100% Carignan from 80 year old vines. Complex floral aromas. On the palate the fruits, such as raspberry and morello cherry, are crunchy and fresh. There is also a very strong stony/mineral feeling. The finish is long and pure. A vibrant wine.

It's here, the 'Coulsh-Rotie". Simon "The Coulsh'" Coulshaw's fabulous take on this iconic wine. "I put this glass of wine to my nose, and had I not been firmly anchored to a chair, would have taken five steps back. The aroma swept me off my feet. Indescribable. Wild. One Thousand and One Nights distilled into a glass. Heady and exotic and riddled with rose petals and spice and coiled with riddles and one sniff of this is poetry and myth and folklore and kitchen table and campfire and someone's cigarette stubbed out at 3 am in lonely finality. Garrigue-spiced aromatics spiral through rock, plant, seed, flower with dazzling complexity. One moment it's rose petals, so delicate you could brush a baby's lips with it; the next it's hot tar, underground angry, rocks shifting deep in the cracks of the earth. This is a velvety, cocoa-dusted, amped-up-then-restrained, dark-horse beauty. Vertical, dark, slub-silk fruit with overtones of tamari and dark chocolate, crushed coffee beans and sweet forest-floor earth. Long and the kind of wine that coils around you slowly, sinuously, sensuously. Worth every penny. You'd pay three times this for a Rhône of this stature". (TC) 18/20 jancisrobinson.com When to drink 2023 - 2035 Published on 29 Nov 2021 Date tasted 29 Nov 2021

70 % Sangiovese, 30% Syrah, is amongst the very best in the Languedoc. Intense color, pretty aromas of white flowers. With a nice roundness, this wine will accompany your grilled fish, garnished summer salads, crustaceans etc.

Energy is a word used a lot by the finest Roussillon growers. We don't think there has been a finer example than this extraordinary wine from the freres Danjou. The 2020 is more 'Cote-Rotie' than the 'Crozes like' 2018. A thrilling wine.

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

Natural, Organic, Biodynamic Macabeu, fermented and aged in barrels, racy and minerally with soft texture and generous fruit.

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.

Really tasty. Full colour, but light on it's feet. Lots of staisfaction here. This wine is soft pressed after five hours of skin contact to produce a light pink wine. Fermentation occurs under controlled temperatures in stainless-steel tanks. Five days resting on the lees are followed by two days of cold settling. The vines that produce this wine are grafted from Argentine Malbec, which of course comes originally from Cahors in France. The wine maker is Argentine, and he searched all over the Languedoc for a place that would produce the characteristically bright and intense Malbec of his home country. He found this possibility in partnership with winegrowers from the Coteaux d’Ensérune, who follow a 1,000-year-old viticultural tradition marked by an historically un-French willingness to develop varieties from other horizons. The unique soils on the Montandy plateau outside Béziers are red, chalky and acidic with traces of iron. This combined with the classic Mediterranean climate, make the area an ideal home for Malbec The nose is intense with concentrated red berry aromas mixed with hints of springtime flowers. The expressive palate is bursting with gorgeous, ripe fruit followed by a bright, tangy finish. Pair with Mediterranean cuisine like fish with Provençal sauce and seafood paella or try with grilled chicken and fish. Also delightful as an aperitif.

Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne and Roussanne. Lovely lifted floral fruit, gorgeous texture and lovely freshness. We loved this.

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.

100% Carignan from 80 year old vines. Complex floral aromas. On the palate the fruits, such as raspberry and morello cherry, are crunchy and fresh. There is also a very strong stony/mineral feeling. The finish is long and pure. A vibrant 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. 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' 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.

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!

Very rare, very low production. Mineral, taught. Fine and long. One of the unsung whites of the Roussillon. A blend of Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc, Carignan Gris and Carignan Blanc. Outstanding wine. Ages gracefully for 10++ years. Beautiful vineyards that are beautifully worked.

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.

Natural, Organic, Biodynamic Macabeu, fermented and aged in barrels, racy and minerally with soft texture and generous fruit.

The Lurton family that owns the property has also made it their home and HQ for their brilliant stable of wines now headed by Jacques Lurton. A crystal clear wine with with pure fruit aromas and crisp acidity, this is immediately refreshing. The wine's freshness is infectious

100% Sauvignon Blanc from four terroirs: clay, limestone-clay, marl, gravel. 93/100 Jane Anson "Bright Sauvignon Blanc aromatics on the nose, this is good quality. Power, concentration and spliced citrus and slate minerality. Maintains momentum, easy to love. A yield of 31hl/ha, with 10 months ageing on lees with regular stirring in to fatten up the mouthfeel. An impressive La Louvière, stands out from recent vintages at this estate."

