A little later than usual, Part Two of the wines drunk at home during May had to make way for a couple of more pressing articles. You may remember that in Part One we were rather spoilt with a mix of obscurity sitting beside some stand-alone fine wine. The Saumur Blanc from Antoine Sanzay was very special after a little extended bottle age.

Here we have what I hope is an equally eclectic mix, though no Nepal this time. If a sparkling wine made in Burgundy using Alsace fruit isn’t eclectic, then an amphora Bacchus from Devon surely is (with a contender for label design of the year). Rennersistas from Austria are always welcome on my blog, as is Magula from Slovakia. We also have a second appearance from an Alsace producer moving towards lower intervention, and to finish, a sub-£30 petnat that it took me ages to track down. Those who know a soul-filled wine when they see one will know why I was persistent.

À Bulles Perdues 2022, Naïma & David Didon (Burgundy/Alsace, France)

This couple live at an old farm at Chassy-le-Camp in the Côte Chalonnaise, within the AOC of Bouzeron. David has previously worked at Domaine de Montille in the Côte de Beaune, and with friends Dominique Derain and Julien Altaber.

The couple farm just two-hectares of vines, a single vineyard plot on yellow limestone, but they have room to expand. Farming here is biodynamic, with a horse used sparingly for vineyard work, so as not to compact the soil. They are working with a homeopath to assist with vine health, and are planting trees in the vineyard as part of an agroforestry project.

However, this sparkling wine takes its biodynamic fruit from Alsace. We have 90% Riesling with 10% Muscat, made by the same traditional method as any Crémant, but obviously in this case labelled Vin de France. In some ways you wouldn’t call this a complex wine but it is very enjoyable and very good indeed. It’s very fresh and has a nice spine of acidity. You get perhaps a little Muscat on the nose, as a discreet floral element but the Riesling dominates the palate. The finish is pleasantly savoury. It reminds me not of a Crémant de Bourgogne, nor d’Alsace, but something closer to a good, fresh and youthful Sekt. I’m sure it will age, but I loved the purity (with a capital P) of this 2022.

I’m a fan of Sparkling Riesling done well, which this certainly is. It was an excellent suggestion (as always) from Russell at Feral Art & Vin (Bordeaux), and cost me €32. I can’t spot this cuvée in the UK but there are a number of Didon wines available through Uncharted Wines, and currently I think one via Provisions London. I am assured all their wines are worth checking out. I shall be tasting some Uncharted Wines offerings soon, and perhaps this wonderful small domaine will be present?

Artefact 2022, Castlewood Vineyards (Devon, England)

This is rather a hidden gem of English wine, because as far as I can see it doesn’t have a high-profile distribution. I managed to drink a few bottles of the 2021 (my first vintage but I think this cuvée was born in 2019). Although my first taste of the 2021 was purchased by a friend, I’m sure if I had seen this on a shelf I’d have been tempted, merely by the unusual bottle and the label. As I said in my intro, the label of this next vintage (2022), which continues a tradition of graphically depicting the year’s defining moments, is even more striking. It is created in the style of a traditional decorative Ukrainian folk art called Petrykivka painting.

The wine is made from the GF1 Bacchus clone, grapes harvested in October 2022. They were crushed and destemmed into four 300-litre Tuscan amphorae where they first spent 21 days on skins, fermenting with indigenous yeasts. Next, a period of ageing for eleven months on lees in the same vessels. Finally, the wine was racked into stainless steel tanks and allowed to settle for four months. The wine was neither fined nor filtered.

Castlewood makes a range of English wines, including sparkling wines, but this one is an ongoing annual collaboration with Luke Harbor, Group Beverage Director for the Pig Hotels Group. Just under 1,000 bottles were made.

This is very clearly Bacchus on the nose with grapefruit to the fore, but there’s also blood orange. Nice acids combine with exotic fruit flavours and texture from the lees contact and the amphora. Everything is nicely melded together.

It’s a remarkable wine that I think needs wider appreciation. I think it is exceptionally good, so much so that I begin to doubt may palate, perhaps. Anyway, I shall continue to seek out the next vintage if I can’t find another ’22.

