{"title":"White","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhites that show a place rather than a winemaking signature. Direct presses and short macerations from cool sites, fermented and aged in steel, old wood, or amphora. Mostly Spanish, French, and Italian, with a few outliers.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"bianco-2025-samodia","title":"Bianco 2025 - Samodia","description":"\u003cp\u003eA wine that delivers far beyond its humble presentation as a vino da tavola, this is brimming with personality and charm, channelling the ancient traditions of the valley with its sylvan complexity on the nose and mineral density in the mouth. A thread of bitterness on the finish adds gusto and class.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGood with:\u003c\/strong\u003e tortellini in brodo, or mortadella with warm flatbread.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom three parcels of old vines growing at the top of the valley, about 500 metres above sea level, where these vines were planted almost a century ago. All the fruit was pressed into concrete, where it fermented and aged over winter as a single mass.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSamodia is a collaborative winemaking project founded by Jacopo Stigliano and Flavio Restani, both born and reared where their project is based, Valsamoggia, a valley in the foothills of the Apennines in Emilia-Romagna. Samodia is the old Latin name for the valley, a historical reference that tells the story of what these inspired friends aim to achieve through their work. Existing at the frontier between Bologna and Modena, the valley is a melting pot for the viticultural traditions of the wider region, preserving in its vineyards a tether to Valsamoggia’s viticultural past. Taking inspiration from the old masters of the region, Antonio Ognibene, Giorgio Erioli and Vittorio Graziano, Samodia represents a passing of the baton of sorts, carrying the gestures developed over millennia in both the vineyards and the cellar, forward into the next generation. The first vintage for Samodia was in 2023, when the pair rented three hectares of vines at the top of the valley, between 400 and 500 metres above sea level, on the limestone and clay soils that predominate here.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTheir idea is to produce three wines each year, a red, white and sparkling. In this approach they oppose the commodification of wine and the faddish forces that shape contemporary wine discourse. They make vino per tutti, made the old way, using the old techniques inherited from the generations gone by. With many of these old vineyards being uprooted and replanted with tillage, or simply abandoned, their work is vital to the preservation of this valley's identity in the face of encroaching homogenisation and urbanity. Producing just 13,000 to 20,000 bottles a year, these are among the most rewarding wines we've tasted in recent years. They are wines for any occasion, as intended.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSamodia is the old Latin name for Valsamoggia, which is itself named for the Samoggia river that runs down through the Apennines between Bologna and Modena. The old vines that grow here follow the Emilian tradition of mixed farming, with fruit trees and several varieties all planted on one site. Up here, at the top of the valley, the temperatures allow for slower ripening than below, helping to preserve acidity in this warm climate. Valsamoggia's position at the border between Bologna and Modena is described by the varieties planted here, particularly the trebbiano vines. Trebbiano was used in medieval times to describe vigorous varieties, about the only characteristic these two share. Trebbiano Modenese is known for its edgy acidity, often used in the production of balsamic vinegar. Trebbiano Romagnolo is a true workhorse with a relatively neutral profile, used most commonly in sparkling wines or easy drinking whites. They form part of the architecture for this wine, framing grapes like Albana, considered the great golden grape of Romagna with its almond and stone fruit register, Montuni with its soft citrus, and pignoletto's almond skin bitterness. So much history in one bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pignoletto, Albana, Montuni, Trebbiano Romagnolo, Trebbiano Modenese, Moscato\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Valsamoggia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Samodia","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988701565266,"sku":"170181","price":26.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-samodia-bianco-2025-2024.jpg?v=1793699099"},{"product_id":"blan-5-7-2022-jordi-llorens","title":"Blan 5.7 2022 - Jordi Llorens","description":"\u003cp\u003eHerbal-toned aromas on the nose, with peach, citrus zest and ginger biscuit. We have a breadth of fruit that was not present in the 2021, while the delicate sylvan bitterness of the parellada adds subtle complexity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGood with:\u003c\/strong\u003e grilled prawns with garlic and chilli, or a mild Thai green curry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom vines planted in 1990, this is 5 parts Macabeu and 7 parts Parellada, as the name suggests. Both varieties ferment on the skins for 6 days before ageing in amphora over winter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eJordi Llorens is an eighth-generation farmer at his family's estate in Blancafort, with paperwork showing that their family have been here since 1779. It is a quiet municipi on the southern slope of the Serra del Tallat, in the central part of the Conca de Barberà. The family has always farmed organically, growing their vines as part of a wider polycultural system that included fruit trees, nut trees, olive groves, and livestock. Up until Jordi returned home to take over from his father in 2007, the family sold their grapes to the local co-operative, as was the conventional practice at the time.\u003cbr\u003eSeeking a deeper understanding of his family's work, Jordi completed a degree in Geology before returning home. These academic underpinnings complemented the intuitive methods his family had followed over generations, to the extent that his old friend Manel Aviñó of Clos Lentiscus once advised me that nobody understood the terrain of these hills like Jordi. Because the family had farmed in the old polycultural traditions of the region, there was already a rich biodiversity in their vineyards when he took over. Jordi's use of biodynamic methods was inspired by his friend and contemporary Joan Ramon Escoda, who had adopted the practices at his own estate in the preceding years. Above the soil, the rich biodiversity protects the vines and the soil from the increasingly arid conditions in Blancafort. Underground, Jordi cultivated a rich mycelial network that helps keep the soils healthy.\u003cbr\u003eJordi's original cellar, a cramped garage at the edge of the town, was where his family's fruit was vinified under its own name for the very first time in 2008. Today, the cellar is expanded somewhat and kept in pristine condition. Stainless and fibre tanks are used for the short, gentle macerations Jordi prefers. Through a small door, Jordi keeps a cool, compact room for ageing, with amphora sunk into the gravel underfoot and barrels and demijohns lining the walls. Work at the cellar is carried out with patience and ease, and Jordi employs gentle temperature control during fermentation to preserve the delicate aromatics we love in his wines.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe estate itself is situated on the eastern Ebro basin. The soils here formed about 35 million years ago and can be broken into three distinct layers each exposed at different points across the estate. The oldest layer is blueish-white calcareous sandstone, with the majority of the white varieties planted on these outcrops. Next we have red marl, useful for water retention through the hot summers. The top layer is gypsum, which helps to keep the soils open and breathable. With the cool nights at this elevation helping to keep the ripening even, we have this fascinating configuration of conditions that Jordi articulates in such delicate detail in his wines. With 16 hectares in total, Jordi produces about 12,000 bottles or so per year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe altitude of these vineyards, growing on limestone and sandstone, is 420 metres, helping Jordi’s wines achieve their hallmark freshness and digestibility despite the soaring temperatures that have been the scourge of winemakers in Catalunya in recent years. Jordi’s family have used amphora at their farm since 1779, but it was Jordi who first used them for vinification, they had always been used for oil before. This is an old school brisat of Conca de Barberà, that depicts the heat of the vintage and the delicate touch Jordi has at the cellar.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Macabeu, Parellada\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Blancafort, Conca de Barberà, Catalunya, Spain\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 10.5%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Celler Jordi Llorens","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988701630802,"sku":"1700070","price":29.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-blan-5-7-2022-2021.jpg?v=1793699098"},{"product_id":"blanc-sense-papers-2024-bodega-clandestina","title":"Blanc Sense Papers 2024 - Bodega Clandestina","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn elegant nose with citrus, sea breeze, and custard, layered with white florals and thyme. The palate shows a delicate yet complex structure with fine, featherweight tannins adding a subtle bitterness to this bright, saline, Xarello, driven by limestone minerality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGood with:\u003c\/strong\u003e grilled sea bass, or goat's cheese with honey and thyme.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eXarello from two sites, planted 1962 and 1968. The harvest was over three passes, the first was pressed directly, the second pass saw short, 24 hour skin maceration, and the final pass, about 10% of the wine, got two weeks of skin contact. Each pass was vinified separately, aged in glass demijohn (the final portion was aged in cask), and blended before bottling.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFerran Lacruz works 8 hectares of vines around his hometown of Sant Martí Sarroca in the Alt Penedès. A graduate of the Escola Agrària de Viticultura i Enologia Mercè Rossell i Domènech, Ferran was moved to make wine in his hometown after years working in tourism, where he encountered first-hand, among his clients, the reputational damage that decades of heavy, intensive viticulture had inflicted on the region. Growing up in the Penedès with a winemaking uncle, Ferran knows the hills of the Alt Penedès like the back of his hand, so when it came to acquiring vines, he already knew where to look. He was exacting in his selection, picking sites not on the hillsides where one might expect, but in the valleys, where the diurnal range is greatest, allowing slower ripening and later harvests. His Xarel·lo comes from old vine stock planted in the '60s and '70s, trained as bush vines, growing to a remarkable size in the famous cervell de gat soils of the region. He has also planted Carignan Blanc, a variety that ripens late and keeps its acidity well. In the cellar, all of the wines see a certain amount of skin contact, extracting the phenolics inherent to Xarel·lo and lending his wines a delicate complexity that shows the class of the variety. Ferran's use of glass for the élevage of the lighter wines brings a roundness and balance, while old wood and amphorae are used in the ageing of the more extracted wines. The wines themselves are remarkably lucid, detailed with the typicity of their provenance and the fiery personality of their maker.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe majority of the Xarello here comes from the Fassina vineyard, a fascinating planting that harks back to the post phylloxera era, when the growers here were experimenting with suitable rootstocks in their vineyards. Three portions of the vineyard show three distinctive leaf shapes and growth patterns, despite it being from the same plant material.