Winemaker Vincent Chansault is particularly happy with this release of Gayda's top, single vineyard Syrah from a beautiful site high up in La Liviniere. Extrememly limited. One for Cote-Rotie lovers. The 'Dream House' in question was built by the owner in the vineyards for his ailing wife to spend her last days. She miraculously recovered and her story inspired Vincent to make his dream wine from Syrah in La Liviniere.

Chocolate with pretty notes of cherry and blackberry jam! Very round in the mouth, the length develops intensely. A wine with an assertive, gourmet and round character, centered on red fruits and spices, supported by a beautiful tannic frame. Domaine La Lôyane was voted Winemaker of the Year in 2018 by the Guide Hachette, France's wine bible. La Lôyane refers to the place where the estate is built, a place formerly occupied by wolves! The estate, founded in 1994, is located in the south of the Rhône Valley, near Avignon in the Lirac cru. The Dubois family has been cultivating its 20 hectares of vines there for 4 generations! And the last, with Romain Dubois, has cnverted the estate to organic farming. An extremely precise estate, which is constantly moving upmarket and producing wines from vines that are sometimes more than a century old!

"Of all our vineyards, the kaolin on Château de Larnage is the top site - it’s a unique terroir, maybe 20 hectares of it, giving wines with real style, breeding, powerful and good finesse for both red and white, the whites there more recently planted. Our neighbours there are Desmeure (Remizières), Belle, Olivier Dumaine, Dard & Ribo, Sorrel, the Cave de Tain". Gérald Delhome "This is an interesting newcomer to the ranks in the northern sector of Crozes-Hermitage, with vineyards in the communes of Crozes itself, Larnage, Gervans and Erôme. There are almost 11.5 hectares of Crozes across 20 plots. Romain is the fifth generation; his great-grandfather Flavien Delhome had vineyards, while, on his mother’s side there were vineyards under her family in the shape of Severin Habrard, so there are two old roots at play here". 100% Syrah (1950s) from kaolin, white clay soils on Château de Larnage at Larnage, hand harvested, destemmed, 25 day steel vat vinification at 24°-28°C, pre-fermentation cold maceration at 8°-10°C "to seek red fruits", 20-25 day steel vat vinification at 24°-28°C, pumping overs, part vat emptying/refilling, raised 5% new, 95% 3-10 year 228-litre oak casks 11-12 months, wide bottle, 4,700 bottles produced". John Livingstone-Learmonth, Drink Rhone Outstanding Crozes Hermitage from a wonderful site on kaolin (bright white clay) at 330m elevation on Château de Larnage at Larnage. A beautiful, elegant nose but with plenty of concentration - quite a dark style with a gorgeous floral lift. The fruit is pure and direct, and the balsamic note gives the wine real character which is quite unexpected in a wine so young. This 2022 shall do really well a few years down the line, but it is undoubtedly utterly delightful right now. Again, outstanding.

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.

100% Grenache from 130+ year old vines. Complex floral aromas. On the palate the fruits, such as raspberry and morello cherry, are crunchy and fresh. There is also a very strong stony/mineral feeling. The finish is long and pure. A vibrant wine. 97/100 Matt Walls, Decanter Magazine March 2024

70 % Sangiovese, 30% Syrah, is amongst the very best in the Languedoc. Intense color, pretty aromas of white flowers. With a nice roundness with a touch of juicy residual sugar that really works in this 20th harvest celebration wine. So much sheer joy and fun here. Emotional stuff.

An emblematic property of Anjou, the Château de Fesles and its wine estate were built in the 11th century at the top of the 4th highest point in the Loire Valley. Its exceptional geographical position as well as its proximity to the Layon river allow it to produce wines with a distinguished and complex character. Buttery and creamy on the nose with a lovely dose of oak giving honeycomb and caramel notes to the green apple and peach fruit. Lovely precise acidity and chalky tannic texture. Long, bright, flavoursome and characterful. Starting to show some attractive development on the finish too.

When Zind-Humbrecht acquired the Clos-Saint-Urbain vineyard on the Grand Cru Rangen in 1977, about half of the land wasn’t under vines and needed to be planted. This very steep vineyard requires a lot of hard manual work and some surfaces were left abandoned in the middle of the 20th century. Most vintages, the vines planted in the 70s and 80s are separated from the very old vines that qualify as Grand Cru. This wine clearly show all the originality of a volcanic geology which is unique in Alsace. They are also cultivated the exact same way as the older vines (ploughing with a winch for example). The biggest difference would be on the crop size. The Roche Volcanique is made with low yields, but the older vines produce even less! For these ‘younger vines’ they aim for very healthy grapes (no noble rot) in order to achieve a dry wine. Bright pale-yellow colour. Expressive fruity and smoky nose (smoked ham, grilled hazelnuts). The palate has a velvety texture, lots of depth and length without too much power. Gentle balance showing a saline acidity on the finish. Very easy wine to enjoy today. Dry, but with a certain softness due to a good dry extract that brings volume on the palate. Obviously Rangen in taste…

We love this Piquepoul Rosé! Though only 250 acres of this rare grape remain, Piquepoul Noir has been grown in Southern France for centuries. It is originally from the Languedoc and is one of the 13 grapes permitted in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The Piquepoul Rosé Foncalieu 2023 has a very pale pink colour. It is light bodied and clean with refreshing acidity, bright rose petal aromas and citrus notes. Delicious wine.

