Wines £15 - £30

A stylish and concentrated Verdicchio with fresh intense aromas of grapefruit and lime, as well as honeyed stonefruit. The palate is fresh and fruity; very approachable, with apple, pear and ripe stone fruit. A mouthfilling minerality adds to the complexity and palate weight.

Juicy bright flamboyant Montepulciano with a quickening beetroot tang. This has a really more-ish acidity with a bitter cherry attack crying out for fatty carpaccio.

Alpha Box & Dice

Dark plum, leather and delicate violet aromas, plus notes of woodsmoke and brown spice. A full, firm and ripe red with rich, powerful flavours. All balanced by ripe tannins, complex savoury notes and a long finish.

Araldica

A delicous and complex blend of indigenous old vine varieties, mostly Merseguera with a bit of Mavasia & Tortosi, showing a new side to modern Spain - with freshness and vibrancy at the core. A nose of fresh lemon peel, white flowers and white peach. On the palate the fruit competes with the saline, flinty characters. Medium bodied with good weight and texture. The wine has a vibrancy driven by fresheness of acidity.

The d'Annona vineyard is a fantastic single vineyard site with vines in excess of 60 years old. The grapes selected for this wine are grown on 2 small parcels totalling 3.5 ha. The grapes are hand-picked, destemmed and crushed, and innoculated with selected yeasts. The must undergoes temperature-controlled fermentation in stainless steel with pumping over four times per day. The wine is then racked to a mixture of new (two thirds) and one year old (one third) French oak barriques where it undergoes malolactic fermentation and is aged for 18-20 months. It spends a further 18 months in bottle before release.

Azienda Agricola Il Cascinone

A nose of plum, raspberry, violet flower, blueberry, mocha and a hint of spiced. On the palate its fresh blueberry fruit with lots of plum, dark cherries and young blackcurrant fruits. A long fine tannin structure throughout gives an excellent backbone to this food friendly style of Barossa Shiraz.

Soft and supple with all the full ripe fruit flavours you would expect, apricot, greengage along with a hint of licquorice. Very mouth-filling, rich and well constructed and really juicy on the finish.

Gautier Marion is the fifth generation of the family to manage Domaine de la Couvette, tucked into the gently undulating countryside of Southern Beaujolais. If you could picture what a quintessentially small French producer should look like then Gautier's property would come very close. He takes great pride in making wines in the traditional carbonic macerated style using his trusty, old concrete vats, which he uses to age the wines as well. Respecting not only the winemaking traditions, but also their 11 hectares of land and the vines that are up to 50 years old, they demonstrate their commitment by making a fully organic Beaujolais.

Light yellow in colour the wine has a fruity, floral and mineral nose, and citrus notes. An elegant subtle Chardonnay that is supple, balanced and delightfully fruity.

The 2023 Butler’s Grant Old Vines Riesling is a stunning showcase of the estate’s oldest Riesling vines, planted in 1980 at Butler’s Grant Vineyard. Crafted with wild fermentation and aged six months on lees, this Riesling undergoes 100% malolactic fermentation, resulting in a wine of exceptional depth and complexity.

Westcott Vineyards

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

From one of the leading growers of Chianti Classico this is a kind of “baby Chianti” – mostly Sangiovese (obv) with 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot thrown in. Full of raspberry and cherry fruit it’s a lighter style which is ideal with white meats or summer salads.

Aromas of ripe cherry, plum and vanilla. Bright cherry, strawberry and baking spices on the palate. This pinot is medium bodied with well balanced acidity and silky tannins.

Westcott Vineyards

The Gómez Cruzado winery dates back to 1886 when Angel Gómez de Arteche started to produce and bottle his own wine in Haro, at the very heart of Rioja Alta. This was in the day when the wine trade between Rioja and France passed along the Tudela-Bilbao line, and the key Rioja wineries were located around the station of Haro. The winery sits just 100m from the station to this day.

Lazio may not be the first region to spring to mind when considering sources of top Italian white wines but they’ve been making wine for 2,000 years so they must have learned something over time. On hillsides half an hour south of Rome, Imperatori have just 8ha on which to work their magic. They make a really wonderful Cesanese, a cracking Frascati and this Trebbiano Verde, all nuts and minerality with a fabulous texture and richness on the finish.

