramoll, Vijariego, and 10% of white varieties such as Malvasía. Red basalt soils of volcanic origin. Spontaneous alcoholic fermentation with ambient yeasts in open vats using 100% of the stems. Daily punching down, and malolactic conversion in neutral French oak barrels of 500 litres. Aged in the same barrels for 11 months on its lees, without any racking. Simple really. Only 1,800 bottles produced. Organic farming.12% alc. Vegan-friendly. Drink now-2030.

Press review:

The Wine Advocate: “2021 was a cooler year, like 2016 and 2018, and they did longer macerations. The grapes were healthy, they got a little higher yield and it was all easy. The 2021 Táganan Parcela Margalagua is young and long, very balanced, complex and elegant, peppery, spicy and floral, with iron-like notes, raw meat and a salty twist on the finish. The wine is long and expansive. This was their finest effort to date, with a superb 2023 produced later at a similar level. Drink now-2034.” 100 points

EXTREMELY LIMITED. MAXIMUM 3 BOTTLES PER CUSTOMER. NOT AVAILABLE ON ITS OWN, MUST BE PART OF AN ORDER THAT MEETS OUR MINIMUM REQUIREMENT OF 6 BOTTLES. UK MAINLAND ONLY.

“Yarra Yering’s Underhill will leave you smitten by the indulgent sweetness of its fruit.” - Jancis Robinson

What a stunning aroma! It’s a heady cocktail of pummelled plums (ouch!), violets, grenadine, baking spices and yet more plums, those gorgeously scented Victoria plums, which is fitting, given where this wine comes from. It’s an extraordinary cornucopia of aromatic wonders and the palate isn’t too shabby either, showing an elegance and a translucency of flavour that is quite European in terms of weight and fragility (think Northern Rhone meets Margaux). It’s 100% Shiraz sourced from an unirrigated block planted in 1973. Watch out for a bit of natural sediment, so either decant or pour the last drops carefully. 13% alc. Drink now-2034.

Press review:

The Wine Companion: “Hand-picked from a 3.2ha block planted in 1973, whole berries fermented in half-tonne fermenters with stalk baskets, some batches with 20% whole bunches, one batch with 100%, matured for 12 months in French puncheons (30% new). Bright, deep colour; right from the outset, very different to the other wines in the release, with more spring in its step, more stalky/spice flavours behind black fruits, peppery notes inlaid into the broader mosaic of a constantly changing colour.” 96 points

Vinous: “Dark violet. Powerful aromas of blackberry, cherry preserves, succulent flowers, olive paste and exotic spices pick up a hint of smokiness with air. Smooth and expansive on the palate, offering spice- and mineral-accented black and blue fruit and candied violet flavors and a touch of licorice. Finishes on a repeating floral note, with impressive energy and smooth, well-knit tannins. Drink now-2035.” 94 points

Such a beautiful pale colour, like a ghost with a touch of rouge on its cheek. I don’t think I have ever known a wine as pale as this to have so much aroma and flavour, it’s truly astonishing. Rosehip and peony kick things off, followed by orange rind, raspberry tea and incense. It’s as ethereal and delicate as a Chambolle-Musigny and has a struck flint, mineral character that only adds to the impression that this is a Cotes de Nuits red, but it ain’t, it comes from vineyards about 3 hours north of Los Angeles. Amazing! 12.5% alc. Only 11 barrels made. 15% whole clusters and matured in 15% new oak. Drink now-2030.

It is early 2024 and General AI is still in its infancy, but I was curious to see what kind of tasting note ChatGPT would come up with if I asked it to write one, so here it is:

“Chanin Los Alamos Pinot Noir 2021 is an excellent wine that is sure to impress even the most discerning wine connoisseur. On the nose, this Pinot Noir exhibits alluring aromas of ripe cherries, blackberries, and plums, along with subtle hints of vanilla and spice. The aroma is further enriched by a subtle earthiness and a hint of smoke.

On the palate, the wine is silky and elegant, with a medium body and a lively acidity that provides a refreshing lift. The flavours of black cherry, raspberry, and plum are beautifully balanced with a touch of oak and a hint of clove, resulting in a wine that is complex and well-rounded. The tannins are supple and velvety, adding a touch of structure to the wine and ensuring a long, smooth finish.

Overall, Chanin Los Alamos Pinot Noir 2021 is an outstanding example of California Pinot Noir, showcasing the best of the region's terroir and winemaking techniques. It is a wine that can be enjoyed now, but also has the potential to age gracefully for several years, allowing the complex flavours to develop and mature over time. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a truly exceptional Pinot Noir.”

Hmmmm. Perhaps there will be a place for wine writers in the robot future after all.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com: “Smells of cranberry and raspberry fruit. Bright, silky flavours of cranberry and raspberry fruit are shot through with citrus peel and a hint of flowers. Faint tannins, excellent acidity. Hints of sour cherry linger in the finish with a touch of oak. Delicious. Drink now-2030.” 17.5 points

The Wine Advocate: "The 2021 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard has alluring, pure aromas of cranberry sauce, oolong tea leaves and tobacco, offering up something new with each return to the glass. The medium-bodied palate features crunchy fruit and finely chalky tannins, and its vibrant acidity highlights a fan of spicy accents on the finish. Drink now-2034." 93 points

Vinous: “The 2021 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard is gracious and effusive as wines from this site tend to be. Crushed flowers, bright, red-toned fruit, cedar, tobacco, and dried flowers all grace this refined, nuanced Pinot. Silky tannins wrap it all together. This is such a pretty wine. Drink now-2029." 93 points