Selection
Selection
Pax 2017 Buddha’s Dharma Vineyard Chenin Blanc
American White
Melon, wool, Mirabelle plum and flowers appear with exotic fruit and spice. The Chenin Blanc is fresh and long. Vines were planted in nineteen forty-four on gravelly volcanic soils and are dry farmed without chemicals. Grapes are whole-cluster pressed. Ambient fermentation and full malolactic conversion take place in neutral French oak and new Stockinger Austrian barrels, followed by ten months in the same vessels.
Domaine Billaud-Simon 2014 Chablis Premier Cru Mont de Milieu
French White
Lemon and crisp green apple appear in a ripe, juicy Chardonnay. Citrus, spice and floral notes accompany a mineral, finely cut profile with roundness and substance. The wine has a textured, tight character and persistent mineral detail. Fruit comes from Mont de Milieu in Chablis Premier Cru. Ageing takes place in both tank and barrel, with fifteen thousand five hundred bottles produced.
Pierre Gaillard 2018 Saint-Joseph Blanc
French White
Yellow stone fruit, pastry and honey appear in this white. The Roussanne is round and rich, with a fresh finish. Fruit comes from granitic sand in Malleval and Chavanay, grown on south-east-facing hilltops. Grapes are hand harvested, gently pressed and settled. Barrel fermentation uses no new wood, followed by nine months on lees with stirring.
Forge Cellars 2020 Wagner Caywood East Dry Riesling
American White
Apricot, quince and ripe peach accompany lemon peel and flinty mineral notes. The Riesling has concentration, fresh acidity and structure. Fruit comes from a high-elevation vineyard on shale soils east of Seneca Lake. The long, windswept site has a steep slope, reaches the crest and includes bands of gravelly soil. Spontaneous fermentation takes place in neutral barrel.
Coulter Wines 2022 C4 Eden Valley Riesling
Australian White
Green apple, lime sorbet and wet limestone appear in a finely focused Riesling. The wine is linear and persistent, with racy acidity and a long, steely finish. Fruit comes from Eden Valley in South Australia, and the style is bone dry. The producer works with grower fruit and makes its wines in a former church at Uleybury in the Adelaide Hills.
Domaine Besson 2020 Chablis Premier Cru Vaillons
French White
Pale yellow colour accompanies white blossom and yellow fruit. The Chardonnay is round and generous, with yellow-fruit flavour. Grapes come from 2.46 hectares of clay-limestone soils in Vaillons. Slow, low-pressure pressing precedes fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel, with eight percent fermented in oak. Lees ageing lasts eighteen months in steel, with a small portion kept in oak barrels.
Blank Canvas 2020 Escaroth Vineyard Pinot Noir
New Zealand Red
Hazy cherry colour accompanies tart cherry, olive tapenade, forest moss, cherry blossom and pomegranate. The Pinot Noir comes from a dry-farmed, north-facing slope in Taylor Pass, planted on low-vigour clay. Half the fruit fermented as whole clusters, with the balance destemmed and crushed. Natural fermentation lasted fifteen days before twelve months in low-toast French oak and three months in tank.
Domaine Marcel Richaud 2021 Cairanne Blanc
French White
White flowers, nectarine, orange peel and honey appear in a velvety white. White-fruit flavours, salinity and freshness accompany a rich profile. The blend includes Clairette Blanche, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Viognier, Bourboulenc, Marsanne and Vermentino. Grapes are hand harvested, and the farming is organic. Most fermentation and ageing take place in concrete, with a smaller portion using 600-litre oak vessels.
Duckhorn 2015 Napa Valley Chardonnay
American White
Nectarine, vanilla and cream accompany pear, peach, chai and wildflowers. The Chardonnay has a bright entry and a rich, silky texture, with delicate French-oak detail and a long mineral finish. Fermentation uses French oak, with lees stirring. Cooperage is ninety percent French oak and ten percent stainless steel, followed by ten months of barrel ageing. Alcohol is 14.1 percent.
Jean Foillard 2023 Beaujolais Blanc
French White
White flowers, green apple and pear appear with citrus and a saline mineral finish. The Chardonnay comes from a 1.4-hectare parcel at Pizay, planted with vines ten to fifteen years old. Whole clusters receive a three-day cold maceration before pressing. Half the wine is vinified in concrete, while the remainder uses old barrels and sandstone jars. Production totalled around twelve thousand bottles.