Deep purple, almost opaque in colour with an expressive nose of black fruits, pepper, cinnamon, spice and violets. A seductive palate of dark hedgerow fruits, very open and welcoming with an explosion of fruit and spice. Mineral undertones.

"Intense with a luminous ruby colour and garnet nuances, the nose reveals elegant notes of ripe black fruits and fresh red fruits, notes of black cherries and raspberry. Complex spicy notes and fine mineral smoky touches, a light and elegant infusion at low temperature. The palate is soft and light, the fruity and gourmet flavours dominate. Mineral and smoky touches bring freshness and highlight beautiful tender and perfectly integrated tannins. The result is balanced with a persistent long finish. " Dominique Laporte, Meilleur Sommelier de France, Meilleur Ouvrier de France Sommelier De-stemmed harvest - Natural vinification without the addition of sulphur - Very light extraction - Infusion, at low temperature - 15 days maceration before pressing - Only the free-run juice is kept. Soil type: Gneiss. The Commune: Cassagnes, Roussillon Aged in concrete eggs for 9 months.

A blend of 40% each Marsanne and Roussanne, plus 20% Grenache Blanc, the 2023 Cotes du Rhone Blanc La Ponce is floral and spicy, with marked pear and melon aromas. It's fruit-forward and medium to full-bodied, with a plush, silky texture and a long finish redolent of anise and white pepper.

Escaravailles rare top end white we are very lucky to see an allocation of. Even with a hot, short vintage Madeline has produced a very fine, elegant, juicy long and fine Rhone wine.

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

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

From Yves Falmet: My ‘A Contre Courant’ label is made from grapes from the oldest Carignan and Grenache plots in my vineyard. But what makes this wine outstanding is its maturation under a veil of yeast for four years. Wines matured under a veil of yeast are characterised by the spontaneous development of yeasts which form a veil on the surface of the wine in contact with the ambient air (during its barrel ageing phase). This technique, which is uncommon for wine because of the risk of acetic souring when stored in containers with ullage, gives it specific aroma and flavour characters of fig, tobacco and candied cherry and a substantial finish on the palate. Of the very few wines matured this way, Vin Jaune from Jura is particularly renowned, but there are no red wines. By maturing a red wine using this technique, I am actually going counter to modern standardised winemaking, hence the name of the wine, which means "flying in the face" of established standards and the "tastefully correct". This is a wine I have created for true wine enthusiasts, those who do not resign themselves to the standardisation of taste, to stereotyped and uniform wines, in short, to the prevailing trend for ultra-conformism.

From Yves Falmet: My ‘Aramon’ label is made entirely from this grape variety. Among my Carignan vines, the oldest in my vineyard at over 80 years old, there are still a few Aramon vines. This is because the custom at the time was to mix a few grape varieties within the same plot. Aramon used to be one of the most ubiquitous grape varieties in Languedoc, but it has been almost eradicated in recent decades. Like Cinsault, is has been completely discarded in favour of other grape varieties regionally. However, in a quality site such as the Terres Falmet vineyard, when carefully grown, harvested at the peak of ripeness and skilfully vinted, it produces a beautiful, subtly tannic red wine that is fresh and fruity.

100% Viognier from Les Méjeans next to the winery on mix of kaolin white clay, argile calcaire and also decayed granite just above where the northern boundary of Crozes-Hermitage dips southward on the map, but the elevation remains high at 350m in between Gervans and Larnage, just a little to the north. Hand harvested in early morning, steel vat fermented at 18°C, raised 9 months, malo blocked. What a lovely wine from a unique, interesting terroir. A quite serious but relaxed and lovely, aromatic, floral, juicy but bright drinking Viognier with a gentle, gorgeous creaminess on the finish. Delicious as an apero or with semi hard goats cheese, peaches and charcuterie. A classy drop indeed.

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

Expert winemaking from Ambrose Vanlancker produces this fantastic Tempranillo from the the exceptional fresh terroir of his La Liviiniere vineyard in Minervois. Aromatic, medium-bodied, rounded red fruits and subtle savoury nuances.