I have only ever seen this in the cheesemonger IJ Mellis (Edinburgh and St Andrews), where it cost £31. It has been listed in the past by Forest Wines, and it is sold out on the Castlewood Wines web shop, apparently listed there previously for only £22. Definitely worth checking out if you ever find one, especially if you write about English Wine. No info yet about a 2023.

Waiting for Tom Rosé 2021, Rennersistas (Burgenland, Austria)

Gols is the kind of wine village you dream of when it comes to top natural wine producers but there is no doubt that when Stefanie and Susanne Renner invaded their father’s winery a special energy was unleashed here. All credit to Helmuth for trusting the vision of his daughters, one forged whilst working with the two Toms (Shobbrook in the Barossa and Lubbe in South Africa and at Matassa in the Roussillon). Brother Georg is now firmly on board to push the tractor (among other important viticultural tasks).

One of the Toms, I could not possibly say which, was regularly late, hence the name of the eponymous cuvée (in red, white and pink). For this vintage of the Rosé biodynamically grown Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch were direct-pressed and, post-fermentation, aged on lees in used wood.

This isn’t too pale. The bouquet is still fruity and vibrant and the palate has zesty red berry flavours galore. Fruit and mineral texture combine so you get a stream of strawberry and watermelon flowing over rocks and pebbles. It’s the kind of uplifting palate that uplifts the spirits too.

This was from Newcomer Wines, the importer, and cost £30. You can find Rosé at half the price but it will be less than half the fun and, I hope, half the thrill. I bought it this year. If you are the kind of person who worries that we never get the most current vintage of Rosé in the UK, you need not fear here. In fact, contrary to the propaganda that says natural wines cannot age, I think many improve in bottle, if well stored.

Frankenstein 2022, Charles Frey (Alsace, France)

Domaine Charles Frey is based at Dambach-la-Ville, just north of Sélestat, which town sort of marks the boundary between the higher-sited vineyards of the Haut-Rhin and the generally lower-lying vineyards of the Bas-Rhin to the north. If you read the older wine gurus, they will suggest this distinction is, in general, qualitative, especially with most of the Grand Crus being sited in the southern part. If you visit Alsace and look for yourselves you will find that perhaps most of the exciting stuff going on there now takes place north of this line.

Much of the excitement centres around lower intervention viticulture and winemaking. As the natural wine pioneers have forged ahead their influence has spread to larger domaines, who had previously worked more conventionally. The Charles Frey domaine is now run by Charles’s grandchildren, Julien and Thiébaud. They have 14-hectares of vines planted on a wide range of local terroirs, including on the Grand Cru Frankstein. Farming has been organic since 1996 and they now follow biodynamic practices.

If the name of this cuvée sounds remarkably similar to that of the abovementioned Grand Cru, it’s for a good reason. The regulations for Grand Cru sites in Alsace don’t allow for blends. Things tend to move slowly here, and it is only relatively recently that Pinot Noir and Sylvaner may be labelled Grand Cru on a small designated selection of these sites.

Frankenstein is a nice name for this cuvée. It is a blend of Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Muscat. In my opinion these blends, popularised decades ago by the majestic wines of the deconstructive genius, Jean-Michel Deiss, point a way to the future here. We have, from a granite base, a wine full of exotic fruits, spice and wild flowers. I found hints of all the varieties mentioned above, but no single one dominates. There’s a place for single varietals, but the complexity of the blend does give me an impression of a wine of place, not just a “Riesling” etc.

The wine spent twelve months in ceramic vessels and the result is a palate that is smooth, ever so slightly creamy, and certainly very long. The bottle became a little cloudy towards the end, giving a little more (soft) texture, and body.

For me, this tastes like a terroir wine. It seems ridiculous that you cannot release a cuvée made from a selection of varieties which, if bottled on their own, could be labelled Grand Cru, yet here we have a mere Vin d’Alsace. I will need the logic explained to me. You and I know that at every level some of the most interesting and innovative wines made in Alsace today are blends.

