Red Wine

Piedmont's first ever Barbera Appassimento. Deeply dark with lashings of luxurious sweet fruit, plum-skin, dark chocolate, liquorice - a real smoothie.

Asti is the next place along from Alba. This cheeky red is all Barbera should be: vital, cherry-red, bright, lifted, cool and crunchy. Shouts Piedmont loud and clear. Lovely chilled, with salads, with tomato sauces, and tomatoes, herbs, pepper steak. Truly epic value from this super grower.

Normally £22+. Smells like LUXURY! Super-low yield Barbera from the best sunny spots, some serious winemaking and a lick of posh new oak. What a beauty. What a bargain. Dark, silky, last time I had a Barbera this rich and lush was in California, and it cost 3 tines as much! Nizza is a new top-end DOCG created to separate the best plots of Barbera - great success.

The Bardos Reserva is an elegant high-altitude expression of Ribera del Duero wine made from low-yielding Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged for 14 months in oak, it has excellent structure from balanced tannins and acidity, alongside complex notes of dark fruit, chocolate and vanilla spice.

Old low-yield vineyards, located in Quintanilla de Onésimo, with great mesoclimate and soil conditions. Aged 14 months in second hand French oak barrels. Deep purple ruby, youthful. Cool, menthol, blueberry, graphite nose, exciting. Intense palate, plenty of tannins but chock full of bramble, blueberry fruit, decent acidity and earnest concentration. Will be very good from 2022 onwards.

What a bargain. Just enough evolution to boast resolved tannins without the fruit being dried out. Lovely cranberry-fresh style, lots of Nebbiolo character with that typical dried-flower note.

Red and black fruits, intense and ethereal bouquet of vanilla, full, firm but velvety flavours with a fine lingering aftertaste of liquorice and ripe red fruits.

The only thing ancient about this wine is the name - here is the new generation of Beaujolais-Villages Once tasted, forever conquered. Its creator is a genius: Jean-Paul Brun, a counter-conventional winegrower, has reinvigorated the reputation of Beaujolais wines. Of a quality equal to the wines of Côte de Beaune, its winery, Terres Dorées, offers excellent quality for the price.

A complex Beaujolais packed with alluring red-fruit and herbal elements that interplay across your palate in perfect harmony. Medium-intensity ruby in colour, this wine has an aromatic, medium-plus-intensity nose of red plum, fig, hay rhubarb, raspberry, red currant, violet, black tea, and hibiscus. On the palate the dry, medium-bodied Beaujolais has medium-plus-intensity, floral flavours suggested on the nose supported by medium acidity and completing with a black-tea-infused, long finish. The midpalate sings, and you won’t want the experience of enjoying this wine to end.

Utterly charming and gluggable Beaujolais, brimming with raspberry flavour, with smooth tannins and bright acidity. You can chill this a little or just knock it back with some charcuterie, cheese or olives.

Wine Advocate: 91 Points "Croix's 2019 Beaune Village is showing beautifully wafting from the glass with a perfumed bouquet of orange rind rose petals warm spices and red berry fruit. Medium to full-bodied ample and sumptuous with lively acids and melting tannins it's a blend dominated by Les Pointes des Tuvilains a site below premier cru Les Chouacheux that produces very gourmand charming wines. The challenging 2021 growing season really tested producers' viticultural mettle and because I have begun farming a tiny parcel in Beaune opposite one of David Croix's I was able to survey with admiration how beautifully healthy his vines remained despite all the vicissitudes of frost oidium and mildew that nature threw at us. A walk around the appellation confirmed that his holdings in Les Teurons and Bressandes fared just as well. All that's to say that Croix's well-deserved reputation as one of the leading talents among his generation in the Côte de Beaune is founded on hard work in the vineyards. While I can't wait to taste his 2021s this visit was devoted to the 2020 and 2019 vintage. As the accompanying notes attest both have turned out brilliantly: 2019 is perfumed sumptuous and enveloping a vintage of immense charm and 2020 is concentrated vibrant and almost primary even after a year of élevage. Different in style but very similar in quality Burgundy lovers won't want to miss either".

This has a ripe bouquet with raspberry and redcurrant notes. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins. It is a little austere at first, but seems to “relax” in the glass and turn in an agreeable structured finish with a gentle grip. This is the kind of Pinot Noir that will be enhanced at the dinner table.

90/100 Tim Atkin "Sold as a generic red because "Crianza doesn't add value in Rioja," according to Matías Calleja, this lightly oaked pure Tempranillo is enticingly aromatic with rose petal and cinnamon perfume, tangy acidity and textured raspberry and strawberry sweetness."

