Wine

Alexander Pflüger assumed the reins from his father in 2010. It’s been in the family for generations and certified organic since 1989; it’s been biodynamic since 2008. The family have a passion for their terroir and this is reflected in the elegant, classic structure of this Riesling. It has lemon, green apple and white peach, clearly delineated minerality and excellent fruit/acid balance.

Weingut Pfluger

Lifted floral notes complement ample ripe, plummy fruit, a touch of bramble and spicy notes. The palate has juicy red cherry and blackberry notes with a hint of dark chocolate. Good acidity and ripe, yet firm, tannins make this a good food wine!

A smooth, medium bodied and easy drinking wine that strikes a lovely balance with its blackberry, plum and dark cherry fruit characters coupled with classic varietal leafy tones. Made predominantly from Old Vine Cabernet Franc (85%), the balance being a harmonious blob of sibling Cabernet Sauvignon.

"I should have to admit approaching our meeting with Arendsig with a degree of scepticism as Robertson still struggles to command the respect afforded to Stellenbosch and Hermanus but my doubts proved to be totally unfounded as these were some of the most exciting wines that we tasted during our visit. Lourens Van Der Westhuizen’s winery may lack the grandeur and, let’s be honest, size of some of his peers to the west but this is a property that just screams ‘authenticity’. We had been fortunate to visit some stunningly beautiful wineries over the previous 10 days, many with stylish restaurants and showpiece cellars but this is the reality of winemaking for so many – battling against shortage of space and ferments that won’t do as they’re told, to create wines of unbelievable class.

All the wines are very site specific with the block no. stated on the label together with the (frequently tiny) number of bottles produced. Neutral vessels are used for maturation such that the character of the vineyard is allowed to shine through and only natural yeasts are used for the fermentation. Elegance and balance are the keywords here, together with length; these are wines that just beg to be drunk.

The Cabernet is delicious, in a juicy style. Fermented in 5,000 ltr foudres and 4-5 year old smaller formats this is scarcely touched by oak but has a fine, underlying richness and depth. Lovely red fruit core and great backbone." Chris Connolly

Arendsig Single Vineyard Wines

Precise and pure Cabernet Sauvignon fruit delivering a fantastic blend of cassis and dark berry flavours.

Redman Wines

Pronounced ripe red fruit aromas with a hint of vanilla and a lightly herbal note. The palate is full and well-structured with bramble and berry fruit alongside toasty notes and sweet spice. Ripe, supple tannins and juicy acidity give a long and balanced finish.

Bodegas Borsao

100% Touriga Nacional - a Blanc de Noir, though the warming copper tones you'll spot in the glass give a hint at this wines unusual style.

Complex aromatics with notes of fresh and preserved red fruits, spring blossoms, red apple, and much, much more. On the palate there's a fruity yet crisp freshness with a beautifully balanced acidity, with more white fruit character coming through. Great mouth-feel and a long persistent finish.

Cabriz

Domaine Eyverine

A brilliant, gleaming white gold wine. We get the measure of the 2019 vintage in the glorious generosity of the nose with its delicate notes of white flowers and sweet almond. Clay limestone soil complexifies the aromatic palette with its exotic fruit and spices, adding volume and depth to the Roussanne which offers up more delicate fruity aromas such as vine peach and pear. Incisive and well-balanced, the palate opens with the immense freshness characteristic of our wines on notes of white fruit, mint and liquorice. Due to its continental situation, the Domaine’s terroir gives rise to surprising wine profiles… wines of great elegance that promise great cellaring potential.

Calmel & Joseph

An appealingly cherry red. Aromas of red and black fruit and pomegranate seeds announce a wine of great freshness and superb tension. An impression confirmed in the mouth that opens with fresh summer fruits such as wild cherry and finishes on more spicy, peppery and floral notes. A poised and magnificently balanced wine. Less complex that our cuvee Magdeleine (no barrel ageing), Le Sentier finds in the Domaine’s terroir, so atypical for our region, a highly original source of expression for this classic Burgundy grape.

Calmel & Joseph

An impressive purple hue. Made from Calmel & Joseph's oldest parcels (126 years old) of wines, which did very well in 2020 despite a very wet spring and a high risk of mildew.

