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.
2013 Richard Kershaw Wines Chardonnay, Elgin
( N/A, 13.5%, Contact the winery for details )Englishman Richard Kershaw has followed up his 2012 release with a wine that’s every bit as good. This is a smoky, minerally, Â citrus-tinged, stylishly constructed Chardonnay that whispers of its cool climate origins in Elgin. Discreet and subtle, it’s a wine with texture, harmony and palate length. One of the Cape’s best examples of the grape.
2013 Pazo Barrantes, Albariño, RÃas Baixas
( £18.49, 13% )Owned by the same family that makes Marqués de Murrieta in Rioja (they were originally from Galicia). It’s a white pepper scented, bone dry style with plenty of texture and weight on the tongue, showing notes of stone fruit and pear and a crunchy, stony finish.
2008 Wynns, Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, South Australia
( £15.99, 14%, Waitrose )Sue Hodder is one of the best winemakers in Australia and bestrides the Coonawarra region with the quality of her reds. This, the 53rd vintage release of Black Label, more than lives up to the example of its predecessors. It’s sillky, elegant and low-key with cool climate finesse, filigree tannins and stylish plum and blackcurrant fruit. The acidity drives the wine here.
2012 Neudorf, Moutere Pinot Noir, Nelson
( N/A, 13.5% )Consistently among the top three Pinots in Nelson, the Finns’ best cuvée comes from the famous Moutere clays and tends to be quite a structured red, showing more tannin than many Kiwi Pinots, as well as backbone and acidity. It’s a thinking person’s Pinot that needs food to show at its best. Ambitious, cherrystone, pomegranate and raspberry fruit with a firm finish.
2012 Kusuda, Pinot Noir, Martinborough
( N/A, 13.5%, Hallowed Ground )Is this New Zealand’s best Pinot Noir? It’s certainly in the top half dozen examples of the grape, a wine that nods towards Chambolle-Musigny as much as its native North Island. It’s a subtle, fragrant red with silky tannins, sustaining acidity, chalky minerality and a stylishly judged balance of oak, fruit and tannin. Winemaking of a high order.
2013 Seresin, Osip Pinot Noir, Marlborough
( N/A, 13.5% )Sourced from the Osip block in Seresin’s Raupo Creek Block, this biodynamically farmed Pinot Noir is a superb expression of its terroir: savoury and stylish with textured, supple tannins, deftly handled oak, bright acidity and remarkable depth and length. Still young, but will develop with age.
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.
2013 Collefrisio, Vignaquadra, Abruzzo
( £13.50, 13.5%, Dvine Cellars )An impressive Pecorino from the Frisa hills of the Abruzzo, this shows that you don’t need wine to make a tasty white. Peachy and just off-dry, it’s got bags of flavour, bright acidity and a taut, minerally finish.
2010 Lenné, Pinot Noir, Oregon
( £26.99-£29.99, 14%, Cheers, Hay Wines )This is a serious Pinot Noir verging on a dry red, but still showing enough varietal character to keep Pinotphiles happy. Rich and savoury, but with underlying brightness and finesse, it’s spicy and complex, showing flavours of fennel, red and black fruits and sweet vanilla oak. Promising.
2013 Thistledown, Thorny Devil, Grenache, Barossa Valley, South Australia
( £15.99, 15% )Juicy, easy drinking Barossa Grenache that carries its alcohol lightly. The oak is well handled here on this wine overseen by Masters of Wine, Giles Cooke and Fergal Tynan. Raspberry and wild strawberry fruit, a touch of oak and a ripe, satisfying finish. Try it chilled for maximum pleasure.
2012 Laurent Miquel Vérité Viognier, Pays d'Oc
( £14.99, 13.5%, Majestic )Laurent Miquel has long been the leading Viognier producer in the south of France, making wines that are as good as most Condrieu but at less than half the price. This vintage is his best yet in my view, a rich, spicy, sumptuous, yet well balanced white, with sweet vanilla oak, just the right amount of acidity to temper the concentration of the wine and hedonistic flavours of apricot, fresh cream and fresh ginger. Available on line initially by the half case, so hurry.