New Release – Gaja’s 2016 Barbaresco
Eagerly awaited and sure to be in high demand after the unanimous praise from the critics, the 2016 is a must have wine for lovers of Barbaresco. Other wines are also available!
Vintage overview
‘The young 2016 Barbarescos are some of the most compelling young wines I have tasted in twenty years of visiting the region. Many of the 2016s are still in barrel, but the picture that is starting to emerge from wines I tasted in bottle and cask is of a very high quality vintage with the potential to be truly extraordinary.’ Antonio Galloni 2018
‘With the 2016 vintage, Barbaresco has catapulted itself to the very top of Italian fine wine… It is my firm belief that 2016 could be a total game-changer for the region….’ JancisRobinson.com May 2019
‘I tasted this wine over two sittings, one at the winery and one at my home office a few weeks later. Although I can’t claim any extraordinary differences between the two sessions, I noticed a few minimal shifts that are essential to understanding the wine’s future aging ability. The 2016 Barbaresco starts off slow at first, showing a small margin of aromatic evolution in the glass. But come back two hours later, and you can almost hear the soft sounds of the symphony playing just below the surface. The 2016 vintage is characterized by the solid intensity and firmness of its aromas, which transcend fruit and veer toward balsamic herb, licorice, tar and smoke instead. The tannins offer a moment of sweetness and softness, before you are aware of their undeniable firmness. In all, there is a certain glossiness or satiny quality to the mouthfeel that underlines the wine’s carefully crafted integration. I would describe this as a classic and also a somewhat austere Barbaresco that fully deserves extra cellar time to stretch those tight muscles and grow in volume. This wine will award those who wait.’ 96 Pts Monica Larner
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July Offer 2019
Unashamedly Burgundian in flavour, this selection has evolved a Pinot/Chardonnay leaning. With the incessant rise in the prices of the top Domaines in Burgundy it seemed fitting to search out some wines that offer outstanding quality at prices more suited to mortals. I have included a few new releases from the Rhone and Spain which will delight and amaze the most discerning palate.
Champagne
A very small allocation of Pierre Péters top cuvée Les Chetillons for some lucky customer.
“For the quality, these are some of the most fairly priced wines in Champagne, and for what it is worth, wines I frequently serve to my guests at home.” Antonio Galloni
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Burgundy
Mathieu and Camille Lapierre produce some of the finest Beaujolais in the region. The long held belief in as little intervention as possible in the making of the wine allows a pure expression of red fruit and freshness that is hard to resist.
2018 Marcel Lapierre Morgon
“Pale smudgy garnet colour (and beautifully simple label). This wine is so pure and gorgeous!… It’s a great advertisement for minimal intervention and purity. Direct fruit and not a trace of oak. Long and reverberant. Already drinkable but there is no hurry whatsoever.” 18/20 points JancisRobinson.com
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Domaine du Corps du Garde, Jean-Hugues Goisot
A little known Domaine that offers real value. Run on biodynamic principles the Estate is sited in St-Bris, that was exiled from the Chablis appellation in the late 19th Century. Rich yet lithe Chardonnays and Sauvignons that share the best attributes of top quality Sancerre but usually cropped at lower yields. The Sauvignon Gris has an added depth and richness from this traditional grape variety, often described as a cross between Sauvignon and Pinot Gris. The vines in Mazelots are over 100 years old and are some of the oldest pinot vines in the world. They produce a wine of incredible energy with an intense mineral quality that is wrapped in a silky, mouth filling texture. The Gondonne Blanc is from cuttings taken from the Les Clos holdings of Raveneau and Dauvissat as the Goissot family feel that the soil structure of this vineyard is closest to Les Clos in Chablis.