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Xarello\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Sant Martí Sarroca, Alt Penedès, Catalunya, Spain\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 12%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bodega Clandestina","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988701729106,"sku":"1700309","price":30.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-blanc-sense-papers-2024.jpg?v=1793699099"},{"product_id":"buriana-2023-jacopo-stigliano","title":"Buriana 2023 - Jacopo Stigliano","description":"\u003cp\u003eAt least twelve white varieties from Jacopo's vines in Valsamoggia... chasselas doré, alionza, trebbiano montanaro, trebbiano di spagna, trebbiano romagnolo, verdicchio, grechetto gentile, albana di romagna, albanona, sauvignon, montuni, moscato di terracina...\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEverything was picked together, before eight days of skin contact maceration, then two years in concrete before release.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWindfall apple, apricot stone, jasmine and a dewy petrichor on the nose, with a light framing of tannins in the mouth, with mineral compression, savoury orchard fruits, and a bitterness that brings complexity to a lengthy finish.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eJacopo is a well-travelled lover of life and people, and even spent a year studying sociology at UCC here in Cork. He returned home to Valsamoggia, in the Apennine foothills of Emilia-Romagna, almost a decade ago, embarking on this significant project to preserve the millennia-old winemaking traditions of his region and the autochthonous varieties that grow in the valley's ancient vineyards. Restoring three hectares of old, co-planted vines on the lower part of the valley from abandonment, Jacopo's work preserves the vanishing viticultural practices of his home, with his approach in the vineyard and cellar deeply informed by the work of his mentors Antonio Ognibene, Giorgio Erioli, and Vittorio Graziano. The vineyards he tends were planted at a time before the prescriptions of industrialised farming swept the region, where each variety had a dedicated role in the balance of the vineyard and in the wine itself. Today, it’s rare to find many of these varieties growing anywhere, let alone beyond the crest of this valley. Jacopo prefers to pick everything at once, allowing each wine to ferment and age in one large mass, just as it would have been done when these vines were first planted.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eEmilia-Romagna's Apennine foothills were once planted in what local farmers called coltura promiscua: vines, fruit trees, and grain grown together on the same land, with dozens of grape varieties sharing the same parcel rather than separated by variety or site. Industrial viticulture dismantled most of that in the second half of the twentieth century, replacing it with monoculture plantings of a handful of commercial varieties. The old mixed plantings Jacopo works in Valsamoggia are among the few that survived, a reminder of why his work is so significant. Growing on clay and fractured limestone at 300 or so masl. In Valsamoggia, like elsewhere, fermenting white wines on their skins was standard practice for centuries. Before stainless steel and temperature control became standard practice in mid-twentieth century, and without the equipment or space to separate the juice from the skins immediately, winemakers often loaded the harvested white grapes into vessels whole, yielding wines that were amber and textured. Buriana follows that cue, with everything picked together, macerated together and fermented and aged together as would have been the way when these vines were planted almost a century ago. The vine selection tells us much about the sharp intuitions and deep familiarity growers once had with their particular parcels. While it's understood this co planting was a natural disease management strategy, with some vines more resistant to pests and disease pressure than others, it's difficult to imagine the people who planted these vines didn't have the finished wine in mind. With Buriana, we feel this equilibrium in the wine, with its balance of weight, freshness, bitterness, and acidity. It's this rich chorus of tonal synchronicity that makes this wine so singular and significant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Ancient Blend\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Valsamoggia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jacopo Stigliano","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988702220626,"sku":"25\/000934","price":39.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/original_8c54153b-c8b9-4e9f-baeb-6ac520884296.jpg?v=1791451403"},{"product_id":"caprice-du-chameau-2023-la-vrille-et-le-papillon","title":"Caprice du Chameau 2023 - la Vrille et le Papillon","description":"\u003cp\u003eViognier from two opposing sites in Valvignères, one facing east catching the morning sun, and the other in the west. Hand harvested and pressed in whole bunches, the juice was allowed to settle for a short period before fermentaion in stainless, with the temperature kept in check. Eight months ageing on fine lees followed before bottling. Géraldine prefer steel ageing for their Viognier and here we see why, with a nervy edge keeping the expressive aromatics and unctuous palate in check.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlenty of ripe, fleshy white peach, blossoms, and power, which shine rather than shout through the stony fresh mineral density we love in Viognier from this valley.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eI first met Géraldine and Méryl via Anders Frederik Steen and Anne Bruun Blauert, when the couple suggested I tasted with their village neighbours during a visit in 2021. Tasting through the cuves and vats with little conversation, the immediate drinking pleasure of their wines was what struck me that day. Since then, their wines have remained firm favourites, offering outstanding value and remarkably gratifying drinking, a forgotten virtue in modern wine. The couple’s unassuming, matter-of-fact sensibilities makes perfect sense, the poetry is all in the bottle, and the almost physical sensuality of their wines so tricky to articulate\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe couple live at Méryl's old family cellar in Valvignères, across from the local co-op, which Méryl's father helped establish. Méryl first worked as a stagiaire with the Oustric family, whose influence is reflected in the couple's approach today. He then went on to study agriculture in Dijon and oenology in Montpellier, working in Madiran and the Maconnais before returning home to set out on his own. Géraldine grew up in a winemaking family in Burgundy, training in law before eventually returning to wine, studying viticulture and oenology, after which she took an apprenticeship with Philippe and Catherine Jambon. The pair remain characteristically bashful when the pedigree of their training is mentioned. When returning to Valvignères in 2012, they took over Méryl's family cellar and set about establishing a GAEC, inheriting 2.5 hectares of vines around the village that have since increased to 6, mostly straddling the eastern and western flanks of the valley. The varieties are what you might expect - Syrah, Viognier, Grenache Blanc, and Merlot, and Grenache Noir - and some you might not, such as the Ugni Blanc that goes to their stellar Q blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and a handful of hybrids. As part of transhumance, sheep pass through their vineyards twice per year, turning and fertilising the soil, cutting the grasses that grow between the rows, and adding to the biodiversity that thrives in their vineyards. La Vrille et le Papillon, meaning the tendril and the butterfly, is a name inspired by their parcel of Ugni Blanc at the base of the valley, where butterflies thrive through the growing season, a fitting symbol for the couple's endeavours.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eDespite its positioning to the south of the prized vineyards of the Northern Rhone, this rugged valley produces Viognier of elegance and poise, with the Mistral keeping temperatures in check and the clay and limestone soils the predominate in the valley lending the variety a polished-stone minerality when vinified in the right hands. Géraldine \u0026amp; Méryl’s use of temperature control during fermentation preserves the tension between the inherent fruitiness of viognier and telluric backbone that is a hallmark of wines from this valley.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Viognier\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Valvignères, Ardèche, France\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13.5%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"La Vrille et le Papillon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988702351698,"sku":"25\/000751","price":30.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-caprice-du-chameau-2023.jpg?v=1793699098"},{"product_id":"charbonnieres-2022-le-mazel","title":"Charbonnières 2022 - Le Mazel","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is classic le Mazel, Chardonnay pressed into steel where it fermented and aged for 2 years. Bottled with crown cap and a little residual sugar, now lending the wine an invigorating spritz. Bold and pure, this has plenty going on, with notes of spanish lime and dilisk giving an ozone, vital quality to this vintage cuvée from Gérald \u0026amp; Jocelyne.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eI met Jocelyne and Gérald after Claire, who runs la Tour Cassée in Valvignères with her husband Jean-Claude, insisted I visit them while during a stay in 2021. She kindly arranged a tasting at their cellar for the following morning. The gesture was my introduction to the generosity of spirit with which anyone who has visited the region is familiar. The tasting the following morning was an education in wine that i will never forget, free from the pretence and ego that too often characterises encounters with vigneron(ne)s of such esteemed reputation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA venerable estate of Ardèche wine, Domaine du Mazel was founded in Valvignères by Jocelyne \u0026amp; Gérald's grandfather in 1919. Today, Gérald and Jocelyne farm twenty-two hectares or so around the valley, selling some fruit to local winemakers and making about 60,000 bottles per year themselves. \u003cbr\u003eLe Mazel is a prelude for many of the region’s wine successes in recent decades with the likes of Sylvain Bock, Andrea Calek, Jerome Jouret, and Anders Frederik Steen all having worked with or at the estate before going out on their own. Gérald's influence can be felt throughout southern Ardèche, where the collaborative spirit he helped to cultivate has fomented a vibrant, dynamic scene that has few comparisons in the world of wine. \u003cbr\u003eWhen the siblings took over from their father in 1982, they continued as coopérateurs, remaining active to the point that Gérald would become its vice president. Convinced by his wife, who had travelled with a friend to work in Beaujolais with Jean-Paul Thévenet, that something very interesting was happening in the region, Gérald travelled north, where over several visits he befriended Marcel Lapierre and Jacques Neauport. Inspired by the wines they were making, Gérald brought their methods back to Valvignères and decided to chart a new direction for his family's estate. They left the cooperative and began vinifying themselves, using Carbonic maceration for the reds, no filtration and no sulfitage. This was a radical move from Gérald, though perhaps more viable in Valvignères, which had long been seen as an agricultural, workhorse grapegrowing enclave that offered little in the way of quality. The freedoms this offered, alongthe size of their estate and their ability to sell fruit, le Mazel could absorb the mistakes that came with learning to make wine this way, often keeping wines in their cellar for years before their release when they started off. They slowly moved away from barrels, preferring steel, and these days their cellar is stacked with great big stainless steel vats along with a large wooden basket press. Having narrowing the aperture of their intention the couple now make wines built on purity of fruit and mineral vitality, and the siblings produce some of the most rewarding wines money can buy. Developing their intuitions over 5 decades, nobody quite understands the subtleties of growing grapes and making wine in this valley quite like Gérald \u0026amp; Jocelyne.