Recent Wines, June Part 2, is a little different to Part 1. No spectacularly old and expensive wines I can no longer afford, but plenty of quality and interest, inspiration and pleasure, in this second half-dozen wines. We begin with a Manzanilla with a difference, followed by a great value Champagne in magnum, a Langhe Nebbiolo that makes no pretence at being a Barolo and an easy-going Swiss red which is actually affordable. Then we head down south in Italy, to Sicily, before finishing on a high note with another new Mosel name working his family’s centuries-old estate on the Mosel (think Jonas Dostert levels of star quality but even less well known in the UK).

Manzanilla “Florpower” Bota 101, Equipo Navajos (Sanlúcar, Spain)

What is different about this Manzanilla? It is bottled under Equipo Navazos’s “Florpower” label, in an ordinary wine bottle. It is in fact a proper vintage Manzanilla (2016), yet fully fortified to 15% abv. So, unlike the regular Florpower wines, it is not an unfortified table wine.

We have here what has become a standard EN route of 100% Palomino Fino grapes harvested from the chalky white soils of Pago Miraflores La Baja at Sanlúcar. It was fermented and aged as a table wine (to 12% alcohol), having the same origin as their Florpower Bota 84, but some lots were reserved to be fortified and saw an extra three years ageing in butts. It is intended as a vintage expression of the vineyard, but equally as the traditional fortified product of that vineyard of a given year.

This is a magical and complex Manzanilla. If you are looking for a simple wine to slake a thirst before dinner this is not it. It is certainly salty, delicate, racy, flor-influenced, but it also has much more than a mere streak of vinosity. Whatever the complex background to this wine, what they did worked. It’s magnificent, and a little different, both in concept and flavour.

A wine from my last direct import from Equipo Navazos, before post-brexit shipping became uneconomical. The UK agent is Alliance Wine.

Champagne Gallimard Cuvée de Réserve Blanc de Noirs NV (Champagne, France)

This was the main number for our anniversary party, poured from magnums, though I think the backup 75cl also got opened…of course. Gallimard is based in Les Riceys, a village (well, more an amalgamation of three Hamlets) in the Côte des Bar (formerly The Aube in Champagne parlance), which is very close to the northernmost border with Burgundy.

Although the closest significant wine region to the south (and it is pretty close) is Chablis, it is not Chardonnay for which Les Riceys has become famous, but Pinot Noir, grown on mostly kimmeridgian limestone terroir. Pinot Noir appears, of course, in that hidden secret, Rosé des Riceys, a hauntingly ethereal pink wine that ages remarkably well. However, Pinot Noir for Champagne has always been a feature here, and I remember at least a decade ago reading that Krug, among other houses, sought Pinot Noir here (in the days when I could afford to wonder what went into Krug Grande Cuvée).

Being a very rural location, there were very few “names” in the game, but in recent decades that has changed. Some of the most “cult” Growers are down here. The twin sub-regions of the Côte des Bar are now among the most dynamic vineyards in Champagne.

Didier and Arnaud Gallimard run this sixth-generation domaine. They have ten hectares, mostly Pinot Noir from mature vines, plus Chardonnay. This multi-vintage is 100% Pinot Noir and has 30% reserve wines, and 10% wines from a perpetual reserve (or a solera as some, like the Gallimards, call it).

The colour has a very faint pink tinge from the gentle pressing of that 100% Pinot Noir fruit. The bouquet is richly fruity, all red summer fruit pudding with some tropical notes. The palate, from magnum, shows some age, with elegance and poise (I don’t know when it was disgorged, I’m afraid).

This seems to have a common role as a House Champagne, both here and in the US. I can see why because it is remarkably good value. The price was £70/magnum and £32/bottle from The Solent Cellar (via mail order/online). In a world where a bottle of Champagne in the UK has to cost pretty much £50 to be worth buying, quality-wise, over other better value traditional method wines, this is a nice alternative if you want “Champagne” on the label. I would add that magnum is always the way to go, if you can. There is a difference. Well, I mean, it’s not Krug but I think it’s pretty good.

Langhe Nebbiolo 2021, Az Ag Schiavenza di Pira Luciano (Piemonte, Italy)

I do love Barolo, but the opportunity to drink a properly aged bottle, or of Barbaresco for that matter, gets more infrequent as the cellar depletes of them. Now, I know that Langhe Nebbiolo is nothing like those wines, but in the same way that we used to look for a tasty Bourgogne Rouge back in the days when finding a good one was rare, a well made Nebbiolo from Piemonte can be worth the search. Langhe Nebbiolo is not always as good a bet as Nebbiolo from Piemonte’s outer sub-zones, because it has the suspicion of young vines or of “Barolo reject”, but not always.

Operating from Serralunga d’Alba since 1956, this estate is now managed by Luciano Pira, the son-in-law of one of the two founding brothers of this ten-hectare property, Vittorio and Ugo Alessandria. Schiavenza, the estate name, refers to the sharecroppers who once worked it. I see that the estate also appears to have an agriturismo you can stay at, right in the heart of the Barolo vineyards.

For this wine, the grapes macerate in concrete tanks for twenty days, with a couple of pumpovers per day. The wine matures in Slavonian oak, then in bottle before release. So, all very traditional. The bouquet is floral, a scent of roses, with a lightness there, the wine not revealing the full force of its 14.5% alcohol on the nose. The palate mixes dark cherries with a balsamic richness, and I would say just a hint (a pleasing one) of rustic earthiness.

