Stockist/Retailer: The Wine Society

(2023) >p>Made from Muscat de Frontignan, Vin de Constance is a recreation of an iconic wine from the 1700s, said to be a favourite of Napoleon. The winemaking team used historical information to produce as close a copy as possible - even down to the bottle. From a year that produced small, concentrated berries, no fewer than 26 passes through the vineyard were made to select grapes ranging from high acidity, to raisined berries. Each pass was vinified separately and aged for 18 months in 50% new oak barrels, then a further 18 months in large format foudres. It's a fully sweet and luscious wine with 166g/l of residual sugar. It has all the gossamer-light aromatics of Muscat, floral and gently herbal, but opulence too, the fruit running from mango to pineapple. In the mouth a swathe of orange acidity cuts through the luscious flavours, buttery and rich enough, but always feather light. Price for 50cl. There are a lot stockists with prices ranging from £59 to £75, so use the wine-searcher link. Watch the video for more information.

Also recommended: the Disznókö Late Harvest Tokaji 2020. Cheapest price I can see currently is Master of Malt at £16.95, but use wine-searcher to find a lot more stockists.

(2023) Amarone is the epitome of special occasion wines for many people, so this blockbuster is my choice for the 2023 festive season. Composed of classic grapes of the region, all grown on calcium-rich Marl soils, it weighs in with a hefty 16.5% alcohol. It is of course made from fruit that have been dried, in which time the grapes lose around 30% of their weight, but gain in sugar and concentration. Once fermented, the wine spent three years in Slavonian oak barrels. It is pretty sensational stuff: aromatically, think of those dark chocolate enrobed cherries, liqueur-like and deeply flavoured. There's a wisp of smoke and vanilla, maybe a touch of somthing fragrant and floral. In the mouth it is silky and full, and despite the alcohol and richness of the wine, a real sense of freshness remarkably enough - even of lightness and delicacy. With hard cheese (maybe even Stilton), beef, game or perhaps dark chocolate dessert, it would be sensational. Watch the video for more information.

(2023) From 100-year-old vines, 45% of the blend was fermented In stainless steel, 45% in wooden barrels and 10% in ‘ceramic spheres’. Barrels were made from both French oak and Acacia. Waxy, strict but with a burgeoning sense of richness on the nose. There's a seaside tang that follows through onto the palate. Very brisk, lemon, lime and truly decisive, yet the texture fills the mouth and the wine has plenty of presence.

(2023) The very high quality cooperative of Plaimont are dedicated to preserving local varieties of the French South West, in this case a wine made from 25-year-old Gros manseng, Petit Courbu and Arrufiac. Some skin maceration has added melon rind and lemon notes to otherwise peachy-ripe fruit. The palate is like some cross between a juicy orange and burstingly ripe peach, succulent and fleshy, yet with mouth-watering clarity. What a lovely little all-rounder white wine. Watch the video for more information.

(2023) Champions of heritage grape vine varieties, Plaimont bottle this Manseng Noir, an almost forgotten indigenous variety which has been nurtured as part of their conservation project. The vines are young, and the unoaked 11.9% abv wine is dry and fresh. The colour is a strikingly vivid magenta. The nose and palate have an Indian ink dryness, tart plummy flavours and a combination of tannin and high-ish acidity that adds to the dry but juicy character. An unusual style, perhaps a theoretical cross between Beaujolais and one of the red Vinho Verde's made from the Vinhão variety?

(2023) Again, age has developed the colour here, the wine having just 5g/l of sugar and coming from vineyards that are 25 to 40 years old, planted between 240 and 270 metres on limestone. Heimbourg is a single vineyard, though not rated Grand Cru. Slightly less aromatic than the Prophet's Rock, but otherwise very similar aromatics, the buttery and peachy character delightful. The palate is opulent and rich, full-textured and mouth-filling. There's a glycerine richness to this along with that touch of sugar, but it has an almost Botrytis character in the finish with the dry, toasty undertow to the finish.

(2023) With 11g/l of residual sugar this off-dry wine comes from vineyards around 20 years old planted at 225 - 400 mtres. There is schist soil here with some quartz, over clay. Creamy and buttery here, lots of ripe, peach pie character with a cut of apple zestiness. In the mouth it is rich rather than out and out sweet, with a full texture and so much peach and apricot succulence and sweet fruit. Lovely acidity, a light spice, and such a lovely full-bodied off-dry white.

(2023) Sitting at 500 metres above sea level, Cloudline is apt, given this vineyard sits at one of Australia's higher vineyard elevations. The Chardonnay is fermented and matured for 8 months in French oak barriques, a very small percentage of which is new. There's a subtle flint/mineral character on the nose, the oak discreet but present. In the mouth a substantial texture and a fairly robust, fat lemony concentration of fruit, though there is some precision with pithy, intense citrus and a touch of salt in the finish.

(2023) A zero dosage Blanc de Blancs from the Jura in Eastern France, made from Chardonnay by the traditional method. It spends 18 months on the lees. Pale gold in colour, bubbles are frothy and moderately persistant, with plenty of autolytic aromas of yeast and biscuit, ripe but nutty apple fruit. In the mouth there is surprising sweetness on the attack, presumably from nicely ripe fruit, though the pithy, lemon and dry, slightly herbal quality of acidity pushes on.

(2023) Mostly Chardonnay with a little Pinot Noir, this traditional method wine from an estate that has been here through six generations spends 30 months on the lees. Pale lemon in colour with streaming small bubbles, there's a little vanilla and bright coconutty fudge nuance to crisp apple fruit. In the mouth it is cushiony and full, with clean orchard fruit flavours and cool lemon acidity pushing through. Quite stylish.