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eHistorically overlooked and ignored, Valvignères has emerged as an epicentre for progressive viticulture and winemaking in the 21st century. Existing in the shadow of the hulking economy of the Rhone valley, the small valley west of le Teil made it's name when Gérald Oustric and his sister Jocelyne decided to cease selling their fruit to the local co-op(which Geralds father helped found in 1919) to begin producing wines themselves. Having farmed organically since the 80s, Gérald had been convinced to make his own wine after several trips to beaujolais in the early nineties, where he met Jacques Neauport, Jules Chauvet, Pierre bonneton et al. This move would have significant domino effects, with Gerald adopting Carbonic maceration for his reds, no filtration or fining, and no sulfitage in his cellar. this freed to small region from the shackles of the etablished wine industry in the region and reconnected with the valleys historical winemaking traditions(Valvigneres comes from the Roman Valis Vinaria, meaning valley of vines). Gerald would go on to mentor 15 growers in the region, cultivating a spirit of collaboration and sharing of ideas that existed few other places in France. The wines from cellars in this cluster share an iresistably heady, telluric, and deeply soulful quality that makes them great value and well worth exploring. In terms of Geology, we are almost in the south, but noticeably cooler than you might find just 20km south. Situated on what's traditionally known as the Bas Vivarais, the soils are predominantly clay and limestone, with outcrops of marne bleue and basalt.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Chardonnay\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Valvignères, Ardèche, France\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine du Mazel","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988702482770,"sku":"24\/001333","price":27.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/original_8f295545-a18c-404f-a530-57974b33daed.jpg?v=1791451410"},{"product_id":"chatzen-2021-la-sorga","title":"Chatzen 2021 - La Sorga","description":"\u003cp\u003eSauvignon Blanc (29-year-old vines, 60%) and Chasan (44-year-old vines, 40%), from the sandy limestone soils around Carcassonne. Yield was 6 hl\/ha, extremely low. The maceration was a 65-day trempette carried out in three phases, allowing gradual, controlled extraction at each stage rather than a single continuous soak. Then 18 months in sandstone jar. 1,300 bottles produced.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA complex nose of mango, citrus, dried banana, curry, mandarin. The palate is ample and mineral, aromatic, long and complex, with a lovely tannic frame, very great ageing potential.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Antony Tortul began producing wines with his négociant project La Sorga in 2008, the iconoclastic verve of his wines and the contrarian artwork he labelled them with cast the aspiring winemaker as a radical disruptor who held little regard for the time honoured traditions of southern wine. Those who paid careful enough attention, however, came to recognise La Sorga's annual production of 30+ cuvées as a vinous almanac of sorts. Sourcing fruit from Toulouse to Provence and as far afield as Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Antony's portfolio is a comprehensive catalogue of Mediterranean France and beyond, offering a revitalised perspective on the rich and diverse viticultural topography of the south, much of which had been subsumed by the paint-by-numbers approach demanded by volume driven production.\u003cbr\u003eGrowing up in the Ariège, where he hopes one day to return, Antony learned the fundamentals of winemaking through a chemistry degree in Toulouse. This academic foundation opened windows of opportunity within the industry, and curiosity steered his formative years, working as a nomadic oenologist and cellar technician across Bergerac, Corbières, Fitou and the aforementioned Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Here he could put his academic schooling into practice and sharpen his intuitions as a winemaker. Given that experience and the extensive network he had established, the decision to work as a négociant made perfect sense when he set out on his own in 2008. It challenged the idea du jour, that to make wine the proper way one must grow the grapes oneself. The breadth of his work, and its subsequent significance, would have been impossible that way; his preference was to focus on the winemaking, deepening his understanding of the endless configurations of varieties, soils and sites through his practice as a négociant.\u003cbr\u003eI visited Antony and his young family at his cellar in 2021 (they have since moved), and the immaculate cleanliness was the first thing to strike me. It was a transitional period in the La Sorga story, a turning of the page, with Antony refreshing the intention behind his vinification, the reds especially, in response to the changing climate and his own evolving palate. Cuvées like Tireurs des Litres and Grande Pestilence, once deeply telluric and squid-ink dark, built for long ageing, had become lambent and sculpted, channelling the typicity of each site with clear-eyed precision. The decision to pick a little earlier and extend maceration times, inspired by his friend Alice Bouvot in the Jura, opened a new window of expression that has rewritten the rulebook yet again.\u003cbr\u003eIncidentally, Antony was a founding member of Brutal!!!, an open-source wine label now used by vignerons around the world.\u003cbr\u003eThese days, Antony's skilled cellar work and canny grape sourcing are widely recognised and highly regarded, to the extent that he was the subject of a two-page spread in Jon Bonné's recent tome The New French Wine. Not that it makes much difference to him; when I messaged to congratulate him on this inclusion, he was unaware the book even existed...\u003cbr\u003eFor me, the wines of La Sorga provided a sort of onboarding to Southern French wine, holding a kaleidoscope to the region, with each frame glistening as brightly as the last. In the Anglosphere, terms such as wine lake are often the first that come to mind when we think of the Languedoc, but Antony's wines are a key to unlocking this treasure trove, discoverable to anyone who looks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese vines grow on the western frontier of the Languedoc, where the Aude Valley runs between the southern tip of the Massif central and the Pyrenean foothills. The cooler, wind moderated climate here gives a more taut mineral thrust to the wine, particularly with the tiny concentrated yields of just 6hl\/ha.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChasan is a rare variety I had not come across before, a cross between Chardonnay and Palomino\/Listan that was bred in 1958. It was intended to produce wines of more aromatic complexity than what were being commercially vinified in the south. It never really caught on, and plantings are still incredibly margninal. Its early bussing means it can get caught by Spring frosts, and the late ripening exposes it to disease pressures in the autumn. Nevertheless, for someone like Antony, who works with long macerations, the grape is valuable, giving a unique aromatic profile with tones of woody citrus.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Sauvignon Blanc, Chasan (Carcassonne)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Montagnac, Languedoc, France\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 11%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"La Sorga","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988702613842,"sku":"25\/000943","price":53.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-chatzen-2021.jpg?v=1793699100"},{"product_id":"el-soci-2024-bodega-clandestina","title":"El Soci 2024 - Bodega Clandestina","description":"\u003cp\u003eThese old vines show a remarkably fresh expression of Macabeu, with radiant citrus and a spring water freshness. Great drinking flow on the palate, with racy acidity and a satifying bite of salinity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDirect press of the bunches, with fermentation in steel. The wine was racked after malolactic fermentation, and aged in steel until bottling the following April.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFerran Lacruz works 8 hectares of vines around his hometown of Sant Martí Sarroca in the Alt Penedès. A graduate of the Escola Agrària de Viticultura i Enologia Mercè Rossell i Domènech, Ferran was moved to make wine in his hometown after years working in tourism, where he encountered first-hand, among his clients, the reputational damage that decades of heavy, intensive viticulture had inflicted on the region. Growing up in the Penedès with a winemaking uncle, Ferran knows the hills of the Alt Penedès like the back of his hand, so when it came to acquiring vines, he already knew where to look. He was exacting in his selection, picking sites not on the hillsides where one might expect, but in the valleys, where the diurnal range is greatest, allowing slower ripening and later harvests. His Xarel·lo comes from old vine stock planted in the '60s and '70s, trained in gobelet, growing to a remarkable size in the famous cervell de gat soils of the region. He has also planted Carignan Blanc, a variety that ripens late and keeps its acidity well. In the cellar, all of the wines see a certain amount of skin contact, extracting the phenolics inherent to Xarel·lo and lending his wines a delicate complexity that shows the class of the variety. Ferran's use of glass for the élevage of the lighter wines brings a roundness and balance, while old wood and amphorae are used in the ageing of the more extracted wines. The wines themselves are remarkably lucid, detailed with the typicity of their provenance and the fiery personality of their maker.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFerran likes to say this wine is a good honest table wine. For me, it delivers so much more, highlighting the quality of the raw materials that the Penedès has to offer by keeping the vinification relatively simple. Macabeu is always a grape from which I expect broad shoulders and breadth of fruit, but this is something else entirely, built on a balance of purity and acidity. The vines are up to 80 years old, so we have a great mineral density in the wine, though it is not weighed down. Ferran looks for vineyards that are planted in small \"valleys\" on the hillsides of alt-Penedès, where the cold air settles at night and evens ripening. The altitude is also a factor here, and while we are not at dizzying heights, the vineyards grow between 190masl an 390masl, where the climate and diurnal range become a factor. The 4 parcels were harvested over four passes. Ferran seeks stability here, so the first pass is on the cusp of ripeness, keeping the ph down. This is then blended with the other three passes, capturing the evolution of the fruit at harvest time in one wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Macabeu\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Sant Martí Sarroca, Alt-Penedès, Catalunya, Spain\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 11%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bodega Clandestina","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988702941522,"sku":"25\/001090","price":26.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-el-soci-2024.jpg?v=1793699099"},{"product_id":"els-bassotets-2024-joan-ramon-escoda","title":"Els Bassotets 2024 - Joan Ramon Escoda","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis year Els Bassotets is from Garnaxta Blanca vines planted in the early 2000s in several pockets around the estate between 400 and 600masl. After a gentle maceration over 5 days, the pressed juice was aged in concrete over winter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA salty freshness on the nose, with spanish lime, basil, and fleshy peach. Expansive on the palate, with the soft brush of tannins and a bright, ripe and fruity acidity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eI was first introduced to Joan Ramon Escoda at his impressive cellar and adjoining restaurant Tossal Gros by Jordi Llorens. After spending the day with Jordi at his cellar in nearby Blancafort, I tagged along while he dropped wine to his old friend for a groupage shipment. What followed was a baptism of fire in Catalan wine that lasted late into the evening, and a candid introduction to the characters that sowed the seeds of the region's current rude health.