Gehringer 2023 Minus 9 Ehrenfelser Icewine
Canadian Dessert
Concentrated apricot, honey, orange blossom and citrus appear in this icewine. Apricot jam accompanies lively acidity and a clean, persistent finish. Fruit comes from the Golden Mile Bench in the Okanagan Valley. Ehrenfelser grapes were harvested frozen at minus nine degrees Celsius. The analysis records 248 grams per litre of residual sugar, 10.9 grams per litre of total acidity and 11 percent alcohol.
Forge Cellars 2020 Peach Orchard Dry Riesling
American White
Honeysuckle and orange blossom accompany white peach and mirabelle plum. Wet stone and lemon pith are also present in this dry Riesling. Fruit comes from the east side of Seneca Lake, on Howard gravelly silt loam. Grapes were hand harvested, sorted and whole-cluster pressed. Indigenous-yeast fermentation took place in barrel, with 3.6 grams per litre of residual sugar.
Domaine Desvignes 2019 Givry Blanc En Chenèves
French White
Pure Chardonnay fruit and floral notes appear in a crisp, precise white. The blend is ninety percent Chardonnay and ten percent Pinot Blanc. Fruit comes from a north-east-facing site at the foot of the Givry slope, on clay-limestone soil. Grapes are gently pressed and settled before slow fermentation in French oak. Fine-lees ageing continues for twelve months in barrel.
1006 Vins de Loire 2021 Celeste Chenin Blanc
French White
Chenin from a single parcel of twenty-five-year-old vines grows on sandstone and puddingstone soils in Anjou. The plot was in its second year of conversion to organic farming. Grapes are hand harvested and pressed slowly into French oak, where fermentation begins with natural yeast. The wine spends seventeen months in second-fill French oak barrels and is made without animal products.
Maison Louis Jadot 2022 Domaine Clair-Daü Rosé de Marsannay
French Rosé
Pale salmon colour accompanies wild strawberry, redcurrant and a hint of white pepper. This dry rosé is made entirely from Pinot Noir and has a structured, gastronomic profile. The wine is fresh, pleasant and fruit-driven, with body. A brief skin maceration precedes fermentation and maturation in tank. Fruit comes from Marsannay in the Côte de Nuits.
Michele Chiarlo 2022 Tortoniano Barolo
Italian Red
Garnet colour with luminous hues accompanies rose petals, juniper berries and fine spices. The Nebbiolo is ample and structured, with silky tannins, elegance and persistence. Fermentation takes place in steel, with fifteen to eighteen days of skin contact and gentle wetting of the cap. Ageing lasts at least three years, including eighteen to twenty-four months in medium-sized oak casks.
Chapel Hill 2018 The Vicar Shiraz
Australian Red
Inky black colour accompanies blackberry, plum, dark chocolate and aniseed, with wild herbs, violets, black liquorice and wild fennel. The Shiraz has succulent tannins and a long finish. Fruit is sourced from McLaren Vale. Maturation lasts twenty-one months in 300-litre French oak hogsheads, one quarter new, and the finished wine carries 14.5 percent alcohol.
Crystallum 2024 The Agnes Chardonnay
South African White
Sliced bread, apple, nutmeg and lemon rind appear with wet-stone and seashell notes. The Chardonnay is creamy, fresh, medium-to-full-bodied and textural, with a salty finish. Spearmint and green apple are joined by butterscotch, golden apple, yellow pear and floral detail. The layered profile has a steely edge. Fruit comes from multiple vineyard sites in the Western Cape.
Domaine Bailly-Reverdy 2020 Sancerre Rouge
French Red
Deep ruby and violet colour accompanies fresh and candied red fruit, including strawberry, raspberry, blackcurrant and blackberry. The Pinot Noir has a structured mouthfeel with coated tannins and welcome acidity. The vintage was harvested over nearly a month, with red grapes among the first picked. Vatting and extraction were adjusted to the condition of the fruit during the harvest.
Zorah 2017 Karasi Areni Noir
Armenian Red
Dark berries, herbs, pepper and anise appear with smoky detail and a silky texture. The Areni variety grows on own-rooted vines at 1,400 metres in sandy, limestone-rich soils scattered with large stones. Natural-yeast fermentation takes place in concrete tanks. The wine then spends about twelve months in buried amphorae and a further six months in bottle.
