The bumper June edition of my Recent Wines of 2024 runs to a third part this year. The final half-dozen wines here start with a Bugey (yawn, but you’ll thank me one day). Then we stay off-piste with Lagrein Rosé, a Moravian rendition of the well-known André grape, a rare sighting (too rare in this case) of both region and variety with a Luxembourg Moselle Elbling, a slightly more mainstream wine in a not so mainstream version (Amontillado), and finally something slightly more normal…a Jura Chardonnay. I can tell you, I loved every one of them (that’s why they’re here).

Bugey-Cerdon NV, Philippe Balivet (Bugey, France)

I swear to you, we are seeing a noticeable increase in the availability of Bugey wines in the UK. Well, I’m doing my bit. I’ve seen pink and red Mondeuse, and a couple of Chardonnays this year, and even a Poulsard, but Cerdon seems to be awakening a few wine geeks to its charms. Actually, this very old méthode ancestrale sparkling wine from the region on paper should have a lot of appeal, but of course production is too limited for it to become commercial.

Philippe Balivet’s children, Cécile and Vincent, now run this domaine at Mérignat, in the appellation’s northern sector. Up here, off the old main road to Geneva, long since relegated to almost a country lane by the Lyon-to-Geneva Autoroute, the wines make a nod towards Jura, whereas in the southern sector the wines most often resemble Savoie.

This cuvée is 100% Gamay, although you will find a few farmers who still grow and include some Poulsard in their Cerdon. Not here. The beauty of Bugey-Cerdon is that it is a grapey, fresh, Rosé with only around 7% alcohol, which can be drunk at any time of day or night. It’s like drinking strawberry-scented fruit juice. Lightly sparkling and frothy, the residual sugar is balanced by acidity. It doesn’t taste acidic but it does taste clean and pure alongside the sweetness, which the acids diminish on the palate.

I have now seen three different Cerdons in the UK in the past year, and all are good, although it should be noted that Philippe Balivet did more than almost anyone to promote Cerdon in France. I’ve bought this from Cork & Cask and Smith & Gertrude since I’ve been living in Scotland. Guess what, I still have more in my cellar (so let’s hope summer arrives soon, or at all). It costs around £24. The UK importer is Vine Trail.

As I know a number of readers travel to the Jura periodically, look out for this and other Balivet wines at Épicurea/Fromagerie Vagne in Poligny (and maybe in their Arbois store just off the Place de la Liberté). This is where I bought them regularly before they appeared in the UK.

Lagrein Rosé 2023, Cantina Terlano (Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)

If you’ve tried Lagrein without having been born in its region of production, then you are already in a small minority of grape hunters. If you have tried it, chances are it was in its most usual form, an autochthonous red grape variety of Italy’s mountainous Northeast, making a red wine of some density and a little weight. In the past, certainly when I first ventured there, it was only just beginning to be taken seriously, and as a red wine from a good producer it is well worth the proverbial detour to seek out. But here, we have a pink version.

The Cantina Terlano (Terlan in the local Austrian dialect) is the oldest co-operative wine cellar in Alto-Adige/Südtirol. They farm, among their members, a massive 150-hectares of vines. They are based right in the north of Alto-Adige, just before the Adige itself reaches the town of Bolzano, a little to the south, above which is the Brenner Pass and Austria, a little over an hour away by car.

In the past there were two versions of Lagrein Rosé made here, Lagrein Kretzer and Lagrein Dunkel. The latter was darker and maybe less fruity, but both could age, even if they were looked down upon by the old school wine writers. This excellent version is made with whole clusters undergoing a slow fermentation in stainless steel, followed by ageing on lees for seven months. As far as I can see, it is labelled as neither Kretzer nor Dunkel, just “Tradition”.

It certainly is a fruity wine. Red fruit sweetness on the bouquet (it’s a dry wine, but I’m sure you know what I mean), with soft red fruits on the palate. There’s freshness and a velvet texture, so that it refreshes the palate with fruitiness rather than acidity as such. It may not be a natural wine but with all its strawberry/raspberry/cherry concentration I’d defy anyone not to like it. Okay, it’s a Rosé for summer, yet it has the weight to go with quite flavoursome dishes and, as the weather has proved this year, sunshine is not essential to accompany it. For me, it just hit the spot that evening.

From Solent Cellar (£24), imported by Astrum Wines.

André 2017, Syfany Winery (Moravia, Czechia)

I have shown an interest in the André grape variety in these pages before, but most often I have encountered it in blends, not just in Moravia but also, notably, in Northern Burgenland as well. It is a late-ripening crossing between Blaufränkisch and Saint Laurent from the 1990s, developed in Moravia. People have said that it bears a closer resemblance to Zweigelt than either of its parents, and trying it as a single varietal wine, I can kind of see that.

Syfany is run by Jakub Zborovsky and his wife, Káya, who make natural wines together in Southeast Moravia, close to Vrbice. Not only do they make natural wines but they also try to source their wood locally, so this André is aged in Acacia. Acacia has become a popular alternative to oak in many parts of Moravia. It grows in the region and so it is very much part of tradition here.

This is a very easy-to-drink wine. The top note is cranberry on the nose, the palate starting with cherries but cranberry comes in on a slightly more bitter finish, along with a good lick of acidity. It has a lovely garnet colour and just a little tannic structure to hold it together. Just a little sulphur is added, but nothing else.