\u003cbr\u003eJoan Ramon grew up in Reus, a petrochemical capital, where he excelled at motocross, winning a regional championship. At the behest of his wife Carmen, he shifted his focus to wine, and began his schooling at Carmen's family estate. After a stint working at a large commercial winery in Catalunya, he travelled across France, striking up an enduring friendship with Thierry Puzelat while in the Loire, which would deeply influence his philosophy going forward.\u003cbr\u003eIn 1997, Joan Ramon and Carmen took the reins at her family estate in Prenafeta, a tiny hamlet close to Montblanc. They set about converting to organics, before establishing the estate under the name Escoda-Sanahuja, as it's known today, in 1999. From this time the influence of biodynamics became more present in their work, in both the vineyard and the cellar, and the estate grew into a thriving system of polyculture, with olive groves and fruit trees merging between the vineyards. By 2005 the pair had ceased adding sulphur to the wines entirely, fining and filtration being things they had never practised. At the time this was unheard of in Catalunya, though they were convinced by the results.\u003cbr\u003eTheir estate sits on the clay and limestone slopes below Tossal Gros, a regional landmark whose pointed peak, just under 870 metres, is known locally as the Nas del Gegant, the giant's nose. A few kilometres away, the Cistercian monastery of Poblet, founded in 1151 and inhabited by monks to this day, cultivated vines through the Middle Ages, as the Romans had done before them.\u003cbr\u003eIn 2012 the cellar was built three storeys down into the mountain it sits on, reached by steep stairs or a rickety cage lift. Here Joan Ramon uses a mix of vessels, barrels, amphora of various sizes and steel, with the vintage determining how each is used. One thing is for certain: all the wines, whites and reds alike, are macerated on their skins, the length varying by cuvée, with Joan Ramon prizing fluidity above all.\u003cbr\u003eSurrounding the cellar, the vines remain splendidly isolated, ringed by forest and woods with no immediate neighbours. Flowers and grasses grow freely between the rows, and the vines are treated with herbal preparations through the growing season. Left to dig deep into the limestone for the water they need, they draw up the intense, almost cavernous minerality that illuminates each of his cuvées, year after year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Garnatxa Blanca\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Tossal Gros, Conca de Barberà, Catalunya, Spain\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Celler Escoda-Sanahuja","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988703007058,"sku":"26\/001179","price":31.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/original_9b73586b-4077-465a-bda0-6c61d3e6ca5e.jpg?v=1791451419"},{"product_id":"legionarin-2023-weingut-schnabel","title":"Legionarin 2023 - Weingut Schnabel","description":"\u003cp\u003eSauvignon Blanc from 15 year old vines in the Hohenegg vineyard, grown by Roland and Alice Tauss. Harvested by hand, the bunches were pressed before fermenting and ageing for a year on fine lees in used 228 litre barrels.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA cool, mineral driven timbre for this Sauvignon Blanc, with ripe aromatics of verbena, apple blossom, and a flinty smokiness. Gossamer fruit on the palate lifted by an arcing, bowline of acidity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eI first tasted Karl and Eva's wines sitting at the bar of Neighbourhood Wine in North Melbourne in 2018. It was a bottle of Urgestein, a blend of red varieties from their three vineyards. I was struck, as anyone familiar with their work will understand, by the weightless power of the wine, despite its mineral density and ripe fruit. I reached out to their Australian importer, Campbell Burton, for their details, which he obligingly provided. Since then we've remained in touch, and I visited them at their stand at La Dive Bouteille on several occasions in the years that followed, through challenging lockdown years. Their philosophy of farming, and they see themselves as farmers above anything else, is as Karl describes it, puritanical, and I've always left their company with a deeper fascination with the remarkable wines of the Sausal. The Sausal Inselberg, or island mountain, is a geological formation older than the Alps, with ancient slate soils that produce wines unlike anything you will find elsewhere in Europe. It's no exaggeration to say that these wines were instrumental in my pursuit of a career in wine, and so it's a great pleasure to work with Karl and Eva to represent their wines here in Ireland.\u003cbr\u003eThe couple make their wines at the venerable farm known as Ermihof, Karl's old family holding in the hamlet of Maierhof, in the municipality of Gleinstätten, in Styria. Ermihof is the farm name, or Vulgoname, an old Styrian tradition by which the farm itself retains its name regardless of who owns it, in fact the owner would often have been known by the farm name rather than their surname. This was useful to identify who exactly one was gossiping about at the local inn at a time when many villagers would have shared the same first and last names. Karl and Eva live at the roadside inn that was run by Karl's mother. A popular drinking spot for the locals, it was where she met Karl's father, who was the farmer at Ermihof at the time. Their eventual marriage presented a happy commercial opportunity, and they began working together, selling the wines from the farm at the inn, where they became the local favourite.\u003cbr\u003eThe sudden death of Karl's parents when he was 17 closed the chapter on an intergenerational period of active operations at Ermihof, and it lay fallow for several years. Karl went to study agricultural economics at BOKU, while Eva read business administration at WU. Neither attended the illustrious wine schools of the German speaking world, Klosterneuburg, close to Vienna, or Geisenheim in the Rheingau. This would prove significant when they returned home to reactivate the farm in 1998. Before doing so, Karl spent two years working in Burgundy, though refuses to disclose where. Nevertheless, he brought the techniques of the region's red wine production back to Ermihof, and began replanting his three parcels with Blaufränkisch, Pinot Noir, Rotburger (Blauer Zweigelt) and Morillon (Chardonnay). The couple's sanity was questioned by their neighbours and friends, with the prosperity of the region's wine economy built on the success of highly technological white wines, particularly from Sauvignon Blanc.\u003cbr\u003eWith Karl's family having never used chemicals at Ermihof, the farm had always been organic, and so when they were certified by Demeter in 2003, it was ratifying a longstanding practice rather than a conversion. Keeping a small herd of rare breed, horned Celtic cattle, who provide the manure for the preparations they use, the couple's decisions were in pursuit of the closed circuit aspirations they had from the beginning. This was inspired by their vision of the farm as a single living organism, a holistic view that requires work that others would find painstakingly tedious.\u003cbr\u003eTheir wines began to be denied a Prüfnummer as they withdrew filtration and sulphur addition at the cellar, a process completed in 2007. The turbidity and breadth of expression was seen by the assessment panel as atypical and faulty. They made the decision to label their wines outside of the classification, losing the protected Ried designation for their three vineyards, and they have been sold as Landwein ever since. Karl stipulates that had they followed the usual path and attended Klosterneuburg or Geisenheim, their playbook could have been very different.\u003cbr\u003eParallel to these developments on the domestic front, the Schnabels began looking outward to the international market, joining S.A.I.N.S., a French collective who are committed to producing wines without manipulation through filtration or sulphur addition. Their wines became cult favourites among winemakers from both the conventional and radical traditions, and they developed a healthy international distribution network outside of the usual corridors of the day. The idea of world class reds coming from the Sausal seemed almost paradoxical in the context of the day, and so curiosity attracted collectors and importers from far and wide.\u003cbr\u003eThe region itself is an isolated massif that stands alone in the wider Südsteiermark. The massif was pushed higher when the Alps were forming, so there are no marine deposits or clays here, just the primary siliceous slate and schist with threads of quartz. The weathering of the rock over time means the soils are quite rocky and open, so they drain well and retain heat, useful with Styria being the wettest wine region in Austria and the elevation here of 500 to 520 metres above sea level.\u003cbr\u003eThe climate is Illyrian-Mediterranean. The Illyrian influence is humid air drawn up from the Adriatic sea and Balkan corridor, carrying most of the yearly rainfall of 900 to 1000mm or so. This precipitates significant fungal pressure for the vines, making the steep gradient, which is in some places 70%, particularly important, helping to drain standing water very quickly. The Sausal's exposure is also useful here, with steady airflow naturally reducing the risk enough that the Schnabels' treatments of minimal sulphur and kaolin, alongside their herbal tisanes, are robust enough to mitigate the conditions and protect the vines. The tisanes are brewed from nettle, horsetail and yarrow gathered in the vineyards themselves, in a thousand litre kettle. The meadows on the estate provide the plants for their biodynamic compost preparations, chamomile, nettle, yarrow, oak bark, dandelion and valerian, with the cattle providing the manure. They use a scythe to cut the grass beneath the vines, but allow the rows between to grow free.\u003cbr\u003eThe southerly exposition of these vineyards, and the heat retaining stony soils, facilitates a warm microclimate that helps ripening, despite the cold nights at this altitude. The Mediterranean influence is visible too, with wild thyme growing on the barren, rocky slopes, to the point that visitors often remark on the similarities. The sites are managed as biotopes, and Karl and Eva have also installed nesting sites and stone mounds that promote animal presence, with water carried up to the sites, which have no running water of their own. The conditions allow them to wait at harvest time, as picking at full ripeness is their preference, with everything brought in by hand.\u003cbr\u003eAt the cellar, the influence of Karl's time in Burgundy is apparent. The reds are destemmed and fermented spontaneously in open wooden vats, with pigeage by hand. They don't use must pumps at any stage. Usually the maceration lasts 10 to 14 days, and after pressing the wines age in used 228 litre Burgundian barrels for about 12 months. Nothing is added at any point, with no chaptalisation, fining, filtration or sulphur addition. They clean their bottles with spring water before bottling by hand and use natural cork of the highest grade as closures. The cellar is cleaned with hot water and nothing else.\u003cbr\u003eIn 2020, Gault Millau named them Ausnahmewinzer des Jahres, with their Blaufränkisch Koregg 2017 taking 18.5 out of 20, in the top 10 reds of Austria. Karl's own verdict on the honour was that it had been a long and stony road.