Organic and Biodynamic

The "second wine" here, the 2016 Le Petit Clos is a very different blend from the 2015; it is now mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with just 4% Merlot and 1% Carménère, while last year it was almost half Carménère. The vineyards are now certified in organic and biodynamic agriculture. The bunches were hand-destemmed, and the grapes fermented in oak vats with indigenous yeasts and a six-week maceration. Malolactic was in barrique, and the élevage happened as follows: the wine spent seven months in new French barriques, and then 71% of the volume was transferred to French oak barriques (22% new and 49% second year), while the rest of the wine was put in oak vats. The élevage was 23 months in total. With the change in varieties, this feels very different from the Clos Apalta—more Cabernet here and more Carménère there. The nose is elegant and nuanced, with herbs, spices and a core of ripe red and black fruit, quite varietal and with integrated oak. The palate is medium to full-bodied, with round tannins and vibrant acidity, making it long and supple.

The "second wine" here, the 2016 Le Petit Clos is a very different blend from the 2015; it is now mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with just 4% Merlot and 1% Carménère, while last year it was almost half Carménère. The vineyards are now certified in organic and biodynamic agriculture. The bunches were hand-destemmed, and the grapes fermented in oak vats with indigenous yeasts and a six-week maceration. Malolactic was in barrique, and the élevage happened as follows: the wine spent seven months in new French barriques, and then 71% of the volume was transferred to French oak barriques (22% new and 49% second year), while the rest of the wine was put in oak vats. The élevage was 23 months in total. With the change in varieties, this feels very different from the Clos Apalta—more Cabernet here and more Carménère there. The nose is elegant and nuanced, with herbs, spices and a core of ripe red and black fruit, quite varietal and with integrated oak. The palate is medium to full-bodied, with round tannins and vibrant acidity, making it long and supple.

Simon and Monica Coulshaw are just the most wonderful couple of winemakers, creating delicious, minimal intervention wines from their vineyards dotted around Faugeres and Pezenas. They do need our collective support though as in 2021 their vineyards once again suffered from heavy late-April frosts, which have virtually wiped out their potential harvest. When they can make wine they are just sublime as the reviews below from Tamlyn Currin on JancisRobinson.com attest. Please help keep this lovely couple going while they wait for their next vintage by showing your solidarity and buying a mixed 6 pack of their wines. We'll help by taking 15% off the list price. Dom. Des Trinités L'Etranger Cinsault 2019, VdF (we now offer 2020) "Fresh red-berried nose. Hurrah! Here is another Languedoc producer who 'gets' Cinsault. Perky, bright, raspberries and with that lovely telltale Cinsault salty-sweet tang that always reminds me of the best prosciutto or jamon. A bit of white pepper and ground cumin tangled into feather-light sinews of tannin. This is absolutely YUM. Tapas/aperitivo wine, without a doubt. I could drink this all summer long." 17/20 Dom. Des Trinités L'imaginaire Roussanne 2019 IGP d'Oc "100% Roussanne planted on their highest vineyards, a steep north-facing slope in the foothills of the Cévennes mountains. Isolated vineyards surrounded by herbaceous shrub and woodland on schist and basalt boulders. Hand-picked at 20-25 hl/ha, Five days' on skins then 48 hours of cold settling before racking. Spontaneous fermentation, no enzymes, no fining, minimal sulphur and sulphites. Carbon dioxide nap used to avoid oxidation. Smells of mimosa and cold pebbles. So tight it's as if the fruit has been hot-waxed onto the palate. Wild, wild fruit and flowers, all hedgerow and fields. Iodine and salt, dust and dry bricks, saffron and yuzu. So much texture it's like licking chalk-dusted rose petals. Fascinating wine, that changes as you sit with it, like sunset dropped into a kaleidoscope, like light on water. Masses of undertow, savoury and sweet." 17/20 Dom. Des Trinités Pech Mege 2019 Pezenas Rouge "Dark cherries and a sharp flash of cobbler's glue on the nose. Rich layers of mulberries and prune, coffee syrup, clove and burnt sugar, mushrooms and leaf mulch. You could not accuse this of simplicity, although it has more depth than length. A little brooding, a little heat, and slow to build. The tannins seem to be more spice than texture, vibrating more than gripping. If there is grip, it's in the orange pith and peel-oil on the finish. Intriguing wine... You could really climb into this. (TC) "16.5/20 Reviews from jancisrobinson.com Also one bottle each of L'invité Viognier 2019 Vin de France Rosé 2019 Faugeres Le Portail Rouge 2019 Faugeres

