There’s always something of a rush to list and sell the new vintage of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, so it’s good to see a winery (and a retailer in the shape of the Wine Society) that takes a more relaxed approach to vintages, selling wines with a bit of bottle age. Tangy, savoury and dry, this is a complex, flinty, well balanced white with no oak, allowing the quince, greengage and gooseberry fruit to shine.
Wine Type: White
2016 Rezabal Txakoli, Getariako Txakolina
( £12.99, 10.5%, Winetraders UK )Frothy, zesty and refreshing, this is everything you’d expect from a white from so-called green Spain, with notes of lime and citrus peel, bracing acidity and a salty, mineral-edged finish. A wine that you just have to dirnk by the bottle.
2015 Neudorf, Moutere Chardonnay, Moutere, Nelson
( £35, 14%, Contact the winery for details )Consistently one of New Zealand’s best Chardonnays, this is a rich, leesy, barrel-fermented style that treads the line (successfully, I might add) between opulence and pithy freshness. Citrus, oatmeal and honeyed notes are complemented by subtle vanilla sweetness and lovely, understated concentration.
NV Graham Beck, Brut, Western Cape
( £13.99, 12%, Majestic )Bready, tangy and well balanced, this great value bubbly from the Cape’s leading fizz producer would give a lot of basic Champagnes a run for their euros. Leesy, complex and frehsh with the Chardonnay providing acidic backbone and structure.
2015 Neudorf Twenty Five Rows Chardonnay, Moutere, Nelson
( £21, 13.5%, Available from the winery )Neudorf makes some of the most characterful Chardonnays in New Zealand. This is their unoaked, Kiwi-meets-Chablis style that sess no oak, but seven months on lees to pick up some extra texture and weight. Supple and fruity, with notes of white peach and pear, taut acidity and a long, satisfying finish.
2014 Domaine des Garennes Empreinte Blanc, Saumur, Loire Valley
( €10, 13, Contact the winery for details )Youthful, pithy and still quite tight, this barrel-fermented Chenin needs more time in bottle to show what it’s really capable of. Apple, citrus and pear flavours are complemented by stony minerality, some vanilla spice and a tangy, focused finish.
2015 Masseria Pietrosa Verdeca, Cantine San Marzano, Puglia
( £6 down from £8, 13%, Morrisons )Even at its normal price, this fine-looking Italian white from the country’s boot heel is a total bargain, but at £6 it shoudl ahve people queueing out of the door. Blending the local Verdeca grape (not the same thing as Verdejo) with 2.5% each of Sauvignon Blanc and Malvasia, it’s a tangy, crunchy thirstquencher with flavours of pear and orange zest and lovely texture.
2016 Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough
( £14.99, 13, New Zealand House of Wine, The New Zealand Cellar )Kevin Judd is arguably the most famous exponent of Sauvignon Blanc on the planet, thanks to his work at Cloudy Bay and subsequently at his own Marlborough winery, Greywacke. He certainly knows how to invest the variety with considerable complexity, using wild yeasts to add extra nuances to the exotic lime, gooseberry and stone fruit flavours. Long and very satisfying.
2015 Gentilini Robola, Cephalonia
( £14, 13%, Oddbins )Best known as the setting for Louis de Bernières’ novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Cephalonia also makes some very tasty wines from indigenous Greek grapes. This tangy, bright, wild herb-scented white, made from Robola, will delight lovers of fiction and non-fiction alike.
2014 Domaine Jones Grenache Gris, IGP Côtes Catalanes, Languedoc-Roussillon
( £13.50, 13.5%, The Wine Society )Englishwoman Katie Jones’ old vine releases from the Maury area are improving with every vintage and are now some of the best in the Roussillon. This Grenache Gris shows the variety’s focus, minerality and herbal edge, complemented by notes of pear and beeswax and the faintest kiss of oak.
2015 Sybille Kuntz Riesling Spätlese Trocken, Mosel
( TBC, 12.5%, www.sybillekuntz.de )Delicious, mouth-watering dry Riesling from one of my favourite Mosel producers. The extra palate weight and the warmth of the vintage are a perfect foil for the mienralyy, cirtrus-edged acidity here. Pear and apple, with a hint of spice and a stony, bone dry finish.
2015 Sybille Kuntz Riesling Qualitätswein, Mosel
( TBC, 12%, www.sybillekuntz.de )This is only the “entry point” Riesling in Sybille Kuntz’s range, but it’s enjoyably fresh, pithy and crisp with green apple acidity and a taut, refreshingly dry finish. The ripeness of the year makes this quite a full flavoured style.