Cellar Steals

CWM Starred 1st Class "Dark inky colour, ripe and intense flavours sustain a single chord to a long finish. Bravo!

This 100% Cabernet Franc is full of red fruits, light perfumes and delicious acidity. Red-berry flavours shine in a vibrant wine with good acidity and a crisp aftertaste. Drink now

CWM Ranking: First Class Located in the northern part of St Estephe, and replanted with Cabernet Sauvignon rather than Merlot, particularly on the flat gravels at the peak of the hill. This area is a full 2.5 degrees cooler than St Emilion in the summer. 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc. Inviting nose of black cherry and kirsch. Dark milk chocolate. Evident oak. Creamy secondary characters on the palate. Quite forward. Rich and chewy dark fruits. Soft and luscious, even on the tannin, but still has a future to develop. Enjoyable freshness on the finish.

White peach, lemon rind, green apple and floral notes come through easily in the nose and on the palate. The finish is fresh, creamy and fruity, with a lemon chiffon finish that carries through to the endnote

A pearly pink with a fine stream of bubbles. The nose is deeply perfumed with luxuriant notes of kirsch, ripe cherries, fleshy plums and cranberries. The palate has hints of brioche and fresh butter. Candied grapefruits and earthier notes. A full bodied Rosé with a long aromatic finish. One of the most awarded vintage rosé champagnes in the world, Charles Heidsieck Rosé Millésime spends a minimum of eight years ageing on the lees in two-thousand-year-old chalk cellars. It is made from a selection of around fifteen Crus throughout Champagne. The grapes which contribute the red wine content originate from Ambonnay, Bouzy, Hautvillers, Les Riceys and Verzenay. The delicate effervescence reveals the aromatic complexity of this blended rosé which is famed for its incredible harmony and depth

Deep ruby colour. Rich and generous mouth. This cuvée aims at giving the best expression of Grenache on elegance, with a peculiar attention on balance, freshness and tannic structure. This Châteauneuf du Pape really connects you to your soul.

From a breathtaking 0.5 hectare site on Chaban at 400+ metres altitude that was passed on to the Roudier family by the retiring Jean-Marie Teysseire, a legendary figure in Cornas and Saint-Peray. The Syrah vines are 80++ yrs of age on granitic soils including a portion of the mineral baryte, a clear crystal/quartz looking mark that gives the wine its mysterious sounding name. The vines are deeply established on this steep hillside, cut into terraces and oriented East/South-East. An utterly beautiful, natural granite amphitheatre that protects the vines from the cold winds. Beautiful Syrah expresses all its power and finesse on this wonderful Cornas terroir. The debut vintage of this full-bodied terroir wine - which doesn't initially appear to be representative of the "Northern Rhone 2021" vintage - spring frost, harvest rain affected. But from what we have tasted, Cornas in general appears little affected, likely due to the elevation of the vineyards and the gradients of the slopes. So watch out for sleeping Cornas bargains like this from 2021. The wine has a fairly classic Cornas nose, on the palate it is voluminous, lush and suave but fresh and balanced with real tension and energy. The wine is pure and very long. All the fruit destemmed, no oak breeding (all in stainless steel) with a four week maceration. A true terroir wine from a great Cornas site. This 2021 is very impressive now and shall reveal its elegance and finesse over the coming years. What a wine!

There are many delightul Northern Rhone whites from 2023 and this is very much one of them. Performing very well in Crozes-Hermitage tastings in both Terres des Vins and La Revue du vin de France, well up amongst the big boys and girls of the appellation. 70% Marsanne, 30% Roussanne - half from loess soils on l'Homme at Larnage, half from loess soils on Les Pinets at Crozes-Hermitage. 90% steel vat, 10% new 600-litre oak cask fermented, raised 9 months, assembled just before bottling, malo completed. "fine yellow robe; the bouquet has a neat aroma of cooked citrus fruit, is graceful, appealing, carries a light nuttiness. The palate links well, is fresh and continuous, bears lightly salted, delicate content of white fruits with jasmin, white flower trembles through it. It’s elegant, well made, a bel ensemble, is precise, accurate, ends with soft gras, a bonny exit. 13°. 70% Mars, 30% Rouss. 2029-30 Oct 2024" **** John Livingstone-Learmonth on Drink Rhone "13% alcohol. 70% Marsanne, 30% Roussanne. Organic. This is textured, lively and vital with a fine lime and spice finish after a big flow of pear, melon and ripe apple fruit. Good concentration of flavour, interleaving subtly saline, mineral notes with ripe fruit to good effect". 94/100 Jamie Goode wineanorak.com

A blend of Genache Blanc, Gris and Noir, from ancient 90 year old vines in the ancient and quite amazing 'C|os des Escounils' that the brothers are developing and working on re-establishing it's other potential vineyard areas. This is beautiful, racy, elegant wine that is softly textured and very ‘modern’ in its freshness and balance.

