Following on from Part 1 of my coverage of the Cork & Cask Winter Wine Fair 2025 (see article of 20/11/2025), we have four more tables to enjoy. Three wine agencies, Modal Wines, Roland Wines and Vine Trail, plus a brief look at Blind Summit Whisky, the independent bottlers from Leith. It was great to see Nic from Modal as I hadn’t seen him up here for a while. He’d brought an eclectic range from Portugal, Austria, France, Italy and Slovakia. Roland brought with him an equally varied selection from both France and points east, whilst Jack from Vine Trail almost stuck to their traditional French range, but somehow a Rioja (which I’m afraid I didn’t get to taste) crept in. Apologies to everyone for not being able to try every wine on their respective tables.

MODAL WINES

Planet Mouraz Vinho Verde 2017, Casa de Mouraz is a pretty good start here. Antonio Lopes Ribeiro and Sara Dionisio make wine in Dão, but after wildfires decimated their vines they had to look further afield for fruit. This parcel of very old vine Arinto, Avesso and Loureiro from the north of Portugal saw long ageing in wood. Mouthfilling but with nice fresh acids and bite. Lime and pebbles. £22.

Next, over to Austria. Christoph Heiss has worked in New Zealand, South Africa and Germany. His Malinga wines are always great value. He farms 12ha in Kamptal, north of the Danube and east of Wachau. HeissWeiss 2023 is mainly Grüner Veltliner with a little Müller-Thurgau. It sees a little skin contact and is aged in stainless steel on lees. Lively, fruity, savoury, with a bitter twist to ground the finish. £20.

I wasn’t aware that Modal Wines imports Elodie Jaume. Elodie made the wine at her family estate, Château des Chanssaud, for eight years. From the 2023 vintage the name changed to Domaine Elodie Jaume. She makes rather fine Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe (c.£47), but the quality of her fruit and winemaking is such that her two Côtes-du-Rhônes are very much worth seeking out. The Blanc 2024 was on show, Grenache Blanc and Clairette, only 6,400 bottles, made in concrete. Very classy and £24. Cork & Cask also have a little of its red sibling from the 2023 vintage for £22.

Next, two wines from Southern Burgundy and the Mâconnais. Domaine de Thalie “Les Pierres Levées” 2023 is a Chardonnay from Mâcon-Bray, not a wine I’ve drunk before. Four hectares of vines made in a mix of old oak and amphora. Lovely clean lines but good depth of fruit. A good wine for £30. The Pouilly-Fuissé “El Dorado” 2023 from Clos Sauvage is a step up, though as always when fashionable appellations get pricy, if it’s a stretch to afford the £50 this will cost, then maybe get the Bray. However, there’s no doubt this is good, certainly a fine wine, and it will be even better with some age. Chardonnay planted on that amazing middle-Jurrassic chalk/limestone. Just 2,800 bottles made. It even says “longue garde” on the label so don’t waste it.

Always superb, Nic showed two of his great Italian finds, Zerbetta’s Barbera from the Monferrato Hills, and Borgatta’s Dolcetto (if you are yet to try the latter wines of this old couple working very traditionally, you should). Equally, Slobodne, one of my three favourite names in Slovakia. Cabernet Sauvignon, in the form of their Liberator bottling, was on show.

But for want of space I’m going to skip the well-known Cheverny Rouge of Domaine Tessier and head deeper into the Central Vineyards of the Loire and Menetou-Salon. It’s an appellation that has long been seen as the poor relation to Sancerre, but Sancerre of both colours has become pretty expensive at or towards the top end. This 2023 Pinot Noir isn’t cheap but it is very good and still “affordable”. It’s from Domaine Bernard Fleuriet et Fils (who do also make Sancerre), and I was rather taken with it. Pleasantly pale but it has lovely pure fruit. That above all else comes through with an ethereal quality. £34.