The top scoring Cinsault in 'Cin City' - a tasting of Cinsaults from around the world in September 2021. Pseudonym is made from a small 70 -year old vineyard situated in a little valley into the mountain in Darling. 100% Cinsault, with dainty tiptoeing fruit, exotic spice and some sweet herbal notes, silken tannins and a floating palate. Pieter's pseudonym: “Die konfytkoker van die Strand”, meaning “The jam maker from the Strand - read on to learn why! 'There are two farms in Darling who share the same entrance. I buy grapes from Farmer 1. He is a really good farmer and many years ago realised that the only way to make his business work is to farm top-quality grapes. He therefore removed all inferior high-production vineyards and was left with only old Bush vines with potential. He then sourced buyers from top wineries - guys and girls who could afford paying much more for his grapes and compensated him for the extra care given to these Old vines. Over the years he therefore created a niche market for himself. His neighbour however (Farmer 2), farms for the big co-operative winery who doesn't pay as well as the smaller wineries. So, each time a branded vehicle entered their shared entrance, Farmer 2 made a note of the name of the winery who buys from his neighbour. He would then get into contact with the winery and try to sell them grapes as well. I don't have any branding on my vehicle though, so he couldn't track me down. One day, however, he phoned Farmer 1 and complained about the speed I was driving, obviously wanting to find out who I was. Farmer 1’s reply? “Oh, you mean the jam (preserve) maker from The Strand? He’s the one who buys all my left-over grapes once I’ve sold all my top stuff. He then pays me double what the others are paying and makes jam in The Strand (my home town).” I’m sure this kept Farmer 2 busy for a while.'

A heady fragrance of peony and violets, red cherry and pomegranate, overlaid with a smoky, earthy savouriness. The character reflects the perfume and delicacy of the vintage, whilst retaining its innate muscular tannin structure that ensures it will age very well. The palate shows great intensity, complexity and structure.

Fruity, brambly and supple, this distinctly Argentinian Malbec will impress with generous lashing of plum, blackberry and hints of vanilla spice. About the winery Bodega Sottano was founded in 1890 by Mr. Fioravante Sottano who settled in Mendoza after moving from Italy. Today the estate is a byword for quality, modern Mendoza wines that express a delicious sense of place.

Syrah is the predominant grape (73%) along with Grenache (11%), Cinsault (8%) Cabernet Sauvignon (7%) and Viognier (1%) - grapes that have been delicately picked to create this rich, full-bodied wine. The 2020 is a vintage which shows exceptional balance and texture with a youthful elegance.

Bang on the money Merlot, berry and vanilla, nice eucalyptus lift.

Intense ruby colour with hints of purple. A wide palette of aromas dominated by morello cherry and red fruits. Hints of smoke and leather, finely balanced with harmonious tannin. This wine may be enjoyed young and it is also ideal for laying down for a couple more years. Pinot Noir from the Chalonnaise region that borders the Cotes de Beaune to the North.

Pascal Fournillon is a sweet-natured man, always happy when people find him in the sleepy hamlet of Bernouil, some 10 miles north-east of Chablis town. His mum also makes the best gougeres if you need further incentive. Pascal's vineyards cover some 23 hectares of land in the appellations of Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru and Epineuil. He is bottling more and more of his own wine rather than selling in bulk and this means we have access to good allocations of Chablis that Pascal is happy to age for us for a few years till it is perfect to drink. This Bourgogne Epineuil is well-balanced, a charming easy-drinking and generous Pinot Noir. The texture is marked by smooth and soft velvety tannins.

This Bourgogne is cherry red in colour, with ruby red reflections. The nose expresses notes of raspberry, blackcurrant, liquorice, with notes of violet. The palate is soft with crisp tannins. The fresh and saline finish is accompanied by aromas of liquorice and pepper. This is a delicate style and so much better than your average Bourgogne Rouge, punching way above it's weight, it is a very stylish and classy wine indeed, Alexia Russo and Caroline Fyot pursued careers in the luxury industry for one and in insurance for the other before decided to reconnect with nature and fulfill a childhood dream: to create a wine estate. The pair chose Burgundy, the Côte Chalonnaise and the Château de Garnerot to create the estate because of its deep historical roots in the winemaking tradition.

Produced exclusively from Gamay grapes harvested from vines around 45 years old, and the vineyards are situated in a natural amphitheatre around the Château. It's matured in large oak vats before bottling, and the fruity, floral wine is an excellent pairing with cheese. The grapes are hand picked, sorted and de-stemmed before being put into temperature controlled stainless steel vats for a long (2-3 week) maceration period during which the chapeau de marc -the cap of the grape skins- is regularly pushed down into the juice (pigeage), to enhance the aromatics, colour and body of the finished wine. After pneumatic pressing, the malolactic fermentation takes place gently and slowly throughout the winter after which the wine is bottled in the spring. The wines are always aged for several months at the chateau before release.

"Enticing combination of reserved freshness and bewitching ripeness here. Dried rose petals, stems, black tea, orange peel, steak tartare and tobacco simmer at the surface. The full-bodied palate has a complete but never overbearing feel, in that the tannins are fine-grained and precise, tracing an elegant positioning of subtle berries and cherries. Suave and polished. Drink now." 95 Points jamessuckling.com

The colour is dark ruby and the nose is classic Sangiovese, transporting one instantly to Montalcino. The bouquet is a little tight at first ranging from gentle balsamic notes and a hint of steak. In time it deepens to a delicious herbaceousness, accompanied by mouth-watering aromas of ripe cherry and dark berries. In the background tell-tale floral notes of violets lurk. In the mouth the first impression is of a very pleasant juiciness paired with ripe fruit and seductive well-structured tannins. The mouth-feel is round and silky-smooth with expertly integrated alcohol. It is generously mouth-filling and rewards with a long fruity finish.