A man of conviction but by no means a zealot, Eric Texier likes to push the boundaries. Despite having no experience or contacts in wine, Eric decided to give up his career as a nuclear engineer and study winemaking in 1992, interning with Jean-Marie Guffens at Verget in Mâcon. Lacking the network to buy his own vineyard, Eric did his time with established winemakers then made négoce wines with the fruit of like-minded purists. Although he considers his approach to viticulture to be that of an old-fashioned paysan, don’t be fooled. Eric is more of a pioneer than he would have you believe. His fresh take on an old terroir has been instrumental in reviving appellations of the Northern Rhône that would otherwise have been lost. The estate consists of two very distinct terroirs - Brézème in the Drôme (left bank of the Rhône) and the Ouvèze valley in the Ardèche (right bank). Brézème is a limestone hillside facing south, the last ridge of the Vercors Massif at the mouth of the Drôme river, whilst the Ouvèze valley, on the Ardèche side, marks the geological separation between the Massif Central and the Cévennes, where the vineyards facing south, are granitic with a mixture of schist and gneiss on its surface and islands of limestone.

Tradition is hardly sufficient a word to sum up the Perrier family who have lived and worked in the Alps for more than seven generations. Their wine style and dedication to local varieties such as Jacquère has not wavered and like their mountains, they remain resolute. And all the better for it. These are wines are stunning, different and enthralling creating flavour and palates that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else. Jacquère is a grape variety native to Savoie and is THE wine to have with fondue or raclette.

White gold colour with hints of green. Fresh almond, hawthorn and citrus fruit on the nose. A lively attack on the palate but rounds out with lovely mineral notes and orange zest. Excellent balance between fruit and acidity.

Daschbosch is one of the country’s oldest wineries, dating back to 1754 and this is one of my favourites from the estate. From 60 year old vines, it’s on the intense side – the fruit has been worked pretty hard to give a real richness and texture with bags of stone fruit flavours balanced by a taut acidity on the finish.

Enitely made from the Sardinian Nuragus grape, which historically does not have the best reputation, this is hand-harvested, fermented with 24 hrs' skin contact in stainless steel. Aged in steel for 11 months on fine lees, unfined, unfiltered. A noble, deep, complex white wine, for lovers of Xarel.lo or whites from the northern Rhône.

The Chenin, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay are fermented separately. After blending refermentation takes place in the bottle and the wine is then aged on its lees for over a year.

Crisp and refreshing, vibrant and delicate, this sparkling wine is worth going out of your way to try. Light straw colour, minerally aromas with notes of apple and peach on the nose. Lemon, apple and pink grapefruit on the palate. The mousse is elegant and refined and there is plenty of crisp acidity. The finish is long and dry with attractive biscuity notes.

Fruity with hints fo ripe cherry and red fruit on the nose. On the palate this is full-bodied and round with more red fruit and a poised acidity

Classic Provence rosé, expressive and aromatic, blending fresh cherries and floral notes alongside more exotic fruits then finishing with a soft round palate packed with peach and raspberry.

Beautiful rose-pink colour. The nose is truly inviting, packed as it is with red fruits like strawberry and cherry. The exuberant fruit continues on the palate, highlighted by a creamy mousse. Fresh and flavoursome with an intense mid-palate and moreish finish.

Aged in used barrels so as to impart less characteristics of the oak, yet keeping its softening effects on the wine. No ageing in bottle is necessary due to its natural occurring oxidation, meaning this wine will (if kept properly) last many months after opening, with no change in profile.

In the glass you can really see the beautiful colour of this amber nectar, with citrus, orange peel and ripe apricots on the nose. Followed on the palate by cinnamon, hints of dried fruit, a smooth roasted hazelnut, with a surprisingly persistent finish.

José Maria da Fonseca

Charming and sophisticated Rose Prosecco from one of the region's most quality-minded producers. Zucchetto have made this delicious glass of summer berry joy in a crisp Extra Brut style to ensure maximum refreshment.

Zucchetto

Powerful passion fruit and stone fruit aromas. The palate has flavours of ripe citrus, fresh nectarine and peach. Textural with a subtle bitter twist on the bright and long finish.