The nose is classic for this grape… fresh grape juice, spices, and the vivacity of redcurrant… and shows great maturity. The attack is incisive, the tannins silky and the balance perfect. Only Carignan of this age, grown on hillsides, can offer such stunning singularity. Garrigue, wild cherry, fig and spices relay each other elegantly in the mouth. An old Carignan that, once again in this vintage, expresses its altitude terroir through a haracteristic freshness that balances its intensity.

Rebaptized since the previous vintage as “La Fabrique”, because if any grape variety truly represents Calmel & Joseph's “marque de fabrique”, or hallmark, it is Carignan.

Calmel & Joseph

A fine, elegant style of Sauvignon with citrus fruit characters lifted by ripe gooseberry and floral notes. Zesty acidity balances perfectly with the considerable weight on the palate, and crisp grapefruit flavours make this an attractive and characterful wine.

Azienda Agricola Il Cascinone

Deep, dense red. Intense, brooding primary notes of dark plum fruit and dark chocolate which are lightly seasoned with vanillin oak.

A powerful and rich full bodied wine, with dark plum fruits coming to the forefront to fill the mouth and slowly give way to the texture of the wine which provides a fine dry tannin grip and balance.

Campbells of Rutherglen

A delicate nose of ripe stone fruit and a hint of creamy oak. The complex palate is well-balanced with ripe peach characters, a broad mouthfeel and some toasty oak in the background.

Azienda Agricola Il Cascinone

Fresh black cherries and cassis notes of the nose. With a juicy palate showing soft tannins with more red fruit flavours, and a touch of spice on the finish.

Più’ means ‘more’ in Italian and there’s more than just Carmenere in this typical blend from the Colli Berici, a line of gently rolling volcanic hills in Italy’s north-east. Merlot is a civilising influence, the plumy accent and refined tannins marry well with a touch of French oak

Vivid ruby core with a narrow purple rim. Elegant nose of small dark berries, cocoa and black pepper. Balanced, fresh palate, fruity and spicy, integrated tannins and length.

Azienda Agricola Inama

Purple red color. Intense red and black fruit character – ripe cherries and blackberries dominate, with interesting notes of exotic spices and well integrated oak notes. The palate has a beautifully juicy and elegant structure with an important tannic backbone that gives length to the wine and will make it age gracefully.

Nittardi

Bodegas Castillo de Aresan was founded in 1979, taking its name from the founding couple Arena & Sanchez. 100% of their 160ha property is organic, helped no doubt by its location at 750m of altitude in the dry warm heart of Spain. As an added bonus their production is also 100% vegan

Their Verdejo is a generous joy, filled with expressive, lively fruit. Lots of citrus alongside ripe golden plum and galia melon result in something seriously quaffable. Perfect picnic wine!

A sophisticated, elegant 100% Bellone wine that embodies its terroir. It is named after one of the mythical Dioscuri, venerated in the ancient Temple of Castor and Pollux, whose imposing ruins are among Cori’s archaeological treasures.

Brilliant straw yellow colour; delicate fruity nose, yellow peach, hawthorn; fragrant, fresh palate with mineral notes.

Cincinnato

Delicate aromas of vanilla and toast with cherry and eucalyptus. The palate is medium to full body, soft tannins and a long finish

Aromas of honeyed, ripe stone fruit with citrus and lightly spicy notes. The palate is complex with lime, citrus characters balanced by a spicy minerality, structure and length. Showing some development, but with the potential to age for 5 years or more.

Cavit

Cherry red color with garnet highlights. Delicious, voluptuous aroma of very ripe black fruit (blueberries) with fine roasted coffee and dried fruit (dried plum) notes. Dense, fleshy, with sensuous flavor sensations that are impressively persistent.

Torres

The Cellar Selection Chardonnay has citrus and nectarine flavours backed up with sweet oak and lees stirred complexity. It is made in an early drinking style, but will comfortably cellar for the next 2-3 years.