Old vine Grenache grown on decomposed black schist with a limestone sub soil with some quartz, that produces something amazing. Ethereal, sublime and fresh, this achieves a level of finesse akin to fine red Burgundy. Remarkable, special, very good indeed.

Francois Xavier AKA 'FX' worked with Tom Lubbe at Domaine Matassa for five years. He spent a further year with Domaine Danjou-Banessy. After such time this local lad set up in Espira to make his own wholly exciting wines which we are introducing the UK for the first time. One hundred percent thirty year old vine Syrah on red clay. Eight days skin macération whole bunch. Fermentation in stainless steel and aged seven months in a single 20 hl foudre. 2g/hl sulphites added just before bottling. This is like a fine, gentle Crozes-hermitage with wild notes and tangy blueberry fruit. Very smart and stylish wine from young FX.

Francois Xavier AKA 'FX'. FX was vineyard manager for Tom Lubbe at Domaine Matassa for five years. He spent a further year with Domaine Danjou-Banessy. After such time this local lad set up in Espira to make his own wholly exciting wines. Whole bunch fermentation in stainless-steel tanks for 5 days for this beautiful Mourvedre from very old wines. On the morning of the 6th day the grapes were pressed, and the juice transferred back to stainless-steel tanks to complete fermentation. Only the naturally occurring indigenous yeasts were used in the fermentation. The wine was then aged 5 months in tank. Prior to bottling a very low dose of sulphites was added. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. Vivid, bright and wild wine.

Francois Xavier AKA 'FX' worked with Tom Lubbe at Domaine Matassa for five years. He spent a further year with Domaine Danjou-Banessy. After such time this local lad set up in Espira to make his own wholly exciting wines which we are introducing the UK for the first time. Ninety percent Syrah (thirty years old) and ten percent Carignan (eighty years old) on schist terroir. Skin macération for seven days followed by whole-bunch fermentation in cuve and then bred in a 10hl Amphora for eight months. Just 2g/hl sulphites added just before bottling.

It's here, the 'Coulsh-Rotie". Simon "The Coulsh'" Coulshaw's fabulous take on this iconic wine.

The debut vintage in 'bottle' for Chemin de Moscou 'Reflet'. The previous few years have only been available as a special release magnum. Grenache-led with Syrah following along in a fine style. The wine is deep, smooth and beautifully sweet-fruited, but like its opposite, the classic Chemin de Moscou, the wines shows tremendous focus of line and length. The wine impresses very much now, but due to the controlled focus at its heart, it shall live a long time in the bottle.

This open, expressive spaetlese perfectly demonstrates the quality of the iconic Wehlener Sonnenuhr. Succulent, like an over-ripe pear, with mint and mineral notes, cool and bright with tight lime acidity.

This Syrah takes inspiration from wines of the Northern Rhone with its full-bodied, savoury-sweet and complex style. Ruby coloured, it leads with a floral perfume of rosemary, red fruits and other violets. Intense on the palate, expect mixed berries, black plum, leather hide and smooth, creamy tannins. The finish adds a touch of pepper spice.

Made by all female star team of owner Lindsay Hoopes, Anne Vauter (ex Screaming Eagle) and Jennifer Rue this has richness and elegance in equal measure. Extended barrel ageing has softened the wine, as has some bottle age, making it exquisite to drink now. It will keep but why wait?

"Buttered-popcorn nose, and more leesy, less voluptuousness of fruit... if I didn't know better, I'd have thought there was oak-barrel bâtonnage in here - it is so smoky, firm and Pouilly-Fuissé-like. Powerful and spicy (curry spices!) with a gentle yellow-lentil earth line defining the finish. The texture feels ever so slightly more 'tannic' and cross-grained than the 2021". 17/20 jancisrobinson.com

The nose is fresh and mineral, delicate notes of pear and white flowers. The palate is rich with green apple flavours and beautiful texture.

An easy-going, laid back & fruity wine with a soft velvet mouthfeel. Bursting with flavour with notes of black cherry, spice & liquorice, all adding up to a pleasant & tasty wine.

Sheltered from oceanic influence by the Vosges Mountains, the Alsace wine region enjoys practically the lowest rainfall in France (only 400-500mm per year) and is blessed with a semi-continental climate, sunny, hotand dry. These optimal weather conditions, along with a nice and cool fall season, allow the grapes to ripen slowly and to develop an amazing complexity of aromas. Overt Riesling character at once, with baked tertiary fruit. Evolving. A touch musky. Great balance at 90g/l RS. Not cloying, rather Tarte au Citron. Hugely persistent.