David Crossley's Wide World of Wine

Timberyard Spring Tasting 2025 Part 2 – Passione Vino

Posted on 06/03/2025 by dccrossley

Part Two (of three) of my review of Timberyard’s Edinburgh Spring Tasting covers the wines of Passione Vino. Part One, already published, covers Carte Blanche Wines.

Passione Vino is an importer/merchant I don’t know too well, although you may have read my articles on the recent Clay Wine Fair, where they had a table. Passione Vino is an Italian specialist (who’d have guessed) which began trading in 2003. As well as their import business they have a bar/osteria between Old Street and Shoreditch in London, which incidentally gets great reviews so maybe if you’re in London, check out their web site. Sales and accounts up north are handled by Greg Turner, who I met for the first time at the aforesaid Clay Wine Fair. He gets bonus points for remembering me, but he is a great ambassador for the PV brand. Let’s see how PV shaped up against CB, shall we…

PASSIONE VINO

I think there were nineteen wines on this table, though I’m not really counting, but it means I need to be brief. As I did in the last article, I shall list some of my absolute favourites at the end. That is a hard task. The wines here were all very well chosen, and there certainly were some real gems.

Arcari & Danesi Franciacorta Dosaggio Zero DOCG 2020 (Lombardy) is an excellent example of a wine from Italy’s premium sparkling wine region. Some Franciacorta wines, like some of their Champagne counterparts, are well made but lack genuine excitement. This one is pretty good. Organic and biodynamic viticulture produces a blend of Chardonnay with a bit of Pinot Blanc which sees three years on lees with no dosage. This cuvée sees no cane sugar. A fine bead leads to a lovely textured palate, fresh and steely but with good lees development clearly showing.

Iborboni “Cripto” Metodo Classico, Aversa Asprinio Spumante DOP takes us pretty much to the other end of Italy (Campania) with a sparkling wine made from the very rare Asprinio variety. Asprinio is known for high acids and they generally come with an admonition to drink young. However, this is an enjoyable sparkler, and I love acidity in refreshing fizz. Good value and an interesting bottle to pull out for wine friends.

Bosco Sant’ Agnesi “Covante” 2022 is a wine made from Coda Di Volpe, also from Campania. Made in tiny quantities, this is a gold-flecked wine with scents of citrus. The palate is much less neutral than when this variety comes from the larger producers. It has medium weight with pear and a quince-like bitter finish. I think it retails for a reasonable £27-ish, considering the tiny quantity that is made. I liked this, but it was somewhat overshadowed by the next three bottles.

Ca’ Liptra “Kypra” 2022 is a Verdicchio from Cupramontana in the Marche. Concentrated yet elegant, this has concentrated lemon pith flavours with a fresh, floral nose. Vinification is in cement. Exciting. I know PV mention the very same under several suggested food pairings but my notes read “perfect quiche wine”. Perhaps made for picnic perfection.

Maso Bergami Riesling Renano 2022 is from the wide Trentino DOC. Grown at a little over 500 masl, it is aged in traditional large old oak casks. The bouquet is floral, the palate waxy. I’d say that the nose doesn’t prepare you with the wow-factor you get when you taste it. I believe that this wine has seen some noble rot on the grapes, although it is a dry wine. That might help explain the sheer concentration here, which made it one of the standout wines on the table, and well worth the £40 retail price.

La Casetta “Incanto” Pigato, Terrazze dell’ Imperiese IGT 2023 comes, of course from Liguria. We can argue the distinctions between Vermentino and Pigato, for which the latter is supposedly a separate clone, identifiable by its speckled berries (hence the name). This is another wine with a nose that is a little more “shy” than its palate. Quiet bouquet, then the palate, Boom!. Softly textured, fresh, some concentration, overall lovely mouthfeel. Don’t be put off by the dull label.

Castello di Monsanto “Fabrizio Bianchi” Toscana Bianco IGT 2022 comes from a Tuscan estate which needs little introduction, although I think far fewer readers will know its white wines than its reds. The grapes are 100% Chardonnay, a wine which harks back to diversification in the Chianti Classico vineyards in the 1980s. It is named after the grower who planted the vines. Those first Tuscan Chardonnays, boy were they oaky (remember Isole’s?). This is nothing like that. It’s very elegant, the wine being aged two-thirds in stainless steel and one-third in oak tonneaux on lees for seven months. Only two things would stop me buying it. First, the three previous wines, and second, this estate’s superb Chianti Classico is three quid cheaper, and if I saw that on a shelf it would be gone.

Vike Vike Barbagia Bianco 2023 comes from a part of Sardinia where the wines are uniformly expensive. Grape hunters will find the Granazza variety (I’ve seen several spellings but went with the one on the label) in this lovely Sardinian wine. Only circa 1,800 bottles are made from what was once a mere blending variety, yet one autochthonous to Sardinia for centuries. The wine, whilst not exactly Green Chartreuse, definitely looked green in the low light at Timberyard. There’s lemon on the nose, but definitely mint as well. Herbal notes dominate a mineral palate. It’s a fine wine, all the better for being slightly unusual, but the £63 retail price is beyond poor wine writers, I fear.

Aldo Viola “Krimiso” Terre Siciliane IGT is made from the classic white variety of northwest Sicily, Catarratto, here grown at Alcamo. This is a wine that saw a six-month gentle maceration of unpressed whole bunches on skins, but in stainless steel. The darker colour reflects this, as does the wine’s tannic structure, suggesting further age. It does show elegance and class though. (apologies – no photo).

A’Vita Rosato 2023 is a pink Calabrian IGP wine from the Ciró region. I only know red Ciró from the large producer, Librandi, but this is a different kettle of fish. Some call producers like these the Ciró revolutionaries, and A’Vita arguably started the renaissance of small estate producers here.

The focus is resolutely on terroir, and the vines used here are actually a mere ten metres from the sea. The grape variety is Gaglioppo, one of Calabria’s obscure but well known varieties. Twelve hours on skins in stainless steel is enough to produce a pale cherry colour. Ageing, also in innox, is for a short few months after which you get a pure raspberry bouquet and, by contrast, a textured mineral/saline palate with a bitter-ish finish. Not your average Rosato, I love it and want some for summer. I really do. £31 retail. Greg says it tastes like Campari. Spot on Greg!

Pianogrillo Frappato 2022 is another Terre Siciliane IGT/IGP. Frappato is one of my two favourite Sicilian varieties (with Nerello Mascalese, of course, with which it is usually a total contrast). My Sicilian education involved plenty of Frappato from COS. This one sees a short fermentation and ageing yet it is more “serious” than many examples I’ve come across, and indeed more savoury. A very nice wine but not necessarily what you might expect. I like it.

I Mandorli Rosso Toscana IGT is (it says here) a non-vintage cuvée blended from 80% Sangiovese with 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc, made and aged in concrete. It’s light and fruity, what I think would be a very good choice on a restaurant list, though this estate makes some expensive wines and this isn’t cheap, at least retail (if £32 is correct, that would double at least in a restaurant). I tasted an excellent Vermentino from their Suveretto vineyards at the Clay Wine Fair, my favourite of three Vermentinos there, but I think it costs more than fifty quid a bottle.

Sandro Fay Valgella 2021 is a single site Valtellina Superiore, one of several sold by Passione Vino. I’ve a big soft spot for Valtellina, a forty-kilometre slope along a river valley (the Adda) in Northern Lombardy. I’ll seek out Nebbiolo (known as Chiavennasca here) from anywhere outside of Piemonte, just to try it, and certainly in the hands of a few producers in Valtellina (especially ArPePe, of course, but also including Nino Negri and Sandro Fay) it makes wines to rival Barolo and Barbaresco. Valgella is one of the four “crus” you need to look for (along with Inferno, Sassella and Grumello). The vines are on terraces. I think “Inferno” gives you an idea of the “Côte-Rôtie-like” slopes, just below the Swiss border. Fantastic wine but would I be wrong to say drink at ten years old (plus)?

Sergio Genuardi “Salgemma” 2022 is yet another Terre Siciliane. PV seems to know Sicily very well, and in this case it’s quite pertinent. The variety in this wine is Nero d’Avola. Sicily has rather a lot of very commercial, sometimes over-ripe and over-alcoholic, Nero. This is thankfully not one of them. Grown inland from Agrigento, this is one of four cuvées made by Sergio from a single hectare of vines. This is only his second vintage and, although his output hardly seems commercial, this is a remarkable wine. It’s probably the best Nero d’Avola I’ve ever tried, and I have certainly drunk plenty of good ones among the dross.

Conterno Fantino is another very famous name on the PV roster, a producer of fine Barolo since 1982, based at Monforte d’Alba, one of the Langhe’s famous villages. Befitting a fairly large estate of twenty-seven hectares, they produce far more than just a range of Barolos (can’t bring myself to type “Baroli”). This wine (2022 vintage) is a single-site Barbera under the Barbera d’Alba DOC. What can I say. It is smooth, impressive, very nice actually, but it weighs in at 15% abv. Okay, I know 15% can be well-balanced but even half a bottle still gets you more than tipsy. Some people like to suggest you can have a glass of wine and still drive. Not this one. At £38 it’s pretty much on the nail for top quality Barbera these days, though.

I Custodi “Aetneus” Etna Rosso 2018 is a nicely aged single Contrade wine from the northern side of the volcano. Vines are at 750 masl and higher. The varietal split is 80% Nerello Mascalese and 20% Nerello Cappuccio. This is a top producer and the vines are over 100 years old. Expect when aged to see similarities with very fine Burgundy. This wine in bottle looks sold out on the PV web site, but they do have magnums for £128. If you can afford it, grab some before someone decides to “tax the rich”. I think in magnum this would be magnificent with perhaps three plus years in the cellar. It will, of course, potentially live a lot longer.

Walter Viberti Santa Maria Barolo “Capalot” 2019, is from a producer I’ll admit to never having come across. It’s a wine that is very nice, very engaging, and at the same time really interesting. I say the latter because its whole feel is very much old school. I’m old enough to have lived through the ridiculous, mostly media-hyped, so-called Barolo wars. Well, media-hyped except for one famous producer burning his father’s big old wood and bringing in some toasty new barriques, and a couple of brothers falling out.

Much as it was all just a bit of a pillow fight in the dorm, this single cru Capalot (from just north of La Morra, the only “Capalot” cru wine I can recall ever seeing) was aged in 1,000-litre old oak casks, as Barolo generally was back in the day. After two years in wood, it is kept another year in bottle before release. And yet this is a fairly approachable wine with a classic floral bouquet and some dark liquorice on a spicy palate. Although I usually age my Barolo, I’d love to see what this tastes like next Christmas.

Bressan Schioppettino 2018 was one of my wines of the day here. From the Friuli region’s autochthonous red variety, this is bottled as Venezia Giulia IGP. We have all heard, I’m sure, about the high concentration of rotundone in Schioppettino, which gives the wine its peppery concentration, maybe with a hint of Szechuan Pepper heat as well. You will find high-toned acids here, with underlying blueberry fruit. It’s quite complex, partly I suspect as it was aged in five types of wood (oak, cherry, pear, chestnut and acacia) and is also very nicely different if not in fact unique. Top producer, stunning wine, which I suspect would benefit from a good many years ageing yet. Hmm, £59 retail. If you can afford it, highly recommended for cellaring. Sometimes the most exciting wines are just out of one’s grasp these days.

Buccia Nera Vin Santo Colli Etruria Centrale DOC 2020 was a lovely way to finish at the Passione Vino table. I didn’t spit this Tuscan Vin Santo. I’ve drunk these wines for decades, but they are now restricted to Christmas treats. This is a very easy drinking version. The nose is fresh and the wine is bright on the tongue, and even though it is just approaching the sweeter end of the VS spectrum these days (sweeter than the nose suggested, but not too sweet), it wasn’t at all cloying. The grapes are dried for four months and then fermented in chestnut and oak. The result is a whole list of fruits (fig, apricot, apples and raisins) on the nose and palate. Like all good Vini Santi, it is long and complex with decent acidity, and 15.5% abv, which is fine for a sipping wine. £37 for 500 ml, which I guess compares not too badly at all with current VS prices, and for these types of wines generally.

So how did we do? I’d say a draw in a very high scoring game, but then I’m only joking, it’s not a competition. My favourite wines here were, as with Carte Blanche’s offering, very hard to choose. Also, these are my own choices, based on both objective and subjective considerations. Try to see whether my notes on the other wines strike a chord with you.

I did say I loved the three wines from Verdicchio, Trentino and Liguria, with the Riesling Renano made by Maso Bergami topping that trio. I’d buy all three, but I would love someone in Edinburgh to stock that Maso Bergami (and tell me). The Vike Vike wine from Sardinia was just so intriguing, very special, but out of my league now. I really did like the A’Vita Rosato from Ciró an awful lot, and that’s certainly in my bracket (but don’t expect your typical pink wine). The Sandro Fay Valtellina Superiore would definitely be on my list, and so would I Custodi’s Aetneus from Etna. In order to cap what could be a long list, and this time an expensive one, I could easily be more than tempted by the Bressan Schioppettino, but I may need to buy some Lottery scratch cards first.

Great wines enthusiastically presented. Part Three will, as I said in my intro to Part One, cover the wines presented by David Morris (Mountain People Wine, Monmouthshire) and more generally, those of Edinburgh-based Element Wines.