The soils of Goldert Grand Cru and Jurassic limestone marl, the same as in southern Jura. This is a stunning wine. Floral, pretty, aromas at first, then a hint of peach yoghurt, and a final menthol, eucalyptus whiff. On the palate alongside these explosive flavours there is some charming toastiness and salinity. This salinity goes hand in hand with the acidity to create a wine of precision and balance. The Goldert Muscat has remarkable ageing potential. We were lucky enough to taste the 1964 at the winery. An intriguing, dry, salty wine, but charming all the same. The nose was complex with petrol-like characters, wormwood, orange pith, polish, camphor, and sweet spice. The palate was bone dry, and though the fruit had faded, the wine still had great persistence with a gentle acidity swathe of acidity running all the way through. Tasted at the Domaine March 2020, AA

Tasted at the Domaine March 2020 "Slight rosiness to the colour. A very different wine. Meaty, savoury aromas. A broad, fleshy palate, yet precise with no oiliness. It’s almost beyond any Pinot Gris I’ve ever tasted. A touch of florality on the finish brings the wine back in to line. Refreshing and foody." AA

Rangen de Thann is one of the most Southerly vineyards of Alsace. Volcanic soils, and vertiginous slopes. This site is so difficult to work it requires that estate to employ four full time staff for just 5.5ha! This wine fermented to full dryness in just 3 weeks. No MLF. Elegant, floral, charming. Savoury, smoky, bright. Hot, and dormant.

As the name indicates, all the vineyards are located on the poor granitic soils of the Brand hillside. It is in fact the second wine of the Grand Cru Brand. These precocious and warm granitic soils produce wines that have a vertical structure, always expressive at a young age and never shy on their aromatic potential. Tasted at the Domaine March 2020: "Fruit from Brand Grand Cru. Pretty much a declassified second wine. Soils here are biotype pink granite. This wine comes from seven parcels: two planted 1947-49, three planted in the early 1980s, and two planted about 20yrs ago under biodynamics. New release. It seems like there’s a bit of bottle shock here. It’s rather muted at the moment. There is some fleshier fruit on the palate, and it is absolutely bone dry. Bitter fruits. Pithy. Smoky finish. ." AA

Rangen de Thann is one of the most Southerly vineyards of Alsace. Volcanic soils, and vertiginous slopes. This site is so difficult to work it requires that estate to employ four full time staff for just 5.5ha! A golden pinky colour. Very savoury on the nose. Washed rind cheese. Floral, honied, advanced. Very tertiary. Burnt acacia honey, membrillo, yellow apple skins, peaty medicine. Suddenly there is freshness, length, and depth. Hugely layered. Less rich then 2012, but more than 2017. Pure, crystalline, developed. Plateauing. Tasted at the Domaine, March 2020 (AA)

A superb off-dry Prosecco alternative produced exclusively for the UK market by Eva Plazas, the ever dynamic winemaker at Vilarnau Cava. Produced from a blend of indigenous grape varieties, Macabeo, Parellada and Subirat Parent, aromatic primary fruits on the nose lead to a palate with excellent balance between acidity and sweetness. Using the highly aromatic and rare Subirat Parent grape as part of the dosage (15g/l) is inspired.

This Claret is fresh and balanced. The blend is Merlot-based and the wine is aged in French oak barrels for 12 months, giving a nice aroma of spice and wood smoke. The palate is fleshy with a hint of plum, the tannins fine and firm, leading to a generous finish. Drink now to 2029

2nd Wine of Ch Laroque, Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé. Made of 96% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc from vines more than 50 years old, the medium to deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Les Tours de Laroque opens with pretty raspberry coulis, black cherries and warm plums scents with underlying fungi, black loam and cracked pepper hints plus a touch of beef drippings. Medium to full-bodied, elegant and fresh, with a firm line of grainy tannins, it delivers a graceful, earthy finish.

A blend of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, this full bodied and opulent wine is a real blockbuster. 92 points Tim Atkin

The Guimberteau family has owned the Château Franc-Baudron estate since 1923. This is a vineyard on a human scale where each generation has left its footprint on the family heritage. Since 2010, the new generation of Château Franc-Baudron has embarked on an environmental approach by converting the entire vineyard to organic farming. The area hosts bee-hives, uses plants for treatments (horsetail, nettle and ferns) and seeds flowers to encourage biodiversity of wildlife in the vines. They have begun implementing new winemaking techniques by using minimal inputs to express at its best the nature of the grapes and the type of soil. Most of the family’s plots of Montagne Saint-Emilion are located on a clay-limestone plateau. Bright and intense in colour with aroams of blackcurrant, blackberry and oak notes.Well balanced, powerful and velvety.

