A pale coloured Provençal blend of Syrah and Grenache that’s just the thing for summer, this has more weight and concentration than many examples of an increasingly popular style. Raspberry fruit, bright acidity and a whiff of Mediterranean herbs all add to the sense of balance here.
Country: France
NV LS Cherlin, Brut, Champagne
( £18, 12.5%, 31 Dover )A broad, fruity, easy drinking fizz that’s great value at under £20, this combines malty, strawberry fruit flavours with a frothy mousse and chalky minerality. It looks the part, too.
2012 Laroche Mas de la Chevalière, Vignoble Peyroli, Chardonnay Single Vineyard, IGP Pays d'Oc, Languedoc
( £12.99, 13.5%, Majestic )Forward, soft and ripe, with notes of banana and vanilla oak, this is a well made Languedoc Chardonnay, showing refreshing acidity and brightness on the finish. The oak adds a spicy dimension to the wine.
2013 Domaine Jones, Grenache Gris, IGP Côtes Catalanes, Languedoc-Roussillon
( £14.90-£16.99, 13.5%, The Wine Society )Focused, herbal, pithy white from the talented Katie Jones, who is making ground-breaking wines in the Languedoc-Roussillon. There are notes of nutmeg spice, citrus and pear on this beautifully framed dry white, with a bone dry, almost saline finish.
2011 Mas Cal Demoura, L'Infidèle, Languedoc-Roussillon
( £19.90, 14%, Cambridge Wine Merchants, I'Anson Wines )A blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan and Cinsault from one of the best terroirs in the Languedoc region of southern France, this is a very stylish wine with a minty edge to it. Smooth, subtle and complex, with refined tannins, sweet blackberry and bramble fruit, subtle oak and refreshing acidity. Balanced, nuanced winemaking.
2011 Domaines Schlumberger, Riesling Les Princes Abbés, Alsace
( £13.99, 12.5%, Majestic )It’s a pleasure to drink an Alsace Riesling made in a dry style like this one. Stony, minerally and unoaked, this is tangy and transparent with appealing bottle development but enough concentration to age for another four to eight years. Great with food.
2011 Paul Bertrand, Crocus, Malbec, Cahors, South West France
( £34.99, 14.5%, The Vineking )What do you get when you cross Paul Hobbs, one of the leading New World wine consultants and a man who makes his own wines in Argetina, with a Frenchman producing wine in Cahors? The answer is something pretty special, a rich, ripe, but well balanced Malbec that sits midway between France and Argentina in style, with some of the perfume and plushness of the former and the structure of the latter. Inky, floral and refined with notes of plum and black cherry and sweet oak.
2012 Baumard, Carte d'Or, Coteaux du Layon, Loire Valley
( £9.99, 12%, Sheridan Coopers, The Vineyard )Rich, unoaked Chenin Blanc made in an unoaked style, Florent Baumard’s wine is quite forward in style, with soft pear and ripe apple flavours, a touch of honey and some nectarine sweetness. A well priced introduction to sweet Loire wines.
2010 Bouchard Père & Fils, Beaune du Château, Beaune 1er Cru, Burgundy
( £25.99, 13.5%, BJR Hanby, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Le Vieux Comptoir, Waitrose )Beaune whites are not as well known as its reds, although both tend to be under-rated. Leesy, soft and gently oaked, this is a comparatively forward style with subtle oak framing and notes of lemon butter and honey. The acidity of the 2010 vintage lifts the wine on the finish.
2013 Laroche, La Collégiale, Chablis, Burgundy
( £14.99, 12%, Majestic )Easy drinking, commercial Chablis made in the classic style without oak. 2013 was a tricky vintage in the region, but winemaker Grégory Viennois has done a lovely job here, combining citrus fruit with minerality and good mid-palate creaminess.
2011 Domaine Laroche, Chablis 1er Cru Les Vaudevey, Burgundy
( £19.69, 12.5%, www.thefinewinecompany.co.uk )I’ve been very critical of the 2011 vintage in Chablis (because of a root vegetable-like taint called geosmin that I find on too many of the wines) but this is a welcome exception to the rule, a clean, appealingly developed Chardonnay from an excellent Premier Cru. There’s a touch of oak on this wine, but it’s steered by fruit. Honey, pear and aniseed spice are nicely combined on the palate.
When life gives you Melons
by Matt Walls
Like a weathered George Michael cynically observing a shiny young Justin Bieber, Muscadet must be thinking to itself ‘been there, done that’. After its 1980s heyday of wild success, Muscadet...