Saint Péray tends to get overlooked as a source of excellent northern Rhône whites, lost in the shadow of more famous (and expensive) Hermitage and Condrieu. But this pure Marsanne from one of the region’s best known names is delicious: aromatic and floral, with notes of wild herbs and honeysuckle, a touch of oak, hints of fennel and aniseed and a long, stylish, refreshing finish.
Country: France
2013 Domaine Les Yeuses, Syrah, Les Epices, IGP Pays d'Oc, Languedoc
( £7.99, 13.5%, Majestic )Is this the best value red in the high street at the moment? It’s certainly the best value Syrah in my view. Yesterday, it was presented with the “Best Red of Show” gong at the Languedoc Roussillon Top 100 Awards in London beating lots of more expensive wines. Wild thyme and rosemary notes, blackberry and bramble fruit, smooth tannins and enough perfume to keep your nostrils twitching for half an hour, this finishes with an intense, savoury flourish.
En primeur: the other side of Bordeaux
by Nicolle Croft
The ‘primeur’ show is over for another year and the dust has settled here in Bordeaux. The journalists and buyers of the wine world with their brimming laptops and stained...
Chapoutier 2015 Sélections Parcellaires: the best vintage since 1990?
by Matt Walls
Every spring, Rhône ringleader Michel Chapoutier comes to London to unveil the new vintage of his top single vineyard wines, the Sélections Parcellaires. It’s a hotly anticipated tasting for a...
2014 Domaine de la Noblaie Le Temps des Cerises, Chinon, Loire Valley
( £8.95, 13%, The Wine Society )Is Loire Cabernet Franc finally getting the recognition it deserves, partly because of the rise in the grape’s fortunes elsewhere? If so, it’s about time. Where else can you find a wine as complex as this Chinon for under £9? It’s a classically grassy, refreshing red with no apparent oak and remarkable elegance and fruit purity. Drink it chilled, and drink lots of it.
The shock of the new
by Matt Walls
When tasting my way through a large number of unfamiliar wines, there are a few tell-tale signs that I’ve encountered something special. Firstly, an involuntary smile creeps over my face....
2012 David Reynaud, Beaumont Crozes Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône Valley
( £16.33, 12.5%, Liberty Wines )This is my kind of wine. In fact, I could drink a bottle of this almost every day and never get bored. Classic, perfumed Crozes, with violet and rose petal aromas, textured tannins and lovely, gluggable flavours of blackberry, black olive and liquorice. The tannins are silky smooth, the oak beautifully integrated and there’s enough tannin to add some backbone.
2013 Chez Rocailleux Braucol Rosé, Côtes du Tarn, South West France
( £11.99, 12%, Red Squirrel Wines )Light, elegant and refreshing, this is a south-west French wine that wouldn’t look out of place in Provence, give or take a slightly green, grassy undertone that’s typical of the Braucol grape. Summer berries, tangy acidity and bone dry with a note of capsicum and a long, tapering finish.
2014 Josmeyer Le Pinot Blanc, Mise de Printemps, Alsace
( £11.50, 12%, The Wine Society )Pinot Blanc tends to get overlooked in Alsace behind Pinot Gris, Riesling and Gewürztraminer, but when it’s as good as this biodynamically farmed example, it’s delicious. Textured, rich and focused with a touch of appealing bitterness, presumably from skin contact, and notes of white flowers, honey and beeswax. The wine finishes refeshingly dry.
2014 Terre de Gneiss Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Muscadet Sècre et Maine, Loire Valley
( £19.99, 12%, Carte Blanche )Not many wine writers have the guts to make their own wines, so take a bow Christelle Guibert, my colleague from Decanter for making something as good as this from her native Loire Valley. As the label suggests, it was grown on gneiss soils (in case you were wondering) and was fermented in über trendy concrete eggs. It’s all about old vine texture rather than perfume, owing as much to Burgundy as to the western Loire. Mineral, refreshing and bone dry, this is one of the best Muscadets I’ve ever drunk. Let’s hope this is the first of a range of wines.
2009 Berry Brothers & Rudd Gevrey-Chambertin, Burgundy
( £29.95, 13%, Berry Bros & Rudd )Showing the sweetness and silky drinkability of the 2009 vintage in Burgundy, this Gevrey from the excellent Rossignol-Trapet domaine is one of the best wines in Berrys’ newly-launched own-label selection. Supple, textured and forward, it has aromas and flavours of summer pudding and a hint of savoury oak, underpinned by just the right amount of acidity. So good, you’ll want to drink it now, but this has more stuffing than you think.
Chapoutier 2014 Sélections Parcellaires: a difficult birth
by Matt Walls
The vintage I moved to London in August 2003 on one of the hottest days in living memory. Not the ideal conditions for shifting furniture up flights of stairs. Not...