Bodegas Naia

From the eastern shore of the Neusiedlersee comes this beautifully botrytised blend of Welschriesling and Chardonnay. By affording the grapes an autumnal stay of execution whilst the early morning mists roll in off the lake to meander, untrammelled through the vineyard, growers are rewarded by the sight of their previously ripe, healthy grapes shrinking and shrivelling on the vine as the moisture is drained from them and they end up resembling a cross between a sun-dried tomato and Keith Richards. The trade-off of this risky procedure is to concentrate the sugars within the grape resulting in naturally sweet wines that combine a honeyed sweetness with refreshing acidity. Trust me, you are going to adore this.

The Symington family may be better known for their Port houses and Douro vineyards (Graham’s, Dow’s, Warre’s and Cockburn’s are perhaps their most recognised labels) but latterly they have expanded their interests south of the Douro and this gorgeous white from Alentejo offers all the evidence one needs that they have not been wasting their time. Arinto has the reputation of being the country’s finest white grape and it forms 75% of the blend here alongside Verdelho. Barrel fermented before ageing for 7 months in cask this is a pretty serious style of white with a real richness and intensity.

Te Mata is amongst New Zealand’s oldest wineries, founded in 1896 and enjoying a reputation for producing some of the country’s most iconic wines. This Estate Syrah from Hawkes Bay has a fabulous intensity and depth whilst retaining a grippy structure that steers it clear of any hint of flabbiness

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.

Made only in exceptional years and from the oldest parcels of Bacchus the Orpheus is a richer and heavier proposition than most UK produced Bacchus. Aromatic with gooseberry and elderflower on the nose and hints of tropical fruits, on the palate it builds from rich, creamy lemon to subtle tropical fruits. It has great flavour length and structure, lingering long on the finish which is dry and well rounded.

The white Santenay Clos de Malte is a rich and structured wine. It is elegant and fresh, with fruity, citrusy aromas and a hint of woody notes.

A single vineyard Pinot Noir from the cool Elgin region near Grabouw. Elegant and light in style, with an abundance of ripe red berries, juicy strawberries and subtle spices on the nose which follow through on the palate where it marries perfectly with a savoury meatiness.

Longridge Wine Estate

Maison Roche de Bellene

Amongst the first Chilean blends to champion Carmenere. Rich sumptuous intense black cherries, mulberries and more berries! Vanilla, sweet spice with herbal and savoury tones together with a hint of mint. The palate contains the same berry intensity plus a wonderful warm dusty character, reminiscent of its location. It is a well-balanced and complex wine with soft, round tannins and a long finish that shows both character and personality.

Emiliana

Tbilvino was established nearly sixty years ago, and over this period they have become one of Georgia’s leading producers. Almost dormant at the end of the Soviet era, the winery was acquired by the enterprising Margvelashvili brothers, who set about restoring the facilities, and moving the focus from volume to quality.

Fruit-forward and aromatic, this wine displays the grape’s floral aromas, alongside concentrated flavours of forest fruits and dark plum. The palate is well rounded, with a delicate, vibrant finish.

The Quercus wines are made a stone’s throw (a couple of miles, anyway) from the vineyards of Collio. Goriška Brda is Slovenian for Collio Goriziano, and while these hills may be divided by a political boundary, viticulturally they are one and the same. The result is fresh, modern wines that offer extra terroir-driven elegance for a very keen price.

This is from a variety of parcels on the ‘Butte de Chaume’, predominantly from younger (10-12-year-old) vines and predominantly from schist soils. The depth and luxurious texture from these vines is absolutely astonishing and seems all the more remarkable when you know that the wine is fermented and aged only in stainless steel. Harvesting is in small boxes and the grapes are cooled before a long, slow (4.5hrs) pressing in the cool room. Wild yeast ferment, partial Malo. Even at this ‘entry level’ and despite all the richness on show, this wine is beautifully precise and has exciting, bright, engaging acidity at the finish. It’s probably about twice the price of ‘yer average’ Anjou Blanc… which makes it quite outstanding value!

Chateau de Plaisance

A rustic fruity red wine, full of character. A fruity nose with woodland fruits, sweet pepper mix with smoky aromas. Full and charming structure.