“I have said this many times before but it bears repeating: No one but no one delivers more quality for the price than Goisot. The quality is flat out amazing particularly given the modest appellations with which he works. I highly recommend these wines.” – Allen Meadows of the “Burghound”
“The 2015 Bourgogne-Côtes d’Auxerre Gueule de Loup has an engaging, complex bouquet of dried honey, pine cones and a touch of orange peel and black currant leaf. The palate is very well balanced, with a fine bead of acidity, and the finish conveys a simmering tension. Discreet stem ginger and white pepper notes are sprinkled liberally on the aftertaste. Superb.” 92 Neil Martin
“The 2015 Bourgogne-Côtes d’Auxerre Corps de Garde Blanc has a bouquet of light green apple skin and fresh pear; scents of beeswax and jasmine develop in the glass. The palate is well balanced, presenting a smooth, waxy-textured entry and revealing a light sea influence toward the saline and green-asparagus-tinged finish. This is very harmonious and feels very persistent. Recommended.” 90 Neil Martin
“The 2017 Saint-Bris Moury was fortunately spared by the frost, although it was still cropped at just 16hl/ha. It has a very well defined, pungent bouquet of gooseberry, nettle soup, dandelion and peat-like aromas that burst from the glass. The palate is crisp and taut, presenting a dash of lemon peel and orange peel on the entry. This feels well balanced and quite linear in style, and the peppery but strict finish lingers in the mouth. This is another outstanding 2017 from Goisot.” 91 Neil Martin
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Domaine Didier Fornerol
Jean-Pierre de Smet, famed co-founder and partner at Domaine de l’Arlot, retired from l’Arlot in 2007 and since then has been helping his friend Didier Fornerol, former vineyard manager at de l’Arlot, fashion wonderful wines from these lowly vineyards. They show sensitivity to the terroir, delicacy of touch and great balance learned from the wealth of experience in the vineyard and cellar. Not a famous Domaine but an ‘insider’s’ burgundy where great and pleasurable wines can be had at reasonable prices. (The wines of Didier Fornerol are for UK delivery only I am afraid)
“The magic and soul that Didier is able to tease out of his humble appellations are a testament to a career spent learning from one of the legends of Burgundy.” www.grandcruselections.com
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Rhone
2016 Clos des Papes
“Another perfect wine from this brilliant estate is the 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which matches the otherworldly 2007. A classic blend of 60% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre and 10% Syrah brought up all in old foudre, this beauty’s deep purple color is followed by a mammoth bouquet of kirsch liqueur, black currants, blueberries, Asian spices, and garrigue. Full-bodied, concentrated, and powerful, it nevertheless is as graceful as a ballerina on the palate and has ultra-fine tannins, a silky, seamless texture, and a finish that just won’t quit. Hats off to vigneron Paul-Vincent Avril!” 100pts Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, August 2018
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Domaine Jean-Paul Jamet
“2016 Côte Rôtie is as fresh, elegant, and classic a Côte Rôtie as you’ll be able to find. Offering medium to full-bodied richness, perfumed aromas and flavors, ultra-fine tannins, and no hard edges, this beauty just glides across the palate and is already almost impossible to resist. Nevertheless, it’s going to be best with 4-5 years or cellaring and evolve nicely for two decades or more.” Score: 94/96 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, December 2018
“Tasted, as usual, in components. #1) Les Lezards: bright red fruit, flowers and spices; seamless texture and a zesty mineral overtone that builds with air. #2) Gerine: smoke-accented blue fruits and plush texture; round and weighty with a jolt of pepper adding back-end spiciness and cut. #3) Fontgeant: hugely aromatic, showing intense, mineral-driven medicinal cherry and floral character, a hint of olive and strong back-end thrust. #4) Côte Baudin and Moutonne: deep and rich, showing powerful black and blue fruit qualities and a candied licorice flourish. Plenty of weight here and an intensely spicy back half. #5) Moutonne, Côte Rozier, Côte Blonde and Rochains: sexy, mineral-tinged red and blue fruits and candied flowers on the nose; sweet and seamless in texture, with sneaky tannins adding framework and final grip. #6) Fontgeant, Bonnivière, Tartaras and Leyat: vibrant and sharply focused, showing intense, mineral-tinged blue fruit and floral qualities and an exotic Asian spice overtone; the mineral note dominates with air. #7) Le Plomb: hugely aromatic, displaying red fruit preserve, incense and exotic spice qualities, silky texture and impressive power as well as a delicate finishing touch. #8) La Landonne: wild, expansive dark berry liqueur, olive and licorice qualities and serious heft and breadth; livelier with air, but this is a massive bruiser. The final wine should show Jamet’s typical blend of power and finesse and it also looks to be a more brawny wine than many other ’16s from the appellation, displaying some of the richness that I associate with the 2015s.” Score: 95/97 Josh Raynolds, vinous.com, June 2018
“The 2015 Côte Rôtie was scheduled to be bottled not long after my visit. This is an undeniably great vintage at this address, even if Jean-Paul prefers his 2016s, calling 2015 ‘too much.’ It’s worth pointing out that he thought the same about his 1991, which is a borderline perfect wine today. The 2015 sports a deep ruby/purple color to go with searing notes of pepper, smoked meats, flowers, and assorted black and blue fruits. With full-bodied richness, a concentrated, thick mid-palate, sweet, yet present tannin, and a huge finish, this is a wine to back up the truck for. A warning, however — it’s not for those looking for instant gratification. Readers looking for classic, old-school, age-worthy Cote Rotie should look no further than the wines from Jean-Paul and Corinne Jamet. While 2015 is an incredible vintage for this estate, the 2016s are also some of the more impressive in the appellation.” 95-97 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
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Domaine Dumien-Serrette
The Dumien family has lived and worked in Cornas since 1515 and this wine, fashioned from the tiny ‘Patou’ plot of vines in the south of the Cornas appellation, understandably, is in a very traditional style. Organically farmed, the grapes are harvested by hand and trod by foot in cement tanks with fermentation relying on indigenous yeasts. From a great vintage in this region, this is deep coloured, powerful and delicious.