ROLAND WINES

My first sip here was a wine that the Cork & Cask team say was one of the hits of their Summer Fair this year. “La Baignade” from Les Errances is a natural (with zero added sulphur) Chenin Blanc from Anjou. Apple and elderflower nose, saline acidity on the palate, rather lovely in its fresh simplicity, and £25.

Strekov 1075 is a name to conjure with in Slovakian wine. “Richard” 2022 is a varietal Chardonnay fermented in new, 600-litre, Zemplén oak, and aged eight months on fine lees. Again, fully natural wine here with no added sulphur. In my view, exceptional.

In the summer I drank a Rosé from Edgar Brütler, who makes wine in the foothills of the Carpathians on family land reclaimed from the communist regime when it fell. He had been in Germany up to that point, and learned to make wine at Geisenheim, then working for several top Austrian estates. It was very good. This wine, called Sefu Red, is a collaboration with a neighbour. It’s a blend, in this case not of Edgar’s local varieties, but of Syrah (66%) and Cabernet Franc (34%), which both see a short maceration. So, you get a simple fruity red, but a litre bottle for £20. Excellent party stuff.

Oskar Maurer’s Crazy Lúd Red 2023 was on taste but I’m not sure it’s worth expanding upon as I can’t see it on the C&C web site. However, Maurer does make the best Serbian wines I’ve tasted. Nor can I see Bott Frigyes “Just Enjoy Orange” (£30), from the Garam Valley in Slovakia. Both producers are worth getting to know. Bott Frigyes has a following in the UK, wholly justified. I have always been impressed by Maurer and Crazy Lúd is good value at £26 if you want to experiment with a good Serbian producer.

Thankfully Cork & Cask do have some of the White Label Refosk from Uroš Klabjan. Refosk, aka Refosco in Italy, does well in the Istrian Region where it is often very good. Klabjan is based in the kind of border country that made viticulture a dangerous nightmare under the iron curtain, but thanks to the EU things are simpler. But not this wine. A complex amalgam of dark black fruits with pepper spice, smooth tannins and good acid balance. Age it for a treat, perhaps a very pleasant surprise as well.

VINE TRAIL

Vine Trail boasts a list to die for if, like me, you love Alsace and Jura (and increasingly Bugey and Savoie), and if you yearn for the kind of Lottery win that would enable you to do more than stick your little toe into their Champagne section.

I always bang on about Bugey, don’t I. Bugey-Cerdon is an appellation for a gently sparkling wine that retains some noticeable residual sugar (and is therefore generally lowish in alcohol). The production method is similar to that for Clairette de Die. I am not so pretentious that I cannot enjoy, with a capital E, this gorgeous grapey wine as if it were a fruit juice (the acidity usually mitigates the sweetness like a German Kabinett does). This pink Ancestral Method sparkler from Balivet ranks among my three favourite versions, and it costs £25. Drink as an aperitif, with fruit desserts, or mid-morning if you need a lift. I drink at least one bottle every year, sometimes three.

One French appellation that has changed beyond recognition since I were a lad is Muscadet. The region is making loads of brilliant wines, but we see all too few here. Is it because it has a reputation as cheap and acidic, which comes from the 1980s Muscadet that I bet few can remember. Picpoul de Pinet, I’m sorry, but… Clos Armand is one of two biodynamic cuvées from Michel Delhommeau. It’s made from 70-y-o vines grown not on your usual Muscadet granite, but south of Nantes on volcanic gabbro and gneiss. Aged “sur-lie” of course, fruit from each soil type is vinified separately then blended before bottling. Fuller than much Muscadet, but still only 12% abv, this is juicy and textured, and exceptional stuff. Only £22.

Alsace, finally someone brought one! Surely a candidate for most dynamic and exciting region of France at the moment ought to have more representation on our shelves, for goodness-sake. Léon Boesch Grande Lignes Riesling 2023 is a stalwart at C&C, made by an eleventh-generation couple at this estate, but fully biodynamic and making wines which reflect their special terroir around the Rouffach-Guebwiller fault. One word? Saline.