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom 15 year old Sauvignon Blanc vines growing at 450 metres above sea-level in the Hohenegg vineyard, in Leutschach. The particular parcel in Hohenegg has gradients of 60%, so is incredibly steep. Opok is a Slovenian name, signifying their proximity to the border, that describes the calcareous marl that underpins the top vineyards for Sauvignon in the region, formed from limestone and clay that solidified under the Miocene Sea. The vineyard is about 15 kilometres from the estate, yet the soils are 12 million years younger than the slate and schist at Ermihof, holding the water and releasing it steadily to the vines while keeping vigour low. The alkaline soils also help the variety hit the full ripeness we find here, while retaining its acidity, which is so fundamental to the structure of these wines.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Sauvignon Blanc\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Sausal, Styria, Austria\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 11%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Weingut Schnabel","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988703596882,"sku":"26\/000521","price":42.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-legionarin-2023.jpg?v=1793699099"},{"product_id":"m-m-blanc-2022-es-daqui","title":"M\u0026M Blanc 2022 - Es d'Aqui","description":"\u003cp\u003eMuscat and Mauzac from sandy, limestone soils around Limoux. Two weeks of whole-cluster maceration, then ten months in clay jars. Muscat's floral, terpenic aromatics play wonderfully with Mauzac's quincey structure, and we feel a sense of verticality that speaks to the time ageing in clay. As we have come to expect from Jean-Louis, this is lucid and detailed, a perspective on these varieties we shoud see more of.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eJean-Louis works from an unassuming cellar below his house in Moulin-neuf, close to Limoux. Trained as an oenologist, he worked at large commercial wineries in the mid-noughties, at one point managing a cellar that produced 160,000 bottles a year. After tasting the wines of his friend Antony Tortul of la Sorga, Jean-louis was convinced to walk a different path, and established his own label the following year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePredominantly a micro-negociant, Jean-Louis scouts fruit from remote and isolated vineyards across the South-West, from Gaillac out to Saint-Chinian and further afield, as well as working closely with respected growers like Remi Poujol. A varying portion of his output every year comes from his own vines nearby, depending on the vintage. Bottling under the label Es d'Aqui, meaning \"from here\" in Occitan, Jean Louis reminds us that each of his wines is a singular expression of where they come from. Producing about 10,000 bottles a year, some cuvées in tiny quantities(sometimes as little as 400-800 bottles), Jean-louis' wines catalogue the breadth of intricacies that define southern wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eMauzac is an indigenous grape of Limoux, providing the backbone of Blanquette de Limoux and Crémant de Limoux, growing on the sandy limestone soils of the Haute Vallée de l'Aude for many centuries.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Mauzac, Muscat\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Ariège, France\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Es d'Aqui","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988703695186,"sku":"25\/000952","price":33.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/original_e7545002-6149-4f8b-82f2-a1d0e1821583.jpg?v=1791451431"},{"product_id":"malas-uvas-2021-la-perdida","title":"Malas Uvas 2021 - La Perdida","description":"\u003cp\u003eEighty percent Palomino, twenty percent Doña Blanca, from old low-yielding vines on granite and clay close to As Ermitas. After destemming, a short maceration on skins for a week in vats, with some punching down of the cap, then pressing to Padilla tinajas to finish fermentation and rest on the lees for around five months over winter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRadiant in the glass, with an almost pineapple hue. We find the savoury tropical splash of Dona Branca and the saline, chlorophyllic spice of Palomino. In the mouth there’s great density, mineral compression, and taut line of acidity that brings a bowstring tension to the juice. After 4 years in the cellar, this is really singing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eMany of Nacho's parcels around Larouco lay abandoned before he restored them to health, hidden among bush or mountain trails. These untrellised vines, planted in the early-mid 20th century, tell us much about the fascinating viticultural history of this rugged, dramatic landscape. Nacho began making wine in Larouco, close to his grandmother's home in Seadur, after she gifted him a parcel of vines just outside the village. That was in 2013. Since then, Nacho left his career as a biologist behind, becoming immersed in his winemaking project and his mission to preserve these old vineyards and varieties by showcasing their quality. In the face of encroaching pressures to conform to market demands and the homogenising prescriptions of industrial farming, Nacho has stood firm, an iconoclast of sorts, and persevered in making thrilling, terroir-driven wines, that tell an almost forgotten story of this region's fascinating history. Many of the sites are dramatic and remote, a quality that often finds an uncanny expression in Nacho's wines.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNacho farms 5 hectares or so in total, mostly old untrellised vines on granite, slate, and clay between 450 and 650 metres. Farming is organic in practice, with some biodynamic and mycological preparations with nettle, horsetail, and comfrey infusions replacing conventional sprays, and fungal preparations are applied to restore soil biology on parcels that had been left to degrade. He has declined organic certification as the scheme permits some chemical use in the vineyards (certification is also costly). Having spent a month working with Nacho during the 2021 harvest, the rich biodiversity among his vines tells it’s own story.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis cellar in Larouco is as lofi as it gets... Gravity carries the juice from the press to a basement where padilla tinajas, old barrels, and stainless tanks are preferred to finish fermentation and age the wines. Everything rests on its lees through winter and is bottled the following spring without fining or filtration. La Perdida means \"the lost.\" Nacho chose the name for the vineyards themselves, most of which had disappeared into the landscape, forgotten to all but the well-trained eye.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003ePalomino is not a permitted variety under the Valdeorras DO regulations, and here in the rugged interior of northwest Spain, it certainly feels a long way from home. It was first planted in Galicia post phylloxera, when its high yields and compatibility with american rootstocks made it a preference among local growers. Under Franco (who was himself Gallego), the variety became even more ubiquitous, overtaking indigenous Godello. Its high yields suited the co-operative, volume driven agriculture model of the regime, which promoted the production of cheap wine for bulk export. These associations with Franco linger, and most producers in the DO have grubbed it up or left the old plantings abandoned. By the time Nacho started making wine, these surviving plantings of Palomino were now many decades old, not sprayed with chemicals, growing wild among the grasses and shrubs in abandoned plots. Over time, they adapted to the challenging conditions that vines endure in Galicia's interior and became almost naturalised, with at least three distinct mutations identified. These vines produce tiny yields of concentrated juice, with the roots reaching deep into the granite. Here in the cool altitude of Valdeorras, the palomino retains acidity right through to harvest, while the quartz rich granite reflects heat onto the bunches ripening the phenolics in the thick skins of the berries. Dona Branca is more at home here in Valdeorras, it being a star in the vast constellation of indigenous varieties that grow here in the northwest of the Iberian penninsula. Thick-skinned, it brings a crisp-fruited aromatic lift and a bright acidity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMalas Uvas means \"bad grapes.\" Palomino on granite, at very low yield, with skin contact and amphora ageing, is not the prescribed practice in Valdeorras. This wine makes us wonder why!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Palomino, Doña Blanca\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Larouco, Valdeorras, Galicia, Spain\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 15%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"La Perdida","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988703891794,"sku":"22\/003820","price":36.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-malas-uvas-2021.jpg?v=1793699099"},{"product_id":"maitre-splinter-2023-la-sorga","title":"Maître Splinter 2023 - La Sorga","description":"\u003cp\u003ePicpoul from clay and limestone in Marseillan, yields of 30 hl\/ha. A selection of the best grapes, de-stemmed and macerated for 23 days, then aged on lees in clay vessels for 6 months.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCitrus, pineapple, and minerals, with subtle herbal detail. Vital and straight on the palate, notes of pear on a long refreshing finish.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Antony Tortul began producing wines with his négociant project La Sorga in 2008, the iconoclastic verve of his wines and the contrarian artwork he labelled them with cast the aspiring winemaker as a radical disruptor who held little regard for the time honoured traditions of southern wine. Those who paid careful enough attention, however, came to recognise La Sorga's annual production of 30+ cuvées as a vinous almanac of sorts. Sourcing fruit from Toulouse to Provence and as far afield as Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Antony's portfolio is a comprehensive catalogue of Mediterranean France and beyond, offering a revitalised perspective on the rich and diverse viticultural topography of the south, much of which had been subsumed by the paint-by-numbers approach demanded by volume driven production.\u003cbr\u003eGrowing up in the Ariège, where he hopes one day to return, Antony learned the fundamentals of winemaking through a chemistry degree in Toulouse. This academic foundation opened windows of opportunity within the industry, and curiosity steered his formative years, working as a nomadic oenologist and cellar technician across Bergerac, Corbières, Fitou and the aforementioned Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Here he could put his academic schooling into practice and sharpen his intuitions as a winemaker. Given that experience and the extensive network he had established, the decision to work as a négociant made perfect sense when he set out on his own in 2008. It challenged the idea du jour, that to make wine the proper way one must grow the grapes oneself. The breadth of his work, and its subsequent significance, would have been impossible that way; his preference was to focus on the winemaking, deepening his understanding of the endless configurations of varieties, soils and sites through his practice as a négociant.\u003cbr\u003eI visited Antony and his young family at his cellar in 2021 (they have since moved), and the immaculate cleanliness was the first thing to strike me. It was a transitional period in the La Sorga story, a turning of the page, with Antony refreshing the intention behind his vinification, the reds especially, in response to the changing climate and his own evolving palate. Cuvées like Tireurs des Litres and Grande Pestilence, once deeply telluric and squid-ink dark, built for long ageing, had become lambent and sculpted, channelling the typicity of each site with clear-eyed precision. The decision to pick a little earlier and extend maceration times, inspired by his friend Alice Bouvot in the Jura, opened a new window of expression that has rewritten the rulebook yet again.\u003cbr\u003eIncidentally, Antony was a founding member of Brutal!!!, an open-source wine label now used by vignerons around the world.