Timberyard Spring Tasting 2025 Part 1 – Carte Blanche Wines

Posted on 05/03/2025 by dccrossley

The spring tasting season got off to a chaotic start in Edinburgh on Monday. Rather like the cliché about buses coming along in twos and threes, there were four wine tastings and a whisky tasting on the same day, all at widely dispersed venues. This could potentially be a shame for overall attendance, because the Edinburgh wine scene is certainly nothing compared to that in London.

Tutto Wines at Montrose would have been more than tempting, but for their limiting attendees to “buyers only”, but for me (and evidently for others, judging by comparative numbers), the obvious choice was Timberyard’s Spring Tasting. It was the only “multiple agent” event, with wines shown by Carte Blanche Wines, Passione Vino and Element Wines, along with a few winemakers under the Element Wines umbrella showing their own wines, and even, if all this were not enough, a well-stocked free-pour table.

As is increasingly the case, I don’t really have the will to taste a hundred wines in a day, like I used to. However, I did manage to sniff, slurp, photograph and take notes on around sixty wines, which I’m going to divide into three articles. There are unmissable wines in each.

Part One will focus on Carte Blanche Wines, partly out of politeness as they put me on the guest list. Part Two will cover Passione Vino, and Part Three will divide between the super-interesting wines of David Morris (formerly winemaker at Ancre Hill and now making his own wines in Wales) and Element Wines.

If there seem to be more wines here than you can take in, despite my attempt to break this tasting down, I have highlighted my very favourite wines (a tough choice) at the end of each article.

CARTE BLANCHE WINES

Ben Llewelyn founded Carte Blanche in 2009, initially to import the wines of growers he’d met when working in France. Ben has had an illustrious career in wine, beginning, I think, in Oddbins back in the day when it was arguably the UK’s most innovative wine company, through to becoming a director of Enotria Winecellars, a company that was instrumental in turning me on to Italian wines when I was a wee lad down in London.

Ben Llewelyn with Alan March (Mas Coutelou and A March in the Vines)

I should perhaps mention that long-time friend of Carte Blanche, and now an employee, Ruth Spivey was instrumental herself in introducing me to a number of people on the Edinburgh wine scene when we moved up to Scotland in 2022. I can’t thank her enough.

The producers shown here all presented a pair of wines, the first to show what they can do at entry level, the second being a wine near or at the top of the range. It’s a fascinating comparison to make, and one which really gives the measure of a producer in a snapshot. The Carte Blanche ethos is “terroir, purity and drinkability” (from the CB web site), one which the European wines on show at Timberyard easily fulfil.

We opened with a pair of wines from Muscadet. Vincent Caillé’s Domaine Le Fay d’Homme is probably known to many readers. Muscadet 2023 is a blend of terroirs but mostly vines on mica schist soils, adventurously made in underground concrete cubes. This is much more than basic Muscadet, with a fine mineral element.

Muscadet Gorges 2020 is a cru wine from very old vines. Aged twenty-four months in 600-litre foudres on lees, but with no pumping or stirring, it comes from one of the region’s most exciting crus, in the south of the Sèvre-et-Maine sub-region. Muscadet has almost silently crept up in terms of quality and is now a place where you will find some of the best value and most under-rated serious wines in France. Serious, maybe, for the Gorges, but “drinkability” is still to the fore.

Domaine Cheveau is a 14-ha family estate near Fuissé, the most famous village of the Mâconnais. The whole vineyard is worked by hand and no agri-chemicals are applied. Macon Solutré-Pouilly 2023 is, of course, Chardonnay, from clay and limestone soils located in a tiny plot below the spectacular Solutré rock. Vinified mostly in stainless steel but around a third in old oak, this is so impressive for what is supposedly an entry level wine with around a year’s ageing before release.

Pouilly-Fuissé Vignes du Hameau 2023 is made from a selection of fruit located in three plots, all premier-cru. It is fermented and aged on lees in 600-litre used oak for 14 months. It is young, but there’s plenty of depth. It’s a beauty, but for drinking now the Solutré provides plenty of excitement. Wait for this Fuissé a few more years.

Okay, I know, but the light was low and it’s a miracle this was the only blurred photo to go unnoticed, but I thought the wines were too good not to show the labels!

Camille Braun is a completely new grower to me. Based at Orschwihr, in the far south of Alsace, they are within sight of the great Ballon d’Alsace. This is one of the hottest and sunniest parts of France, and yet Christophe Braun manages to make wines with both phenolic ripeness and low alcohol. The holding is quite large, around 18-ha, but farming is biodynamic and all wines are low intervention. Sometimes a little sulphur is added, other times none at all.

The Edelzwicker “Melting Potes” 2023 is just so good, if like me you are into these once ubiquitous and now fashionable once more blends. We have a base of Pinot Blanc and Sylvaner with smaller amounts of Riesling, Chasselas and Gewurztraminer. Beautifully scented, this has a lovely perfumed bouquet, spice and warmth on the palate, but also fresh acids and a bit of texture from lees ageing. I’d totally buy this for summer picnics and the beach. If you are so inclined, it would make a perfect breakfast wine too. Don’t tempt me.

Riesling Pfingstberg 2021 is from the local Grand Cru. 12.5% abv for a GC wine in Alsace is very rare, so that commends the wine straight away (in other words over-ripeness avoided). Off mixed soils, ageing is half in oak, half in innox. Another wine to age, I’d suggest, but it’s already a nice steely, mineral, Riesling.

José Antonio Garcia moves us to Spain, and Bierzo in the northwest of the country. I always have a soft spot for Bierzo. I visited the region not far short of forty years ago (honestly!) and later it was one of the first regions of the so-called “New Spain” I became interested in, mostly via Raul Perez and his Ultreia cuvées, in the 2000s. José works an amazing 29 tiny parcels in Valtuile de Abajo, all biodynamically and with zero synthetic inputs.

Dona Blanco + Godello 2023 is made from old vines of these two varieties, grown on sandstone. It’s a zesty white, refreshing and if initially simple, let it linger on the palate and see more unfurl. It is very nice but a bit in the shadow of the Palomino Corullón 2021 though. A sought-after wine from the vertiginous slopes of Corullón, which José shares only with Alvaro Palacios, this is a marvel. From 0.2 ha of a rare chalky outcrop, the vines are 120 years old. The wine is just so concentrated, but also drinkable. One of several standouts at the Carte Blanche table.

Weingut Thörle will be known to many readers, especially this Rheinhessen estate’s entry-level Spätburgunder. It’s a very good example of affordable German Pinot Noir, a village blend from 2022, aged one year. Plenty of cherry fruit with a bit of texture. I’d never tried their Probstey Spätburgunder (also 2022) before. They call it a Grand Cru, although these Rheinhessen sites are not officially classified. 0.3ha of old vines on a south-facing slope of pure kalk (limestone). A wine of considerable potential, which should not be wasted, especially as the previous wine is drinking so well.

Fabien Jouves is another stalwart of natural wine. Cahors is where we are in France, Tu Vins Plus Aux Soirées 2023 being a glouglou vin de soif of considerable smashability (Copyright Goode, used with permission). A blend of several red grapes with a short cuvaison. His Mas del Périé Les Acacias Malbec 2021 focuses on the Cahors grape, tasting here like little or nothing you would find from the variety in a beefy Argentinian version, for sure. Fabien also calls this his Grand Cru. Fermented and aged in both amphora and concrete egg, it pumps out a mere 11%abv, but there’s such concentration without any great weight, flab or over-ripeness. A keeper, still, but what you’d expect from this producer in terms of quality.

Bodegas Abeica is a fourth-generation producer at Abalos, northeast of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, itself just a short drive from Haro. The hilltop town of San Vicente, with its early medieval castle keep, is high on the agenda of many Rioja tourists, and Abeica is noted for its guided tours and stone lagares. This is a family winery now using all its own fruit and with a rising reputation.

Chulato 2023 is said to be Abeica’s house wine, a Rioja Joven, mostly Tempranillo but with some white Viura added. Juicy fruit and fresh fruit acids make for a delicious modern red. I’d buy some, for sure. El Bardallo 2022 is a parcel wine, and one which employs 30% white grapes. High-toned with Cherry and violets, a nice wine to show as it’s a little different to most Riojas you’ll taste.

Aseginolaza y Leunda keeps us in Spain, but takes us to Navarra. When I was cutting my wine teeth, Navarra wine was (on the whole) unexciting but that has completely changed. This is an example of that change, a small five-hectare organic estate at San Martin de Unx. Jon Aseginolaza and Pedro Leunda are natives of San Sebastian, and resolutely Basque. These low intervention wines are bottled with just a small addition of sulphur.

Birak 2023 is a varietal Grenache, 40% whole bunch pressed. I found it had a rather odd nose, yet the palate was fantastic. Deliciously fruity with a bit of texture. Camino de Otsaka 2021 is the big boy here. A tiny plot of 0.1 hectare of Grenache, made only every few years, this is unquestionably grippy/tannic and young, even at over three years old, but it has concentration, elegance and finesse, and certainly some brilliance.

I think these two wines, and the two from Rioja above, illustrate well the dilemma the retailer faces. The senior wine is without doubt a wine of real quality, yet with a hefty price to match (though for Otsaka not as hefty as many here). On the other hand, the entry-level wine is just so amazingly drinkable and, in context, perhaps far easier to sell. Wine lovers should try to grab the senior wines, but the junior wines have that appeal you always get with a fine producer’s entry level.

Julien Mus/Domaine de la Greveirette is a producer I have never come across from Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe. Ju de Vie Rouge 2023 is a multi-varietal blend in the local tradition, but one made using no Syrah. These are nursery vines off what some see as unfavoured sand and silt soils. Very drinkable. Domaine de la Graveirette Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge 2020 is from two parcels up on the Crau plateaux. Biodynamic, mostly Grenache plus Syrah and Mourvèdre. Impressive and not too alcoholic, despite 14.5% abv (I’m tired of 15.5% Châteauneuf if I’m honest).

Finally, Ben opened a couple of singular treats from José Gil. Gil is also at San Vicente de la Sonsierra, with hillside sites as high as you can go in this sub-region of Rioja Alavesa. These are tiny plots making hand-produced terroir wines, very much the direction quality Rioja is traveling now. The soils are mostly alluvial sandstones and clays, and average heights of 400 masl, some as high as 750 masl.

José’s San Vicente de la Sonsierra cuvée (2023 here) is made from 80% Tempranillo with 15% Grenache and 5% Viura. This is no mere village wine. The vines range from 80 to 130 years old. Half destemmed, half whole bunch fermented, aged 50-50 in concrete and old French oak, this is structured but shouting latent complexity. It already has a lovely mouth feel. Seek it out. Bardallo 2023 is scented, concentrated, elegant…stunning. The fruit is so sweetly intense but it is savoury too. Like Garcia’s Corullon (above), it is a remarkable wine.

That is the end of our visit to the Carte Blanche table. There are some stunning wines here, and it’s almost too hard to single out merely a few, but I will try. If buying for myself, I’d grab the Domaine Cheveau Solutré and Camille Braun’s Edelzwicker for glugging whites, and similarly Jouve’s “Soirées” and Abeica’s Joven “Chulato” as gluggable reds. For my big hitters, Garcia’s Corrullón for a majestic white. For ageable reds it’s harder but the Navarra Camino de Otsaka impressed, as did both wines from José Gil. I was going to keep it to a six-pack but there’s nothing here I’d throw out (if money no object), and many more I’d include in a mixed full case.

Next up, Passione Vino, taking us to some wonderful Italian regions with wines to match. As here, some genuine stunners to come in Part Two.

Posted in Artisan Wines, biodynamic wine, Fine Wine, Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Merchants, Wine Tastings | Tagged Abeica El Bardallo 2022, Alsace Wine, Aseginolaza y Leunda Navarra, Bierzo, Birak 2023, Bodegas Abeica Abelos Rioja, Bodegas Abeica Chulato 2023, Camille Braun Edelzwicker, Camino de Otsaka 2021 Navarra, Carte Blanche Wines, Christophe Braun Orschwihr, Domaine Camille Braun Orschwihr Alsace, Domaine Cheveau Fuissé, Domaine de la Greveirette, Domaine Le Fay d'Homme Muscadet, Dona Blanco + Godello Blend, Fabien Jouves Cahors, Grand Cru Pfingstberg, José Antonio Garcia Bierzo, José Gil Bardallo 2023, José Gil Rioja, José Gil San Vicente de la Sonsierra 2023, Julien Mus Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe, Macon Solutré-Pouilly, Mas del Périé Les Acacias Malbec, Muscadet, Muscadet Gorges Cru, Palomino Corullon 2021, Pouilly Fuissé Vignes du Hameau, Rheinhessen, Rheinhessen Spatburgunder, Rioja, Terroir Rioja, Thörle Probstey Spätburgunder, Timberyard Spring Tasting March 2025, Tu Vins Plus Aux Soirées Jouves, Vincent Caillé, Weingut Thorle | 1 Comment

More Newcomer at Montrose

Posted on 24/02/2025 by dccrossley

Montrose bar and restaurant on Montrose Terrace in Edinburgh not only gives its famed sibling Timberyard a run for its money in cool ambience and top-quality wine, it is also becoming a place where I seem to taste any wines Peter Honegger of Newcomer Wines brings up to Edinburgh. Peter was up here with Milan Nestarec for a special dinner, including Nestarec wines and a schnitzel I was very sorry to miss. I did, however, manage to fit in a solo tasting of a few wines before a train dash.

