SPRABE02
£43.80
Modest and passionate about his vineyards, Abel and his wife Maite have been making understated wines in San Vicente since 1988.
Lying in the shadow of the Sierra Cantabria, Abel has vineyards in the finest parts of the Alavesa. His knowledge and understanding of the soils is enthralling and to taste in his cellar can be an education on the effects different soils have in different years. He wants only to express the fruit and the soil and unlike many Riojans, he leaves it more or less at that. He does not want to stamp the wines with any particular style or mark of his own other than his respect for the very natural quality of the grapes and for the magical places that they were grown.
A very classy and compelling wine. Deeply coloured with a pure, intense bouquet of crushed fruits, spice and oak. Elegant oak aging enhances the wine’s complexity and class.
£38.80
A toasty marmalade, pineapple, lime and honey nougat character on the nose gives way to a fresh acidity on the mid pallet ending, in a long lingering finish, with tropical fruits and charry vanilla.
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Ripe, warm and generous on the nose with abundant plum and cherry aromas, roasted coffee beans and hints of dried fruits. Full bodied and richly flavoured with berry and plum fruit, wild cherry acidity and a hint of dark chocolate. Supple tannins lead to a spicy finish, with the characteristic dry bite of good Amarone.
£37.65
Robust, mature & biscuity style of Champagne from a small family-owned company whose insistence on the very highest level of quality has afforded them an international reputation.
1/3 Pinot Noir, 1/3 Pinot Meunier, 1/3 Chardonnay, with 25% aged in barrel.
£38.00
Fiona and Niall Shiner had been living in Hong Kong for 18 years when they returned to Britain to take on Niall's parents' property at Amberley. Niall continued with his career, but mother-of-three Fiona decided to plant some vines at the property following a comment by her mother-in-law that the Romans could have grown vines there. The first acre was planted in 2007, with the acquisition of an old cattle farm on the (really quite steep) hill opposite and converting an old barn into a winery in 2016. A third vineyard side since been acquired taking the current area under vine (but not all producing grapes yet) to 58 acres (23ish hectares), still firmly in the ‘tiny’ bracket.
This non-vintage Reserve Cuvée has a minimum of 30 months lees ageing in bottle which is expressed by the toasted autolytic characters of this Pinot dominant blend. The wine shows great complexity both aromatically and on the palate, expressing ripe red fruit and subtle red apple with great balance, a fine mousse and an excellent lingering finish.