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Italy
Off the Wall
Frank Cornelissen, artisan wine producer on the North slope of mount Etna in Sicily, whose wines are very pure and Burgundian in style. 
Our farming philosophy is based on our acceptance of the fact that man will never be able to understand nature’s full complexity and interactions. We therefore choose to concentrate on observing and learning the movements of Mother Earth in her various energetic and cosmic passages and prefer to follow her indications as to what to do, instead of deciding and imposing ourselves. Consequently this has taken us to avoiding all possible interventions on the land we cultivate, including any treatments, whether chemical, organic, or biodynamic, as these are all a mere reflection of the inability of man to accept nature as she is and will be.
In order to obtain profound, territorial wines, our grape yields are low, around 300 to 500g per vine, achieved by pruning very short in the dormant season. On our MunJebel® single vineyard cru’s and our Grand Vin Magma®, every grape cluster is tailored, with tails cut away and unripe or damaged berries delicately hand picked out. We harvest relatively late, in search for perfect ripeness, starting mid October to mid November, effected in multiple passes, to obtain dense and profound wines. We refuse to add any product in every aspect of our winemaking and bottling, thus also avoiding the use of sulphur dioxide, which enables our wines to express themselves to their full extent. The grapes are transformed in a delicate way, fermented with the skins in small neutral tubs to avoid high temperatures during fermentation, which lasts at least until alcoholic fermentation is finished, depending on the quality of the skins, enabling the fermentation to finish perfectly. After this stage, the wines are gently pressed and stored in neutral vessels in order not to absorb any external taste. The wines destined for early bottling go into bigger HDPE decanting tanks whereas the wines with higher tannin levels are aged in epoxy-treated terracotta vessels of 400 litres, buried up to the neck in the cellar in ground volcanic rock. (Happy Days!)
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Spain
The new vintage of this firm favourite has now arrived. Made from Verdehlo, aged in French Oak it is one of Spain’s most complex and refined white wines.
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Lovely Rioja perfectly ready to drink.
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‘The 2005 Viña Tondonia Reserva is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho, 5% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo from their vineyards in the meander of the Ebro River, where they have some 100 hectares of vineyards. The wine fermented in the original oak vats that are now some 140 years of age. There is no temperature control and malolactic was also in the vat. The wine was transferred to oak barrels where it slowly matured in their deep, humid caves for no less than six years. After this, it was bottled unfiltered after being fined with egg whites. I think the quality gap between the Reserva and Gran Reserva has been getting smaller since the 2001 vintage and this 2005 is nothing short of exceptional. It’s clean and complex, with more freshness. The wine is very spicy and with a palate that feels very balanced, livelier than in the past. It has a long finish where the flavors are clean. Easy to drink and very pleasurable. Some 250,000 bottles were produced in 2005.’ Drink 2016-2025. 93pts Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate (226), August 2016
‘Lovely depth of fruit to this mature red with chocolate, dark tea and bark. Purple flowers and violets. Full and very silky and refined. A beautiful traditional wine to get to know. Drink now.’ 94pts James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, July 2017
Lebanon
A new find that has amazed judges when competing at alongside more traditional sources of fine chardonnay.
‘Hailing from Château Ksara in the Bekaa Valley, this barrel-fermented wine, called Cuvée du Pape, has all the hallmarks of great Chardonnay: a touch of stone fruit, an edgy lemon-like acidity, a slightly oily texture, and a lovely cashew nut richness.’ Gold – The Global Chardonnay Masters (The Drinks Business)
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Australia
Tolpuddle Vineyard
Wonderful wines that compete effortlessly on the world stage.