93/100 Jamie Goode wineanorack.com "Carignan, Grenache and Syrah. Parcel selection. Fresh with a note of iron under the supple, ripe yet structured red berry fruits. I love the freshness and bloodiness to this wine. Grainy and supple with a nice spicy bite and lovely focus".

A certified organic London Dry style gin. Light and delicate, with a hint of citrus. Juniper and Coriander. Yet the secret lies in capturing the true, delicate and complex nature of the rose. They only use fresh (not dried or concentrated) organic David Austin rose petals in the distillation, to bring a bright, fresh and not at all confected florality.

100% Renewable energy distillery 100% Recycled clear glass bottle 100% Certified organic and vegan

Franck Faugiers 12 hectares of old vine Syrah are planted on the stony, red-clay and sandy soils of Les Châssis, one of the most prized plots of land in all of Crozes-Hermitage. He works his vines as naturally as possible, utilizing Biodynamic farming methods to ensure the health of his soil and plants. From these stony soils, Franck is able to craft expressive, juicy Syrah that drinks with fabulous freshness, complexity and fruit intensity.

Bright purple hue with a touch of red. A floral perfume of cherries, Turkish delight and raspberries, with a hint of spontaneous (wild) fermentation and whole bunch characters. Bright fruit driven front palate, with soft and silky mid palate. Hints of raspberries, cinnamon, liquorice, Turkish delight and nutmeg. Medium bodied with luscious tannins. Always a super-impressive crowd pleaser.

Jancisrobinson.com 16.5/20 "Powerfully pungent nose! You could mistake this for a very catty Sauvignon if you just took one sniff. Big, big, blackcurrant-bush and salvia-leaf nose with quite a lot of greengage. But the palate takes Sauvignon and flies off-piste, weaving in honey and lychee, mountain-stream pebbles, sweet grapefruit and smoked green pepper. Incredible clarity and translucency that comes from the acidity, which arcs across the palate, not in a pencil-fine-line of an arc but broad, in the shape of a scythe. Fabulous, confident, fascinating wine. The food pairing you could do with this.... Good Value" 60% Gros Manseng, 40% Camaralet. Picked end of September.

92-93 CWM rating. Extracted cherry fruit, very ripe aromas and flavours, good length, low acid but some subtlety. Very appealing. Persistent. Sylviane Garcin-Cathiard owns properties in Pomerol, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru and Pessac-Léognan, and we love them all for their exuberant pleasure-giving wines. In Pessac she operates Château Haut-Bergey, around 40 ha acquired in 1991, Her son Paul is now in charge.

PRO for Prosecco, VER for Vero (Truly in Italian) BIO for Biologico (Organic). The palate is soft and fresh, offering zippy acidity and a complex array of primary fruit flavours, including peach, pear and apricot. This is enjoyable on its own as an aperitif but also pairs wonderfully with oriental cuisine. All vineyards are situated on gentle hillside slopes in the Treviso province, at an altitude of 250 metres above sea level. The grapes are carefully handpicked in mid-late September when they have reached full maturity, but still retain a high acidity level, giving the freshness and fruitiness typical of Prosecco.

Fiasco Vino Toscano is an affectionate, amusing nod in the direction of those straw-covered flasks which became such popular table lamps in the 1970s! The wine is a blend of organic Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Malvasia Nera and Colorino from Tuscany; Montepulciano from Le Marche and Frappato, Nerello Mascalese and Nero d’Avola from Sicily. A real mish-mash but it’s really gluggable, organic and great value! Minimal SO2, bags of energy, easy to like!

This is an elegant and rich Chianti Classico, made from Sangiovese (95%) and Canaiolo Nero (5%) grapes, originating from south facing vineyards which are over 40 years in age, and a soil rich in friable shale and limestone. The result is a fruity, aromatic Sangiovese based wine with soft, fine tannins and a long finish. Clean, intense, ripe black cherry, blueberry, rose and vanilla. This medium to full-bodied wine is an exceptionally well balanced wine and is ready upon release, but will reward significantly with further ageing.

This Syrah blend with soft black fruits and spice has been shaped by the sunbaked rocky soils of the unmistakable and very definate Faugeres terroir. A herbal, spicy bouquet is followed by youthful red cherries and supple mineral character derived from the schist rich soils. One of our greatest value wines.