\u003cbr\u003eThese days, Antony's skilled cellar work and canny grape sourcing are widely recognised and highly regarded, to the extent that he was the subject of a two-page spread in Jon Bonné's recent tome The New French Wine. Not that it makes much difference to him; when I messaged to congratulate him on this inclusion, he was unaware the book even existed...\u003cbr\u003eFor me, the wines of La Sorga provided a sort of onboarding to Southern French wine, holding a kaleidoscope to the region, with each frame glistening as brightly as the last. In the Anglosphere, terms such as wine lake are often the first that come to mind when we think of the Languedoc, but Antony's wines are a key to unlocking this treasure trove, discoverable to anyone who looks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Picpoul comes from Marseillan, right on the Bassin de Thau, a lagoon on the Mediterranean. The vines grow on clay and limestone, getting a maritime influence that moderates the southern heat. Across the lagoon on the flats of Bouzigues and Mèze are bonafide oyster hotspots, well-suited to the lip-tingling picpoul of the lagoon. This is quite apart from that familiar style, with the long maceration giving substance and length to the palate, with sea breeze freshness and subtle complexity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Picpoul (Marseillan)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Montagnac, Languedoc, France\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 11%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"La Sorga","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988703957330,"sku":"25\/000941","price":44.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-maitre-splinter-2023.jpg?v=1793699098"},{"product_id":"ostia-2021-es-daqui","title":"Ostia 2021 - Es d'Aqui","description":"\u003cp\u003ePure Chardonnay from Castelreng, on the clay-limestone soils of the upper Limoux valley. Direct press, no skin contact, aged on lees in a stoneware jar (Jean Louis likes these for their slower, more gentle oxygen exchange).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA taut, mineral-driven wine that shows more limestone than Chardonnay, lean \u0026amp; citrus flecked, with a polished stone grip from the time in ageing in clay.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eJean-Louis works from an unassuming cellar below his house in Moulin-neuf, close to Limoux. Trained as an oenologist, he worked at large commercial wineries in the mid-noughties, at one point managing a cellar that produced 160,000 bottles a year. After tasting the wines of his friend Antony Tortul of la Sorga, Jean-louis was convinced to walk a different path, and established his own label the following year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePredominantly a micro-negociant, Jean-Louis scouts fruit from remote and isolated vineyards across the South-West, from Gaillac out to Saint-Chinian and further afield, as well as working closely with respected growers like Remi Poujol. A varying portion of his output every year comes from his own vines nearby, depending on the vintage. Bottling under the label Es d'Aqui, meaning \"from here\" in Occitan, Jean Louis reminds us that each of his wines is a singular expression of where they come from. Producing about 10,000 bottles a year, some cuvées in tiny quantities(sometimes as little as 400-800 bottles), Jean-louis' wines catalogue the breadth of intricacies that define southern wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eCastelreng sits on the upper Aude, in the Limoux appellation territory, on clay-limestone soils that produce wines with a particular kind of pointed, mineral acidity. The clay-limestone gives lower potential alcohol and the cooler-climate signature you get from the Pyrenean foothills. Ostia is among the more direct, nervy wines from Jean-Louis' cellar, and how he vinifies fruit from this site, quite differently from almost all his other wines, tells us something in itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Chardonnay (Limoux)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Ariège, France\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Es d'Aqui","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988704416082,"sku":"24\/001219","price":29.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/original_839bfda5-03e1-467c-a693-3074453e74cc.jpg?v=1791451440"},{"product_id":"pause-canon-blanc-2023-le-raisin-et-lange","title":"Pause Canon Blanc 2024 - Le Raisin et l'Ange","description":"\u003cp\u003eViognier is the protagonist in this, the last ever Pause Canon Blanc, as Antonin is reducing his cellar and retired the Pause Canon wines from 2024.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarsanne(20%), Muscat(10%), Chardonnay(20%), and Villard Blanche(10%) complete the blend, with an average yield of 40hl\/ha. The Viognier macerated in whole bunches for 5 days, while the remaining varieties went straight to the press. Everything fermented separately in steel before assemblage and elevage in steel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eGilles Azzoni left office life in the banlieue of Paris behind in the early 1980s and journeyed south, eventually settling in les Salelles, a remote hamlet in southern Ardèche, in 1983. He took the scenic route south, studying at the agricultural school in Mâcon, after which a spell with Gilbert Violot in Pommard and cellars further south in Bandol and Provence emboldened him to pursue winemaking as his métier. Setting out on his own at 29, Gilles took on a fermage from a retiring farmer, complete with six hectares or so of vines. In those early days, Gilles followed the prescriptions of conventional viticulture as it is taught in the formal schools, making vin de pays and Vivarais VDQS (an extinct level between vin de pays and AOC; Vivarais has since been promoted to AOC status). With the passing of time, the use of agricultural products in his vineyards diminished, and by 1997 he was fully organic. Impressed by how this affected his wines, Gilles extended his philosophy to his cellar work, and by 2007 his wines were made without filtration or sulphur. This would herald the dawn of a vital new chapter for the wines of the southern Ardèche, and Gilles' philosophical approach to making wine, alongside that of his good friend Gérald Oustric of le Mazel, would inspire generations of winemakers and sommeliers to come, none more so than his son Antonin.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAntonin, a trained chemist, succeeded his father in 2014, with Gilles continuing to mentor and advise up to 2023, when he finally retired. Having grown up in the cellar with his father, with a rotating cast of winemakers visiting at weekends, Antonin has a palate as sharp as a tack, and this is his primary guide in his work: he follows his intuitions in the cellar and only afterward applies his training in chemistry. More often than not, this confirms what he had expected. He wasted no time in stepping out of his father's shadow, focusing solely on winemaking and continuing to work as his father did in the cellar. Antonin refers to Gilles as his sulphur, with his almost prescient ability to detect problems in the wines before they have appeared. Building on his father's legacy, Antonin encouraged young growers around the region to move to organic viticulture, with the promise that he would buy their fruit to make his wines. And so le Raisin et l'Ange became primarily a négociant house. Gilles kept a couple of hectares for himself, as did Antonin, and the rest was taken over by Samuel Boulay, who had moved into the adjoining cellar from the Loire. This new approach opened windows for Antonin, who could now showcase the diverse terroirs of southern Ardèche and the talents of the region's growers, such as the Ozil brothers and Vincent Fargier of les Deux Terres.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe harvest is intense. Antonin works with a small team to harvest early in the mornings in small crates, and the sight of their iconic yellow Transit zipping through the bending gorges of the Vallée de l'Ibie provokes beeps and hollering as they pass neighbouring cellars. The fruit is sometimes chilled for a day or two at the cellar after harvesting, a technique that helps preserve the fruitiness Antonin cherishes in his wines and precipitates an early, almost pre-carbonic fermentation in the bunches. Conveniently, this also serves as a holding space while the cellar is at capacity! The whites go mainly to the press, sometimes seeing a little time on skins first, and the reds are primarily vatted as whole bunches before pressing in a 1960s Vaslin press from Burgundy. The idea is to make wines that they like to drink themselves: soft and supple in the fruit, digestible, and full of character. Somehow, the languid charms of the region and the winemaker have found a voice in these wines, and the soulful, spirited quality of wines made from well farmed fruit has become their calling card. Antonin always makes the assemblages post fermentation, each year recreating the estate's iconic cuvées like Nedjma from a new configuration of varieties, capturing the typicity of the fruit and the intricacies of the vintage while somehow staying true to the recognisable personality of each wine year after year. Antonin has now taken over Gilles' smallholding of Roussanne, Muscat, and Syrah, along with his tiny cellar below the house, so we're entering a new chapter for this storied estate. With their succulent fruit, effortless drinkability, and irresistible personality, these are wines we always keep close to hand, offering value that has become all too rare these days.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eAntonin's Pause Canon series attempt to capture the spirit of southern Ardèche wines while supporting the burgeoning community of organic growers across the region. Antonin wanted to step out of his father's shadow when taking over at le Raisin et l'Ange, and so set up this négociant business to highlight the seeds or progress people lie his father Gilles and Gérald Oustric has sewn inthe early noughties. The Viognier comes from Antonin's friends the Ozil brothers who are widely respected growers in the region and do some vinify their own wines too. Their state is in Lagorce, close to Vallon Pont d'Arc. The viognier comes from clay-limestone soils. The Marsanne and Roussane Antonin inherited from Gilles, formally used to make his Les Larmes de Sanglier and Monteau. they grow above the cellar on Urgonian limestone. The Chardonnay comes from pioneering grower and winemaker Vincent Fargier of Les Deux Terres, growing in mirabel on clay and limestone. The Villard Blanc is an old hybrid, grown in the Cévennes ardechois at 400masl by Jean-Benoit Plagnol.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Viognier(40%), Marsanne(20%), Chardonnay(20%), Muscat(10%), Villard Blanche(10%)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Les Salelles, Ardèche, France\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 12%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Le Raisin et l'Ange","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988704612690,"sku":"26\/000650","price":25.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-pause-canon-blanc-2024.jpg?v=1793699099"},{"product_id":"pierre-de-sisyphe-2022-les-bories-jefferies","title":"Pierre de Sisyphe 2022 - les Bories Jefferies","description":"\u003cp\u003eBoth varieties grow on the basalt and limestone that surround caux, growing predominantly in gobelet and a small portion trellised. \u003cbr\u003eSea Breeze saltiness on the nose, with minerals and lime leaf. Sinuous on the palate, with big mineral compression, this has a fleshiness of a ripe white peach on the palate. A beaming acidity  keeps things fresh.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWine writer Aaron Ayscough described this cuvée as a Grand Cru of the Hérault, with its intensity, depth, and complex structure.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eJoe’s introduction to wine came via legendary vigneron Bernard Bellahsen, from whom Joe bought bread at a local market. When the opportunity to take charge of 3 hectares of vines from his father-in-law presented itself, encouragement from Bernard, along with Julien Peyras and Antony Tortul of la Sorga, emboldened Joe to accept.