Domaine Ardoisières is undisputably one of the top producers in Savoie. Brice Omont farms around 18ha now at Fréterive, St-Pierre-de-Soucy and Cévins. He’s a Michel Grisard protegé if that means anything to you. The vineyards are remote and chemical-free. Silice Blanc (2024), however, is a negoce wine. Brice buys Jacquère from Apremont and the grapes are both fermented and aged in fibreglass tanks for nine months. With minimal sulphur, this is lively and fresh. There’s a floral, citrus bouquet and quince and lime on the palate’s long finish. It will keep and improve but is delicious now. £28.

Chiroubles is not the most famous Beaujolais Cru by any means, but Daniel Bouland is a top grower. Based in the hamlet of Corcelette, near Villié-Morgon, he farms 7ha, all at 300-400 masl on a real mix of soils and terroirs. The Chiroubles comes from a tiny plot of 30-y-o vines on yellow sandstone. These are all natural wines here, and all see a whole-bunch fermentation. Bright colour, vivid cherry on nose and palate, it was so good to try this 2024. Excellent. £28.

From the Côtes de Bordeaux Francs we have a highly regarded 12ha property called Cru Godard. It has been run, since 1998, by Franck and Carine Richard, who farm organically. Average vine age here is good, at 45 years old. As the importer says, this is comparable to top Médoc Crus Classé. This 2022 is 65% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Malbec. It may sweat out 14.5% abv, but the fruit is fresh as well as rich. Low rainfall in this specific location helps especially the two Cabernets to ripen fully. The result is very good, and I think even better on the value spectrum at £22.

Vine Trail also showed Clos du Jagueyron Haut-Médoc. Based at Arsac, this is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon (60%) with 30% Merlot and 5% each of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. We have another good Bordeaux, but when I tasted both wines back in 2019, they were half the price they sell for now (this one at £20). I have to say that this alone would make me choose the Godard if I’m paying.

BLIND SUMMIT WHISKY

Blind Summit (who I profiled here on 01/08/2025, and who you will doubtless read more of very soon as I was at their tasting on Saturday) is a new independent whisky bottler. They source single casks from distilleries across Scotland and then re-rack and further mature or finish in another cask. Although the warehouse is elsewhere, they are based in Leith (Edinburgh).

The three whiskies I tasted at the end of the day were all bottles I retasted on Saturday, and I will go into a little more detail when the notes from that tasting come to be published. But the three I tasted were a 7-y-o Highland Park (£60) which they put into an Oloroso barrel, a 14-y-o Miltonduff (£70) from a Bordeaux barrique, and their powerful Mortlach 12-y-o from an old Australian Shiraz cask (£85).

These are all exceptional in their own way. Here, I will say just three things. First, Jamie and James seek out casks direct from producers, casks that have genuine provenance (for example, the Bordeaux barrique for the Miltonduff came from a famous Cru Classé). Secondly, every single whisky released is distinctive and different, and they show traits you’d expect (once again, taking the Miltonduff, it has a reddish hue and wine-like tannins just getting into the texture). Finally, these are small batches, generally between 100 and 300-or-so bottles, but in choosing to bottle in 50cl they are more affordable for the quality. The £85 Mortlach would cost at least £130 in 75cl. Same quality, you just have to sip it more slowly.

I hope you agree that the branding, including the overall design and the labels (which use local artisis), is spot-on too.

As with Part 1, I’m going to stick my neck out and give my favourite wine from each table. Bear in mind this is subjective.

From Modal Wines, Elodie Jaume Coudoulet Côtes du Rhône Blanc 2024 (£24)

From Roland Wines, Strekov “Richard” Chardonnay 2022 (£32)

From Vine Trail, Domaine Ardoisières Silice Blanc 2024 (£24)

Blind Summits Whisky, well, you pays your money…they are all brilliant, including their very well priced blended malt, of which more later…