This is the final part of three in which I go through some of the wines on show at Timberyard’s Spring Tasting in Edinburgh on 3^rd March. Here we are looking at wines brought in by Edinburgh-based merchant Element Wines. A number of wines were shown by Simon Lloyd and Steven Windsor. A relatively recent addition to the Edinburgh wine scene, Element has made quite an impact with its focus on organic and/or biodynamic, low intervention, terroir wines, which are available in a very wide range of Edinburgh (and beyond) restaurants and bottle shops.

Element Wines also distributes the wines of Carte Blanche in Scotland (see Part 1). In addition to the Element Wines table at Timberyard, a number of their growers were present to pour their own wines. I shall start with one of those which I think will appeal especially to my regular readers.

MOUNTAIN PEOPLE WINE – DAVID MORRIS

You may well have tasted wines made by David Morris before, because until 2019 he was winemaker at Richard and Joy Morris’s Ancre Hill Estate in Monmouthshire. Remember wines like their “Welsh Clockwork Orange” Albariño labelled Orange Wine, or that glouglou red petnat made from Triomphe d’Alsace, as well as those lovely traditional method sparklers etc?

David is now out on his own, working under the Mountain People Wine moniker, still in Monmouthshire, I believe leasing one of the oldest planted vineyards in the UK, Parva, which, among many changes, he has converted to biodynamics. He makes several cuvées from his own fruit, and I read that he has recently acquired back the Pinot Noir vineyard he planted at Ancre Hill. He also takes grapes from a friend in Frome, Somerset (Mayland Vineyard), who is principally a blackcurrant producer.

He also consults and hands-on makes wine for other producers, having studied first at Plumpton and worked in the UK (Nyetimber), France and New Zealand (with biodynamic winemaker, James Millton), moving back to Ancre Hill in 2013. Resolutely following a natural wine philosophy David uses all natural yeasts, and definitely no chaptalisation, the only inputs being sulphur, but only if deemed really necessary and then only up to a max of 15mg/l. The wines usually go through their malo, but only naturally with no forcing.

David’s wines remind me a little of England’s marginal terroir wine grower, Matt Gregory. I don’t know why. David’s patch of Monmouth is almost certainly sunnier and a wee bit drier than Matt’s East Midlands plots in Leicestershire, but there’s a similar vibe. Wine made on the edge, and thrilling for that very reason. Five wines were on show, three made from Somerset fruit and two from vines farmed by David Morris in Monmouthshire.

From Somerset we have Cowboys Don’t Have Curls “Blanc on Blonde”, “TAM” (This Ain’t Macon) and “Ain’t My 1^st Rosé”, all 2023 vintage. So, all are both good and super-interesting. Blanc on Blonde, riffing Bob, is a Pinot Noir vinified en blanc. I’ve drunk plenty of “White Merlot” from Switzerland’s Ticino region, which is almost all relatively unconvincing and way too expensive for me. I have drunk a little Pinot Noir vinified as a white wine from further north in Switzerland which has nevertheless been very good. This one is extremely fresh and refreshing. The acids are quite prominent but they merely carry the fruit.

This Ain’t Macon is interestingly named. It has perhaps a little in style to do with Macon, and it is made from 100% Chardonnay aged in a Stockinger cask, but as I said to David, it does remind me very specifically of Stéphane Tissot’s Arbois Chardonnays, with its very clean and fresh appley fruit, mineral spine and very slightly oxidative notes (Stéphane makes natural wines but it’s almost impossible to deduce that from tasting them). I laughed out loud when David told me that Stéphane was one of the people he had consulted about making Chardonnay, but then I have known Stéphane Tissot’s winemaking for over thirty years (and his parents before him).

I think the Rosé was a blend of 80% Pinot Meunier and 20% Pinot Noir. Very fruity but not as good as the Rosé below. That is not to take anything away from a tasty bottle, though.

From Welsh fruit, Parva Bacchus 2023 was very good. As a naturally reductive variety, this was made on lees but with no interference, such as lees stirring etc. The wine I thought was Parva Rosé but in the photo is labelled as “Gwin Poble y Mynydd Rhosyn”, was made from a field blend of fourteen varieties (I know there’s a little Huxelrebe, which pricked my attention, and David’s Parva vines go back to plantings in 1979). Made in stainless steel with no added sulphur, this is elegant, and a very “pretty” wine. I told David I thought it was pretty, but that was meant as a compliment, and he said he agreed with that description.

Maybe he was just being polite, but I am now on a mission to locate both the Chardonnay and the Welsh-grown Rosé, if I can find some, to drink at home. Excuse the slight confusion around some of these wines. The Chardonnay in fact I have seen on a retail shelf, but with a completely different label for the same vintage, something that David might care to clear up.