It was great to meet Milan again, as it has been a long time since I’ve seen him, despite being very briefly in his village, Velké Bilovice in Moravia, in the interim. Milan’s “Forks and Knives” red and white cuvées were the first Czech wines I ever tasted, purchased from Newcomer, for whom Milan was their first producer from outside of Austria.

Milan and Peter at Montrose

Milan Nestarec Forks & Knives (Red) 2020 is a blend led by Frankovka/Blaufränkisch. I was able to compare the 2020 with the 2019 vintage, the latter from magnum, and in many respects, these are totally different wines. Let’s start with the 2019. It is lively and even has a faint touch of volatility. That’s not an issue, it’s clearly a zesty, fruity natural wine. The 2020, however, is seemingly on another level. Quite a bit more serious, savoury and grippy. I’m going to suggest that whether or not you have drunk the 2019, this 2020 is definitely worth seeking out. I think Milan feels he has moved his winemaking up a level, and Peter would certainly agree. £36 for the 2020 vintage (both red and white cuvées) from Newcomer Wines.

Rieffel Crémant d’Alsace 2020 is one of my very favourite Alsace Crémants, as indeed is the pink sparkler Lucas Rieffel also makes in the top Alsace village of Mittelbergheim in the vibrant north of the region. I would suggest that I like this wine so much because it is slightly atypical. The blend itself is atypical to begin with. So much Crémant in the region has been made using Chardonnay in more recent decades, but Lucas blends Auxerrois, Pinot Gris and Riesling here. It is very dry, with zero dosage, and is light, as in “lemon-fresh”. It sees nine months in foudre, which adds a little weight to balance the zip, so that it tastes in no way insubstantial, yet completely lacks the occasional heaviness one finds with the wines made from easy to ripen Chardonnay in this most sunny of French regions. Disgorged November 2022. This is definitely a wine which should appeal to, and intrigue, Champagne lovers, especially on price: £35.

Raphaëlle Guyot “L’Aurore” (Burgundy, Vin de France 2023) comes from vines cultivated by Domaine Verret at St Bris-le-Vineux to the west of Chablis. St Bris as an appellation is for Sauvignon Blanc, a variety which has seeped into this peripheral part of Burgundy from the Loire Valley, over the hills to the west (less distance than many might imagine). This wine is, however, 100% Chardonnay, both vinified and aged in oak.

Raphaëlle has around 1.5ha under biodynamic cultivation, her plan being to create a larger mixed farm with cereals and cattle. Because the vineyard is so small, Raphaëlle currently runs a negociant arm as well. This cuvée is very impressive, with a savoury element on the nose which leads in to a palate that has a light and fresh attack but builds a more substantial mid-palate commensurate with the oak ageing. Raphaëlle worked, inter alia, at Liger-Belair (Vosne), and the level of ambition shows. This is a new cuvée not yet up on the Newcomer web site, but the Guyot wines they do list, from 2022, all range between £39 and £54.

Foradori Manzoni Bianco “Fontanasanta” 2023. Back in July 2024 I tasted the previous vintage of Foradori’s Manzoni, and I mentioned the way the new generation at this outstanding Trentino-Alto-Adige estate is transforming it into a centre for not just biodynamic natural winemaking, but also as a centre of permaculture, cattle, cheese and market gardening now getting equal emphasis with the wine.

This 2023 really is a beauty. Lifted, fresh, but not what I’d call acidic, the fresh fruit seems to be cocooned in soft velvet, yet there is texture lying beneath. It saw a little skin contact but not a lot, and it’s important to note the ageing regime now…it only stayed in barrel until April last year. I love this wine, whether young or after a year or two in bottle. Although I’ve tended to find Foradori wines appreciate ageing in past vintages, I feel that this particular wine will be just as good drunk early. I wonder what others think? The wine is totally alive, and I’m very impressed with the refinements being made at this iconic estate. I don’t know the price of the 2023, although the 2022 I tasted last year can still be had for £34.

Matassa Tommy Ferriol 2023 is a Vin de France from Roussillon. Tom Lubbe came from South Africa around twenty years ago and met his wife when he interned at Domaine Gauby (she’s Gauby’s sister). They now farm together more than twenty hectares of vines, most which range between 60-120 years old. A fan of Matassa in the early days, I sort of lost touch, although I very much kept up with the Matassa story via one of Tom’s own interns, Stefanie Renner, who of course immortalised him in one of the original Rennersistas cuvées.

Tommy Ferriol is an unusual blend of Syrah with 10% Muscat. Although no sulphur is added, and you can see that in the freshness and vivacity of the wine, there is not one hint in the winemaking. Not a remote sniff or prickle of any volatility. It is bottled early though, so it retains so much freshness and fruit. It’s an intriguing wine and it is showing well now. It comes off the black soils near the new (since 2020, when they moved from Calce) Matassa winery, ten minutes outside of Perpignan. I’m told it’s the former home of Mas Ferriol. Even though this new vintage is showing so well, you may not get to try it as the 2023 vintage (£44) is already showing as “sold out” on Newcomer’s web site. Perhaps they will get some more?

These are five wines I would be very pleased to receive in a mixed case, but also look out for that Rieffel pink sparkler called “Mister Pink”, sighted all too rarely. Also look out for the new Nestarec vintages. The two Forks & Knives cuvées provide an introduction to a varied and wide range of exceptional Czech natural wines Milan produces.

It was great to have a quick chat with Milan, and of course to annoy him by telling him how good I think his wife’s wines are (hopefully another one or two of those from the new 2023 vintage arriving this week). It was also good to be reminded of a wine, Forks & Knives, which I’ve not bought for several vintages. When constantly looking for new wines, it is all too easy to forget others one already knows. During the Covid period I bought/drank more wines from Newcomer’s portfolio than anyone else’s, many via the much-missed “Littlewine” online shop, and I have been pleased to dip back into Newcomer Wines this past eighteen months, both at tastings and through the odd purchase.

Posted in Alsace, Artisan Wines, Austrian Wine, biodynamic wine, Burgundy, Czech Wine, Italian Wine, Languedoc-Roussillon, Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Merchants, Wine Tastings | Tagged Alsace Wine, Crémant d'Alsace, Czech Wine, Domaine Matassa Roussillon, Foradori Trentino-Alto-Adige, Lucas Rieffel Mittelbergheim, Manzoni Fontanasanta 2023 Foradori, Matassa Tommy Ferriol 2023, Milan Nestarec, Moravian Wine, Nestarec Forks & Knives Red 2020, New Vintages from Newcomer, Newcomer Wines at Montrose, Peter Honegger Newcomer Wines, Raphaëlle Guyot L'Aurore 2023, Raphaëlle Guyot St Bris, Roussillon Wine, St Bris Chardonnay, Tom Lubbe | Leave a comment

Clay Wine Fair 2025 (Part 2)

Posted on 20/02/2025 by dccrossley

In this second part of my article on the inaugural Clay Wine Fair (16 February 2025, organised by Isobel Salamon of Slonk Wines and hosted at Sotto Trattoria in Stockbridge, Edinburgh) I will cover a similar number of wines as in Part One, but from a few more importers.

As with Part One, the breadth of countries and regions which are represented is wonderfully wide, although there are still many parts of the world making wines in clay or terracotta vessels, from qvevri to talha and many variations in between that were not represented (including North and South America). But as I said at the end of Part One, none of the wines on show tasted at all like those early tannic examples of orange wine that we first discovered fifteen or twenty years ago.

Everything listed here I would be happy to recommend, although I have tried to suggest those wines which particularly stood out. As I also said in that first part of this article, the quality went from good to outstanding. If you missed Part 1 you can click on the link in the list of articles to the right, or type “Clay” in the search box. I hope that means the Clay Wine Fair was as much of a success as it appeared to be, and will be repeated again.

L’ART DU VIN/CLARK FOYSTER

Clark Foyster you will know, L’Art du Vin is a small agent stocking organic and biodynamic wines, I think based in Dunfirmline. This was a small table showing just four wines, two from Georgia and two from Portugal.

Orgo is the winery of Gogi Dakishvili in Telavi, Khaketi. Gogi is a well-known consultant but this is his “passion project”. The vines are on both banks of the Alazani River in the warmest part of Georgia, the Caucasus to the north acting as a rain shadow, but water is plentiful because of the mountain streams.

The Orgo Rkatsiteli is a 100% varietal wine both fermented and aged in buried qvevri for six months, all on skins. The bouquet has whisps of honey and yellow plum. The palate is smooth and gently textured, mirroring the bouquet in its flavours.

Orgo Saperavi (also 100% varietal) is a deep red full of freshness and gentle grip. Blackcurrant and dark chocolate dominate, and you can tell these are old (80-y-o) vines by the concentration.

Both wines retail around £25.

Na Talha Branco and Tinto from Gerações da Talha are a pair of Portuguese wines from the former talha stronghold of the Alentejo, where the art of making wine in these tall terracotta pots is being revived. The region’s clay soils mean the material to produce these vessels is right on hand. These are both organic wines, aged on lees with only the natural filtration provided by the “mother”, the solids sinking to the bottom of the talha.

The Branco is a light-bodied wine redolent of apricot and peach with a soft texture from the talhas. The Tinto is, like the white, a field blend, in this case of ten varieties, including Alfrocheiro, Trincadeira and Aragones (aka Tempranillo). Almost like the Georgian red above it majors on dark fruits with a chocolate note on the finish. The red is ready for sale on Saint Martin’s Day, November 11^th, so treat it like a “Nouveau” (with the proviso that there’s no hurry to drink this up).

Both retail around £25.

PARCHED (formerly NATTY BOY WINES)

Natty Boy Wines say they grew up, so changed into Parched. I think they felt that producers would take them more seriously. They are still focusing on the same very natural wines (and other beverages) though. They still also have the shop and bar, Dan’s, on Tottenham Road, London N1.

First up, Domaine Gross from Alsace. Vincent Gross and his father, Rémy, work ten hectares around Gueberschwiller, in the warmer south of the region (Haut-Rhin). They follow biodynamics and for almost all of their wines now they are experimenting with longer macerations and, since 2021, using qvevri.

Domaine Gross “Tryo” 2022 blends Pinot Gris, Riesling and Sylvaner into a soft orange wine with a deceptive 13% abv. There’s a gentle pink colour from the PG skins and the wine is saline, mineral and savoury with notes of both oranges and tropical fruits. Delicious, especially at £23. My kind of skin contact Alsace, and the wine at this table I’d be tempted to buy first.

“Sonate” 2022 is a varietal Pinot Gris. I’m guessing this is slightly darker (tasting from the clay cup we had the interesting option to use it was hard to tell). There are more red fruits here, and a slightly earthy texture. It’s altogether more serious, possibly a wine to age, but impressive. It retails for £32.50. A friend in the region says Vincent is a nice guy, always a consideration.

Parched also showed a pair of Saint-Joseph wines from Domaine de L’Iserand, both very good indeed. Jean-François Malsert (another “Jef” like M.Coutelou) replanted his grandfather’s vines and released his first vintage in 2017. He has five hectares, all worked by two mules. He aims for freshness, so is a proponent of carbonic fermentation, but most wines are aged in either amphora or concrete (both here are amphora-aged). Definitely a producer to watch closely.

The white was a 2023 cuvée called “Rodeo”. It’s 100% Roussanne (or maybe not, sources differ as is often the case), aged 12 months in a mix of amphora and old oak. Quite floral with nice tension, just over £42. Beautiful. Loved it. The St-Jo Rouge “Viola” 2023 is a pure Syrah, spicy and herbal, very juicy and approachable. Just eight months in amphora here, young vines and carbonic or whole berry fermentation, showing nicely. Around £25.

Finally, a shout for Clos des Mourres “665 Jours” 2022, a white Côtes du Rhône Villages Roaix. Grenache Blanc, Clairette and Bourboulenc create a deliciously zippy, lemony white retailing for £28.50. The name is very obscure though. Apparently, it is the number of days between composting the vineyard and bottling, which I guess seems less random to the producer than it does to me. But as I said, quite delicious.

SEVSLO

Sevslo was founded by Séverine Sloboda, and the wines below, from one domaine in Beaujolais, were shown by her business partner, Liam Hanlon. I can’t believe it is two years since I met Liam and Séverine at their sister company, Made from Grapes, what is surely Glasgow’s most exciting wine shop.

The single producer they were showing was Domaine de la Sorbière. Jacques Juillard runs a domaine which has been in the family for several generations. His mother still makes her own wine today, in her nineties! Jacques took over six-hectares owned by the family of Bernard Pivot (president of the Goncourt Academy, and the man behind the “Apostrophe” talk show, for those who know French literature) in 2000.

Viticulture is organic, and vinification is in Tuscan amphorae, and sulphur additions are minimal or, in some cases, zero. Jacques is also on occasion a secret grape supplier to some, ahem, famous Jura names for their negoce wines. The domaine is in Quincié (outside of the Cru area, on the D9 southwest of Regnié). These are natural wines, so indigenous yeasts, no filtration etc.

