Verdeca, Cantele, Puglia
Cantele make some of the best value wines in Southern Italy; World class wines.
Verdeca is a grape variety indigenous to Puglia, making wines of great freshness and purity. This is a great example and if you're a bit tired of Sauvignon, this is really worth a try.
Perfect garden wine, or with salads or light fish dishes.
Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc
Greywacke was created in 2009 by Kevin Judd, the person responsible for the ground-breaking early wines produced in Marlborough (Cloudy Bay). The name ’Greywacke’ was adopted by Kevin for his first Marlborough vineyard, located in Rapaura, in recognition of the prevalence of rounded greywacke river stones in the vineyard’s soils. ’Greywacke’ is a sedimentary rock that is widely found in Marlborough, consisting of layers of hard grey sandstone and darker mudstone.
Perhaps the best New Zealand Sauvignon on the market. Not too intense, balanced and delicious
Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, Amoterra
Great value organic wine from the Abruzzo region (Adriatic coast East from Rome).
Trebbiano can be a bit bland but in the right hands can make wines of real character. This has good depth of citrus and apple flavours and a long, pure finish.
A great wine to always have in the fridge in case you fancy a quick glass of something light and refreshing.
Goes well with light salads and sitting in the garden on a sunny day...
Soave Classico, Monte Tondo
Monte Tondo is a family estate located in the beautiful hillside vineyards of Soave. Here the soils range from volcanic to chalky, which alongside the varying microclimates, gives the wines distinct flavour characteristics and individualistic style.
Alongside his family, winemaker Gino Magnabosco is part of the third generation to run the estate. They believe that hard work, drive, and determination are key to obtaining the best results from their land. Maintaining, nourishing, and cherishing the land of their ancestors is of utmost importance. And although not certified, they farm using organic practices and an environmentally friendly approach to both viticulture and vinification. No chemicals are used in their production and they recycle everything excess coming from the vineyard (stems as fertilizers, skins for grappa, pruned branches for heating and fertilizer).
Small proportions of other varieties are allowed in the production of Soave, but Monte Tondo focus their concentration purely on Garganega. Garganega is a variety so versatile and easily culinary matched but also with the ability to produce complex wines with age-ability.
A very good example of Soave at a very good price. This over-delivers..
Perfect with salads and light fish and shellfish dishes.
Terlaner Cuvee, Cantine Terlano
Cantina Terlano is well known in Italian wine drinking circles for producing Italy’s longest lived white wines. Many memorable wines from the 1950s and 1960s, which rank amongst the greatest white wines of the world, were made here.
Located in the heart of the Terlan wine-growing region and founded in 1893, it is one of the oldest Alto Adige cooperatives. At that time, 24 growers set themselves the goal of joint production and sales marketing. Recognition and prosperity blossomed from there. Today Terlano has approximately 100 members, it farms 150 hectares and has an annual production of roughly 1.2 million bottles.
Under the expert eye of winemaker Rudi Kofler, the wines are sold and marketed according to three different quality categories. Furthermore, special older vintages have been stored in the valuable 'vinotheque', so that today roughly 12,000 bottles from 1955 to the present day are stored and some date back to even earlier days. This wine collection of older vintages is absolutely unique in Italy and proves that Terlano’s wines are able to age harmoniously for decades.
Brilliant pale yellow colour with green nuances. On the nose green apple and white peach combine with fine nuances of lemon balm and mint to create the typical aroma of the classic Terlano. On the palate the peach is very strong, too, lending the Terlano its lively but at the same time very mellow character. The multifaceted, well structured flavor derives from an interplay of freshness and minerality and also has a wonderfully persistent finish.
Great now, but this wine will gain richness and complexity with ageing.
A perfect match for grilled fish and asparagus but this very food-friendly wine is remarkably versatile and can stand up to strongly flavoured dishes.
Newton Johnson Walker Bay Pinot Noir
This family farm was founded in the mid-1990s by Cape Wine Master, Dave Johnson and his wife, Felicity (Née Newton)
and within the past twenty years has built a reputation for producing some of the Cape’s best Pinot Noir. Dave’s CWM
thesis was on the variety. Right from the outset, Dave and Felicity’s offspring were involved and today it is very
much Gordon, partnered by his wife, Nadia, who are responsible for the winemaking, with brother Bevan looking after
the commercial side.
Offering a lively introduction to the premium quality and unique characteristics of this grape variety in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. Made from younger vines and on the lower slopes of the well appointed Newton Johnson farm. The Walker Bay Pinot Noir shows a more flirtatious and fruit assertive character.
Delicious with grilled or roasted vegetable dishes as well as pork and lamb.
Chateau Filhot 37.5cl
The quality of this second growth estate has improved markedly since the mid 1980s. The location is just to the north of the village of
Sauternes on gravelly hillside beds with a southwest orientation. Yields are low (about 15hl/ha) and the blend is
Sémillon (55%), Sauvignon (40%) and Muscadelle (5%). This high proportion of Sauvignon and the refusal to use any
new oak (the wine is aged in stainless steel and 5+yr old oak barrels for 24-36 months) gives Filhot a fruitier, more
aromatic quality than some of the bigger-boned Sauternes. That said, the bottle age here gives real depth of flavour and considerable complexity.