Two things worth noting. First, it tastes light and fresh yet it does pack a hidden 13% abv. This makes it more versatile than you might think. Secondly, you might have noticed the vintage, 2017. It may seem “easy-drinking” right now, but it has aged well.

Syfany were new last year (I think) to the Basket Press Wines range, and they make a number of quite exciting wines, especially as they are also one of the best value producers Basket Press imports from the region. This was just £20. I enjoyed their Ryzlink Vlašký last year (see Recent Wines September 2023 (Part 1) published 2 October 2023). I have a petnat to try as well, perhaps if the sunshine returns.

Elbling “Roche Liquide” 2022, Racines Rebelles (Moselle, Luxembourg)

This is a new natural wine producer based on the Moselle in Luxembourg. Kaja Kohv is originally from Estonia, but her winemaking journey began in Beechworth, Australia, working at one of the greats of Victorian wine, Giaconda. Her Luxembourg experience began with Abi Duhr, who has long been at the forefront of quality Luxembourg wine from his base at Gravenmacher.

It is at Gravenmacher that Kaja farms a small holding of vines which are over forty years old, directly over the river from her friend, Jonas Dostert. In fact, I was going to buy some of Jonas’s Elbling but I was nudged to try Kaja’s and I’m glad I did.

Elbling has long been a variety hated by the wine writers on the basis that it was an over-cropped grape which, apparently before the 1970s was Germany’s most widely planted variety. It is still planted widely in Luxembourg with around 123 hectares. I just read that it is now so unloved it has slipped to Number 23 in the German Grape Charts. Still, I doubt I have seen a grape variety with quite so many synonyms!

The key to Roche Liquide is low cropping of old vines, the trick that miraculously manages to turn any once-derided ugly duckling grape variety into a tasty swan. To extract flavour this gets a whole bunch press then eight months on lees, half in acacia and half in stainless steel. But the key is in the vineyard, where these mature vines sit on clay over limestone (remember, Dostert unusually has vines on limestone just over the river), and undergo serious regenerative farming.

No one would argue this is a complex wine by any means, but it has a lovely soft, appley, bouquet and a nice apple freshness on the palate, matched with a flavour that reminded me of pineapple chunks. Just 990 bottles were produced.

So, I’m just putting in a word for the Elbling revival on this stretch of the Mosel/Moselle. 24€ from Feral Art et Vins in Bordeaux old town. No known UK importer, currently.

Amontillado “I Think”, Equipo Navazos (Montilla-Moriles, Spain)

The Sierra de Montilla and Montilla Altos both possess white chalky soils, but unlike the Jerez region, 200km to the southwest, here, way north of Malaga, in the Province of Cordoba, the grape of choice is Pedro-Ximenez (PX).

This is a rare wine, around 1,000 half-bottles only. The idea behind “I Think” came from Equipo Navazos’s UK importer, Alliance Wine. I’ve only seen the Manzanilla “I Think” before, but this Amontillado is a saca of June 2023, taken from a single cask at the bodega of Pérez Barquero in Montilla. The average age of the wines in the cask would be fifteen years. Although you will note the abv on the bottle to be 16.5%, the wine is unfortified and the alcohol is natural. Well, it is sunny here.

We start with very intense aromatics in a dark-coloured wine. Walnut and fresh lemon citrus combine with a very noticeable spice element. There’s also a hint of the broth you get from adding water to dried mushrooms, it’s uncannily the same. But it’s just a hint, not overpowering. It’s a unique wine in many ways, and dry, whereas PX is better known for its sweet wines. Very distinctive, very “gourmand”.

It retails for £22 at Solent Cellar, but despite its rarity it is available in a few other independent wine stores as well. £20 or more might not be cheap for a half-bottle but this is fantastic, and a very good way to sample the Equipo Navazos magic for less money than the “Botas” will cost you. As I mentioned above, Alliance Wine is the importer.

Chardonnay “Le Glanon” 2020, Fruitière Vinicole de Pupillin (Jura, France)

I’m all in favour of checking out the wines they sell in cheese shops, whether in France or the UK. You never know what you might find. This was a bit of a find on several levels. I won’t deny that what drew my eye to it on the shelf was its label. It turns out that this Chardonnay is from the Pupillin co-operative, Juravinum, thirty members farming 60 hectares of vines around the village. This is also a zero-intervention wine with no added sulphur. At least one co-op in the region has woken up and smelt the coffee.

The 25-year-old Chardonnay vines are grown at 250 masl on iridescent marls. The fruit is harvested by hand, destemmed and pressed after a few hours on skins into wooden vats. It ages for twelve months in foudres. There’s a fragrant bouquet of lifted white flowers and the palate has creamy pear with apple acidity. The acids on the finish show lemon and lime citrus.

It’s not a complex wine, not in the sense of some of the Chardonnays now coming out of the region. Yet this bottle was pure, satisfying, very tasty and for sure I would drink it again with pleasure. It’s nice to see a hundred-and-fifteen-year-old wine co-op doing something a bit innovative and different, taking note of what the wider region is making a success of, and indeed sticking a nice, eye-catching label on it (especially as I have a wild swimmer in the family).

I found this in IJ Mellis Cheesemongers (St Andrews Branch, also in Edinburgh and Glasgow) and it cost around £27. It is available at a few indies, and you can also try Sip Wines online.