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2014 Coal River Chardonnay
“Truly beautiful. It flows effortlessly but then feels tight and reserved. It’s going to be a humdinger once it’s had time to flesh out and grow properly into its skin. White peach, lemon, flint and grilled nuts. It’s all there, contained, elegant, harmonious. Grapefruit to the finish. Ever so stylish.” 97 Points James Halliday
2017 Coal River Pinot Noir
“Got someone in your life that doesn’t understand Pinot Noir? This extraordinary offering from the Coal River Valley will warm the heart of any dyed-in-the-wool lover of big reds-big reds with finesse, that is. Truly a desert island wine that can be enjoyed at anytime over the next 15 – 20 years. Rich, immensely deep and concentrated with savoury spice and dark cherry notes. Awe inspiring.” Mark Smith – Tasmanian Times
“Just released and showing like a rock star already. An amalgam of spice over bright rose and cherry. The near perfect structure and length of flavour make this irresistible.” Andrew Graham – December 2018
“Vinified with 40% whole bunches in open fermenters, the parcels spending 15-25 days on skins, matured in French barriques (30% new). This is an awesome wine, its bouquet charged with a distilled essence of cherry, strawberry and plum. There’s nothing heavy-handed here, just sublime length, offering a virtually limitless future.” 98 Points James Halliday – Top 100 Wines of 2018 – November 2018
“This 6th release of Tolpuddle Vineyard Pinot Noir is the finest work to date, as it shows refinement and true vineyard expression. The fruit aromas are wildly alluring with red and dark cherries, red plums, strawberries, pink grapefruit, blood oranges, peaches and pomegranate. Some light peppery notes and an array of freshly ground, hard brown spices, stony and sappy elements, crushed roses and violets. Very complex. The palate is just as impressive with strikingly resolved mix of power and elegance. Flavours of red and dark cherries, persimmon, plums and blackberries are encased in a sleeve of helix-like tannins, which also carry long and emanate waves of fresh fruit flavour. Intense red cherries and red plums hold the finish long and pure. This is something special. Drink or hold.” 99 Points. Nick Stock – James Suckling – August 2018
New Zealand
New acquisitions from Felton Road.
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Felton Road 2017 Block 3 Pinot Noir
“This has a very attractive, pure core of ripe red and black cherries, adorned in gently spicy and sappy nuances. Youthful and full of promise. The palate has a smoothly carved core of ripe red cherries with powder-fine tannins that build in layers and hold a supple, strong and focused finish.” 97 Points, James Suckling: (December 2018)
Felton Road 2017 Block 5 Pinot Noir
“Plenty of fresh green details and peppery sage and thyme hints lead the way up front, with gunpowder tea, nutmeg and toasted rye notes mingling with strawberry and cranberry flavors. The tannins are muscular, but never get in the way. The fresh green accents linger. Drink now through 2028.” 94 Points Wine Spectator
“This is an extraordinary wine. It boasts great purity and power with layer upon layer of subtle flavours that include violets, red rose petal, dark cherry and mixed spices – a kaleidoscope of ever-changing characters most keenly displayed on the finish. It’s delicate, fragrant and has enormous length. Wonderful now – I look forward to charting its progress with bottle age.” 100 Points Drink : 2018 – 2027 Bob Campbell
Felton Road 2017 Bannockburn Pinot Noir
“Aromatic pinot noir with spice, plum and violet aromas that are joined by liquorice, prune and subtle nutty oak on the palate. Dense, intense wine with strong sweet fruit restrained by subtle tannins. A rich, almost chewy wine, with impressive underlying power. Best served slightly chilled to temper fruit sweetness.” 95 Points – Bob Campbell
“Complex, brambly red-cherry and red-plum aromas with a lightly sappy, forest-floor edge. The palate has a super smooth array of vibrant red cherries and a clearly defined, layered texture.” 94 Points – James Suckling
“Elegant, fresh and vibrant, this red starts off wonderfully perfumed, with lavender, white pepper and green tea notes that accentuate the purity of the cherry and raspberry flavors. Polished tannins still provide some grip on the finish, where white truffle and forest floor details linger. Drink now through 2032.” 96 points Wine Spectator *#12 on the Top 100 Wines of 2018* (MW) (10/2018)
United States
Calera
Nice selection of wines from one of the States most Burgundian of winemakers. Josh Jensen worked vintages at Romanée-Conti and Dujac before he set up his winery Calera (Lime Kiln) that, over the years, has received such accolades as ‘California’s Romanée-Conti’ and the ‘Pinot Pioneer’. His wines eschew the fruit bomb ‘smasher blasters’ and aim for a more gentle development “that is perfectly balanced on the cusp of richness and complexity, of fruitiness and subtlety, and is neither one nor the other.”
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Lingua Franca
Lingua Franca is a new project in Oregon unifying several different familiar names in the world of wine. The first vintage from Larry Stone was in 2015, a famous San Francisco Master Sommelier and veteran of several different wine projects in California and Oregon. Teaming up with Larry is consulting winemaker Dominque Lafon, the legendary Burgundy winemaker, along with the inquisitive mind of Thomas Savre, a brilliant young winemaker with work experience at some of the best domaines in Burgundy, including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine de Beilène, Domaine Dujac and Maison Nicolas Potel. The wines have received great praise from both the press and wine intelligentsia. Superb expressions of Chardonnay & Pinot that speak of their terroir. A fresh source for exquisite wine and with only the second vintage recently landed, one to watch.
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All wines subject to remaining unsold. All prices exclude VAT. Wines whose status is IB also exclude Duty. UK mainland deliveries, excluding Scotland, are charged at £15 ex VAT per order.
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