Sileni Estate

Sileni's state of the art winery, vinifies grapes using modern and traditional methods which help to produce a dry, refreshing, all round well structured wine. Pale lemony green in colour with a satisfying nose of kiwi, lime, gooseberry, tropical fruits and a touch of grassiness. Whilst the palate displays taut acidity, zingly citrus fruits, gooseberry, stone fruits and minerality.

Sileni Estate

A profusion of sweet ripe fruit with pineapple and golden apple to the fore, as well as an appealing ‘grapiness’. Touches of rosewater and honey and a delicate spiciness add character and interest. Fresh and fragrant on the palate with the fine bubbles lending a creamy texture.

Tenuta Olim Bauda

Made from a blend of Cesanese d’Affile and Cesanese Comune grapes.

Aromas of red berry, cooking spice and underbrush emerge from the glass. The savory palate offers ripe raspberry, clove and white pepper alongside pliant tannins and fresh acidity.

Corte dei Papi

Beautiful, brilliant garnet colour. The nose is fine and delicate with aromas of black fruit, tobacco and vanilla. The palate is generous and smooth, with velvety tannins imparting outstanding balance. The finish is rich yet gentle at the same time, with more oaky flavours on the back of palate. A very fine wine, with all the signs of beautifully ripened grapes and perfectly mastered ageing.

From indisputably the best area for rosé production in southern France comes this fruity number full of delicious strawberry and peach notes with smooth, fresh and ethereal structure on the finish.

Château des Ferrages

Chateau Gruaud Larose

Produced by computer executive turned wine maker Guy Salmona from a blend of the local speciality Negrette alongside Syrah and Cabernet Franc. Bursting with sappy direct, dark fruit with a fresh mineral edge.

Deep ruby red. A rich, expressive bouquet with notes of red-berried fruit, blackberry and blackcurrant with highlights of oak. The palate is rounded, ample and flavourful, displaying remarkable freshness. The harmonious balance of the tannins, which imparts fine aromatic length with a predominantly fruity back-of-palate, is to be savoured. One of the great achievements of the 2017 vintage, a very fine wine that stands out by virtue of its freshness and vibrancy.

Chateau Argadens

5 hectares of sustainably-managed vines averaging 60 years' age contribute a great deal of character to this hefty wine. Green harvesting and thinning help to lower yields to 30hl/ha. The resulting crop is fermented at 30 degrees and vatted for a month before ageing in oak casks for 18 months, 60 - 70% of which is new oak.

This wine expresses the almost tender notes of Malbec as well as rich, milky fudge notes from ageing in oak. Rural, complex and complete - a delicious wine.

Chateau Pineraie

Domaine de la Motte is a 25 hectare, family-run winery handed down from father to son since 1950. Now under the stewardship of Bernard Michaut, an ex-chef, who works with his son Adrien. Their winemaking is meticulous and the wines are benchmarks for the region. They are fastidious about producing concentrated, mineral and very precise wines which reflect the particular terroirs of Chablis, with vines on both Portlandian and Kimmeridgian soils. Motte's wines are regularly chosen for the Tastevinage label, a rigorous selection by the Confrérie des Chevaliers de Tastevin of wines they regard as offering the best of the region in terms of quality and style.

A rich, rounded style, this has aromas of buttered toast yet with classic mineral tones, and fresh lemon on the finish.

Domaine de la Motte

Most famous appellation of Chablis, this Grand Cru has a south exposure and a soil from the Kimmeridgien, very rocky with white and dense clays.

The Domaine has a large (for the region) continuous parcel of 3 ha, running from the bottom of the hill, nearly up to the top, which allows them to divide it in three different parcels (the bottom, the middle and the top). They are always vinified separately but blended all together at the end to make one cuvée. The average age of the vines is 50 to 60 years old.

2018 was a generous harvest which gave complex, expressive and generous wines which hold a perfect balance between ripeness and acidity.

Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils

A nose of peach, apricot and honeysuckle moves to a dry palate with passion fruit, honeyed lemon and orchard fruits. Well balanced and rounded.

Produced from a small (0.49 ha) plot of 50 to 68 year old vines, this is classic Chambolle. Hand harvested and fermented using only indigenous yeast it then underwent maturation in 35% new oak barrels.

Maison Roche de Bellene