Whether Certified Organic, Biodynamic or farmed under a sustainable scheme these environmentally low impact wines are made with care for Mother Earth
There are 177 products in this category
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Domaines des Lampyres
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.
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Dom. d'Ourea
From a vineyard located on the sandy banks deposited by the river Ouvèze. A beautiful mix of indigenous, rare and wonderful cepages (25% Grenache Noir, 25% Carignan Noir, 20% Cinsault, 10% Aramon, 10% Counoise and 10% Oeillade) vinified whole-bunch with a short maceration and then 6 months breeding in concrete vat produce a beautifully bright-fruited, floral, vigorous but supple, savoury and very classy drinking and tapas wine. A GREAT introduction to this most exciting of estates based in Vacqueyras and Gigondas. SERVE COOL.
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Rivetto
The outstanding Barbera d'Alba DOC "Loirano Soprano" is from the upper part of Zio Nando vineyard situated at the top of the Lirano hill at Sinio at 390m altitude, enjoying a splendid position on the crag with western exposure. The soils are sandy-limestone, with the presence of bluish marl at a depth of one metre. Soil with sub-alkaline reaction, low in nitrogen but rich in magnesium. These conditions guarantee a wine with a potency and refinement that is unique in Langa. Optimal tannic and aromatic development over time. Vinified only in the best vintages for Barbera grapes. Manually harvested, wildly fermented and raised for two years in French oak barrels. Limited production. This rarely makes it out of its homeland.
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Domaine des Escaravailles
Red and dark purple wine colour with bright reflections. Pleasant nose, with orange peel and rosemary aromas. The palate is elegant, smooth and well structured, with blueberry paired with soft spices, cloves and Timut pepper
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Domaines des Lampyres
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.
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Domaines des Lampyres
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. This wine is making its debut in 2022 vintage. It’s one hundred percent Malvoisie grown on schiste on a bed of argilo calcaire that sees skin macération for seven days then wild fermentation in cuve and then aged in small sandstone eggs (3hl) for eight months. Just before bottling 2g/hl of sulphites is added. Proper, deep orange wine. One for the ages.
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Dom. Gramiller
Absolutlely divine pet nat from Gramiller. So fine, fruity, fresh and elegant. 99% Clairette Brut, sown with 1% of the freshest Syrah which together give it aromas of white peaches, wild strawberries and red currants. The palate unfolds with these flavours whilst being juicy but oh-so fresh with the finest of tannins. An outstanding effort.
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Rivetto
Enrico Rivetto is one of the pioneers of the Nascetta grape in these times, and a seeker of truth for the varietal expression in his clay-limestone soils on Sinio at 400 metres altitude with northern exposure. The soils have a sub-alkaline reaction, low in nitrogen. Nascetta is a semi-aromatic grape native to Lange with excellent aging potential. Historical texts liken this varietal to the great wines of Rhein. Manually harvested, sometimes at different stages depending on the vintage conditions. Nascetta sees wild, spontaneous fermentation. 80% of the wine is macerated on skins for three days then sees spontaneous fermentation and then breeds in concrete tank. The other 20% is vinified in Amphora with post ferment maceration lasting for several months. These two portions are then blended just before bottling. The 2021 shows gorgeous yellow plum, honeysuckle and herbs on the nose. The wine is citrus-juicy, yet with good minerality and a lean and waxy structure that shows good tension. Quite wonderful and delightfully curious. "Macerated on the skins for 72 hours, this golden Nascetta lifts from the glass with aromas of baked apples, roast lemon and dried yellow flowers. The sublime texture is highlighted by dried orange, dried wild herbs and crunchy acidity" Jeff Porter in Wine Enthusiast 92/100
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Agricola Vintners
Callum Powell has learnt from the best when it comes to Syrah. He practically grew up in the cellars at Torbreck, the Barossa winery his father co-founded, watching it grow from the modest start up in a small shed to the international power house of today. He spent a year at Jean-Louis Chave in the Northern Rhone, one of THE top producers of Hermitage and St Joseph, learning more about his craft. His recent project with his father named Powell & Son sought out the best vineyards in Barossa and Eden and experimented with natural winemaking and indigenous yeasts, and gained him much international attention. Callum now brings his knowledge and natural instinct to his own wines. Sourcing fruit from his family's vineyards as well as the famous Hoffmann sites, Callum is quickly stepping out of his father’s shadow and making a name for himself. His time in Hermitage and the many hours working the perilously steep slopes of the vineyards continues to influence him today. His wines are both named after the towns from which the fruit is sourced, recalling the site specific way of naming wines in Hermitage. And he even likens his different wines to the characteristics produced from the different lieux-dits of Chave. Producing wines with a very light hand, with only minimal SO2 added a atr bottling, Callum aims to create lithe wines that are pure, unadulterated, and without the heavy oak influence that the region is known for, with a true traceability of place. Classic, bold, rich and beautiful Ebenezer fruit but with real energy and acidity. Pretty much perfect Barosssa Shiraz. It's classic, but modern - in the best sense. Absolutely wonderful. 12 bottles only available. Be quick!
