Proper Crozes-Hermitage style Syrah - nice bright berry fruit, a bit of a dark chocolate bite, nice crisp acidity and tannin, tastes almost cool/minty. A satisfying meat wine.

80% Grenache, 20% Syrah Cotes du Rhone Fruits Rouge is made from Grenache from the commune of Sainte Cécile-les-Vignes and Syrah grapes from the garrigues in Tulette. These combine to produce a bright, clear wine, with a beautiful aromatic character - the wine is fresh, refined and delicate. A little beauty by this great vigneron.

A perennial favourite with staff, customers, restaurants and colleges. Simply a great value classic South West wine from Cahors, France. Beautifully sweet cherry pie nose, with oak, flowers, spices, minerals and savoury beetroot notes. Wonderfully fine tannins, great concentration of ripe plums and dried fruits, and a very long finish. Displays real elegance and power. "Spicy aromas offering rich berry fruits give this dense, luxurious wine its structure and concentration. It is smoky, balancing acidity against blackberry flavors. The wine will age and will be ready to drink from 2025". 91/100 Roger Voss in Wine Enthusiast Magazine And also a wonderfully French tasting note in Le Guide Hachette des Vins 2023 "A very expressive Malbec-Merlot duo, open without reserve on very ripe black fruits, supported by a discreet and elegant woodiness. The palate is ample, generous, powerful in hardness, with a nice return of fruit and a long, fresh finish. A most harmonious Cahors which will be appreciated both young and weathered by time".

The second release of this cuvee from the brilliant Daniel and Cathy Laffite based in Tautavel. These guys have some of the most beautiful vineyards we have ever seen, and they are worked with utmost care and respect in an organic way. Glorious Grenache and Carignan deliver so much pleasure with beautiful fruit, great minerality and supple, savoury tannins. DELICIOUS.

Natural, organic Grenache Noir from a beautiful vineyard in Baixas, Roussillon. Grown with great care and wildly fermented and aged in tank. Floral, pretty and minerally fresh red fruits with soft texture and generous fruit. Really delightful Grenache. Vincent Carreras has been working in wine industry for 13 years. For nine years he worked for a winery in the south of the Roussillon, Andy Cook’s Mas Cristine and Coume del Mas. Working in the vineyard, cellar and commercial activities - the whole shebang! For four years now he has been employed by a family winery based in Maury - Clos des Vins d'Amour. Who work 25 hectares organically in the west of Roussillon. Mostly in commercial activities, but also working in the cellar. Alongside this, in 2016, Vincent started a new project - Domaine Odyssée. The 3.5ha of vineyards are in Calce and Baixas, in a heart of Roussillon. The sites are small, but unquestionably some of the most beautiful we have seen. Vincent draws on the experiences mentioned above and his time in New Zealand (2011), Argentina (2012) and Bordeaux 2011 to help fully realise what he has there in his exceptional terroir. Vincent works organically, using no weedkillers, no chemical products. He works by hand and with organic fertilizer (he is in conversion right now). He harvests his parcels by himself with friends and family. In the cellar, Vincent’s philosophy is a minimum of intervention "To keep the fruit and the terroir.". The wines are extracted gently with just a little pump over. No filtration, no fining. The only preservative is a little dose of sulphites in very low quantities at bottling "It is important for me the stabilise the wine in respect of the future customers".

Vinsobres is the most northern appellation of the Southern Rhône. The Perrin family owns around 80 hectares here. The vineyards grow at altitudes of 200 - 450 metres, in terraces, with the Prealps on one side and Mont Ventoux on the other. The soils are stony and sandy marl on the slopes, and stony quaternary alluviums on the terraces. A very particular microclimate protects the village and the vines planted which are planted in amphitheatre formation. Summers are hot and dry, with the local Mistral and Pontias winds bringing cooler air at night.

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

Joseph Perrier is a small house in terms of Grand Marque champagnes - only 1 million bottles produced a year, and still use some of the traditional champagne making techniques. Their emphasis is on quality and it shows. Rich fruity style.

