Château Tayet Cuvée Prestige Bordeaux Supérieur 2015, France (£38.50, Private Cellar) Last week saw The Bunch’s annual tasting at which Private Cellar (new to the group) showed this magnum of Château Tayet. It's a blend of 55% Merlot with 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot, described as...
Bin #003 Ribolla Gialla 2018, Italy, 12.5% (£9.50, The Wine Society) This is the third edition of the Wine Society’s new experimental ‘Bin’ range dedicated to quirky varieties and wines and it’s the most successful to date. Ribolla Gialla is an ancient but little known white variety grown...
This fascinating tasting, which featured in the September 2019 edition of Decanter, took the temperature of Blanc de blancs sparkling wines from around the world. And would you believe it but top of the tree emerged...
Vasse Felix Filius Chardonnay 2016, 13%, Australia (£13, Booths) Based in the north of England, Booths is known for its wine range and rightly so. Based on the supermarket’s recent tasting in September 2019, the wine range shows strength and depth, with some particular high points in the...
Salicornia Dão Reserva 2016, 13%, Portugal (£6.99, Aldi) This was my pick of the bunch from a recent Aldi tasting (Sept 2019). As the nights draw in and we all start to crave characterful, comforting reds to sink into, this one ticks all the boxes. It’s Portuguese (made from...
Blackwood Clayhill Chardonnay 2017, 11.5%, England (£18.50, blackbookwinery.com) This is a wine that gets us excited - for many reasons. Firstly, it's made from Chardonnay. We're aware that may be problematic for those many people traumatised by soupy, sickly, revolting Chardonnays of the past. But this isn't just any...
Louis Guntrum Pinot Noir 2017, 13.5%, Rheinhessen, Germany (£13.99 down to £10.49 until 16.7.2019, Waitrose Cellar) Is Pinot Noir the wine lover's ultimate grape? And, if so, where do you find great value bottles of the same? A short while ago, I posed these questions on social media. In answer...
Roebuck Estates Classic Cuvée 2014, 12%, Sussex, UK (Enquiries via website) One of the wonderful things about working in wine is the potential for making new discoveries. Roebuck Estates is my most recent. Until mid-June, I hadn’t heard of Roebuck. It was only after chairing the WineGB Awards...
Denbies The Brokes Botrytis Ortega 2016, 10%, England (£60 for 375 ml, Denbies) ‘Celebrating the sparkling success of English still wine’ is an inspired turn of phrase, and it belongs to Ruth Simpson. It was uttered at a masterclass I was hosting on English still wine together with...
Chapel Down Bacchus 2018, 12.5%, England (from £12, Sainsbury's, Ocado, Waitrose) Bacchus is a fascinating grape. It's originally from Germany but the UK seems to have co-opted it as its own and now it's England's answer to Sauvignon Blanc - aromatic, tangy and seemingly able to capture...