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Domaines des Lampyres
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 eighty year old vine Carignan Noir. Macerated for seven days then whole bunch fermentation took place. The wine was bred in aged in 6 hl barrels for eight months. Just 2g/hl sulphites added just before bottling.
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Chateau Pin Beausoleil
Second wine of the excellent Le Pin Beausoleil. Guide Hachette 1 star "raspberry, wild strawberry, blackcurrant and violet: here is a pretty spring bouquet. A few subtle menthol notes add a touch of freshness. On the palate, everything is silky and there is no trace of tannins. It is indeed the fruit that reigns here throwing the Little Sun."
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Domaine des Trinités
Natural wine from Simon Coulshaw: no cultured yeast, enzymes, chemical tannins or fining product. 90% 130 yr old-vine Cinsault, 10% Syrah. I was instructed to chill this a bit before tasting. It was in the fridge for about 25 minutes and then left out for 10 minutes before tasting. 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. GV (TC) 17/20 Jancisrobinson.com
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Domaine des Trinités
Carignan 85% Grenache Noir 15% The old vine Carignan delivers bags of bramble and spice. Deep and rich in texture – a classic Languedoc wine in a refined style.
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Mas Lumen
Final assemblage: 55% Syrah, 35% Carignan & Cinsault and 15% Grenache Noir. Organically grown on schist, basalt and grés (sandstone) that yielded beautifully balanced fruit but at a very low 15 hl per ha. Manual harvest into small caskets. The Syrah and Grenache were both destemmed and vinified separately in 2yr and 5yr old 500l barrels (Saury). The Carignan was vinified on stems and in steel tank. The Cinsault was destemmed and vinified in steel tank. Natural yeast (no inoculated yeast used). Breeding took place in 2yr and 5yr old 500l barrels (Saury) for the Syrah and Grenache, and in steel tank for the Cinsault and Carignan, for a total time of 32 months with no batonnage. Bottled without fining or filtration. Bottled with a very, very low addition of sulphites (no sulphite additions at any point previously). No other additions at all. The wine has interest, complexity and depth, it is beautifully resolved - an elegant and pretty red-fruited wine with delightful freshness and length. With this quality and with the wines age, it’s a very nice offer indeed. The wine was selected (with one of the very highest scores) as one of 80 ‘Coups de Coeur’ by Guide Gault & Millau for the year 2020 Review below - "The colour appears black, intense with purple reflections. The nose presents an elegant maturity with predominantly fruity cherry and blackberry punctuated by spicy notes (pepper, cinnamon). In the mouth, the cherry is very present with other stone fruits (plum, prune). The leather and cocoa prolong a very fresh and digestible finish. The texture is dense and velvety. A complex and racy wine that evolves beautifully without losing its beautiful tension".
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Tesselaarsdal
Berene Sauls has a very unique story. Growing up in a small village in the Overberg, Berene admits that she came from a beer-drinking community, and wine was never really on her radar. Her first exposure was at the age of 19, when she began working for the trailblazing Hamilton Russell family as an au pair. Lasting only a month, her talents at childcare aside, Anthony Hamilton Russell recognised her drive and thought a job working in the winery office would better suit her. Thrown in at the deep end knowing really nothing about wine, she was soon exposed to every side of the business - assisting with exports, bottling and labelling, driving forklifts and picking during harvest too, as well as on the side, "growing and developing a palate that wasn't there!" Her curiosity kept her rising through the ranks, and fifteen years after starting her career, Anthony offered her the opportunity to make her first wine, aided by proficient head winemaker Emul Ross. She leapt at the opportunity, and the rest is history. She named her business Tesselaarsdal for the small village that she grew up in, and if you look closely at the label, you can make out two people walking across the mountain. This is Berene and her grandmother. From unirrigated vineyards on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, and this is just her third release! Crisp acidity and lean minerality underpin notes of melon and tangerine fruit and accents of lime blossom. A triumphant expression of terroir, this medium-bodied, cool climate wine is both silky and fresh and boasts a long, elegant finish.
