Some stores may still be on the 2023, but make sure you track down the 2024 because it’s a textbook white Bordeaux at a very reasonable price. Combining Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Sémillon, it’s a fresh, tangy, herbal dry white from Château Guiraud, who also make one of my favourite Sauternes, with subtle toasty oak, flavours of citrus and pink grapefruit and lovely mid-palate texture.
Country: France
The Matriarch Of The Chartrons
by Charlie Leary
If you want to understand the modern science of wine, you must eventually study carbon dioxide and the mechanics of alcoholic fermentation. To do that, it helps to look to...
Take Five
by Rod Smith MW
Commercially, the wine world’s problems continue. Young people are drinking less or not at all. Those who are drinking are largely not taking up drinking wine. It remains quite unfathomable...
2024 Domaine Sérol Éclat de Granite, Côte Roannaise
( £15.50, 12%, The Wine Society )It’s not from Beaujolais, the subject of my main piece this week, but it is made from Gamay (albeit the local Gamay Saint Romain clone). This is a stunning red from the little-known Loire Valley appellation of Côte Roannaise that saw me place an order within five minutes of tasting it at the Wine Society this week. Fermented and aged in concrete tanks with 20% whole bunches and not an oak barrel in sight, it’s tangy, refreshing and lightly grassy, with layers of plum, redcurrant and white pepper, granular tannins and a racy, lingering finish. One of the best-value reds I’ve had so far this year.
2023 Domaine Jones Les Parcelles, Languedoc
( From £16.50, 13%, Booths, Loki Wines )English winemaker Katie Jones is making some of the most characterful wines in the south of France at the moment, curating small parcels of old vines to produce really special whites and reds. This assemblage comes from five sites around her home village of Tuchan in the Aude, combining Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc and Muscat. Tangy, herbal and garrigue scented, it has layers of quince, pear and lemon zest, a hint of oak and an appealing bitter twist.
Wine’s Third Wave
by Andy Neather
We may surmise that the Iran war’s impact on the wine trade is unlikely to be uppermost in the minds of Tehran or Dubai residents. Nevertheless, this economic shock will...
2024 Domaine Albert de Conti La Cuvée des Conti, Bergerac
( £12.50, 13%, The Wine Society )This great-value Bergerac Blanc is a fantastic example of what used to be known, a little patronisingly perhaps, as a French country wine. Combining Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and a splash of Muscadelle, it’s racy, tangy and refreshing, with top notes of parsley and wet stones, crunchy acidity and layers of lemongrass, gooseberry and pink grapefruit. A delicious spring white.
Transformations
by Margaret Rand
I arrived in Puligny, at my friend Mary’s house, the other weekend, and she handed me a flûte salée from her favourite boulangerie in Beaune. It was celestial: an apotheosis...
2023 Te Kairanga John Martin Pinot Noir, Martinborough
( £21.25, 13%, Majestic )Named after one of Martinborough’s pioneers, John Martin, this is a wonderfully bright, tangy, graceful Pinot Noir from one of New Zealand’s best North Island regions. Fresh, tangy and focused, with nicely understated oak, it has a beguiling garnet hue, goji berry and wild strawberry fruit and a top note of crushed rose petal. Beautifully balanced.
2023 Taste the Difference Côtes du Ventoux, Rhône Valley
( £11.50, 14.5%, Sainsbury's )I always tend to drink more southern Rhône reds at this time of year. This one caught my eye at the recent Sainsbury’s press tasting, partly because it was every bit as good as the supermarket’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which retails at nearly twice the price. Syrah based – unusual in this part of France – with 22% Grenache and 4% Carignan – it has aromas of tapenade and mountain herbs, a palate of mulberry and blackberry and impressive texture, grip and palate weight. Perfect with a winter stew.
2022 Domaine de la Rectorie Côté Montagne, Collioure, Roussillon
( £25, 15%, The Wine Society )Collioure is one of the most beautiful towns in the Roussillon region of southern France, as well as the source of this stunning cuvée of Mourvèdre, 30% Grenache and 10% each of Carignan and Counoise. Quintessentially Mediterranean, it’s a blend that carries its 15% alcohol lightly, with enticing aromas of tapenade and rosemary, brooding blackberry and black olive flavours, sinewy tannins and effortless concentration. The perfect winter red.
2022 Taste the Difference Chablis Vieilles Vignes, Burgundy
( £17.50, 13% )This is far from the cheapest Chablis on the high street, but it’s a wine that’s worth paying a little extra to enjoy. Made by J Moreau, it’s a modern-meets-traditional style, with 6% new wood adding a hint of vanilla spice to a palate of citrus and lemon butter complemented by old-vine concentration and the stony freshness that’s harder to find than it used to be in a warming world.