Liber Estates 2021 Rebil Pinot Noir
Canadian Red
Light colour accompanies intense, spicy and savoury flavours with branchy forest-floor notes. Juicy sweet black cherry, floral detail, cinnamon and subtle tight-grained oak are also present. The Pinot Noir grows near the west-facing bank of the Similkameen River in Cawston. Whole berries ferment at cool temperatures, followed by ten months in French oak. Alcohol is 13.8 percent.
Tesselaarsdal 2021 Chardonnay
South African White
Citrus blossom, sweet lemongrass and lees spice accompany fine, dusty minerality. The Chardonnay has a compact, radiant profile and a long, gentle palate that is expressive, classical and restrained. Fruit comes from unirrigated vines in the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge. Six months of ageing uses fifty-eight percent old French oak, twenty-four percent amphorae and eighteen percent stainless steel. Alcohol is 12.75 percent.
Poderi Colla 2021 Campo Romano Langhe Pinot Nero
Italian Red
Delicate garnet colour accompanies griotte cherry, tobacco, spices and ripe fruit. Freshness, roundness and integrated tannins sit within a long, persistent profile. Further notes of crushed cherry, rose, tar, pomegranate, vanilla and liquorice add detail. The Pinot Nero comes from a vineyard planted in the late nineteen seventies and carries thirteen percent alcohol. The texture is smooth and velvety.
Michael Gindl 2017 Buteo 12 Grüner Veltliner
Austrian White
Frosted grape pulp, underripe fuzzy peach and white spice accompany a long, wild finish. The Grüner Veltliner comes from biodynamically farmed vines in Hohenruppersdorf, within the Weinviertel. Grapes receive ten hours of skin contact before a slow eight-hour press. Spontaneous fermentation takes place in wood, and the wine then spends six months resting on its lees.
E. Pira & Figli 2021 Langhe Nebbiolo
Italian Red
Ripe raspberry, cherry, earth, sun-dried hay and liquorice accompany a darker mineral note. The Nebbiolo has a rich, broad profile with firm structure and a long, tactile finish. Fermentation and maceration take place in stainless steel for six to ten days. The wine then spends twelve months in French barriques before light filtration. Alcohol is fourteen percent.
Brendan Stater-West 2022 Saumur Blanc
French White
Citrus and saline notes accompany a light Chenin Blanc. Fruit comes from a selection within the Les Chapaudaises parcel in Bizay, on a lower north-eastern slope. Clay, sand and loam lie above limestone at the site. Fermentation and vinification take place in stainless steel, with some fine lees retained during six months of maturation. Alcohol is 12.5 percent.
Borgogno 2022 Era Ora Langhe Riesling
Italian White
Petrol, quince and roasted peach appear with soft floral notes in a bone-dry Riesling. Yellow stone fruit and bright acidity accompany a wet-stone finish. Lime, apricot, yellow plum, hawthorn and menthol add further detail. Fermentation takes place mainly in steel, with a smaller oak portion, followed by time on fine lees, in steel and in bottle.
Bethel Heights Vineyard 2015 Estate Chardonnay
American White
White peach, spiced apple and baking bread meet shaved almond and allspice. The medium-bodied Chardonnay is fresh and expressive, with a core of stone fruit, toasted flavours and a pleasantly oily texture. Bright acidity and barrel toast are present alongside a sleek, supple texture. Fruit comes from the estate in Oregon's Willamette Valley, within the Eola-Amity Hills.
Domaine de l’Ecu 2016 Mephisto Cabernet Franc
French Red
Black fruit, blackberry, strawberry, redcurrant and white pepper accompany sweet spice in a rich Cabernet Franc. Tannins are tight yet velvety, with volume and delicacy. Grapes are harvested by hand from granite soils and fermented with native yeasts. The wine matures in old barrels and amphorae for fifteen months. The vineyards have been farmed organically since nineteen seventy-five and carry Demeter Biodynamic certification dating from nineteen ninety-eight.
Penfolds 2017 St Henri Shiraz
Australian Red
Blackberry, mulberry, currant and plum accompany herb, dark chocolate, liquorice and panforte notes. Fine, powdery tannins appear in a dense profile. The finish is long, with chocolate and mineral detail. Red raspberry, dark berry and pepper also appear. Shiraz is joined by nine percent Cabernet Sauvignon. Maturation takes place in old 1,460-litre vats, with little overt oak character.