July Part Two kicks off with two wines from Spain, one from the south and one from the north, totally different but both special wines. Then we head east to Austria’s Burgenland, from where it’s just a short drive to Moravia in Southern Czechia. The penultimate wine here is a North American gem, then we finish our six-pack back on the Baden border in Germany.

“Lumière” 2019, Muchada-Léclapart (Sanlúcar, Spain)

David Léclapart is, of course, one of the star “growers” in Champagne. This is a collaboration with Alejandro Muchada. David brings his expertise in biodynamics and Alejandro brings grapes from 2.5 hectares of the great Pago Miraflores at Sanlúcar, a source of fruit for so many wonderful wines I seem to feature here. They are making unfortified natural wines, with no flor interaction, from Palomino vines over sixty years old.

After fermentation this “Lumière” cuvée is aged 15 months in 400-litre French oak. There were 3,760 bottles made. The bouquet is sophisticated, with stone fruits and lemon zest to the fore, but other subtle notes, mineral and nutty, beneath. Hints of hazelnut, and less so, almond. The palate has some pear fruit softness and an intense salinity. It doesn’t have the directness of a biologically-aged Sherry, yet it seems a perfectly balanced table wine, as balanced as the finest Chardonnay.

Frankly, this is sensational. It’s a terroir wine, but there’s such purity. The long finish is magical. This retails for £58 from The Solent Cellar, although there’s a cheaper cuvée, “Univers”, at £38. Both appear to be in stock. These wines have a reasonably wide UK distribution.

“Quite” VV 2020, Veronica Ortega (Bierzo, Spain)

Veronica’s sensibilities must have been influenced by the places she worked at before breaking out on her own, because her winemaking is both sensitive to terroir and refined. Those estates were Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Comte Armand, both either side of Beaune on Burgundy’s Côte d’Or. The main criticism levelled at Bierzo when it became fashionable, at least the more commercial bottlings, was that the Mencia grape was not meant to produce big, even bruising, wines. Veronica’s are not like that.

She is based at Valtuille, near the town of Ponferrada. Bierzo is technically in Castilla y Léon, yet it undoubtedly shows a similar Atlantic influence to the wines of Galicia, to the west. There is also the River Sil’s influence too, which lies just north of Valtuille. Bierzo is well known for her old vines, the region having only started to achieve real commercial success in the 2000s, but Veronica’s Mencia is over 80 years of age, grown on iron-rich sandy soils.

After a two-week maceration, “Quite” is aged 50% in used oak, 50% in 800-litre amphora. The fruit is amazing, and indeed everything that Mencia should be about. Smelling the glass after an initial swirl, mulberry fruit leapt out. The first time I’ve smelt very distinct mulberry on a wine in a long time, but unmistakable. Let’s not forget the spice and herbs too, but they play a secondary role. The palate has smooth bramble fruit with a bit of texture (more than tannin).

I tasted this at the Cork & Cask Winter Fair last November. It was excellent, and of course I already rate Veronica’s wines highly, so I bought a bottle. Drinking the bottle in July it was even better. It cost £24, although they are currently out of stock. Vine Trail imports. Cork & Cask (Edinburgh) do have a good value Mencia from Castro Ventosa for £16, although it’s not Veronica Ortega, and it may not be a natural wine (though it is “vegan”).

Piroska 2021, Joiseph (Burgenland, Austria)

After a few forays down to Luka Zeichmann’s own small operation in the south of Burgenland, we head back up north here to the more familiar territory of his Joiseph partnership, around Jois, a village which sits almost exactly at the northern end of the Neusiedlersee, just west of the town of Neusiedl am See.

Piroska is a light red, and as such is a beautiful colour. The grape blend is 40% Blaufränkisch, 50% Zweigelt and 10% Pinot Noir. It makes a light and fruity combination with a little spice adding extra interest.

Luka’s wines are thoughtfully made and they are impossible not to like in summer, and Piroska should definitely be served cool or slightly chilled. The red and black fruits are zippy and lively, and this is a wine to refresh the palate, not to linger over with a dictionary of tasting terms. I bought mine from Cork & Cask for £24 (still available, I think). Prost Wines has some for a little more, and importer Modal Wines, although sold out of the 2021, seems to have a price of £29 on their web site.

I’d call this a brilliant wine for £25 but once it hops over £30 it may be a tough ask. I say that whilst continuing to believe that Luka Zeichmann is one of the young stars of Burgenland, with plenty of vintages in front of him with which to stun us.