Delicious with classic French desserts such as Tarte Tatin, as well as the perfect match for Blue Sheep's milk cheeses such as Lanark Blue, Beenleigh Blue or Mrs Bell's Blue.
Guimaro Tinto Joven
Pedro Rodriguez descends from a long line of colleteiras working in the Amandi area, Ribeira Sacra’s most prime subzone with south
facing vineyards planted on slate, called Loxa locally, just above the river Sil. His parents Manolo and Carmen still work the
vineyards daily. They also maintain a small finca of mixed agriculture, very common in Galicia, raising chickens, rabbits,
pigs, and cultivating a sizable vegetable patch. The culmination of the family’s agrarian traditions manifested with the
establishment of their adega in 1991. Before 1991, Pedro’s family produced small quantities of wine for their own
consumption and sold their wine in garrafones 20 litre glass containers- to local cantinas. It was an oenologist from León
and soon to be a close family friend, Luis Buitrón, who was instrumental in the creation of the Ribeira Sacra D.O. and helped
the Rodríguez family begin estate-bottling their wines. They named their winery Guímaro, which means “rebel” in Gallego a
nickname of Pedro’s grandfather. Guímaro was one of the first adegas to join the appellation in 1996.
In the beginning the wines were simple jovenes, young wines that showed the slate-infused freshness of lush red fruit and
supple texture, the kind of wines the area of Amandi was known for. They continue that tradition with this un-oaked Tinto an
amazing value year in and year out.
Similar in weight to decent Beaujolais or Valpolicella, this is a really versatile wine complimenting all sorts of dishes from pizza, roast chicken and pork dishes. In fact, i can't think of a better roast pork wine!
The Liberator Syrah
Over the past 25 years, Richard Kelley MW (aka The Liberator!) has become one of the most respected authorities on South African wine in the UK and beyond. Between 1995 and 2002, he lived and worked in the Cape, witnessing the renaissance of the post-apartheid wine industry. Throughout this fruitful period, he established a healthy rapport with the great and the good of the local wine scene, affording him access to their distinguished cellars. These wines are often some of the most interesting, and best value, wines to come out of South Africa.
Ask Richard which wine The Francophile Syrah most resembles and he’d probably compare it to a young Crozes-Hermitage. Full of vibrant red-black fruit and with an aromatic nose reminiscent of Saint-Joseph lilies, the result is a thrilling young red that is free of the constraints and manipulated flavour profile that come with barrel-ageing. This is a very pure and naked example of the Syrah grape.
Great value and a good wine to go with most meaty dishes.
Domaine Mapliers Rose ‘Preferences’
A blend of Grenache and Cinsault, this wine delivers a simple yet precise bouquet of fresh raspberries and vine peach. Superbly refreshing and delicate, the palate is charming and ethereal. Fermented in stainless steel from a direct and light pressing, a classic Provencal style that everybody will enjoy… day and night.
Delicious! Sun's out, salads in the garden, you know what to do...
Ata Rangi Pinot Noir
Ata Rangi, meaning ‘dawn sky, new beginning’ is owned and managed by Clive Paton, his wife Phyll and his sister Alison. In 1980 Clive planted the bare, stony, home paddock at the edge of Martinborough, becoming one of a handful of people who pioneered grape growing in the area. Ata Rangi’s first vineyard covered less than five hectares on deep, free-draining alluvial gravels – the original course of a local river which flows from the hills that flank the eastern side of the valley. Today they are joined by a strong team including winemaker Helen Masters, who in 2019 was awarded New Zealand Winemaker of the Year by Gourmet Traveller WINE magazine, as recognition of her 16 years’ work at Ata Rangi.
Ata Rangi is renowned for its Pinot Noir and is widely regarded as New Zealand’s top Pinot Noir producer. They were awarded Five Stars in the ‘2019 Great New Zealand Pinot Noir Classification’ by Matthew Jukes and Tyson Stelzer for the consistent gold medal standard of their wines. At the 2010 International Pinot Noir Conference, Ata Rangi Pinot Noir was one of two producers granted the title of ‘Tipuranga Teitei o Aotearoa’ (which translates from Māori as ‘Great Growth of New Zealand’ or ‘Grand Cru’), in recognition of their unique site and of the family’s commitment to evolving and developing New Zealand Pinot Noir. The oldest Pinot Noir vines, which include a clone allegedly smuggled from Burgundy, were planted in 1980.
This is one of my favourite Pinot Noirs from anywhere! I love the slightly savoury style of Martinborough Pinot and no-one does it better than Ata Rangi.
I would drink this with anything but roast pork belly with fennel seeds springs to mind as a match made in heaven.