(2024) The 281 cuvée first appeared in 2015, with very small volumes made from Grenache vines with an average age of 25 years plus 5% each of Rolle and 5% Syrah. Unlike other £50+ rosés this sees no oak, and has delightfully vibrant but more orthodox white peach, cherry lips and paintbox aromas of cool ferment pinks. It is certainly refined and delicious, but whether the price makes sense compared to Minuty's other very fine rosés is a moot point.
(2024) Mostly Grenache, with 20% made up of Syrah, Cinsault and Tibouren this comes from the three main terroirs (schist, clay and sand) of Minuty’s own vineyards. 100% free run juice. Blush peach in colour, it has a fragrant nose, citrus peel, green herbs and a touch floral. In the mouth the acidity is bracing and mineral. Fruit moves from crunchy red apple to citrus, with a delicate red berry, summery sweetness just held nicely in check. Delightfully intricate stuff.
(2024) This organic certified Riesling from actor Sam Neill's Two Paddocks estate is in the just off-dry style of so many Rieslings from the Central Otago area. Floral, talcum power overtones sit on crisp apple. The palate has that light sherbet sweetness, but a big juicy thrust of lime acidity powers through, then the peach-down hint of tropicality reasserts. This finishes dry and decisive, the clean acid framework winning the day.
(2024) This is a singe vineyard Cava, 100% Xarel·lo from the 8.5 hectare L’Olivera vineyard of deep and sandy soils, rich in organic matter. It is the highest altitude terroir of Juve & Camps between 170 and 200 metres. It is cellared for at least 36 months on the lees and has less than 1g/l of residual sugar. The mousse is strong as it pours, with wonderfully custardy aromas, baked apple pie, with bready and herbal notes too. In the mouth there is a richness that easily compensates for the lack of sugar; it is full and creamy, with a firm, apple core and a mineral aspect to the acidity. This bottling was disgorged April 2023
(2024) This is 100% Pinot Noir, which undergoes a minimum of 36 months on the lees. It was bottled with 7.5g/l of residual sugar. Aromatically it is much brighter and more sherbetty than the Olivera. Bready notes sit beneath, yeasty and adding some breadth. The palate is fruity and citrussy, pink grapefruit is zesty and the finish has plenty of tangy freshness to slice through the sweeter fruit.
(2024) Like the other vintage wines here, aged 36 months on the lees and from a single, south-facing vineyard. 100% Chardonnay, it has 8g/l of residual sugar. There's a bright, citrus and herbal nose here, though a sheen of almond and oatmeal softens that. Delicate white flower notes flit around the edges. Racy on the palate, again I think of almonds, but juicy yellow apples and a streak of lemon and sherbet cut through the satisfying finish.
(2024) The Cava triumverate of Xarel·lo, Macabeo and Parellada are blended here with Chardonnay, aged for over 50 months on the lees. It is Brut, with around 7g/l of residual sugar, and pours with plentiful miniscule bubbles, with aromas of baked apple pie and warm brioche over lemon zest. The signature herb and flower nuances just discernible. In the mouth there's a richness and luxurious quality, the dosage is modest but there's a sweet fruit ripeness to the mid-palate. The bakery aromas translate into custardy creaminess on the palate, but with plenty of freshness too for a distinctive Cava.
(2023) A GSM blend from the Barossa, which enjoyed similar hot and dry conditions to the Eden Valley. A little more earthy and subdued than the Balthasar aromatically, but there is a jammy ripeness of fruit and a balancing touch of leather in there. Bold and savoury, there's plenty of juicy acidity and nicely plummy, roughening tannins, that give an edge to the sweet and plump fruit that build on the mid-palate.
(2023) The Chardonnay was whole bunch pressed and barrel fermented with 100% wild yeast. It spent eight months on lees, with partial malolactic fermentation. There's plenty of toast here, almost a cracked wheat character, quite subtle lemony fruit and a touch of stony flint. In the mouth more punchy than the Yering Station for example, a more vivacious blast of citrus juiciness and higher acid, though lacks a little of the latter's elegance. Price and stockist below is for the 2021 vintage.
(2022) From a tiny 1.3 hectares of the original Tiers Vineyard in Piccadilly, that owner Brian Croser replanted in 2003 with new French clones, with a 1.5 metre, dense planting regime. It's a wine with immediate aromatic drive, gunflint and a wisp of smokiness, some nutty, spicy oak and plenty of juicy citrus and succulent peach fruit. The palate is equally sharply focused, with a sense of crackling acid at the core, but draped with stone fruit succulence and a fat lemony presence. A lot of wine here, long and bursting with both fruit and acid intensity, its arguably not subtle, but it is striking and very delicious.