If you like Tim Wildman’s “Lost in a Field” pink petnat, some of whose grapes are incidentally harvested in Wales, then you will probably like this Welsh Rosé from the Parva fruit, though again, it’s more the vibe of the blend than direct flavour comparisons. There is no doubt we should be hearing David’s name up there with the other boundary-pushers in English and Welsh Wine (Tim Phillips, Daniel Ham, Ben Walgate etc).

ELEMENT WINES

I have spent a lot of time on David Morris but we still have to crack on with Element Wines’s table, so I shall work my way through, and as in Parts One and Two, spotlight some of my favourites at the end. Mention of the other producers will be briefer, but don’t worry, they will get a mention.

We began with two sparklers from Emilia Romagna. Vitivinicola Fangareggi Biancospino 2023 is a Lambrusco di Sorbara, but vinified white. It’s fruity and frothy, dry and if I say a little bit lean, I actually like that. It makes it as light and refreshing as the fun label suggests, but it isn’t ephemeral.

Puro! 2023 is, like the first wine, made by the Charmat Method (stainless steel tank fermentation), but the gas is not external and injected, but rather conserved from the first fermentation and re-introduced for the second. In other words, posh Charmat. Pure and clean red cherry fruit makes this palate cleansing. I’d grab either as a summer aperitif in a restaurant. The red Puro is a good charcuterie plate accompaniment, and equally a great lunch wine..

Folicello, also from Emilia-Romagna, showed two contrasting wines. Il Macerato 2023 is an organic frizzante labelled Bianco Emilia IGT. It saw twenty days on skins. The skin contact gives a certain structure which could come as a shock, and maybe it needs food. Gocce Rosse 2023 is a typical red from this part of Italy, in that there’s bags of brambley dark fruit and a bitter blackcurrant leaf finish. Both are well priced for the adventurous drinker.

Bioweingut Diwald is an old friend in a way. I met Martin several times when he was imported by Red Squirrel Wines (now Graft Wine), usually pouring alongside his old school friend, Arnold Holzer (Eschenhof Holzer). I’ve gone all sentimental, but I’ve not tasted a Diwald wine since 2018 (apparently). Now Martin is with Element Wines.

Three wines were shown: Riesling Fuchsentanz ’23, “Hautkontakt is not a Proper Word” ’23, and Zweigelt vom Loss 2022. The Riesling (translating as foxtrot) is definitely as zippy as the dance. Nice body, ripe fruit, great mouthfeel, and possibly my favourite of the three. “Hautkontakt…” is Grüner Veltliner, vinified 75% in acacia wood and 25% in stainless steel, with skin contact but bottled early. It has quite serious texture, a real “amber/orange wine”, one to shock a palate not expecting its structure. But I know this winemaker and if this is difficult now, I trust it will open if either left to breath or aged a little.

The Zweigelt is off clay, and is aged in stainless steel. I do like Zweigelt (or Rotburger if you are in the camp that doesn’t like to use Herr Zweigelt’s name). This has more weight than many I have drunk. It tastes like the wine I remember labelled as Grossriedenthal. The wines are made in Wagram, the first of the regions on the Austrian Danube upstream from Vienna (a constant stretch of vineyards which culminate in Wachau).

I remembered that back I the day I always tried to get a bottle or two of Martin Diwald’s Sekt, made from Grüner. I wonder whether Element Wines lists it?

Adega 100 Igual is a fourth-generation family estate of around ten hectares, based at Meinedo (Porto), but the organic grapes for this pair of Vinho Verde wines are grown in the Minho to the north. Sem Igual Branco and Tinto are both 2021 wines. The white (70% Arinto, 30% Azal) is vinified in stainless steel and it has retained its freshness.

The red (mostly Touriga Nacional and Baga pressed very gently, plus foot-trodden Vinhao) has fruit acids aplenty but it isn’t thin. For me, someone who wasn’t put off by red Vinho Verde first tasted in the 1980s (battery acid), this is very nice. If you have never tried a red VV, maybe opt for the white. I’ll buy the red. Both are nice wines made by an ambitious family and really well priced.

L’Arpette is a new producer making Gaillac wines out of Castelnau-de-Montmiral, a pretty village with an attractive Place des Arcades (I have visited), above the River Vère, west of Albi (one town I really do recommend a detour to). Albi was the place I ate my first Cassoulet and it was accompanied by a red Gaillac, Labastide de Levis if I remember correctly. The food was so good I remember the wine!

They showed a white blend of Len de L’El and Mauzac (which Mauzac is not specified) called Ce Blanc-Bec ’23. which was grassy with greengage (reine-claude) fruit. Arrose 2022 is a similar blend, but with 10% Braucol (a red grape also known as Fer Servadou in Aveyron). This adds the pale red colour (you may call it dark Rosé) you can just about make out in the photo. Le Pif de L’Arpette ’22 is 100% Braucol. I think the person tasting next to me didn’t like it. The texture and acidity of this wine means it needs food, and I suspect it would cut through the fat in cassoulet nicely. Some wines are not really made for the tasting table. Perhaps this was one?

