(2024) Quintessa's white comes from their vineyard planted in 2002, but blends 60% Napa and 40% Sonoma fruit. The blend itself consists of 58% Sauvignon Blanc, 32% Sauvignon Blanc Musqué (a fragrant clone of Sauvignon) and 10% Sémillon. Initial impression is of great succulence, ripe and juicy pear, creamy lemon curd and a hint of nettle. There is a tiny grace note of something rosemary-like. In the mouth it is supple and quite firm. It was fermented with wild yeast, and made in a combination of oak and acacia barrels, steel tanks and concrete eggs, so there is a little spice and a taut, flinty and steely character that plays beautifully against sweet mid-palate fruit with a tang of grapefruit in the finish. It is being sold en primeur at £252 per six at time of review.
(2024) Nyetimber's Classic Cuvée is a multi-vintage blend of the three main Champagne grapes, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Handily, typing in the code from the back label into the Nyetimber website will reveal the precise composition of your bottle: mine has 9.4g/l dosage, was disgorged in April after almost four years on the lees, and has plenty of reserve wines in the blend: based on 2019 (77%), it also boasts reserves from every year back to 2014. Shimmering light gold, there is a pastry and biscuit character, as well as a bold golden yellow apple and quince. In the mouth it is a juicy, flavourful sparkling wine with fruit that touches on the tropical before being drawn back by English orchard apples and citrus into a balanced finish. Delightful at any time, but this special release to celebrate Team GB's Paris Olympics comes in a special livery for the occasion. Watch the video for more information.
(2024) 48% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Cabernet Franc, this spend around 16 months in 225-litre French oak barrels plus a year in bottle. The vintage was regular and dry, with any rain events well-timed for grape maturity. It's a sumptuous wine, the colour a little more developed and structure apparent in the 2021 vintage here subsumed under a cloak of velvetty fruit density and ripeness. Those classic cedar and nutmeg spice notes are still there, and the buoyant cherry fruit, but it is dark and plush on the palate, a cassis touch leading into firm, sandy tannins that themselves have a chocolaty texture and weight. Acid is balanced in a wine that is absolutely delicious now, for drinking while the 2021 comes together perhaps?
(2024) Sourced from Hugel's vineyards around Riquewihr which are in the process of being certified for organic viticulture. Gorgeous nose of waxy preserved lemons, gently exotic, ripe apples and the most delicate touch of saffron spice. The palate has sweetness, but that's purely the ripe fruit, underscored by a sour lemon and grapefruit acidity that cleanses the palate. Medium-bodied but fruit-filled on the mid-palate, the finish is long and perfectly balanced.
(2024) Giuseppe describes this vineyard as having 'lasagne soils,' referring to layers of iron oxide, which he thinks adds a weight to the tannin structure. Aged 28 months in various sizes of Slavonian oak, the colour is a quite transparent ruby, and aromas leap from the glass, all in the floral and cherry spectrum, violet and even a hint of lily, with some ground ginger in the mix. In the mouth it simply bursts with sweet but featherweight red fruits, so juicy and ripe, but all the time tensioned by its taut structure of fine tannin and elegant acid grip. It is medium-bodied and deliciously drinkable now, but once again there is no doubt this easily has 10 years+ of cellaring potential. At time of review most stockists offer this wine only by the case.
(2023) From the LVMH stable, this is a wine of serious intent - and pricing, though at time of review Berry Bros price of £36.50 is £10 less than any other retailer I can see. It has partial oak ageing, and that perhaps helps adds a burnished tone to the salmon pink colour, and certainly some delicate pastry notes to otherwise fruity and floral aromas. There's great concentration in this 14% abv pink, with a grapefruit grip and definition to the acidity, but very pleasing, relatively broad and juicy flavours through the mid-palate. A gastronomic rosé in a beautifully stylish package too.
(2023) Made from all local varieties led by Viosinho and Gouveio, with Arinto, Códega do Larinho and Rabigato making up another 20%. The blend was aged in barrels, 20% of which were new, for six months. A wine I've tasted in several previous vintages, but what a fine effort this is in 2021. The barrels add a layer of gentle oatmeal and toast, but this is really about ripe but clean and pure citrus and orchard fruits. This has weight and texture, a little nutty barrel weight beneath, but the dazzling freshness of the fruit and decisive acid line is most impressive. A Christmas banker for fish through to roast chicken or turkey. Watch the video for more information.
(2023) 180g/l residual sugar. From one of the highest vineyards overlooking Mad on stony ground with clay topsoil, this has honeysuckle and plum aromas, with honey and minty notes as well as minerality and thrilling acidity. Complex with massive concentration and exaggerated length. Price quoted for a previous vintage. (GD)
(2022) From Reuilly, not far from Sancerre and using mostly similar grapes, this however is Pinot Gris. Though often made as a white wine, the variety does develop deep pink skins. An interesting coppery gold colour, there's custard and cream over ripe yellow apple fruitiness, but there's reserve too with a stony suggestion of minerality. Rounded and creamy stone fruits on the palate with a hint of spice and lively acid. Different and very good.
(2021) Launched in 2014, this all-Chardonnay cuvée is sourced from top villages of the Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims. Malolactic is blocked, the dosage is only 7g/l, but the wine does rest on the lees for four years before disgorgement. This is in Gosset's more open, rich and nicely creamy style with almond notes and a formidable oranges and lemons fruit intensity. Quite like white Burgundy in some ways, but delightful elegance, freshness and zip on the palate. Acidity slices through some ripe mid-palate fruit, though the whole picture is gossamer light. Watch the video for more information.