Beaujolais-Villages Blanc 2023 is exactly what you want from Chardonnay grown in the Beaujolais region. Despite there being a fair bit of this famous Burgundian variety in the Beaujolais hills, not enough is usually made of its potential (J-P Brun excepted back in the 90s). This version sees 70% amphora and 30% new (yes, new) oak. Lightish but a touch of oak on the palate, very much classic Chardie on the nose, bit of texture but soft. Excellent for £24.50.

Terre de Roche 2023 is more dark-fruited than most Bojo. The Gamay fruit is de-stemmed and fermented in concrete before being aged in 5-hectolitre (the notes say “litre”, very small, maybe meant to be hectolitre?) terracotta barrels for four months, zero added sulphur. Nice, light, seems quite old school, and you can only just tell there’s no added sulphur. Circa £22.

The Gamaret is a 2022/2021 blend, also dark-fruited with chocolate notes, liquorice and violets, aged in amphora. I really wanted to try this crossing of Gamay and Reichensteiner which I only usually see in Switzerland, where it does quite well in the Geneva Canton. I would buy this for sure, for further research, although I would say that there was a touch of volatility on this bottle not present in any of the other wines.

The top wines were the Crus of Brouilly and Morgon. The Brouilly is a blend of three vintages, 2018, ‘19 and ‘20. Ten days on skins then ten months in different sizes of amphora depending on vintage. Dark berries, floral, and a serious side. £27 is a pretty decent price for the quality.

The Morgon, which costs the same, is a blend of 2020, ’21 and ’22. It’s a bit more tannic, concentrated, a bit of graphite in there, perhaps all due to the 50-year-old vines, the younger vintages in the blend and a longer (by a few days) maceration. This just needs more ageing. Many would go Morgon because of the name, I might plump for the Brouilly with that bit more age.

So, only one producer shown here by Sevslo, but worth exploring. A few Edinburgh retailers have some of these wines, and Winekraft also still lists their Beaujolais Nouveau 2024, very probably still going strong as natural wine Nouveau tends to (£22).

HALLGARTEN and NOVUM WINES

A good variety of wines on this table. I will highlight bottles from Languedoc-Roussillon in France, Greece, Tuscany and Portugal.

Château de L’Ou « L’Orange de L’Ou » is a Muscat Blanc from the Côtes Catalanes in Roussillon’s Pyrenean foothills. As I mentioned in Part One, this, and Catalonia/Catalunya over the border, are classic Muscat territories, and the amphora style is becoming very popular. The bouquet is orange-scented, the palate complex, with lemon, orange peel, ginger and stone fruit, the finish is textured and taut. Available from various retail sources for around £30.

Best-coloured wine of the day (which admittedly I could appraise properly only as it comes in a clear glass bottle) was Villa Noria’s “Amfòra” from the Coteaux de Bessilles (Hérault). Organic viticulture, and a natural wine with no added sulphur, this really smells very clearly of fresh orange. It’s quite fruity, quince and apple seeming to be mentioned in most people’s notes. I thought it was very nice, but I’m never drawn to wines which have a neck tag (here attached with string) rather than a bottle label. I guess I see it as a gimmick. However, it both looks and tastes lovely.

I know Gaia Wines’s “Assyrtiko Clay”. This is the version I would look for. 70-to-80-year-old pre-phylloxera-planted bush vines (trained low, in kind of nests, you’ve doubtless seen the photos). Vinification and ageing are in clay, as close as possible to the amphorae used in ancient times. Lots going on, with lemon citrus, honey, raisins and vanilla pod. A wine to age, for sure. £42/43. Crossed fingers for the people of Santorini.

Castello Vicchiomaggio is a well-known Tuscan estate where the Matta family makes fine Chianti in the Classico DOCG, at Greve in Chianti. “Amphiarao” is quite different, made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Sangiovese in the Maremma, to the southwest.

Vinification starts in small stainless-steel vats, but ageing is 12 months in 500-litre amphorae. It’s a wine of genuine intensity, dark and herbal with generous spice. I’d suggest this 2018 needs ageing further, but it is impressive. It costs just over £42.

Many readers will know Herdade do Rocim as the producer of the popular “Nat Cool” natural wines. Their base lies not far from Lisbon in the Lower Alentejo. It’s a big estate, 70-ha of vines with olive trees adding a second string. Big as they are, they are still pioneers of a return to using the traditional terracotta Talhas, said to have been brought to the region by the Romans.

Amphora White 2022 is a natural wine made from Antão Vaz (40%) with 20% each of Perrum, Rabo de Ovelha and Manteúdo (for obscure grape hunters). It has a bit more body than you’d expect for just 11.5% abv. Nothing added, no sulphur added. Definitely a very good, (relatively) inexpensive, orange(-ish) wine (about £27). There’s a red at the same price, but the white just did it for me. The “Nat Cool” red was also on show, £25 for a litre. Again, excellent value, but you probably know this wine already.

That concludes the second part of my article on the inaugural Clay Wine Fair. I certainly tasted no more than half the wines on show. Perhaps in a bigger venue I might have got to try more. However, those listed in both parts do represent a broad spectrum of clay/amphora wines available in the UK in terms of their geographical origin, and the overall quality is very high.

On a final note, I thought there are a few folks out there who would like to see this – Emidio Pepe pasta. Who knew? Cheaper than the wine, for sure. Locals can buy it from the deli shelves at Sotto Trattoria in Stockbridge. I wonder whether the UK agent for Emidio Pepe, Dynamic Vines, imports it?

Posted in Amber Wine, Amphora Wine, Artisan Wines, Beaujolais, Natural Wine, orange wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Festivals, Wine Tastings | Tagged Amphora Assyrtiko, Amphora Gamay, Amphora Wine, Castello Vicchiomaggio Amphiarao, Château de L'Ou Côtes Catalanes orange wine, Clay Wine Fair 2025 (Pt 2), Clay Wines, Domaine de la Sorbière Beaujolais, Domaine des Mourres Côtes du Rhône Roaix, Domaine L'Iserand Saint-Joseph, Domaine Vincent Gross Alsace, Gaia Wines Assyrtiko Clay Santorini, Gamaret in Beaujolais, Georgian Wine, Geracoes da Talha Alentejo, Gogi Dakishvili Telavi, Isobel Salamon, Jacques Juillard Quincié Beaujolais, Jean-François Malsert Vigneron, L'Art du Vin, Made from Grapes Glasgow, Na Talha Branco, Na Talha Tinto, Orgo Rkatsiteli, Orgo Saperavi, Orgo Wines Kakheti Georgia, Parched (formerly Natty Boy Wines), Portuguese wine, Sevslo Wines Glasgow, Slonk Wine, Sotto Trattoria Edinburgh, Villa Noria "Orange Wine" Coteaux de Bessilles, Vincent and Rémy Gross Gueberschwiller | 2 Comments

Clay Wine Fair 2025 (Part 1)

Posted on 18/02/2025 by dccrossley

On Sunday I was lucky enough to grab a space at the inaugural Clay Wine Fair at Edinburgh’s Sotto Trattoria in Stockbridge. The event, a celebration of wine made in amphora and other terracotta/clay vessels, was organised by Isobel Salamon. Isobel runs Slonk Wines, an international wine consultancy which provides a whole range of wine services (education, business and wine list development, sommelier services etc) to wine brands, distributors, retailers, other wine businesses and consumers. Isobel also works as a wine judge, writer and events organiser. That’s why elsewhere I called her Edinburgh’s wine polymath.

I’m going to divide my piece on the fair into two parts. There were more than one hundred wines to taste, from a surprising number of countries and regions, all at tables taken by wine importers and agents. I didn’t taste every wine, not so much through lack of stamina but more as time progressed the venue became a bit too full. At one particular table I waited in vain for ten minutes. With a one-hour trade-only slot followed by public access one has to expect table-hogging later on, but nevertheless the fair was a massive success. It was also simply much more popular than one might have imagined.

A quick word about stemware. There wasn’t any. We were given a lovely clay cup made by potter Claire Henry. I’ve seen similar cups to these being sold by natural wine shops in Australia and France and they seem a great idea for slugging natural wine from. They remind me a little of the sake cups one finds in Japan, and I was gutted to somehow manage to leave mine behind. They are lovely, though it has to be said that for professional tasting they do pretty much take away the opportunity to assess colour. I don’t think the cups (glazed inside) affect the palate, but I felt that the bouquet perhaps showed less well than from a glass. I could have procured a glass, as some trade members did, but I wanted to go with the pots.

In this first part I will cover the Slonk Wines table, along with Passione Vino and Raeburn Fine Wines. Part Two will cover L’Art du Vin/Clark Foyster, Parched (formerly Natty Boy Wines), Sevslo (Glasgow’s star importer) and Hallgarten/Novum Wines. I’m not giving you long tasting notes, have no fear. Just an overview and some pointers to follow, with a few amazing bottles highlighted. The overall quality was really good and there were a few special wines here that I’d like to seek out from sources I don’t usually buy from.

SLONK WINES

Isobel Salamon was representing a broad range of producers, but I want to especially highlight Ori Marani, a small artisan winery (est 2017) in Igoeti, a village in the Shida Kartli region of Georgia. I tasted a gorgeous Rosé petnat blend of 2021 and 2022 fruit, fragrant with strawberry and pomegranate, blending Chinuri with Mtsvane and Tavkveri, and a collaborative cuvée with Champenois’ Antoine and Maxime Bouvet from Mareuil/Ay (fermented in oak, 2022 vintage disgorged October 2023). These are imported by 266 Wines, who really do have a good number of very special bottles on their list. Get them in the shops, please!

Domaine Balansa “Aragon” threw me, not Spanish but a cuvée from Corbières. It’s an amphora Muscat (a great grape for these vessels all over the Mediterranean, but for me, especially over the border in Catalonia, where you look for “Brisat” to describe the amphora style). Just 4mg/l sulphur, rounded fruit plus a little texture. Texture is pretty much a given, of course, with all wines tasted at the fair.

Domaine Sauveroy is the work of Pascal and Quentin Cailleau, who are at Saint Lambert du Lattay in the Val du Layon. Their Anjou Blanc (Chenin) 2023, called Rivière Sauvage, is medium-bodied and already showing nascent complexity, plus minerality. I do love a good amphora Chenin, like this. The red version (Cabernet Franc, “Victoire”) comes off schist, and was a lovely surprise, with fruit, tannins/texture and tension. I haven’t found a UK importer?

Finally, a shout for an amphora wine from Piemonte. Enrico Rivetto’s Nebbiolo d’Alba “Lirano” 2022 comes from vines in that named hillside site at Sinio, on the border of the Barolo DOCG. This 14.5% abv Nebbiolo may not be a Barolo by name, but it is highly sought after. It’s really young right now, but it is potentially exceptional. Try Cambridge Wine Merchants. It costs just under £40, but Enrico’s Barolos start at around £60-65, and this will age like one.

PASSIONE VINO

I was especially wanting to taste at this table. I see no PV wines in Edinburgh (maybe I need to look harder), but the company’s only non-native Italian, Greg Turner-Deeks, took me through some super bottles. They are an Italian specialist with (as many readers from London will know) a wine bar on St Leonard Street (EC2A) between Old Street and Shoreditch.

First, I tried the wines of La Toretta in Lazio. A nice Bianco (2022) was trumped by a delicious frizzante from the same vintage, called Bolla de Grotta (100% Trebbiano).

Azienda Agricola Ronchi’s Langhe Arneis 2023 was a lovely expression of that variety in amphora, rounded mouthfeel but fresh, the acidity well-balanced and not too prominent.

The three Vermentino wines shown on Sunday really stood out. Bentu Luna’s “UNDA” comes from Sardinia’s west coast, whilst Il Torchio’s “Lunatica” (2019 shown) is from Liguria di Levante.

I Mandorli makes an amphora Vermentino in another hot spot for the variety, increasingly so, Suveretto in Tuscany. This is a hilly DOC southeast of Bolgheri, so slightly inland from the Tuscan Coast.

Nine months in amphora (three on skins, six without), this was very good indeed. Maybe my favourite of the three Vermentinos, though a close call. There’s lots of bright yellow stone fruit and herbal notes adding more interest. All three wines are expensive, the Ligurian and the Tuscan are £50 or more, but the quality really is up there.

If that wasn’t enough excitement, the last wine was from a very much lauded Brunello producer, Podere Giodo. I was told they came top in a recent Decanter Magazine Brunello tasting, but those wines are off-the-scale, if not for oligarchs then certainly London bankers. You might stretch to the £62 retail price for their “La Quinta”, a Sangiovese Toscana IGT 2022, that if I could afford it myself, I would find a happy substitute. You know, I’ve visited Montalcino a couple of times and used to drink the wines back in the day, but even £62 is over budget for a lot of poor wine writers these days.

Some exceptional wines here.

RAEBURN FINE WINES

Raeburn showed seven wines, and the quality was uniformly high. They were on what was probably the most inaccessible table, so I hope everyone got to try them.

First up, a Barossa amphora white which I’d love to buy, and may well try to next time I’m near their shop on Comely Bank. Wild Earth “Field White” 2021 is a blend of 95% Semillon plus several other co-planted varieties, fermented and aged in Georgian Qvevri. Smooth, savoury and textural, it was delicious.

I followed that with an equally delicious Timorasso “Losco” made by Cantina Mezzacane near Gavi. The variety made famous by Walter Massa is really taking off here, and this has seven months in amphora. The difference between the two? Merely price. £31 for the Aussie, £49 for this cracking white.