We are not talking fine wine here, although their Barolo itself is said to age very well and seems to have a following, but getting back to the so-called lesser appellation here, it is indeed tasty and satisfying. Pretty much what I was hoping for, and for just £15 from Smith & Gertrude’s Portobello (Edinburgh) wine bar/shop.

Gamaret-Garanoir “Expression” 2021, Cave de La Côte (Vaud, Switzerland)

I’m pretty sure I’ve posted this wine before but I can’t find it in any of my Recent Wines articles. The Cave de la Côte harvests grapes from the largest appellation in the Vaud Canton in Western Switzerland, running from the eastern outskirts of Geneva to Lausanne, its gentle slope running down to the north shore of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva). These are not dramatic, steep, terraced vineyards like those of Lavaux to Lausanne’s east, and in past decades the wines have been largely somewhat more prosaic than those of their more lauded neighbours.

This well known, large, co-operative has looked to improve both quality and interest here and has begun making some more experimental wines. To this end, we have a pair of interesting crossings in this blend. Gamaret is Gamay x Reichensteiner X (1970), and its sibling Garanoir comes from the same parents. Both were bred for their rot-resistance.

The profile of this wine is very much based around black fruits, mostly blueberry and blackcurrant coming through on both the nose and palate. With the bouquet we can add in some nutmeg tickling the back of the nasal passage. There is a hint, but only a hint, of tannin. It holds the wine together without creating real structure.

Definitely easy going, quite versatile. I’m mentioning this again because it is relatively easily available, and is a rare example of a wine that is inexpensive, at least from Switzerland: £26 from The Solent Cellar, £28 from importer Alpine Wines online. I’d probably not be quite so tempted at £30, if you know what I mean, but definitely worth the twenty-six quid I paid for it. If you want a decent red from Switzerland and don’t want to try one of the expensive cult offerings that periodically hit the shelves here, this could brighten up your Tuesday or Wednesday evening.

Catarratto 2021 Terre Siciliane IGP, Fabrizio Vella (Sicily, Italy)

Catarratto is said to be the most widely planted white variety in Sicily, but it can make interesting wines when treated with respect, as is almost always the case with so-called lesser grape varieties. Fabrizio Vella farms his fruit both organically and biodynamically up at an altitude between 350-450 masl near Marsala.

All hand-harvested, the fruit goes through a gentle press and into 50hl acacia casks for 24 hours on skins. It then sees stainless steel, where it continues to ferment for two weeks without the skins. The altitude of the vineyards helps the grapes retain their freshness through the colder nights. This is very much a natural wine, if you accept a tiny addition of sulphur. The result some might call an orange wine, though it’s not overtly so in flavour terms.

The bouquet is a rather attractive sweet apple. The palate is textured with apple, lemon and lime, along with some herbal notes. The importer says “lemon drizzle cake” if I’m remembering correctly. Anyway, if so, they are spot on. The darker colour and texture, and the fact that it is allowed to go through malo, make this in some ways a quite serious white, but one to enjoy rather than think too much about.

Especially as this isn’t very expensive, for a “natural wine”, only £17.50 from Cornelius Beer and Wine in Edinburgh, as part of a very well chosen present (especially as people never usually buy me wine). Alliance Wine is the UK importer.  Cork & Cask lists a couple of Fabrizio’s other wines, less expensive still. A Catarratto without skin contact and a Nero d’Avola at around £11. Not tried those, but this blue-label is very tasty.

Wintricher Ohligsberg Riesling Kabinett 2022, Max Kilburg (Mosel, Germany)

Having brought you Jonas Dostert, with the added bonus that his wines are now partially available in the UK (Newcomer Wines), I now bring you another undoubted rising star of the Mosel Region, Max Kilburg. Max, who is good friends with Julian Haart from whom he has taken much inspiration, farms his family’s vines at Weingut Geierslay. The Kilburg family has been making wine on the slopes above Wintrich since 1465, and Max is, I think, the nineteenth generation to do so. The estate is unusual for the Mosel in that alongside Riesling, they have Pinots Noir, Blanc and Gris, and Merlot.

Despite the unusual varieties, this is a traditional estate. The Riesling vines for this Kabinett are on steep slopes, supported by a single pole. Where Max differs from the historical norm is in making low intervention, natural, wines. This Kabinett is light and fresh and in 2022 comes in at just 7.5% abv. It has a wonderful delicacy, but I understand 2022 here was a “more classical vintage after the racier 2021s” (Russell at Feral).

Alongside concentrated but generous grapefruit and lime, I got some yellow plum and apricot, all as pure as you could imagine. This ‘22 has lovely depth. There’s no hurry to drink this now, but I wish I had a half-case for drinking through the summer. It was yet another brilliant recommendation from the man I trust most on Mosel Kabinett (see source below).

It makes me cross that I have allowed myself to run down my bottles of this style in the cellar. In fact, I’m running short on flute bottles in general where once I had so many, but that does attest to how often I grab them to drink. Wines like this are harder to find because the style is unfashionable, yet are there any better summer wines? This cost 18€ at Feral Art et Vin (Bordeaux). I don’t see a UK importer. I hope that is “yet”!