(2023) A blend of 2009 (60%) and 2008 (40%) Chardonnays, bottled in April 2010 and disgorged January 2018. More or less eight years on the lees has imbued this organic wine with a golden colour and buttery richness, yet a lowly dosage of just 3.5g/l ensures it has attack and clarity too. There's lovely meatiness to the fruit, perhaps enhanced with the use of wild yeasts for fermentation. The mousse is quite soft, but biting citrus and that core of acidity means there's nothing blowsy here. An incisive wine yet with that generosity of its long ageing and, I believe, some barrel ageing for a propprtion of the base wines.
(2023) From Vaucluse in the southern Rhône Valley, this is a serious and structured rosé, though delicate in colour and aroma. Mostly Grenache, with some Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Rolle, vines grow at 550- 630-metres in the highest vineyard of the region. The vineyard is biodynamic, with an emphasis on maintaining the ecosystem, the hand-picked grapes double sorted and parcels vinified separately and around 25% is aged in barrel. Attractively pale salmon/peach in colour, the nose is crammed with small, firm red berry fruit aromas, some lemon peel adding a suggestion of grip. On the palate the sheer fruit sweetness surprises, with lots of creamy-ripe berries, but there's a great salts and citrus core to this, and a long, very clear finish. It is a serious pink this, perhaps reminiscent of Domaine Tempier's Bandol for example.
(2022) Winemaker and owner Jacky Blot is a trailblazer for quality in the Montlouis appellation, growing Chenin Blanc on 45 hectares where chemical treatments are "practically non-existent," and yields dramatically low, averaging 25hl/ha. Malolactic fermentation is avoided, and the wines are matured in barriques of varying ages. This is a stunning example of Loire Chenin Blanc, a hint of gold to the colour, and the nose showing beeswax and ripe apple, with an undertow of nougat. In the mouth the full texture has a waxiness too, a nuttiness perhaps like Cox's pippin apples, and it is utterly mouth-watering. A pithy, dry finish adds to the gastronomic appeal of this delicious wine.
(2022) 'Drink me' it says on the label of this Oregon Chardonnay, built in an approachable style with a year in barrel on the lees with minimal battonage, then four months in steel to firm up before bottling. There's a nutty and ripe, golden delicious character overall, but immediately some flinty inflections add an extra edge of interest. Oatmeally and quite full on the palate, there's plenty of fruit sweetness, touching on ripe pear and peach, but always sharpened with honing edge of acidity. Nutty and creamy barrel notes underpin the long finish. Very good, and very stylish.
(2022) Justerini says "The true identity of our house Pomerol is highly classified," one of those teasers that wine lovers find irresistible. The clue that's given: "All we can say is the wine comes from two of the leading estates on the plateau of Pomerol." Some have guessed Château l'Eglise Clinet is in the mix, but that's not for me to confirm or deny. It's a non-vintage wine, but it comes predominantly from the very highly regarded 2018 vintage. The nose is classic Pomerol: spicy and deep, with plummy fruit and a smoothing caress of older oak barrel giving a cedary nuance. In the mouth, more of the same, with palate coating but smooth tannins, that dark fruit weight, and nicely balanced acid to offset the ripe, 14.5% alcohol richness.
(2022) From a 22-hectare family domaine in Rully, a prime location for sparkling Burgundy, this is 80% Chardonnay and 20% Aligoté, aged for 16 to 18 months sur lie and had 8g/l residual sugar. Lots of biscuit and brioche, but fresh and zippy too, a crunchy ripe apple and lemon fruitiness. There is minerality and some quite delicate fruit on the palate, lemon. But quite gentle with the persistent acidity balancing very nicely into a long clean and juicy finish.
(2022) I have to say I absolutey loved this super-pale, crystalline blend of Grenache from volcanic soils, and Roussanne grown in rocky vineyards surrounded by garrigue scrubland. There is some rose-hip and Love Hearts confectionery brightness, but the palate bursts through with a winning combination of sweet, ripe peach fruit, a waxy lemon rind acidity and a long, beautifully balanced finish.
(2022) The Chardonnay for this wine is selected from vines on clay-limestone soils at an average altitude of 280m. Fermentation in stainless steel is followed by 18 months in oak barrels and foudres. It's a wine of cool restraint, plenty of flinty character over citrus and rioe apple, smoke wreathing around the aromas. The palate has volume and texture, but that super cool and lean fruit and decisive acidity keeps this pin-sharp, some grippy phenolic and a little creamy barrel component adding tension and savoury detail.
(2022) Clémence Dubrulle is winemaker here, taking over her family’s Domaine in 2010. Giles Burke-Gaffney, buyer for Justerini and Brooke, says that having moved home from Paris she effectively rescued the estate after it had fallen on hard times. This wine comes from a monopole vineyard on clay and limestone. Vines are 40 years old, and the wine was made in stainless steel, with no oak. Pale yellow in colour, the nose if fairly muted, a little yellow apple and a hint of citrus. In the mouth the texture is creamy and the fruit ripeness comes through. There's a little grip to this food wine, that shows plenty of acid structure into the finish.
(2022) Cathy Faller is in charge of winemaking at this famously female-led house in Alsace, Cathy, her sister and mother having taken over when their father Théo died in 1979. Farming organically, they use only estate fruit from vineyards that include top Grand Crus. This is a discreet and yet powerful wine, the nose showing yellow plum and a little confit lemon, even a touch of butteriness before the palate opens just enough to show an expansive sweet fruit profile (with a little residual sugar). It has a limpid texture and a finish where the acid gently insists rather than dominating.