Bruno Dubois’s 100% Cabernet Franc Saumur-Champigny “Plume” (£22) is another good example of the increasing experimental use of amphora for red Loire wines, and Vallone di Cecione (in second photo, below) gave us an equally interesting Toscana IGT Malvasia Nera (£25), very different to examples I’ve tasted before with a sharpness that was thrilling rather than intrusive.

Our first Portuguese wine of the tasting was Sempar Alentejo-Portalegre DOC 2017. Dirk Niepoort is behind this gem which sees 36 months in amphora. It’s a multi-varietal blend based on Trincadeira, but one component is the teinturier variety Alicante Bouschet, whose red pulp helps make this wine dark and inky. Amazing value if the retail price given (£17) is correct.

Next up, two rather exceptional wines, one listed on the tasting sheet, the other not. La Nature de Durfort-Vivens 2019 is a wine that sees four months in oak and then 14 months in amphora, made by Margaux Second Growth, Château Durfort-Vivens, a Lurton family property. Bordeaux is secretly a hotbed of experimentation. Did you know that Feral Art et Vin, Bordeaux’s natural wine shop, has a host of customers from famous Bordeaux properties? This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is very young still (2019 vintage), tannic of course, but I was very impressed and would certainly pay the £40 retail price, but of course I would age it a good while before opening.

Unlisted but there to pour was Gravner’s Ribolla 2016. Whacking out 14% abv, this is nevertheless very much a world class wine. It’s world class even now, at an early stage in its evolution, and I’d drink it given the chance. Age is what it really needs. There was a masterclass at the event which I didn’t stay for, but I was told they tried the 2009, which was, as one would expect, magnificent. The 2016 had an intensity like no other wine at the tasting. But be careful! This wine is actually quite widely available, and in a number of vintages, but prices vary wildly.

That brings to a close Part One. I hope it has whetted your appetite for the next selection in Part Two. The notes here are, as I said, brief, but we are already seeing the breadth of wines available in the UK made in terracotta/clay vessels. Part Two will add some more wines from Portugal, Georgia, Alsace, the Rhône, Beaujolais, Southern France, Greece and Tuscany. Not one single wine I tried from the whole event tasted like a tannic old-school orange wine. That’s a testament to the evolution of amphora winemaking since the 1990s/2000s.

As such, and as the style becomes better appreciated by a wider public, I can see Clay Wine Fair really taking off, though with no disrespect to the inaugural event’s wonderful hosts, Sotto, it may need a larger venue. In fact such a great idea would definitely go down well in London too.

Posted in Amber Wine, Amphora Wine, Artisan Wines, Natural Wine, orange wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Festivals, Wine Merchants, Wine Tastings | Tagged Amphora Malvasia Nera Vallone di Cecione, Amphora Muscat, Amphora Semillon, Amphora Wine, Arneis in amphora, Az Ag Ronchi Langhe Arneis amphora, Bentu Luna Vermentino Sardinia, Bruno Dubois Saumur-Champigny, Cabernet Franc in amphora, Chenin Blanc in amphora, Clay Wine Fair 2025 (Pt 1), Domaine Balansa Corbières, Domaine Sauveroy Anjou, Enrico Rivetto Nebbiolo Lirano, Gravner Ribolla 2016, Il Torchio Lunatica Liguria di Levante, Isobel Salamon, La Nature de Durfort-Vivens Margaux, La Toretta Lazio, orange wine, Ori Marani Kartli Georgia, Passione Vino London, Podere Giodo La Quinta Sangiovese Montalcino, Raeburn Fine Wines, Sempar Alentejo-Portalegre Dirk Niepoort, Slonk Wines, Timorasso Cantina Mezzacane, Vermentino in amphora, Wild Earth Field White Barossa Australia | 1 Comment

Recent Wines January 2025 (Part 2) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 10/02/2025 by dccrossley

Part One, perhaps unusually, was quite heavily weighted towards France, only one wine coming from elsewhere (in that case, Australia). I go some way to redressing that, and trying to get my credentials for drinking widely re-established here in Part Two, though France never goes away. We begin with a wine from Elgin in South Africa. Then we travel to Baden in Germany, Etna on Sicily, and Colombia (for what may be one of the strangest wines I might drink all year). We do end our second half-dozen with two French wines, though, a Jura gem and another (as in Part One) beautiful wine from Beaujolais.

Frank 2022, Nomad Wines (Elgin, South Africa)

Kosie Van Der Merwe is a young South African winemaker based in Germany’s Mosel region right now. As his label, Nomad Wines, makes all too clear, he travels back to South Africa in an itinerant fashion for the Southern Hemisphere harvest. This rather tasty wine is part of his negociant project there.

Cabernet Franc appears to be a bit of a hidden gem in many South African situations, and it has excelled here in Elgin, which is a fairly cool climate region southeast of Cape Town. The climate is affected by Atlantic winds which come up from the Antarctic, making the harvest here the latest in South Africa. Vineyards were only really established at Elgin in the 1980s, following on from the success Tim Hamilton-Russell had growing Pinot Noir in the nearby Walker Bay region’s Hemel-en-Aarde Valley (north of Hermanus).

“Frank” is a wine which straight off shows a beautiful floral (violet?) bouquet with underlying cherry. The palate has a nice lick of acidity wrapping around redcurrant and cranberry fruit. Somewhere deep down you get a nice savoury note, adding another dimension. I’m sure many of you will have tasted some very nice South African Cabernet Francs, but this one is both approachable and very good value. I think importer Modal Wines has once more found a little gem of a wine.

My bottle came from Cork & Cask in Edinburgh.

“Rouge” 2021, Max Sein Wein (Baden, Germany)

Max Baumann worked with Judith Beck and at Gut Oggau in Burgenland (you probably know this by now), before returning to farm a few plots of family vines in Baden’s northern wilderness. Dertingen is where, on a choice sunny slope, Max farms about 3.5 hectares on the River Main. The domaine name, Max Sein Wein, translates as just “Max’s Wine”, I guess.

Max makes natural wines outside of any appellation (Landwein), which does allow him, inter-alia, to make no sulphur additions. He also has a penchant for labelling his wines in French. Perhaps this is nowhere more appropriate than with his “Rouge”, which is a blend of equal parts Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (which, like Max, I use rather than Spätburgunder and Schwarzriesling, as Meunier is known in Germany, though occasionally as Müllerrebe, echoing the “Meunier”/Miller derivation of the grape, which nods towards the dusty, flour-like, down on the underside of its leaves).

The grapes see an even split between direct press and carbonic maceration. Ageing is for between nine and ten months in used oak, and then six months in bottle before release. The colour is morello cherry, and there’s a lightness of delicious cherry fruit underpinned with hints of coffee and liquorice. Overall, it has real lift and is very refreshing, with savoury balance. These wines are great at around this age (three or four years) but with time the savoury side seems to get stronger.

Germany’s natural wine scene is thriving. It doesn’t always get the attention it deserves, rather like German Wine in general. Max Baumann is typical of the new wave of young German winemakers, not only because he is making low-intervention natural wines, with little or no added sulphur (somewhat the opposite of what used to be the case and what turned consumers off German wines from the 1970s).

The new wave is also making wines that are atypical for the country. Many more reds, not just made from Spätburgunder/Pinot Noir, but also wines using grape varieties, red and white, which were once considered inferior to Riesling and the occasional Grauburgunder. From Elbling to Lemburger, Schwarzriesling to Chardonnay, there is a lot to explore in the new German wine world. Get involved, as they say.

My bottle of Max’s “Rouge” came via importer Basket Press Wines. If you are reading this on mainland Europe, try Feral Art et Vin in Bordeaux (but be very swift).

Luna Gaia Nerello Mascalese 2022, Terre Siciliane IGT, Cantina Orsogna (Sicily/Abruzzo, Italy)

The wines made from the Nerello varieties from the slopes of Mount Etna have become rather famous over the past thirty years, and consequently somewhat expensive. That’s why I drink less Nerello than I did back in the day. This wine is a rare find, in that it is both tasty and cheap. It is also organic/biodynamic (Demeter Certified). It was a welcome Christmas present in 2023.

Grown on Etna’s volcanic soils, there’s definitely a mineral streak running through this, something I used to identify as iron filings when I first tasted such wines, but I have to admit it is an abstract interpretation. I’ve never tried licking a pile of them. You also get some richness and good acids, cherries with a herbal note, I’d suggest.

As to the producer, it turns out they are a co-operative in the Majella Hills of Abruzzo. I have been unable to discover why they are bottling a wine from Sicily, but it appears to be a partnership with a biodynamic grower there. Anyway, this is easy to drink yet with some depth, and everyone at the table enjoyed it (the label was much admired as well).

This wine is imported by Vintage Roots who now appear to be onto the 2022 vintage, but the price is the same, £15. Very good value for the money.

Vino Artisanal de Café (NV), Sol y Luna (Colombia)

Coffee is, of course, something of a big thing in Colombia. I well remember my first discovery of the pleasures of good, “real”, coffee was Colombian. It should be noted that this was in Barcelona, not Paris, where finding decent coffee is not impossible, but neither is it easy, even to this day. Café de Colombia was, at the time, the only sports team I know of named to promote a country’s most famous agricultural product, and I guess that as a big fan of professional cycling, the marketing worked. Last year some South American friends visited us, one from Bolivia and one from Colombia, and they brought this.

It may be one of the strangest wines I have tasted for a long time, that in itself being good qualification for inclusion here, but it reminded me a little to my reaction when I drink Barolo Chinato. That wine, aromatised with cinchona calisaya bark, rhubarb, gentian root and cardamom can be very pleasurable, but not all the time. The same applies here.

If coffee is a big thing in Colombia, then blending wine with coffee is certainly a thing. Apparently, you can potentially buy a “coffee wine” in the UK, made by that well-known, celebrity-powered, wine brand from…well, I’m not really sure? Are you? 19 Crimes is often associated with Californian celebs, but the company is registered in Melbourne. Anyway, they launched one, called The Deported, exclusively through Morrison’s supermarket chain in the UK in 2021.

It is still apparently available via Ocado for £10, though I did see someone was flogging it for £12.99 using a photo of a bag of Tate & Lyle sugar! The 19 Crimes is made from wine sourced in Australia’s catch-nearly-all “South-Eastern Australia” designation, though the coffee is from Colombia. This bottle doesn’t claim the wine to be Colombian as such, but it likely is. It states “elaborado en las montañas de Colombia”.

It smells strongly of sweet coffee and, to my nose, maple syrup. It doesn’t smell at all like wine, but you can clearly taste that it is wine. Wine with a mocha/chocolate smooth sweetness. It was oddly moreish and not hard to polish off a half-bottle. Oddly moreish, but it was hard to put one’s finger on why? I had drunk other wine first, with a meal, so I’m not claiming this was a sober interpretation. How to sum up my feelings for you, should you have an overwhelming desire to try it: I’d be happy to drink it again, but not too frequently, and a half bottle between four was enough. A brilliant gift, though.

By coincidence I know someone who is travelling in Colombia right now. I recommended they look out for some, but they said they don’t drink wine until the evening and don’t drink coffee after mid-morning as it keeps them awake. Fair enough, I have the same issue with caffeine these days too. But I am happy to make an exception if I ever get given some Colombian coffee wine again.

L’Etoile « QV d’Etoiles » 2019, Lulu Vigneron (Jura, France)

Woah! This is good. Since Covid, Brexit, and emigrating to Scotland put paid to my annual trips to the Jura region a whole raft of new producers has sprung up, and many of them have seen their wines achieve fame for them and fortune for those selling them on the secondary market. Some producers have firmly established their unicorn status, but a few others have come and gone in a flash.

Lulu is the nickname of Ludwig Bindernagel. I certainly didn’t know of Ludwig by name when I last visited the region, but I did know his domaine, because back then it was known as Les Chais du Vieux Bourg. Originally based at Arlay, the cellars are now in the town of Poligny. Back in the 2010s Ludwig was successful but not quite as famous as he quickly became once the “Lulu Vigneron” label replaced the old one of Les Chais.

Part of Ludwig’s holding is in the AOC of L’Etoile, which had been one of the region’s unsung terroirs until its potential was perhaps spotlighted by Domaine de Montbourgeau. The label “Lulu Vigneron” is new, and perhaps soon to disappear.

Like Montbourgeau, Ludwig makes natural wines with only a low dose of sulphur added. The blend in this cuvée is two-thirds Chardonnay and one-third Savagnin. It has a genuinely beautiful, rich, mouthfeel. Delicious fruit acids well up, smoky Savagnin fruit complementing ripe Chardonnay, all bound together with a little bit of chalky texture. There is also restrained power (alcohol is a nicely balanced 13%).

Ludwig is retiring this year, but his domaine is in safe hands. In 2024 he was joined by Roman Lawson and Ariane Stern. They have stages with Pierre Overnoy and Manu Houillon under their belts, and worked the last harvest with Ludwig. In fact, Ludwig, although he learned viticulture and winemaking at Beaune, worked with Julien Labet, from whom he says he learned far more of value than he did at wine school. [much of this information comes from Wink Lorch’s indispensable Jura Wines Ten Year On (Wine Travel Media, 2024)].

This is drinking superbly now. If you spot that label, grab it. My bottle was tracked down at Shrine to the Vine in London. No longer listed online, I don’t recall the price, but in any event a visit to The Shrine is highly recommended if you find yourself anywhere near the Holborn area in London. You are unlikely to leave empty-handed.