The spice of Alsace and one of Famille Hugel's signature wines. It is both aromatic and extroverted through its floral and spicy notes. Gewurztraminer is an invitation to accompany a variety of spicy Asian dishes as well as smoked salmon and strong cheeses. Vegan, Biodynamic agriculture

This excellent white Burgundy comes from the intermediate clay/limestone slopes in the commune of Montagny. Very complex aromas on the nose, with successive fruity, floral and mineral hints, with particular menthol and lemon overtones. A full-bodied and rich wine with amazing finesse and delicate aromas.

Pale gold coloured wine with light green reflections. Elegant and precise nose of white peach, pear and then honey and pine kernel. Pure and flavourful palate with a contrasted balance between Mediterranean roundness and fresh finale. 100% Clairette Rose whole-bunch pressed, from sandy, galet stone soils on Pignan (N-E, 0.8 hectare, 1979-80) & Bédines (N-E, 0.2 hectare, 1982, 1984), Saintes Georges (N-E, 0.2 hectare, 1960s), 50% steel vat, 50% 1-year 228-litre oak cask fermented at up to 17.5°C, raised 5-6 months, 1-2 lees stirrings a week, malo blocked, 1,000 bottles only.

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

"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.

100% old vine Carignan that was bred all in concrete tanks. Notes of leather, black cherries, plums and savoury herbs all emerge from this medium-bodied, fresh, lively wine. This is seamless and gorgeous stuff from Daniel Laffite. It would cost twice the price if it was from Priorat.

From Yves Falmet: My ‘L'ivresse des Cimes’ label is made from grapes grown on the steepest plots in my vineyard, located right at the top of the hillside. My best expression each year of 'Saint-Chinian'.

The 30 hectares of Coudoulet are located just east of the vineyard of Beaucastel on the other side of the A7 motorway. For reasons that have now become obvious, Coudoulet is often considered the baby Beaucastel. The Coudoulet soil has many similarities to that of Beaucastel. It is made out of Molasse seabed covered by diluvial alpine deposits. These pebbles called 'Galets Roulés' play a big role: They take in the heat during the day and let it if off slowly at night which gives a good start to the vines in the Spring.

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

An opulent Champagne with the perfect balance of freshness and generosity, from the smallest and arguably the best of the Grande Marques. The Brut Réserve NV is a radiant pale gold colour with fine, persistent bubbles. The nose is characterised by complex pastry aromas, with an opulent combination of ripe apricot, mango, greengages, dried fruits, pistachio and almond. The palate begins with a silky-smooth sensation, developing into ripe fleshy apricot, melon and enticing plum pastry notes and delicate spice. There is perfect balance of freshness and generosity.

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

Notes of cherry and raspberry, with a sniff of garrigue. A delightful mouthfeel with silky tannins and notes of black fruits and spices, ending with a tangy finish and a good length. Beautiful Syrah and Carignan from the Roussillon grown on gneiss. The Syrah was destemmed and fermented then raised in 5yo oak barrels, The Carignan was fermented whole bunch then raised in stainless steel to preserve it brilliant brightness. A great En Passant.

Outstanding value Ventoux that is grown on soils of hard cretaceous limestone, limestone scree and alluvium at an average altitude of 450 meters, at the foot of Ventoux, the southern slope. 90% Grenache, 10 % Syrah. A brilliant ruby colour with pretty purple highlights. Intense and expressive nose of cherries and raspberries, fresh floral notes with a touch of thyme and white pepper. On the palate it has lovely weight and complexity and a lovely balance of flavours with a brilliant stony minerality on the wonderful finish. Serve at 17°C and to be enjoyed however you want. Another outstanding value wine from the ridiculously good Dominique. From the Guide Hachette 2026 edition: "A pure, vibrant, unadorned Grenache, born from a hand-picked harvest and aged for twelve months in vats. The vibrant color with blue highlights announces the richness of the bouquet, clean and intense: blackcurrant jelly, clove, and smoky notes. The freshness immediately carves its way into an enveloping, creamy mouthfeel, supported by finely sculpted tannins and a pulpy fruitiness tinged with a languorous note of dark chocolate on the finish. Voluptuous, it can be opened today or cellared for a few years". The 2023 La Réserve Saint-Dominique Ventoux Rouge received a two star rating in the Guide, which makes it a "remarkable wine". The jury awarded it a Coup de Coeur. This wine was rated in the 2026 edition of the Hachette Vins Guide. This is a remarkable achievement in the guide, normally reserved for wines twice the price (plus) of the Dominique Ventoux. Again, outstanding value wine.