Finca El Molar makes some value wines in Manchuela, a region of Spain that still has a poor reputation, which producers like El Molar are trying to change. This is a medium-large winery with 30ha at altitude on rocky, chalky, soils where a continental climate and a Mediterranean cooling breeze make for good potential, if complete commerciality (ie very high yields for starters) is set aside.

Although they grow a host of international varieties, the white shown here is a skin contact Macabeo 2022 which sees a one-week cold infusion before fermentation commences, so expect a clean wine with good mouthfeel. La Guarina 2022 is a blend of Bobal and Monastrell (aka Mourvèdre), 50% carbonic vinification, 50% pressed. Bright and pleasant, both wines are super-value. The Macabeo is available for under £20 retail, the red for a few pounds more.

Les Vignerons d’Estézargues is a very highly-regarded small co-operative in the Southern Rhône, not far from Avignon. Their distinction is that since as far back as 1995 they have been making organic and natural wines. All that they add is a tiny sulphur addition to wines deemed to need it. Two single plot wines were shown, both Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages-Senargues from 2023.

Coudette is 90% Syrah, inky, a touch of a bitter/savoury finish, mineral, almost more like a mini-Northern Rhône than a wine of the south.

“Domaine Andezon” is an equal blend of Syrah and Grenache. I’ve seen this listed as Domaine Anderson in English, so it may go out under different labels? It still has a density to it, but the fruit is more lifted, perhaps a touch fresher. That fruit is plummy with smooth blueberry, and I really like it. Both wines are 14.5% abv, which the new UK Duty regime will mess with big time. A shame as these wines are, on the shelf now, impressive wines at co-operative prices. They’ve thought about the labels too.

Favourites time. Red Lambrusco always tugs on me, so the Fangareggi Puro gets the first slot. There has to be a Diwald, and this time the Riesling Fuchsentanz gets my vote if I’m choosing one. However, I will go for Martin’s Zweigelt vom Loss as well, I think. Vinho Verde Tinto from Adega 100 Igual is in, for certain, and who could resist both of the wines from Senargues. L’Estézargues is such a superb co-operative and deserves our support, especially at current prices.

Last but not least a word on the other two producers present at the tasting, which are also imported by Element.                                                                                                          

CHÂTEAU DE LA SELVE & CROS DES CALADES (ARDÈCHE)

This is a biodynamic operation at Grospierres in the Côteaux de l’Ardèche, based on a 13^th century ducal hunting lodge, with the wine domaine now run, since 2002, by Florence and Benoît Chazallon. The 44-hectares of vines they control are planted on limestone at around 350 masl. This is a well-known producer now and so needs little introduction to many readers. They have a reputation for great value glouglou wines based on their widely available Petite Selve cuvée, a blend of Cinsault, Grenache and Syrah which retails for well under £20. They showed thirteen wines in total.

The Cros des Calades wines (red, white and rosé) are made from bought-in grapes from five vineyards close to their winery. The ethos is the same, biodynamic and minimal intervention. These are certainly good restaurant wines as they appear to retail between £13-£19.

CHÂTEAU DE MAYRAGUES (GAILLAC)

The Château de Mayragues is a very attractive scheduled historic monument, made from the very distinctive pale limestone found locally in the Tarn, here at Castelnau-de-Montmiral. Laurence and Alan Geddes founded this biodynamic estate, making natural wines from 13 hectares. Their children, Anne and Duncan, carry on the work their parents started, and Duncan was at Timberyard to pour their wines.

There is something of a specialism here for the rare local grape varieties. They have Braucol, Duras, Loin de L’El (aka Loin de L’œil and L’En de L’El) and Mauzac, along with a few international interlopers. Duncan showed seven wines.

Look out for the abovementioned Loin de L’El 2021, a local variety which always seems to reflect its terroir down in the southwest. 1609 2020 is a blend of Duras and Syrah, and 23 Fahrenheit 2021 blends those two varieties with Braucol and Cabernet Sauvignon. Both wines, despite the Syrah and Cabernet in the blends, reflect their region well.

Doux de Mayragues (2022 shown here) is an ageable sweet wine (they suggest seven to ten years, which seems reasonable). It is made from super-ripe 100% L’En de L’El grapes, aged nine months on lees in acacia.

Both of these producers were well chosen as attendees, showing a range of interesting bottles following Element Wines’s doctrine of terroir driven, responsibly made, low-intervention wines. Excuse the lack of detail as this article is already very long. If you see them, go explore!

This concludes my coverage of the Timberyard Spring Tasting. Next, we shall see what I was drinking at home in February.