I’m so glad I got my bottle when I did. I’m also grateful to Wink Lorch for the information (same source, above) that Ludwig has retained about a third of a hectare of vines for his retirement. Perhaps, as 90% of his previous production was exported, we might see the odd bottle appear over here in the UK. Don’t hold your breath.

“Wild Soul” Beaujolais-Villages 2021, Julien Sunier (Beaujolais, France)

You’ll recall that in Part One I featured a wine from Lantignié in the Beaujolais, albeit one labelled as Vin de France. If I’m honest, I had been aware I wasn’t drinking a lot of Gamay, so we have another one here. I bought this quite recently, after having some very fond memories of the big Beaujolais Trade Tastings that Westbury Communications used to put on in London, and which did so much to raise the region’s quality profile in the UK. It was there that I first tasted the wines of the two Sunier brothers, Julien and (a separate domaine) Antoine.

Julien, and indeed his brother, got the wine bug from Christophe Roumier, a friend of his parents. But he also worked with Jasper Morris at Morris & Verdin. It was by total coincidence that I bumped into Jasper when I popped into Berry Bros to grab a bottle of this, prompted directly by seeing Jamie Goode taste a Sunier bottle on Instagram. Lots of circles joining together here.

Julien Sunier, though based in Avenas (pron: Avna) has been farming his own domaine since 2007, around 2 hectares in Fleurie, Regnié and Morgon. This cuvée is made from bought-in fruit from vines at Lantignié, which is becoming a bit of a Bojo hot-spot according to those in the know. The vines are farmed without any synthetic inputs and the wine is made to Julien’s usual high standards, as one would expect from a now-established star of the region.

If you need a one-word tasting note, I will give you “juice”. Fresh, lifted and lively red fruit juice. This is just one of those wines which won’t make claims to being fane wane, but are certainly life-affirming when you glug them. The bouquet has red fruits, but it’s all beautifully floral too. You’ll definitely notice sweet strawberry pretty quickly. The palate is fruity, combining a lightness with a velvet-smooth texture. Jamie would call it smashable and so I would too.

This isn’t a wine to upset or confound the “naturally-challenged”, with a low funk or feral rating. But its easy drinkability is why it’s such a winning wine. Bought from Berry Brothers & Rudd’s Pall Mall shop, this 2021 cost £24. My bottle was one of the last ‘21s and I think they are now onto 2022, same price.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Beaujolais, German Wine, Italian Wine, Jura, Natural Wine, Sicily, South African Wines, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Merchants | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Baden Wine, Beaujolais-Villages, Cabernet Franc Elgin South Africa, Cantina Orsogna Abruzzo, Cantina Orsogna Sicilian Project, Colombian Coffee Wine, Frank 2022 Nomad Wines Elgin, Julien Sunier Avenas, Julien Sunier Wild Soul 2021, Kosie Van Der Merwe, L'Etoile Jura, Lantignié, Les Chais du Vieux Bourg Poligny Jura, Ludwig Bindernagel Vigneron, Lulu Vigneron Jura Wine, Lulu Vigneron L'Etoile Jura, Luna Gaia Nerello Mascalese, Max Baumann Dertingen, Max Sein Wein Rouge 2021, Roman Lawson & Ariane Stern winemakers Jura, Sol y Luna Colombia, South African Wine, Value Etna Nerello Mascalese, Vino Artisanal de Café de Colombia | Leave a comment

Recent Wines January 2025 (Part 1) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 04/02/2025 by dccrossley

I thought I’d be starting the new year with a concerted attempt to drink some inexpensive wines, but whilst most of these wines (twelve bottles over parts one and two) are around my usual £30/bottle mark, there are a few bottles which cost less, one of them spectacularly so.

The half-case featured in Part 1 begins with a biodynamic blend from Alsace, and aged “sous voile”. Then we get what must be a quite rare Burgundy by now, followed by another very different Pinot Noir, moving from one of France’s most famous regions to one of her least known. A dramatic shift takes us to Australia’s Riverland and a grape variety I had never heard of, before our France-dominated first part takes in a Vin de France from the Beaujolais and a great value Chardonnay grown on the fringes of Chablis.

One minor apology. Taking photos of bottles next to Christmas decorations seemed like a good idea in the early days of January, before they get put away for another year, but I admit it does seem odd posting them four days into February.

“Lever le Voile” 2020/21/22, Charles Frey (Alsace, France)

This domaine is run by a family which emigrated to Alsace from Switzerland in the early 1700s. Charles Frey started Maison Charles Frey in the 1960s, based at Dambach-la-Ville. He was joined by his son, Dominique, in 1984. Dominique converted to organics in 1997 and Charles’s grandson, Julien, came on board in 2003. Together they farm 14 hectares of vines.

Whilst not a natural wine, all the domaine fruit is organic and this bottle is part of a range of biodynamic wines. The blend is Sylvaner and Pinot Gris off granite. A Sylvaner solera was started in 2020. This wine, comprising Sylvaner from the three years in the solera, and Pinot Gris from 2021, were aged sous voile (under flor).

The colour is yellow gold. The bouquet shows some flor influence, but by no means overwhelmingly so. It’s certainly milder than a Vin Jaune, or a Fino Sherry, by a long way. You will find peachy stone fruits on the nose, along with a stone fruit texture on the palate. There, you will also find grapefruit acidity, orange peel maybe erring towards marmalade, ginger, apricot and a touch of hazelnut. Or is it walnut? I don’t pretend I can always tell the difference in wine, unlike in “real life”.

Dry but with a certain richness, more than I’d expect in a wine of only 12.5% abv, it has pretty good length too. It maybe lacks the excitement and certainly the wild side of the most adventurous fully natural wines from the region, but it’s definitely a wine I enjoyed, very much so. Also, hey, Alsace under voile. You don’t see that every day! I liked it enough that I later bought a bottle of another Frey white blend to try.

Lever le Voile cost £36 from The Solent Cellar.

Morey-St-Denis “Les Porroux” 2011, Domaine David Clark (Burgundy, France)

David Clark was a formula One race engineer for the Williams team before he started a tiny artisan domaine in the village of Morey-St-Denis on the Côte de Nuits in 2004. He started out making Bourgogne-Passetoutgrains and then Bourgogne Rouge of exceptional quality, before “adding a barrel of Morey-St-Denis in 2006” according to Jasper Morris (Inside Burgundy, Berry Bros & Rudd Press, 2010).

Although David went on to add a little Côte de Nuits Villages and Vosne-Romanée village wine in the following years, ending up with a total production of around 4,000 bottles per year, this domaine was sadly short-lived. This meticulous and super-talented winemaker decided he’d had enough soon after and gave up, 2012 being his last vintage.

I was very lucky to meet David, although it was a very tough day. Lunch, with a stunning array of fine Burgundies, was in the boardroom at Berry Brothers, followed by a dinner at 28-50 in Marylebone, both in fact with Jasper Morris, for whom David Clark was something of a discovery. He was a lovely man, self-effacing and to my perception, ego-free. His wines were genuinely beautiful, even those of the lowest appellations. I do wonder what he is doing now.

This 2011 was my last bottle of David’s wine. As with everything he made, he didn’t use any chaptalisation, all old oak and everything was bottled by hand from the barrel. I don’t know what he used for pest and disease control though. The bouquet here is deep and evolves in the glass, slowly and gently. The fruit is, like the overall palate, velvet-smooth except for just a little texture on the finish. The acidity is pure fruit in nature, raspberry and red cherry.

Even objectively, this is extremely good, and drinking very well. Subjectively, the experience was bound up with a lot of memories, both of the many wonderful David Clark wines I have drunk, for that time I met him, and also for what seems almost a previous life, in London. I was reminded of that life when I unexpectedly bumped into Jasper in the Berry Bros shop in London just days later.

You can still experience this wine, at least in the 2012 vintage. Berry Bros has a six-pack of it for £500 in bond.

Pinot Noir “Petite Fin” MV, Maison Crochet (Lorraine, France)

I’m drawn to try the whole range of Crochet wines, partly because they come from an obscure region, though of course they are also good. There are two Pinot Noirs I have seen at this retailer (see below), and this is, by about eight or nine pounds, the more expensive.

Maison Crochet might sound like a negoce house, but it is in fact a five-hectare family domaine at Buligny, around 30km southwest of Nancy. If they wanted to be part of an AOC it would be the Côtes de Toul. The reason they opt out? In 2017 they began farming organically, and current incumbent Wilifried Crochet has now moved to making wines via biodynamics, and natural wines, which this small appellation’s policing committee presumably doesn’t get!

This cuvée is a single parcel, but it is a blend of two vintages, two-thirds 2020 and one-third 2021. Fermentation was in stainless steel with a ten-day maceration on skins. Ageing was fifteen months in a mix of old oak for the 2020, and around seven months in stainless steel for the ’21. A “tiny” amount of sulphur was added. Nothing else.

I guess I’d call this structured but generous. It has nice fruit. It may not have the class of the previous wine, but Wilifried Crochet is making really interesting and characterful wines somewhat off the beaten track. Also, they mostly happen to have some nice labels, although oddly the cheaper Pinot Noir, which I am yet to try, has a rather dull one. I shall still get round to trying it though, because it costs under £22 and this superior cuvée cost £30. Imported by Sevslo in Glasgow, my bottle was purchased at Cork & Cask in Edinburgh.

Aranel 2023. Berton Vineyards (NSW, Australia)

This is a wine sourced in New South Wales’s Riverina region for Waitrose Supermarket’s “Loved & Found” range. Has anyone else never heard of this grape variety? It appears to be a crossing of Grenache Gris and St Pierre Doré (France, 1961 by Paul Truel), the latter being allegedly a distant relation of Chardonnay (via Gouais Blanc, of course). In its native land it only really appears in the small, Upper Loire, region of Saint-Pourçain, although on my admittedly only visit to St-Pourçain I certainly didn’t come across any mention of it. They do have a fair bit of Tressalier (aka Sacy) up there though.

In Australia you will only find Aranel in Riverina, and within that region only Berton have taken it upon themselves to grow it. That is strange because most sources suggest it is a variety full of potential, good in drought but with equally good disease resistance, and with potential to produce grapes with both good sugar and acids.

I’m not sure why it hasn’t caught on? The wine is clean and fresh but it also has the body you’d expect from a wine of 13% abv, meaning it’s not big and overblown but there’s definitely a little weight. It combines attractive floral notes with broader peachy fruit in a simple smooth-bodied white.

As the marketing blurb says, it has a “refreshing dryness [and a] pithy finish”. It’s certainly by a good stretch both the nicest and the most intriguing cheap wine I’ve drunk for a long time, even better than the M&S Refosco I wrote about in December, though I wouldn’t want to go overboard. It’s no fine wine, simply a great drinkable, food-friendly dry white wine, but at £8.99 it delivers much more than I certainly expected. Certainly, the Waitrose buyers have done well enough to make me look out for more in the Loved & Found range when I’m next in a branch.

Joujou Vin de France 2022, Clos Bateau (Beaujolais, France)

This was a bit of a find, though it wasn’t me who actually found it. Instead, I’m grateful to Edinburgh wine polymath Isobel Salamon who found it and passed on the recommendation. I was later told by the retailer that the producer may not send any more to the UK, which would be a shame.

Sylvie and Thierry Klok-de-Visser started their five-hectare vineyard in Lantignié, in the Beaujolais region, in 2019. Their intention is to create a biodiverse ecosystem where vines play only one part in their eight-hectare farm, which also includes fruit and nut trees, sheep, pigs, and of course herbs for their biodynamic preparations.

Of that 5ha of vines, which are certified organic, they have 3.4ha in cultivated production, plus another 1.6ha of old wild vines, which they plan to keep as such. Joujou is made from Gamay taken from three small plots at around 330 masl. The fruit is fermented as whole bunches (some via carbonic maceration, some semi-carbonic and some direct press). Ageing was for ten months in what they describe as a large fibreglass dome. A run of 5,300 bottles was produced.

The result is a vibrant old vine bottling which has a beautiful, verging on soulful, bouquet of mostly cherry but it’s also floral. The fruit, off granite, quartz and clay, is elegant and combines Gamay deliciousness with something, how can I put it, intellectual? If I went too far there, it’s definitely classy. Although I’d never heard of it, nor the Klok-de-Visser family, apparently the wine is quite sought after in France.

This cost around £30 from Edinburgh’s Communiqué Wines, based on the edge of Stockbridge. The importer is Ancestrel Wines, based in London’s Forest Hill, where they have a bottle shop and bar. I had an excellent Swiss Petnat made by Matthias Orsett from them, via Spry Wines, a while ago (see Recent Wines October 2024) and their web site is full of interesting bottles.

Bourgogne Côtes Salines 2023, Céline & Frédéric Gueguen (Burgundy, France)

The Gueguen family, Céline and Frédéric, farms vines in and around Chablis, based in the village of Préhy, which is situated at the southern end of the Chablis AOC. Céline previously worked on her father’s estate but created her own domaine with her husband in 2013.

This Côtes Salines is Chardonnay made from vineyards on the same Kimmeridgian limestone as Chablis, over Jurassic clay with Burgundian limestone, but is just outside of the appellation. The vines are a very respectable 30-years-old or more. Aged in stainless steel (no oak) it spends ten months on lees before bottling.