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Savage
Duncan Savage matriculated at Rondebosch Boys High School in 1995. In 2016. Savage Wines was set up in the heart of Cape Town in Salt River. Vineyards for his wines are leased and grapes sourced from around the Western Cape, maritime in nature where possible. Granitic soil is the focus. From Duncan Savage: Grapes sourced from the Langverwagt farm in Kuils River on the outskirts of Stellenbosch. Decomposed granite soils overlooking Table Bay and False Bay, a perfect home for maritime Stellenbosch Syrah. Three parcels of vines, all trellised but farmed as a sprawl canopy - a trellised bush vine of sorts. Soils are poor, vigour is low and grapes are scarce, all a perfect recipe for classically styled Syrah. All the fruit is sorted as whole bunches before spontaneous fermentation in conical foudre and open top fermenters. 30% of the fruit is fermented as submerged cap with regular aeration, the balance as a normal fermentation with 2-4 aerated pump overs per day. 2-3 weeks on skins is followed by basket pressing and aging in old 500L barrels for 13 months. The wine then spends a further 10 months in foudre prior to bottling. 2021 is a classic vintage. Obviously I’m slightly biased, but I do feel that this wine may be one of the best Savage Reds we have made to date. Plums, lavender, cola, violets and the characteristic Langverwagt white pepper. The palate is taught and focused compliments of the granitic soil tannin structure and a classic vintage. A wine that will drink well for the next 10-15 years
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Savage
Duncan Savage matriculated at Rondebosch Boys High School in 1995. In 2016. Savage Wines was set up in the heart of Cape Town in Salt River. Vineyards for his wines are leased and grapes sourced from around the Western Cape, maritime in nature where possible. Granitic soil is the focus. From Duncan Savage: Cinsault from a 41 year old dry farmed bush vine vineyard in Darling. The vines are grown in decomposed granite on a south facing slope which gets battered by the prevailing south east wind off the cold Atlantic. We have worked with this vineyard since 2011 and the level of consistency and purity never ceases to amaze. Grapes are meticulously sorted in both vineyard and winery, more so in 2022 due to the extreme vintage. 20% of the fruit was discarded to ensure only the best bunches were processed. 50% whole bunch spontaneous fermentation with gentle extraction and 2 weeks on the skins. Basket pressing is followed by a year in older foudre, amphora and old 500L barrels before bottling. Follow the Line always displays aromatic purity, strawberries, cherries, rose petals and violets. The 2022 vintage showcases all of this with a little more texture and richness courtesy of the warmer vintage. The vines adapted incredibly to the challenges and have yielded an extremely complex wine with the characteristic freshness of granitic soils. Follow the Line drinks beautifully young but will age well up to 10 years
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Domaine Vendome
100% Syrah from Larnage, destemmed, steel vat fermented, raised 9 months, unfined. Pleasing aromas with red fruit, pepper and savoury notes of freshly baked bread. Charming, drinkable and quite delightful Syrah. A class entry-level from this outstanding new domaine.