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe went back to study winemaking in Montpellier, and despite the guidance of his well-seasoned mentors, initially worked with an oenologist and made wines to ‘the Languedoc recipe’. Robust, bold, reds with big tannins and high alcohol conformed to the status quo, and whites that received filtration and generous sulfitage. Growing frustrated with his inability to find the unique terroir of Caux in his wines, and endless arguments with the oenologue on his books, Joe began to practice the methods of his early mentors, ceasing debourbage post press, filtration, sulfitage, and, scandalously, began vinifying the reds with carbonic maceration. In the vines, the work is far beyond the requirements of organic, and his treatments in the vines are minimal and preventative rather than responsive.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter 12 years, Joe’s wines have become definitive of the new Languedoc, utterly elegant and vital while retaining the Mediterranean soul and ripe fruit of southern France. They are remarkable wines that detail the breadth of possibilities one can uncover in the Languedoc.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the spirit of his mentors Bernhard Bellahsen and Antony Tortul, Joe showcases here the dynamism of these long overlooked varieties and their capacity for greatness on the right sites. Where lava once flowed from the Volcan de Beaume into limestone valleys, these hardened flows today form the hills on which Joe's vines grow, outlasting the limestone that is now dispersed in chunks around them as they grow. Referred to as a Grand Cru of the Hérault by wine writer Aaron Ayscough, this cuvée has a sinuous tension and luminous vitality that is deeply mediterranean, allowed to realise its potential through Joe's delicate work in the vineyard and cellar.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Terret Blanc, Terret Gris, Ugni Blanc\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Caux, Languedoc, France\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Les Bories Jefferies","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988704645458,"sku":"25\/000866","price":33.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-pierre-de-sisyphe-2022-2020.jpg?v=1793699097"},{"product_id":"xarello-domaine-2017-clos-lentiscus","title":"Xarello Domaine 2017 - Clos Lentiscus","description":"\u003cp\u003eXarello from La Mascarona, planted in 1939 on calcareous sands. Twenty-four hours of skin contact before pressing, with fermentation and ageing for a year in old French oak barrels. Layered, with sun-warmed citrus, a fine minerality, and an unfurling complexity that showcases the class of this variety from the best sites.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom a visit in March 2026.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecord breaking rains in early 2026 brought a dramatic end to years of punishing drought that pushed the vineyards of Mediterranean Catalunya to the brink. For the oldest vines at Clos Lentiscus, planted in 1939, the rains came just in time. “We didn’t think they would make it” muttered Nuria Avinyo as we gathered in the early March sun beside their cellar, overlooking a parcel of Malvasia de Sitges.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvidence of the extreme conditions, and the extraordinary methods employed by Manel and Nuria to help their vines to survive, is there to behold. A thin black pipe running beneath a budding row of vines - the estates first ever use of irrigation. The roots of these vines reach 12ft down into the bedrock, but years of consecutive drought depleted the water table such that these vines were dying of thirst, and this step was necessary.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis was also the first year that particular ground cover crops were cultivated between the vines. Leguminous shrubs that help the soils retain moisture and enrich it with nitrogen were planted every second row, as to not introduce too much competition to the vines as they regained their strength. With 10 storms already this year, this ground cover also helps secure the thin layer of clay that sits above the limestone and sandstone bedrock, preventing flash rains from washing it away. The white mustard is already flowering, and with small buds appearing and sap moving in the vines, a feeling of hope prevails as the season gets underway.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe property itself is remarkable, nestled at the foot of Montgros, over looking the Mediterranean. Both factors distinctly influence the microclimate of this 40 hectare estate, with the mountain shielding the vines from hail and storms, and the Mediterranean providing cool breezes that help mitigate disease among the vines, while facilitating the thermic inversion that optimises ripening during the hot Catalan summers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith 20 hectares under vine, the remaining 20 hectares are forest and bush, the crown of which is a 1000 year old lentiscus tree after which the estate is named. The tree\/shrub is a potent symbol of the symbiosis between man and nature that underpins the work Manel Avinyo has done to revive his family’s commercial winemaking project. Inheriting techniques that were aligned with biodynamics from his grandfather and uncle, who had worked using natural resources before it became widely acknowledged as an approach to farming Manel. The lentiscus tree itself is an example, with it’s phenolic-rich, resinous leaves having been used by Roman winemakers to clean amphora, a practice Manel still uses today. The forest is a resource, with tisanes and lacto-ferments foraged and brewed from the estate's flora play a key role in disease management and sun protection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWild bushes and flowers also play an intimate role in the fascinating typicity of these wines. Manel uses honey from his native bees for secondary fermentation of his famed traditional method sparkling wines, having become unhappy with the process of freezing their must for the same purpose. After much trial and error, honey from rosemary flowers is now the preferred choice. This practice, of course, excludes Manel’s sparkling wines from the Penedès DO. Curiously, his cultivation of indigenous variety Sumoll also excluded his wines when he first returned to his family estate in 2000, an example of Kafka-esque bureaucracy that has stripped these classifications of their relevance in contemporary wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe estate is a living ampelography of sorts. Wine has been made here continuously for over 600 years, thus centuries of massale selection has made the vines here uniquely adapted. Here, Xarello expresses a heady herbal quality that bears too close a resemblance to the fragrant leaves of the Lentiscus tree not to remark upon it. They call Xarello ‘Cartoixa’ in this part of Catalunya, and they also cultivate a rare pink clone, Cartoixa Vermell, not often found in commercial vineyards. Its character is quite distinct to the rest of Penedès. Two distinct profiles of Sumoll have also been selected. One yields ovular berries suited to producing sparkling wine. Another, with small round berries suited to the production red wine, which is seemingly ageless, usually released after 7-10 years bottle ageing. Every single parcel of vines is vinified and bottled seperately, a practice more common in places like Burgundy. If nothing else this shows the respect the family has for their land and the unsung pedigree of soils they work. It also makes for quite fascinating verticals, that allow the family deep insights into their vineyards and wines. This region was once the seabed, and as such boasts all the mineral deposits and marine fossils you would expect, with hard limestone and sandstone and a touch of Marne Bleue speaking to the quality they are working with.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Xarello\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Sant Pere de Ribes, Penedès, Catalunya, Spain\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Clos Lentiscus","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988706382162,"sku":"1700485","price":63.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/original_7b670a28-595d-4f8b-a753-211ab31a141d.jpg?v=1791451459"},{"product_id":"early-eyes-2021-anders-frederik-steen-and-anne-bruun-blauert","title":"Early Eyes 2021 - Anders Frederik Steen \u0026 Anne Bruun Blauert","description":"\u003cp\u003eRiesling from the Bannwarth family in Alsace, co-aged with Viognier from Domaine du Mazel in Valvignères. Both varieties were pressed together and fermented slowly before going into 500-litre demi-muids for approximately three years, then held in bottle for a further year before release. The combination sits somewhere between the two varieties - Riesling's tartness and mineral thread alongside Viognier's florals and volume, integrated through long elevage ageing. The extended élevage without topping up gives a delicate oxidative character, and all the exuberance of Viognier has evolved into something quite serious and commanding.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the midst of the dynamic and collaborative viticultural and winemaking esprit emanating from the remote valleys of southern Ardèche, Anders and his wife Anne remain distinct among their peers in both ambition and approach. The undeniable individuality of their wines is a result of their deep commitment to their process in the vineyard and cellar techniques developed over 15 years in Valvignères, where Anders first began making wine with the enigmatic Jura vigneron Jean-Marc Brignot at a small cellar in the village in the noughties. Anders had met Jean-Marc during his time working as a sommelier at Noma, and by the time he had opened Relae and Manfreds as chef sommelier with Christian Puglisi, the seeds of this collaborative winemaking project had been sown.\u003cbr\u003eAnders' path to wine was somewhat serendipitous, resulting from a brave decision he took while working as an ambitious young chef in Copenhagen. The bright lights of San Sebastián were an irresistible draw for most of his colleagues, with elBulli in its heyday at the centre of world gastronomy. Swimming against the current, Anders took a job at Noma as a sommelier. For the budding chef, bridging the divide between kitchen and service could only deepen his understanding of cuisine.\u003cbr\u003eThe timing here is important. Pontus Elofsson was the head sommelier at Noma at the time, and the restaurant began serving wines that upheld the philosophy already at work in the kitchen. Anders would never look back.\u003cbr\u003eFirst splitting his time between Valvignères and Copenhagen, Anders became fully immersed in viticulture and winemaking with Jean-Marc. Eventually, after Brignot moved to Japan, Anders moved to southern Ardèche full time and was joined by his wife Anne and their young family, setting up in a tiny, 2,000-year-old cellar at the heart of the village. Initially Anders bought fruit from his neighbour and mentor Gérald Oustric and his wife Jocelyne, who had been farming organically in the village for 40 years and making wines in the way they learned from Jacques Néauport. Anders also rents a small cellar in Alsace, where he heads directly after the harvest in Valvignères every year, buying fruit from the Bannwarth family in Obermorschwihr. They now farm 3 hectares of vines themselves around Valvignères, growing on clay and limestone, with a small holding of Petite Serine growing on a vein of Marne Bleue that goes to their cuvée Les Vignes des Enfants every year.\u003cbr\u003eIn the vineyards, Anders is exacting, refusing to use sulphur or copper, preferring the lactoferments and tisanes he brews from local bush herbs and the seawater he collects from the Mediterranean. In the cellar, the fruit is most often pressed slowly over several days, with Anders determining how each portion of the press will be used by tasting the juice. Fermentation is usually started in fibre, and a long élevage in barrique non-ouillé follows, meaning many of these wines take quite some time to rediscover their balance and be released. The idea is to let the wine go where it wants to go, reading the cues he detects as they evolve over time and following along.