This wine doesn’t pretend to be Chablis but it is a clean and fresh Chardonnay with a bouquet of delicate white flowers, and a palate which has a mineral and saline character, reflecting its name well. In fact, I haven’t been able to ascertain whether the Côtes Salines actually exists (presumably it does, otherwise it would not be allowed on the label?). I’d call this cuvée precise and modern but not lean (alcohol is 12.5%).

It’s a fairly low intervention wine, made with indigenous yeasts, but hardly a natural wine. For one thing, the grapes are machine harvested. However, it is very good for its price. Now you can pay up to £25 for this wine, but Solent Cellar in Lymington (Hampshire) imports a range of wines from Céline and Frédéric Gueguen direct (ten lines), and they knock this out for a very palatable £16.99. Other sources include Cockburns of Leith (Edinburgh, vintage listed as 2020) and The Good Wine Shop (London branches)(2022).

Posted in Alsace, Artisan Wines, Australian Wine, Beaujolais, Burgundy, Grape Varieties, Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Merchants | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Aranel Grape Variety, Berton Vineyards Aranel Riverland NSW, Bourgogne Côtes Salines, Céline & Frédéric Gueguen Chardonnay Côtes Salines 2023, Clos Bateau Beaujolais, Domaine David Clark Burgundy, Domaine Gueguen Préhy Chablis, Joujou 2022 Clos Bateau Lantignié, Lever le Voile Charles Frey, Maison Charles Frey Alsace, Maison Crochet Toul Lorraine, Morey-St-Denis Les Porroux 2011, Pinot Noir Petite Fin Crochet, Recent Wines January 2025 (Pt1), Riverland Alternative Varieties, Sylvie & Thierry Klok-de-Visser, Waitrose Lost & Found Aranel, Wilifried Crochet Winemaker | 2 Comments

A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France by Ned Palmer (Book Review)

Posted on 27/01/2025 by dccrossley

You might well ask why a wine blog has a review of a book about cheese? Then again, you might not. Cheese and wine do bear some notable similarities, in that whilst the majority of both cheese and wine are effectively industrial products, made on a large scale, their artisan counterparts are unquestionably products of their terroir, to a greater or lesser extent. Even more so in the case of natural wine, where minimal manipulation and a focus on minimal natural additives bears similarities.

That said, perhaps such an explanation is superfluous because it is certainly true that most lovers of interesting, artisan-made, and especially low-intervention wines will also have a similar interest in, and in many cases a passion for, those artisan cheeses.

Ned Palmer will be a name to jog the memory of subscribers to Wideworldofwine. It was way back in February 2021 that I posted a review of his book A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles. That book was brilliant, telling as it did a history of our islands through its cheeses, from Neolithic times to the cheese renaissance of the last quarter of the 20^th Century. I must have liked it a lot (my review says it would surely be one of my books of the year) because I was fairly shocked when I realised it was a whole three years since I read it. No way does it seem that long.

Three years later I am reviewing Ned Palmers latest book, A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France. It follows a loosely similar format to the last book in that the main body of the book gives us eleven chapters on eleven French regions. Each has a main focus on one cheese, although plenty of others are mentioned peripherally. We begin in Seine-et-Marne with Brie, before learning in further chapters about Munster, Époisses, Comté, Salers, Roquefort, Buchette de Manon, Ossau-Iraty, Crottin de Chavignol, the new wave of cheeses from the one-time cheese-free pays of Brittany, and finally Camembert.

Each chapter gives us information about how the cheese is made and what it might taste like at different ages, but we also get history, social history and folk tales woven into the text. Of course, Palmer has a focus on artisan production, whether fermier, or in some cases laiterie, but industrial production is not ignored, even if only to elaborate its negative influence on the AOC regulations, and perhaps on our taste buds.

The author is ever present adding a personal touch. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience which comes through in easy to digest form. I occasionally raised an eyebrow at some of the wine-related comments, but then I know more about wine than Ned does, and he knows a hell of a lot more about cheese. This book reads as a personal travelogue, as he travels through France visiting standout producers in each region, and that makes it more appealing in my view.

The highlighted cheeses are well selected. Some, like Brie and Camembert, are so famous that we might often ignore them in the cheesemongers. That was brought home to me after I randomly decided to buy some truffled Brie de Meaux at Christmas, a contender for my cheese of the year! Others are only well known to those who are serious cheese fiends, like Salers. Others are so much more commonly seen in relatively disappointing industrial form that some might wonder what the fuss is about until they taste a true artisan version, such as Ossau-Iraty made from unpasteurised sheep’s milk up on the estives (high summer pastures).

The book finishes with a short chapter on the future of French artisanal cheesemaking before a directory describing in short fifty-five cheeses, principally those that get a mention in the book as well as those featured for each chapter, along with some further reading and a “how to buy fromage” add-on. I would only suggest “preferably not in a supermarket”, which applies to France, but you can find some edible cheese here, in Waitrose, if you really can’t find a cheesemonger.

In the UK cheesemongers of quality are now fairly easy to find. I am especially lucky to have access to two of Great Britain’s finest within striking distance of where I now live, in Scotland. Ned Palmer gained his stripes working for Mons in London’s Borough Market and at Neal’s Yard Dairy. At least I presume it was Mons as their French business gets many mentions throughout the book. Neal’s Yard Dairy may be better known to most readers, but Mons is truly worth a detour. I remember once being asked what I wanted to do on my birthday and the answer was a trip to Mons.

Any criticisms of the book? Well, no. I mean I risk sounding like a broken record if I mention typos. Editing ain’t wot it used to be. Some books start out all guns blazing but run out of steam, with the author trying desperately to find more to write about. If anything, this one starts sedately and builds up. Perhaps Ned just saved the best until last, as we might do with a cheese platter. I certainly felt he warmed up as he went along, but I’m not saying the early chapters weren’t good. They certainly were. Just perhaps that he got into his stride.

A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France does have some photos scattered throughout the text, but it doesn’t have a nice colour photo to show you what each cheese looks like. For that you would need to go elsewhere. The two books I have found most useful in this regard are:

French Cheeses (Dorling Kindersley, 1996); and
Cheese by Patricia Michelson (pub by Jacqui Small, 2010)

The Dorling Kindersley book is very visual, with only a small amount of information on each cheese. However, Charles de Gaulle famously said France was a country of 246 cheeses (I think?) and the DK book lists an impressive 350.

Patricia Michelson’s book doesn’t only cover France, but it is a beautiful book and I pull it out regularly (it’s a weighty tome so it probably helps my arm muscles as much as it delights my senses). It is more selective in its coverage, but a little more detailed than the DK, and you get to share in the knowledge and insights of another of London’s finest cheesemongers (Her shop, La Fromagerie, is in Marylebone).

However, these books would be entirely complementary shelf companions. Ned Palmer’s Tour is immersive, as any travelogue should be. It captures more of the essence of each of the cheeses featured by way of their terroir, their social history, and allowing us a glimpse into the lives of some of the characters who have the passion to make these cheeses, for being a cheesemaker is not an easy career choice and the best of them still face tough physical work, grinding bureaucracy and very considerable financial pressure.

Indeed, if there was a renaissance in French cheese at the end of the last century, the first half of this century risks seeing artisan cheesemakers going out of business, as seems to be the fate of hundreds of thousands of farms of all kinds across Europe.

Equally, if you are reading this in the UK and you have ever wondered why European artisan cheeses have increased so much in price, well, like wine, the hassles and paperwork involved in crossing our post-Brexit border (made worse in terms of form filling since 2024), have caused many smaller cheese producers, along with wine producers, to seriously question why they bother.

Still, if this book does anything, perhaps it might do for you as it did for me and act as a prompt to buy more cheese.

A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France by Ned Palmer is published by Profile Books (2024, hardback, 374pp, £18.99).

Ned’s book on British Isles Cheeses (an important distinction as Irish Cheese is included)

Posted in Cheese | Tagged A Cheesemonger's Tour de France, Artisan French Cheese, Cheese, Cheese Books, Cheese Travelogue, Cheese Writing, Famous Cheeses of France, French Cheese, Ned Palmer author, The Camembert Story | Leave a comment

40 Maltby Street and Gergovie Wines

Posted on 22/01/2025 by dccrossley

There’s a restaurant in London where the food warms the soul, where the staff are remarkably informal, and where you can access a wine list pretty much unique in London, because that restaurant is tied to an importer of zero-sulphur natural wines. It’s also a restaurant that doesn’t appear on Instagram anywhere near as much as some more fashionable names further east. It is, of course, 40 Maltby Street, and the importing arm is Gergovie Wines.

Gergovie is a plateau of the Massif Central in the Auvergne Region of France, named after a village of the same name, or Gergovia in its former incarnation as the chief oppidum of the Averni people. The fortified village is famous for a battle between the Gauls under Vercingetorix and the Romans under Julius Caesar in 52BCE.

As I hadn’t visited since before Covid I was keen to jump on this opportunity. I’m not usually someone who likes to dine alone, but my wife had an event in the City to go to and I was desperate to get back to 40MS, both for the food and the wine. With an anticipatory rumbling stomach, I was practically queuing outside the door, ready for their 5.30pm opening on a Wednesday.

The first change I noticed on arrival were the new retail wine shelves. A lot of restaurants and wine bars have begun to offer bottles retail as an obvious way to generate a bit of extra revenue. Winemakers Club has been doing it for years, and up here in Edinburgh I pop into Spry Wines or Smith & Gertrude more frequently to buy a bottle or two than I do to eat or drink a glass on the go (sadly).

My reason for visiting 40MS was no less to grab a couple of bottles of Alsace wine (the Dreyer and the Meyer in the photo) than to dine. Gergovie does many things well, not least Auvergne and Ardèche, and Jeff Coutelou, and the list goes on…but I’d put them in the top three UK Alsace importers (natural wine, of course), along with Vine Trail and Tutto Wines. I keep telling people that Alsace is the most exciting region for natural wine in France at the moment, but I still have to travel far and wide if I want to pick and choose my bottles. Anyway, So-long as you check out the restaurant’s opening times you can access the Gergovie range from the shelves as you go in if getting a case sent to you doesn’t work for any reason.

I said above that 40 Maltby Street serves food to warm the soul, and perhaps you can make out some of the dishes on offer on the blackboard menu. I started off with a cheese platter (because they open at 5.30 on a Wednesday but the kitchen doesn’t really kick into action until 6pm).

The extensive Gergovie list is available, but dining alone I decided to go for a couple of wines by the glass, whatever they had open, just for variety.

First up, Eruption 2022 Domaine des Trouillères. This is Gamay d’Auvergne from, of course, the Auvergne, specifically the village of Martres-de-Veyre. Six hectares have been farmed here by Camille and Mikaël Hyvert since 2015. Off limestone/clay terroir on the Puy de Tobize, part of the Massif de Sancy, whole bunch maceration/fermentation, farming is biodynamic and “bon sens paysan” (I love that description). Initially lovely gentle fruit dominates, but this gives way to something blood-like and more savoury. A genuinely joyful wine, but a Gamay to accompany a cheese platter if you want to go red. £28/bottle from Gergovie.

Then Demontre 2021, La Gutina. This is a Garnatxa (Grenache) made by Barbara and Joan Carles Torres at Sant Climent Sescebes on the apparently windswept slopes of the Aspres des Alberes close to the French border. Grenache is their main baby, and it thrives on the poor granite soils. Their farm also grows olives, and of course everything is done with minimal intervention and zero sulphur. This is a medium-bodied wine full of lively fruit with mineral tension and brightness. A wine whose 13% abv (it says 12.85 online) hides beneath abundant fruit and zip. Lots of good Spanish Garnacha’s around, for sure, but this is a nice one and only £25/bottle.

Both wines were lovely. The Grenache/Garnatxa went especially well with the roast lamb, anchovy, bitter leaves and mint, a very tasty dish…I made the right choice. I topped off the meal with a blood orange sorbet and walked it off with an hour-long stroll through a misty City of London.

As far as 40 Maltby Street goes, if you know, you know, but if you don’t, then pay a visit. Closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, open 5.30 for dinner on Wednesdays, Thursday to Saturday they serve lunch 12-3pm and dinner 5.30-9.30, no reservations! I like no reservations. First come, first served and zero no-shows. It was quite busy even on a Wednesday by the time I left, around seven. I’m sure the kitchen cope. Everyone working there seemed very happy, with no visible stress. Also check out Gergovie’s portfolio in the on-site shop whilst you are there. I can’t imagine how anyone would not be tempted by a bottle or two.