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Marcelo Pelleriti
Marcelo creates award winning wines in Valle de Uco, Argentina and in Pomerol, France. His two great passions in life are his love for making music and for making fine wines. This wine is sourced from the Vineyard in Tunuyán, Valle de Uco where the soils are loamy-silty of alluvial origin with gravel in the subsoil. A rich Chardonnay with pleasant light yellow color, good structure and great acidity. The nose is an enticing, full fragrance, lemon dance of sea salt and delicate fresh notes. This wine is all about texture and preserving the subtle and delicate characteristics of the varietal. It's bouquet is full from a creamy mix of pears, peaches and very refined toast that finishes with a film of citrus covered cashews. A very pleasant gentle entry In the mouth. It's natural acidity makes it an elegant wine in the middle mouth with a long and persistent finish. A simply delicious chardonnay. Hand-picked, 82% of the wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks without going through oak barrels to preserve the varietal freshness. Only 18% ages 6 months in French Oak barrels (1st and 2nd use) in order to increase its complexity and persistence
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Domaine Danjou-Banessy
Natural, biodynamic and vegan. Grenache, Carignan and Mourvedre from 80 year old vines, Made without filtering or fining. Pale but gorgeous mid red colour. At first on the nose, you are like "What even is that?". Whatever it is, you know that you like it. Elegant, subtle fruit is intermixed with gentle herb, earth and savoury characters. Deep and wonderful. On the palate the wine is elegant and deep again, but not heavy in the slightest. Ruffled fruit and savoury notes with minerality and real finesse. These wines are like no other from the Roussillon. Outstanding.
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Gian Luca Colombo
After Gian Luca completed his Masters in Viticulture and Oenology after 11 years of study and worked as a wine consultant across Italy in 2011 he started his own small winery in the heart of his native Langhe. Within 3 years he won the Gambelli award for Young Winemaker of the Year. His small Segni di Langa estate is located in Roddi in Barolo country and working sustainably he takes a very minimal interventionist approach allowing each vintage to showcase itself. Making his wines in the 'garage' beneath his house he typifies the small scale, high quality, personal style of winemaking. Magliano Alfieri village, 290m, 88y-old vines. Roddi village 200-250m, 45 to 60y-old vines. Part of this wonderful Barbera d'Alba comes from a vineyard by Gian Luca's house. The wines has so much lovely fruit and richness with such vibrant freshness. It isn't in the least bit 'blockbuster'. No heaviness, no 'make up'. Simply a beautiful drink that delivers sheer class and great pleasure. Not blockbuster, but it is knock-out good.
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Marcelo Pelleriti
Marcello Pelleriti is one of the leading lights of Argentinian wine making. He trained under the legendary Michel Rolland in Bordeaux and every September and October migrates to France where he is winemaker of Chateau Violette and Chateau Le Gay. It was making wine under the Chateau Violette name that lead to him being the first Argentinian to receive 100pts from wine critic Robert Parker. Deep and complex, there’s notes of red fruits, black fruits, spice and floral notes- think plum, sweet spices and violet. A delicate wine on the palate, with round tannins. Elegant and persistent. Perfect pairing for lamb shanks or grilled steaks. Classic pairings you can’t go wrong with!
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Gian Luca Colombo
After Gian Luca completed his Masters in Viticulture and Oenology after 11 years of study and worked as a wine consultant across Italy in 2011 he started his own small winery in the heart of his native Langhe. Within 3 years he won the Gambelli award for Young Winemaker of the Year. His small Segni di Langa estate is located in Roddi in Barolo country and working sustainably he takes a very minimal interventionist approach allowing each vintage to showcase itself. Making his wines in the 'garage' beneath his house he typifies the small scale, high quality, personal style of winemaking. 60% Barolo village, 370m. 40% Dogliani Village, 350 to 550m. North / North-East facing. From north facing vineyards that are well-protected from the hot sun. After fermentation with only natural, wild yeasts the wine is then aged in amphora and large Stockinger barrels. Gian Luca is a bit a dab hand with Pinot Nero, having started producing it prior to turning his hand to Nebbiolo and the rest. Truffley, with the scents of sous bois and woodland earth. Leading to spicy cinnamon and clove and piercing fruit - cherries, redcurrants and pomegranate. Fine, long, pure and vibrant Pinot Nero.
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Domaine Danjou-Banessy
Natural, biodynamic and vegan. Grenache, Carignan and Mourvedre from 80 year old vines, Made without filtering or fining. Pale but gorgeous mid red colour. At first on the nose, you are like "What even is that?". Whatever it is, you know that you like it. Elegant, subtle fruit is intermixed with gentle herb, earth and savoury charachters. Deep and wonderful. On the palate the wine is elegant and deep again, but not heavy in the slightest. Ruffled fruit and savoury notes with minerality and real finesse. These wines are like no other from the Roussillon. Outstanding. Magnum sized.