This came from The Solent Cellar. They sell, I think, five lines from Charles Frey, but their system shows just one Frankenstein left (£31.50). Also try Butlers Wine Cellar (Brighton), who have four Frey cuvées listed online, including this one and their Crémant, which I’ve not tried (£22.50, quite inexpensive if it’s any good).

Baccara 2019, Magula (Little Carpathians, Slovakia)

Magula is one of my favourite producers in Slovakia (others include Strekov 1075, Slobodne and Bott Frigyes). They make exciting natural wines in the Little Carpathians region, close to the Austrian border in the southwest of the country. The current generation is the fourth to be making wine here and viticulture is now completely biodynamic without synthetic inputs. The same can be said in the winery.

Baccara is a blend of Blaufränkisch with Rosa, plus a splash of Dunaj and Hron, both local crosses. Dunaj (Slovakian for Danube) crosses Muscat Bouchet x Oporto with St Laurent, whilst Hron, named after a tributary of the Danube, crosses Arbouriou and Castets (both SW France).

This is a cuvée of just 1,085 bottles, named after the black rose depicted on this wine’s lovely label. Dark in colour, the bouquet is one of concentrated cherries and berries, which combine with a floral quality which fits nicely. The palate is very juicy, but with the grip of ripe tannins which still linger in this 2019. They add a nice edge and bite.

I first tasted this vintage back in March 2024, and my recollection suggests it is no less concentrated and fresh than it was fifteen months ago. I can never decide which Magula wine I like the most, but for certain I always enjoy this one a lot. It’s probably the Magula wine I’d recommend first if you want to explore more from Slovakia.

Available from Basket Press Wines, £31.

Pet-nat 2021, Piri Naturel (Nahe, Germany)

There are a few producers who those deeply into German wine with a modern outlook seek out, but who have perhaps not quite raised their profile above a more general radar. Christine Pieroth is notable for two things which are very much at the forefront of both regenerative viticulture and combating climate chaos – Agroforestry and modern disease-resistant hybrids (known in German speaking Europe as PIWIs).

She is also an inspired fan of permaculture, a method of farming which is slowly gaining ground all over the world today. Part of permaculture includes the management of water resources. With massive floods (Ahr) and the very opposite when the Rhine became too shallow for river barges recently, water management will be key

Christine made her first harvest in 2018. She has grown her domaine to a still small 7-ha in which she has planted Souvignier Gris, Calardis Blanc, Sauvitage, and Regent hybrids alongside more traditional vinifera varieties (Riesling included, of course). The ecology she is creating alongside the vines is a first for the Nahe, a calculated experiment which the locals might feel uncomfortable with, but which is based on a system being widely trialled elsewhere.

Why plant trees, hedges and shrubs? It is first and foremost simply to increase biodiversity, something lost to most wine regions. Biodiversity should promote a healthy ecosystem and, eventually, benefit the vines which are clearly suffering from an extended period of chemical inputs and monoculture.

Anyway, I could go on for pages about what Christine Pieroth is doing. You can read a lot more about this producer in Camilla Gjerde’s wonderful second book, Natural Trailblazers (Now What Publishing, 2024).

This petnat is made from approximately 30-year-old Scheurebe and Müller-Thurgau, off loamy soils at 200 masl. The first fermentation is in stainless steel and is continued in bottle, where it remains undisgorged before sale. It is raw and lively, with pear, peach and lemon sherbet. It has a gentle sparkle (not sure what the pressure measurement is).

I’d describe it as a gorgeously fruity petnat with a savoury twist and a soulful, gentle side to it. That said, I would perhaps not keep this 2021 much beyond this summer on account of its delicate softness. Christine is taking her long family wine tradition and giving it a modern outlook with the environment, ecology and regeneration to the fore, along with sustainability in the face of very noticeable change in the climate of the Nahe, which, shielded from rain by the Hunsrück Mountains, is certainly a challenger for hottest and driest wine region in Germany today.

My bottle came from Cork & Cask (Edinburgh), but was, I think, their last. The importer is Roland Wines. They list it for £28.