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.

Tom Stevenson - Top Ten Best Bargains "Lovely biscuity fruit and excellent acidity are the key to this cuvee's consistent quality and impressive potential longevity. One of Champagne's best-kept secrets."

A very special wine. Winemaker Vincent comes from the Loire Valley so knows about Chenin from there and time making wine in South Africa. Chenin originated in the Languedoc so bringing it back is exciting. The wine is fermented in egg shaped concrete fermenting tanks, which allows better movement of liquid during and after fermentation than in stainless steel. Some barrel ageing too for texture. Well balanced with a purity of fruit enhanced by its roundness and length.. Highly recommended.

Very rare, very low production. One of the legendary white wines of the Roussillon grown at elevation (500m) in a vineyard called 'Le Soula' (the name adopted by the neighbouring estate Eric Laguerre was once involved with) high in Saint-Martin-de-Fenouillet, on granite soils. Mineral, taught, fine and long with beautiful texture. A blend of Marsanne, Roussanne, Rolle, Grenache Blanc and Maccabeu. Outstanding wine which can age gracefully for 25++ years. Beautiful vineyards that are beautifully worked by the master Eric Laguerre. After first visiting the vineyard back in September 2009, we are very happy to now be importing the wines from Domaine Laguerre exclusively to the UK market. The Rhône cannot make white wines like this, although they carry a far higher price which somehow, wrongly, implies that they are somehow better, more valuable. This wine. Spliced by acidity that is so laser focused yet so gentle that it feels like the fall of spring petals through sunlight and falls like a blade of obsidian leaving a cut so fine that only the air drew breath in its wake. This wine. Tastes of Reine Claude plums so sweet the flesh has turned liquid to honey inside the green-gold skin, of cardamom husk caught in the pot of cream coddling slowly on the stove; of pink grapefruit and sucking on a twist of aromatic peel. Exquisite freshness; nacreous beauty; and yet almost shockingly bare of winemaking tricks. It's beautiful. Complete. A lunar cycle in the glass; waxing crescent, waxing gibbous, waning gibbous, waning crescent. GV (TC)

"I like wines that are direct, with tension, a vertebral column, for both the reds and the whites". Romain Delhome A brilliant, fresh and invigorating Crozes Hermitage Rouge from young Romain. 100% Syrah grown on soils composed mainly of loess and some granite scree mixed with loess at elevation at Gervans and Larnage in the northern sector. Average age of vines is 35 years old. The grapes are gravity fed into the winery after destemming. The grapes are then crushed and left to macerate at a very low temperature for a few days before fermentation takes place in the truncated temperature controlled stainless steel vats. The must macerates for twenty days with very gentle spray overs (like a pump over, but gentler). The juice is then left on its own in tank for seven months. A nose full of red/black fruits. flowers and peppery notes. The palate is fresh, direct and red-fruited. Vibrant and joyful. The finish continues with finesse, with a lovely pepper note. Great tension and balance. It's a natural tasting Crozes full of life and energy. We feel it's one to drink younger and with a slight chill. It's tremedously tasty stuff for Syrah lovers.

A small family grower in the famous village of Cumieres in the Marne valley. Pinot-dominated (like most wines from this village), it shows a deep copper/gold colour and gorgeously aromatic. The palate is wonderfully peachy and lush whilst being bright and explosively juicy! The extended bottle-ageing of this wine (6-8 years) is rather longer most NV Champagnes and lends the wine its weight and character. But it's also fresh and lemony, making for a great combination. Judges on a Decanter tasting panel were particularly wowed by this Cuvée when tasting it blind with other Grower Champagnes in 2017, ALL giving it 98/100 points and the wine also went on to regarded as one of Decanter’s very favourite bottles of the year. We love it too and have been shipping it direct from the Bertrand family since 2008.

