(2023) This comes from grey clay loam, and is made from the Mendoza clone with its 'hen and chick' tendency. It was fermented and aged 10 months in 500-litre French oak, 28% new barrels, and partially with wild yeasts. A lovely quality of oak here, fragrant and honeyed, with ripe stone fruits and lemon giving freshness. On the palate there's a soft, crushed almond quality to this, creamy in fruit and texture, a fine citrus core of acidity extending the finish. Price and stockist below are for an earlier vintage.
(2011) A Piedmontese white from the local Areis grape, this has a definite spritz as it pours. Apple and ozone notes are light and attractive. On the palate a lot of spritz - this feels almost frizzante - with tight lemon and mineral definition and a long, pure finish. I am not absolutely sure I 'get' this wine with it's spritzy, Vinho Verde-like character, easy-drinking appeal and high price tag, but it really does have punch and length, and perhaps with a big bowl of seafoody pasta could be an interesting buy at the offer price.
(2011) Invitingly pale salmon colour, and an appealing nose too with a touch of pomegranate and redcurrant, and a glimpse of earthy Pinot quality. On the palate it has a very nice fruitiness and weight, and a bit of tannin and power (this has 14% ABV), with spices and a certain richness playing against good, tangy orange fruit and acidity.
(2011) A wine from Salinas in Monterey, California, there's a lot of pineapple chunk ripeness and creamy toast on the nose of this wine which I'd guess had seen some oak. On teh palate it is full of mango and peachy, nectarine-like tropical fruit that is deliciously rich and moreish, with a little lemongrass, herbal but citrussy note and a great wallop of grapefruity acidity leaving the palate very dry in the finish. A big, powerhouse style of Sauvignon this, somewhere bewteen Graves and Marlborough, but with a bit of Californian ripeness and weight thrown in.
