(2024) Apanage Brut 1874 is based on Pommery's 'réserve perpétuelle' that forms a significant part of the blend. This release is based on the 2018 vintage, blended with components of 2015 and 2012. The wine spent 48 months on the lees and was bottled with 'a low dosage'. Aromatically it's all about brioche and biscuit, with Golden Delicious fruit and a nutty background. The foamy mousse precedes a relatively crisp palate, plenty of citrus and a prickle of nettles or herbs. The biscuity richness fills in again, for a balanced Champagne with good length.
(2024) From Rutherford in the Napa Valley, organically-grown Cabernet Sauvignon makes up 91% of the blend, along with Cabernet Franc, Carménère, Merlot and Petit Verdot. It spent 22 months in a complex mix of 65% New French Oak, 32% Neutral oak and 3% Terracotta Amphora. What a svelte and elegant opening, silky aromas are so polished, succulent black fruit is touched by violet and kirsch, a dark cocoa and cedar in the background. The palate follows on seamlessly, plush and intense, the tannins chocolate-smooth and the acid really juicy and fine. That extends the wine into a long, tapering finish.
(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) This is blend of Syrah, Grenache and old vine Carignan (more than 90 years old) grown on the schist soils of the historic Faugères appellation in the South of France. It's a darkly-hued but spicy and floral wine, but there's a liquorice and ash sense of terroir coming through the black fruit of its core. In the mouth that spiciness continues, and there's rustic grip to this that feels authentic and tastes delicious. It doesn't lack for supple fruit, or acid and tannin framework around it. Watch the video for more information and food matching ideas.
(2024) An IGP Côtes de Thongue wine that blends Grenache and Rolle (Vermentino), from volcanic soils. Peachy-pink in colour and a sherbetty lemon zest nose, cool, clear and subtle. Very fresh, crisp and racy on the palate. Would you guess it was a white wine if blindfolded? Maybe, a hint of strawberry and raspberry, but free-flowing citrus and just a hint of peppery spice carries this nicely.
(2024) An IGP Pays d’Oc blend of Grenache and 20% Cinsault, this pale salmon-pink wine seems well priced to me at £9.30 per bottle. The redcurrant fruit mingles with lime and just a hint of the exotic on the nose, before a palate that has a bon-bon touch of strawberry, but it is not sweet, finishing with a nice cut of citrus acidity and its 12.5% alcohol adding to the feeling of freshness.
(2024) Up among the Languedoc's best rosés alongside the wine from Argali, this blends mostly Grenache from volcanic soils with Roussanne grown in vineyards surrounded by garrigue scrubland. A portion is also matured in oak barrels. Pale, coral-touched pink, it's a mineral and refined wine aromatically, some melon and delicate floral notes, a whisper of vanilla. In the mouth it has lovely texture, and the raciness of the taut, quite pithy acidity sits against really composed, lightly apricot and peach fruit. Tart red berries in the mix too, and finishes with just a hint of bittersweet nuttiness.
(2024) Pouring as black as pitch, 15% of the final blend was whole-bunch fermented and the wine aged 14 months in barriques and larger barrels, with very little new wood. The floral lift is unmissable on the nose, with lirsch like and violet notes mingling with cracked peppercorn and a gentle gaminess. In the mouth it is slick and fruit-filled, a dark juiciness of ripe plums and berries. There's reall freshness here, not just from the well-judged cherry-skin tang of the acidity, but from a crunchy tannin framework the blends with the savoury fruit notes of the long finish.
(2024) Jolandie Fouché makes this wine from old Bush vines in Swartland, fermented with wild yeast and aged in French oak. Almost buttercup yellow, there's a buttery richness and nutrients, the fruit fat and lemony, the wild yeast giving just a touch of sauvage quality, a hint of flinty minerals too. The palate has great sweetness and ripeness, citrus and nutty apple, the acidity really very good, slicing through the succulence of the mid-palate, a little creamy oak adding another layer into a long finish.
(2023) Philipponnat is a significant grower, with 20 hectares of Premier and Grand Cru Vineyards in Aÿ, Mareuil and Avenay. Pinot Noir represents two-thirds of their plantings and is the backbone of their cuvées. In this case the base vintage is 2019 with 67% Pinot Noir, 31% Chardonnay and 2% Meunier, though 34% of the blend is reserve wine. The dosage is a modest 8g/l and the wine was disgorged in February 2023. There's a pretty and approachable character here, a particularly fragrant floral and herbal lift to the aromas, then a nutty depth of autolysis fills in beneath. The mousse is cushioning and rich, and though the sheer sweetness and richness of the fruit gives lovely generosity through the mid-palate, there's no shortage of shimmering lemony and salty acidity into the finish.