Before I go, I want to just give you a few personal recommendations from the Gergovie Wines portfolio. Purely subjective as there are quite a few producers I’ve not tried, but all of these would be challenging for a place in a mixed case:

Anything, literally anything, from Alsace (Dreyer, Meyer, Ginglinger, Dirringer)
Jeff Coutelou (Languedoc)
Patrick Boujou & Justine Loisseau (Auvergne)
Dom des Trouillères (Auvergne)
Fabio Gea (Piemonte)
Julien Peyras (Languedoc)
Vincent Marie/No Control (Auvergne)
Lucy Margaux/Anton van Klopper (Adelaide Hills)
Sam Vinciulo (Margaret River)
L’Anglore/Eric Pfifferling (Rhône)
Jean-Yves Péron (Savoie)
La Vigne du Perron (Bugey)
Barranco Oscuro (Alpujarras)
La Gutina (Catalunya)

Posted in Alsace, Artisan Wines, Dining, Natural Wine, Restaurants, Vegan Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine and Food, Wine Bars, Wine Merchants, Wine Shops | Tagged 40 Maltby Street, Catalonian Garnatxa, Domaine des Trouillères Auvergne, Eruption Gamay d'Auvergne, Gergovie Wines, La Gutina Catalunya, La Gutina Demontre 2021, London Dining, No Added Sulphur, Retail Shop Gergovie Wines, Wines to Go London, Zero Sulphur Wines, Zero-Zero Wines | 3 Comments

Recent Wines December 2024 (Part 2) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 13/01/2025 by dccrossley

Part Two of 2024’s last batch of the most interesting wines drunk at home begins with three wines which all, at the time of buying them, cost £26. Remember in Part One I suggested that £26 is the new £18? Doubtless by the time April comes along £26 will have crept to £30, but I think right now that £26 is a kind of sweet spot with natural wines. You won’t feel the earth move, but you’ll get a nice wine with personality. That said, I may be getting complacent because I’m sure that anyone drinking at least the first two wines below would sit up and notice, if perhaps for slightly different reasons.

So, those first three hail from Hungary, Rioja and Montlouis on the Loire. Next is a real oddity, a brilliant wine made by an old friend, so to speak, from other climes who has made a stunning and equally obscure wine on one of the islands off Madeira. Then comes an older vintage of the English Sparkling Riesling that was one of my 2024 wines of the year. We finish 2024’s wines with a lovely Moravian red wine which a friend designated wine of the day at a tasting we both attended in Edinburgh earlier last year.

Freiluftkino Brut 2019, Annamária Réka-Koncz (Barabás, Eastern Hungary)

I’ve had one or two bottles of Annamária’s Traditional Method sparkling wine before, but it has been a while (September 2022 my notes suggest) and I think, as much as I like her wines, I’d forgotten quite how good, and indeed interestingly different, it is.

The name means “open-air cinema”, though I have no idea of its significance, if any. It blends Annamária’s mainstay variety, Királyléanyka, with Furmint, Riesling and Hárslevelü, grown on a complex mix of rhyolite, andesite, dacite and tufa.

The grapes undergo a traditional natural double fermentation with the second taking place in bottle with the liqueur de tirage comprising must from the following vintage. It sees a year on lees in bottle before being disgorged by hand. Just 1,200 bottles were produced in 2019, sealed with a crown cap, not a cork (though to be clear this is not a petnat).

This small production does mean that the wine, like everything this producer makes, spends very little time on the shelves. Think how little comes to the UK. However, by cultivating a relationship with the importer, you can be sure to pick up some bottles of Réka-Koncz when they land.

At five years old, with a year or two in my cellar, it has become a little darker in colour but on the bouquet and palate there is a burst of freshness. Fresh apples seem to dominate the nose, minerality the palate. It’s not a wine with Champagne-like complexity, but it makes up for that with bags of personality and character.

Basket Press Wines is the UK importer for Réka-Koncz but they don’t appear to list any of this winemaker’s cuvées at the moment. My guess is that they will be shipping this spring or early summer. Zainab tells me possibly even as early as March so fingers on the buzzers, but she also told me they do have one or two bits which are not up on the web site. £26 at the time of purchase. We shall see what our import regime has done to the price next vintage.

Rioja “Rayos Uva” 2021, Olivier Rivière (Rioja, Spain)

This is a biodynamic joven-style Rioja made without oak. Olivier Rivière is, as his name suggests, originally from France, from the wider Cognac region, and he envisaged making wine there. He studied winemaking at Bordeaux but then wound up working for Telmo Rodriguez in Spain and never went back. Instead, he started his own operation, in Rioja in 2006, inspired by what Telmo has achieved. He now runs 25 hectares.

This easy-drinking cuvée blends traditional varieties Tempranillo and Garnacha off a terroir of sandstone, clay and limestone. It has grippy tannins with a fresh nose mixing fruit and a savoury twist. The palate definitely shows a savoury side as well as a mix of dark and lighter red fruits. I like the savoury element in a wine that is otherwise fairly uncomplicated. Again, at that £26 price point you get quite a bit for your money. I hesitate to say it but I just wish I could drink more Rioja in this style, saving the more oaky experience for more expensive wines bought to age for years in my cellar.

This is a wine I first tried at the Cork & Cask Winter Wine Fair in Edinburgh in 2023 and I have no idea why it took me just over a year to drink a bottle at home. If anything, I liked it even more than that first taste. Imported by Dynamic Vines.

Chenin Blanc Sec “Les Borderies” 2020, Domaine Les Terres Turones (Loire, France)

Terres Turones is run by Dominique Weiss and Philippe Ivancic from the well-known hamlet of Husseau, just east of Montlouis-sur-Loire. The retailer who sold me this bottle also has a cheaper generic cuvée with a very similar label, but at the price of this one, for £2.50 more, I’d trade up. This is from a 4ha single parcel on clay with flint over a base of tuffeau.

The domaine was only started in 2017 and was certified organic in 2022, but had been in conversion from the beginning. The vines for Les Borderies are thirty years old. Fermentation uses indigenous yeasts, ageing after fermentation is twenty months in demi-muid casks.

The bouquet is very expressive of the grape variety, showing pear, quince and a hint of almond paste. The palate has a little bit of a chalky-mineral texture, decent length and lively fresh acidity. It’s another very good value wine. I had noted that I paid £26 but checking today it appears to be listed at £24. My notes also suggest that it was if anything slightly youthful and might benefit from a little more age. I don’t mean decades, but I do see some potential. However, sometimes with a wine like this you just fancy enjoying it young.

Chenin Blanc is definitely a variety I keep telling myself to drink more of, and I’m forever failing to heed my own advice. The good thing about examples like this, thoughtfully made at a decent price, is that they do help to prod my wallet in the right direction. Same goes for Rioja with the wine above.

Purchased from The Solent Cellar online.

Tinta Negra “Dos Villoes” 2022, Vinho DOP Madeirense, António Maçanita and Nuno Faria (Porto Santo, Portugal)

Porto Santo is an island in the Madeira archipelago, just under 30 miles northeast of Madeira itself, in the North Atlantic Ocean. It’s a tiny island of only around sixteen square miles, with its highest elevation, Pico de Facho, a mere 517 masl. It has a population of around 5,000 people.

I have met António Maçanita twice, albeit quite a number of years ago now. Both times were with Red Squirrel Wines (now merged as Graft Wine), who imported his amazing wines of the Azores Wine Company, although I have also drunk his wines from locations on the Portuguese mainland. He gets around. Nuno Faria, a friend of António’s, is director and owner of the “Michelin three-star” restaurant, 100 Maneiras in Lisbon, but he was born on Porto Santo. This wine is a collaboration between them.

The grape variety is described as “the real Tinta Negra”. I’m not an expert, but I’m assured it is not the same variety as Tinta Negra Mole, that ubiquitous Madeira grape variety which replaced Sercial, Verdelho et al. It’s confusing though, because John Szabo, in Volcanic Wines (Aurum Press, 2016), uses the same name, Tinta Negra, for “by far the most important variety…accounts for 85 per cent of wine production”, here speaking of fortified Madeira.

I guess I’m digressing and it doesn’t matter exactly what variety we have, the wine is magnificent. Porto Santo boasts a mere 14 hectares of grapes today. They grow on dry, chalky soils. Grown organically with low intervention, the vines are over eighty years old and are trellised low to the ground, protected (as António’s vines are on Pico Island in the Azores) by low walls called muros de crochet. The windy slopes mean disease pressure is very low.

What interested António Maçanita here was whether a good wine could be made with a derided grape variety. The answer, certainly for me, is yes it can! The wine is ruby red with a nose of sweet cherry and a hint of liquorice. Both the bouquet and the palate have a great saline quality. Maybe there’s some thyme there too. It is slightly rustic, but in a good way.

I should also mention the bottle. It has that stencilled effect reminding you of an old Madeira. Quite astute as it does leap out from the shelf. Good marketing. Because of its origin it might need it, but not on account of the quality. This is very good indeed and just the kind of wine to interest anyone reading my blog.

Imported by Indigo Wines, my bottle was about £32 from Cork & Cask (Marchmont, Edinburgh), and I also saw it on the shelf at Communiqué Wines (Stockbridge, Edinburgh).

Promised Land Riesling Brut Nature 2014, Charlie Herring Wines (Hampshire, England)

If you are fresh from reading my wines of the year article you will have noticed that one of those chosen was the 2017 vintage of this wine. Some explanation is needed. The 2017 is young right now (though certainly very tasty), but it will blossom into a remarkable wine, another step on Tim Phillips’s journey towards his goal of making the best sparkling wines in the world.

The 2014 is more evolved. Perfectionist that Tim is, he wasn’t really all that happy with his 2014. Personally, and I hope you don’t mind me saying this, Tim, sometimes a winemaker can have a bit of an inward-looking focus on a particular vintage. It’s easy to see the things you don’t like. For me, this wine was extremely enjoyable, all the more so for being a decade old. I dare say the 2017 will be the better of the two vintages by 2027, but I suspect it may still warrant more time than that, ideally, to reach true greatness.

To recap, this is 100% Riesling grown inside the walled clos just inland from the bit of Hampshire coast that faces the Isle of Wight, west of Lymington. Traditional method from organic fruit, minimal intervention, four years on lees and another six years pda. The freshness level is still amazing for a sparkling wine of this age, albeit Riesling, with a balanced alcohol level of 11% abv. The fruit here is richer than currently showing in the ’17. If anything, that fruit is slightly broader than is usual in this cuvée. You get lots of citrus and very good length, to be sure. I think it’s gorgeous and was lucky to get what I think might be a rare bottle.

We opened it for an aperitif and then drank it with a vegan roast dinner (with vegan haggis) with a big storm brewing outside. It was comforting rather than bracing, as one might have said of a younger vintage. Perhaps I can say that it has an almost sensual quality that is rare in a Sparkling Riesling.

The 2014 may be unavailable, mine coming direct from the winery. Do ask Tim, or Les Caves de Pyrene. I grabbed a coffee with Tim about a week ago. He told me he is planning some vinification changes which will make his sparkling wines less available for a couple of years (reminds me of when Raphael Bérêche stopped Reflet d’Antan for a while to increase the age of the perpetual reserve). Makes sense to hoover up anything going sooner rather than later.

Cabernet Moravia 2021, Vykoukal (Moravia, Czechia)

Zdenek Vykoukal is one of those perhaps under-the-radar Czech producers…hang on, aren’t almost all of the Czech producers under the radar? Well, he does make magnificent natural wines off terroir which once saw the horrific Battle of Austerlitz of 1805, known as the battle of the three emperors. The town of Austerlitz, under the Austrian Empire, is now in Czechia and was renamed Slavkov u Brna. Napoleon won a victory that at least led to the Peace of Pressburg and a brief respite in conflict.

I have no idea where the 24,000 dead from the battle ended up, but the terroir on which Vykoukal has his vines located is limestone. Cabernet Moravia, a 1960s crossing of Cabernet Franc and Zweigelt, seems to do especially well on these soils and in this climate, relatively warm and dry.

The wine ferments naturally and sees ten months ageing in used neutral oak followed by six months to settle in stainless steel tanks. This 2021 is gently maturing, by which I mean drinking nicely now but no hurry to drink up. It shows some peppery qualities, reminiscent of Cabernet Franc, but also expresses itself now as nicely rounded and smooth fruit.

You also get some darker bramble fruit acids, surely the Zweigelt/Rotburger element showing. I really like this slight tartness as it balances the smoother fruit which might otherwise come across as more simple-natured. There’s medium weight and I mustn’t forget the hint of dark chocolate on the finish.

My friend Alan March (some time Coutelou denizen) is the one I mentioned in my introduction who declared this his wine of the day at an importer tasting last year. He has a very good palate and appreciation of natural wines, and I think you can take his word for this wine’s quality. It has that chewy fruit, concentrated but not at all dense, which makes it highly versatile. A very satisfying Czech/Moravian natural wine, and not too challenging for anyone new to the region.

The importer is Basket Press Wines. I paid £30.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Czech Wine, English Wine, Hungarian Wine, Natural Wine, Portuguese wine, Spanish Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Annamária Réka-Koncz Hungary, António Maçanita, António Maçanita Porto Santo Wine, Cabernet Moravia Grape Variety, Charlie Herring Sparkling Riesling, Chenin Blanc Sec Monbtlouis, Chenin Sec Borderies Terres Turones, Czech Wine, Dominique Weiss and Philippe Ivancic Montlouis, DOP Madeirense, English Sparkling Riesling, Hungarian Wine, Királyleányka Grape Variety, Montlouis-sur-Loire, Moravian Wine, Nuno Faria wine collaboration, Olivier Rivière Rioja "Rayos Uva" 2021, Porto Santo Wine (Madeira), Promised Land Riesling Brut Nature 2014, Réka Koncz Freiluftkino Brut 2019, Recent Wines December 2024 (Pt2), Rioja Rayos Uva 2021, Tim Phillips Charlie Herring Wines, Tinta Negra Dos Villoes 2022, Vykoukal Cabernet Moravia 2021, Zdenek Vykoukal Moravia | 4 Comments

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