Dark Horse Brut 2022, Petr Koráb (Moravia, Czechia)

Petr Koráb farms at Boleradice, where he is building his new cellars, hopefully just to complement his historic underground cellar which I was lucky enough to visit in 2022. I was already a fan of this magician, who fashions more wines each vintage than many an Alsace producer, which is saying something. Like that vintage’s tasty “Raspberries on Ice”, much enjoyed but not seen again, Dark Horse may be a one-vintage creation never to be repeated. If you can find a bottle, grab one.

The label has a strap line “Like a horse to run with the smell of dust and herbs toward the sunset”. It’s a poetic image, mirrored by a label which features a horse full of vigour. The wine reflects all of this.

Petr blends Amber Traminer with Karmazin (aka Blaufränkisch) and the local variety, Hibernal. It’s a red petnat, made by the Ancestral Method, fermented for the second time in bottle after undergoing a first fermentation and ageing in a mix of ceramic vessel and robinia wood barrels.

This has very good strawberry and raspberry fruit but it also has a real edge to it, created by texture and the very fine and vigorous bead of bubbles. Add bite and a little grip and you get a rather interesting, bright, red sparkler that coats the palate with ripe but slightly tart fruit. Concentrated, even intense, perhaps. Definitely a petnat with attitude. I think last time I mentioned this wine I said it was the best petnat I’d tried all year, and nothing has come along yet to better it, good petnats as I have consumed.

The problem is that there isn’t much around (hopefully you saw me mention Dark Horse back in March and bought some). A search on importer Basket Press Wines’s web site (my direct source for several bottles) shows no Dark Horse (though frankly any Koráb is worth trying), though that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have any. A search on the web will show one or two sources, of which Prost Wines may be your best bet (£26).

Freedom Hill Vineyard Pinot Blanc 2022, Kelley Fox Wines (Oregon, USA)

Kelley Fox makes some truly wonderful wines, not least those which rank among the finest Pinot Noir of a state renowned for scintillating examples of that variety. Perhaps a little hidden within her range, however, is this gem. Freedom Hill vineyard is located in the large Willamette Valley. More specifically, this site, established in 1981 by the Dusschee family between Dallas (not that one) and Monmouth, to the west of Salem, borders the Eola Hills AVA.

The vines here are on marine sediment, and the soils seem to have quite a profound influence on the wine, perhaps thanks to Kelley’s hands-off winemaking. The Pinot Blanc grapes were pressed gently as whole clusters, saw two days for the juice to settle, then were racked and fermented in stainless steel. Ageing was in the same medium, and the wine went through malolactic.

The colour is a pale lemon yellow. The bouquet is wonderful, citrus combining with sensual tropical fruits. The palate has a real mineral tension. It starts very refreshing, but builds complexity and a little gras in the glass. The abv sits at 13% but the balance is spot on. Subjectively, this ranks as my favourite Pinot Blanc, no question, and I like Pinot Blanc. I know I’m not alone in my opinion. I’ve been lucky to meet Kelley a couple of times, and I’m sure her thoughtful personality and kindness come through in her craft. Very human.

Not sure of the price, but I’m positive it’s affordable, at least compared to her top Pinot Noir cuvées. The importer is Les Caves de Pyrene, from whom I purchased it at the Real Wine Fair this year.

“Pur Jus” 2021, Max Sein Wein (Baden, Germany)

I’m sure by now you are pretty well-versed in the origins of Max Baumann’s wines, from Wertheim-Dertingen on the Baden/Franconian border. He continues to weave his magic, establishing himself among the best of young German winemakers. And you know what? Unlike some other countries, wines made by the German newcomers are generally still affordable, and certainly remain good value. For now.

This 2021 “Pur Jus” is a blend of 50% Kerner, 40% Gewurztraminer and 10% Müller-Thurgau. As with Pinot Blanc, I think Kerner is a wrongly neglected variety. It makes a few excellent wines on its own, and here it really adds to the blend. What I like particularly about this wine in general, even more than the specifics of its floral bouquet (the Gewurz certainly evident here), and its mineral palate, so full of tension yet not in any way dominating the very generous fruit and acid balance, is its overall feel. I’d call it its soul.

Max worked for a time at Gut Oggau (as well as in New Zealand, and with Judith Beck in Burgenland as well), and fanciful as it may seem, in this wine I somehow felt he was channelling something of the soul of that domaine. I know, it’s just a feeling, but it did strike me in that way. After all, most of us who drink their wines, and visit their cellars, are somehow changed so it must have a real and lasting effect on people who work there.

Max makes some excellent red wines, from Pinot Meunier as well as Noir, but his white wines seem to have evolved, and matured. This 2021 was as excellent as any of his reds, and although only coming in at 12% abv, it has become even more rounded with age. It remains well priced too. I paid £26 from Basket Press Wines. They may possibly have sold out, though they do show some other cuvées. Perhaps the 2022 is on the way?