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.

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.

100% Chardonnay grown on limestone slopes in the best areas of the Macon. Made by the excellent Buxy cooperative, in stainless steel tanks then bottled after several months on lees. Floral and citrus notes, mouthwatering acidity and lovely long flavour. A superb introduction to White Burgundy this overdelivers for its price.

This is a lovely dessert wine with a bright, golden colour. On the nose, it offers aromas of ripe apricot, honey, and orange blossom, along with hints of jasmine and citrus zest. On the palate, it is rich and full-bodied, with flavours of candied citrus, stone fruit, and a touch of tropical fruit. The sweetness is well-balanced with a refreshing acidity that keeps the wine from being cloying. The finish is long and satisfying, leaving lingering notes of honey and apricot.

A blend of Viognier 40%, Roussanne 40% and White Grenache 20%. 20 year old vines are planted in mixed soils of clay, limestone and round pebbles. Peachy aromas, with a fresh and expressive palate that's juicy and very pleasing. More peach flavour from the Viognier and a weighty mid-palate from the Roussanne. Excellent value for money. Grapes are mechanically harvested and vinification takes place in temperature controlled stainless-steel tanks, with regular stirring of the lees. This preserves the freshness and fruitiness of the wine. 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!

A beautiful, precise Rasteau wine. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre woven together to produce a very elegant style. A complex nose of baked plums, blackberry, garrigue herbs and hibiscus flowers. Very fine balance on the mid-weight palate. Simply irresistible and utterly moreish. Bravo!

Victoria Moore writes (of the 2013 vintage) "a favourite all-rounder red. It’s merlot made precisely à point; there’s a juicy generosity, but also a refreshing leafiness: redcurrant leaves and lightly stewed damsons."

Classically made Champagne with Chardonnay grapes sourced from Grand Cru vineyards on the Cotes de Blanc This wine spends 36 months ageing prior to disgorgement. Top quality Grand Cru Champagne with full flavoured intense developed citrus and floral aromas. There is a joie de vivre about this wine that makes it very easy to drink and enjoy. Very good value.

A beautifully put-together claret, made from 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc from vineyards located on cool limestone soils. The terrific Stephane Derenencourt consults here. Lovely extraction with lots of fruit, ripe tannin and acidity. Long and complex and able to age although beautiful now. Attractive, deep ruby. Delicate nose scented with wild strawberries, fig, dried plum and a smoke touch. The palate is full-bodied with silky tannins and displays wonderful harmony with pleasant, lingering fruit. An elegant, beautifully crafted wine.

70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc. Attractive, complex fruit nose. Black fruits and some toasty oak, cocoa. Ripe and juicy flashy, plump, well built but not OTT.

Medium-dry style with lots of ripe peach, apple and pear flavours. The luscious palate is weighty but balanced by good freshness. Tamlyn Currin, JancisRobinson.com "Easy, open Chenin, golden apples and baked pears, a smidge of fudge and sage leaf dipped in warm honey, but also cool lemon peel and even a nip of stone dust. Not bad for the price but prêt-à-porter, not crafted."

Classic, cool Cabernet Franc. Herbal aromas with blackcurrants, oak, cream and brambly fruit and lively acidity combine in a wine that is ready to drink. 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.

While this claret still has serious layers of tannins, it also delivers considerable ripe black-fruit flavours. The estate in the Figeac sector of Saint-Emilion has produced a powerful wine that is firm and that will age further. Drink from 2025 Deep ruby. Pronounced aromas of black cherry, blackcurrant, black plum, smoke, cedar, mint, clove, violet, capsicum. The palate is dry, high acidity, high tannins, medium alcohol, medium(+) body, pronounced flavours of black fruit, smoke, mint, cedar. The finish is long. This is an outstanding wine.