\u003cbr\u003eThe results are breathtaking, peerless expressions of Valvignères and Obermorschwihr respectively, wines that remain true to the place they come from while taking an entirely new perspective on what is possible with the ripe fruit of southern Ardèche or the rich, unctuous fruit of Obermorschwihr. Often lightly oxidative and salty in expression, the wines have a complex structure that does not rely on acidity. Anders picks at the very last minute, prioritising phenolic ripeness above all else, building instead on a thread of saltiness and fruit drawn out over these long, thorough presses. Since expanding their cellar a few years back, Anders and Anne have moved to lengthen the élevage in their wines further. The results speak for themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eHistorically overlooked and ignored, Valvignères has emerged as an epicentre for progressive viticulture and winemaking in the 21st century. Existing in the shadow of the hulking economy of the Rhone valley, the small valley west of le Teil made it's name when Gérald Oustric and his sister Jocelyne decided to cease selling their fruit to the local co-op(which Geralds father helped found in 1919) to begin producing wines themselves. Having farmed organically since the 80s, Gérald had been convinced to make his own wine after several trips to beaujolais in the early nineties, where he met Jacques Neauport, Jules Chauvet, Pierre bonneton et al. This move would have significant domino effects, with Gerald adopting Carbonic maceration for his reds, no filtration or fining, and no sulfitage in his cellar. this freed to small region from the shackles of the etablished wine industry in the region and reconnected with the valleys historical winemaking traditions(Valvigneres comes from the Roman Valis Vinaria, meaning valley of vines). Gerald would go on to mentor 15 growers in the region, cultivating a spirit of collaboration and sharing of ideas that existed few other places in France. The wines from cellars in this cluster share an iresistably heady, telluric, and deeply soulful quality that makes them great value and well worth exploring. In terms of Geology, we are almost in the south, but noticeably cooler than you might find just 20km south. Situated on what's traditionally known as the Bas Vivarais, the soils are predominantly clay and limestone, with outcrops of marne bleue and basalt.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Riesling, Viognier\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Valvignères, Ardèche, France\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 12.2%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Anders Frederik Steen \u0026 Anne Bruun Blauert","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988708315474,"sku":"17000193","price":46.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-early-eyes-2021.jpg?v=1793699098"},{"product_id":"go-visit-nature-before-its-too-late-2022-anders-frederik-steen-and-anne-bruun-blauert","title":"Go visit Nature before its too late 2022 - Anders Frederik Steen \u0026 Anne Bruun Blauert","description":"\u003cp\u003eViognier from the old Mazel vines, farmed by Jocelyne and Gérald Oustric. Pressed slowly over five days on Mazel's old wooden pressoir, with only the first four days of juice kept for this cuvée. A couple of days of fermentation in fibreglass, then a move to old barriques where it finished and rested until bottling in May 2025, a little over two and a half years. The long élevage tempers the showy exotic fruit of ripe Viognier, leaving something saltier and more savoury, with the bitter lift of preserved lemon and olive oil.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the midst of the dynamic and collaborative viticultural and winemaking esprit emanating from the remote valleys of southern Ardèche, Anders and his wife Anne remain distinct among their peers in both ambition and approach. The undeniable individuality of their wines is a result of their deep commitment to their process in the vineyard and cellar techniques developed over 15 years in Valvignères, where Anders first began making wine with the enigmatic Jura vigneron Jean-Marc Brignot at a small cellar in the village in the noughties. Anders had met Jean-Marc during his time working as a sommelier at Noma, and by the time he had opened Relae and Manfreds as chef sommelier with Christian Puglisi, the seeds of this collaborative winemaking project had been sown.\u003cbr\u003eAnders' path to wine was somewhat serendipitous, resulting from a brave decision he took while working as an ambitious young chef in Copenhagen. The bright lights of San Sebastián were an irresistible draw for most of his colleagues, with elBulli in its heyday at the centre of world gastronomy. Swimming against the current, Anders took a job at Noma as a sommelier. For the budding chef, bridging the divide between kitchen and service could only deepen his understanding of cuisine.\u003cbr\u003eThe timing here is important. Pontus Elofsson was the head sommelier at Noma at the time, and the restaurant began serving wines that upheld the philosophy already at work in the kitchen. Anders would never look back.\u003cbr\u003eFirst splitting his time between Valvignères and Copenhagen, Anders became fully immersed in viticulture and winemaking with Jean-Marc. Eventually, after Brignot moved to Japan, Anders moved to southern Ardèche full time and was joined by his wife Anne and their young family, setting up in a tiny, 2,000-year-old cellar at the heart of the village. Initially Anders bought fruit from his neighbour and mentor Gérald Oustric and his wife Jocelyne, who had been farming organically in the village for 40 years and making wines in the way they learned from Jacques Néauport. Anders also rents a small cellar in Alsace, where he heads directly after the harvest in Valvignères every year, buying fruit from the Bannwarth family in Obermorschwihr. They now farm 3 hectares of vines themselves around Valvignères, growing on clay and limestone, with a small holding of Petite Serine growing on a vein of Marne Bleue that goes to their cuvée Les Vignes des Enfants every year.\u003cbr\u003eIn the vineyards, Anders is exacting, refusing to use sulphur or copper, preferring the lactoferments and tisanes he brews from local bush herbs and the seawater he collects from the Mediterranean. In the cellar, the fruit is most often pressed slowly over several days, with Anders determining how each portion of the press will be used by tasting the juice. Fermentation is usually started in fibre, and a long élevage in barrique non-ouillé follows, meaning many of these wines take quite some time to rediscover their balance and be released. The idea is to let the wine go where it wants to go, reading the cues he detects as they evolve over time and following along.\u003cbr\u003eThe results are breathtaking, peerless expressions of Valvignères and Obermorschwihr respectively, wines that remain true to the place they come from while taking an entirely new perspective on what is possible with the ripe fruit of southern Ardèche or the rich, unctuous fruit of Obermorschwihr. Often lightly oxidative and salty in expression, the wines have a complex structure that does not rely on acidity. Anders picks at the very last minute, prioritising phenolic ripeness above all else, building instead on a thread of saltiness and fruit drawn out over these long, thorough presses. Since expanding their cellar a few years back, Anders and Anne have moved to lengthen the élevage in their wines further. The results speak for themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eHistorically overlooked and ignored, Valvignères has emerged as an epicentre for progressive viticulture and winemaking in the 21st century. Existing in the shadow of the hulking economy of the Rhone valley, the small valley west of le Teil made it's name when Gérald Oustric and his sister Jocelyne decided to cease selling their fruit to the local co-op(which Geralds father helped found in 1919) to begin producing wines themselves. Having farmed organically since the 80s, Gérald had been convinced to make his own wine after several trips to beaujolais in the early nineties, where he met Jacques Neauport, Jules Chauvet, Pierre bonneton et al. This move would have significant domino effects, with Gerald adopting Carbonic maceration for his reds, no filtration or fining, and no sulfitage in his cellar. this freed to small region from the shackles of the etablished wine industry in the region and reconnected with the valleys historical winemaking traditions(Valvigneres comes from the Roman Valis Vinaria, meaning valley of vines). Gerald would go on to mentor 15 growers in the region, cultivating a spirit of collaboration and sharing of ideas that existed few other places in France. The wines from cellars in this cluster share an iresistably heady, telluric, and deeply soulful quality that makes them great value and well worth exploring. In terms of Geology, we are almost in the south, but noticeably cooler than you might find just 20km south. Situated on what's traditionally known as the Bas Vivarais, the soils are predominantly clay and limestone, with outcrops of marne bleue and basalt.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Viognier\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Valvignères, Ardèche, France\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13.8%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Anders Frederik Steen \u0026 Anne Bruun Blauert","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988708806994,"sku":"17000192","price":46.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-go-visit-nature-before-its-too-late-2022.jpg?v=1793699098"},{"product_id":"helja-2024-katla-wines","title":"Helja 2024 - Katla Wines","description":"\u003cp\u003eGolden yellow in colour. Great intensity on the nose despite the lighter measure of alcohol(10.5%). Notes of mint, yuzu, white flowers and toasted wheat. Easy, and with a refreshing acidity, quite delicious!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eOriginally from the suburbs of Mönchengladbach in the industrial Rhineland, it took leaving Germany for Jas to find her way into wine. Following her nose and picking her mentors well, Jas is now settled in Wöllstein in Rheinhessen, where she runs her micro-négoce, as well as keeping just under a hectare of vines herself. Working and studying wine at restaurants around Europe, Jas' swansong in service came at Dill in Reykjavík, the first restaurant in Iceland to win a Michelin star, where she worked as a sommelier. What followed was a series of stages with producers whose wines she loved, most notably a now-retired doyen of southern Ardèche wine, Gilles Azzoni, who incidentally introduced me to Jas' wines while I myself was staging at Gilles' cellar in les Salelles. It was Gilles who impressed on Jas the possibility of producing wines without a family estate or owning vines (Gilles, himself a Parisian, did it in 1980). Inspired and encouraged, Jas took what savings she had to rent a corner of a cellar in the Mosel, and source fruit from the disparate band of growers behind the region's burgeoning viticultural enlightenment.\u003cbr\u003eHer first vintage was 2019, with 2,500 litres produced. It was a case of the right place at the right time for Jas. As a micro-négoce, she collaborates with growers at the epicentre of contemporary German winemaking from her base in Rheinhessen, working with varieties well-adapted to the pressures of the modern vineyard and a shifting climate. Sourcing grapes from Nahe, Pfalz, Rheinhessen and beyond, Jas applies the same subversive spirit in making her blends, deliberate in her crossing of borders, varieties, and colours, critiquing the hegemony of single-sites or noble varieties.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Riesling comes from highly respected grower Christine Pieroth of Piri Naturel, based in Burg Layen in the lower Nahe valley. Protected by the Hunsrück hills, this pocket of Nahe enjoys a warm, dry microclimate. Christine's estate is a microcosm of wider Nahe, with fragmented geology that includes slate, loam, and quartz, three of the 180 distinct soil types in the region. With her family having farmed this estate for almost 250 years, few understand the intricacies of these soils like Christine, and Jas' deft approach in the cellar allows the quality of her friend's farming to shine in this wine. This Riesling, while thrillingly unique, shows the hallmarks of Nahe Riesling, with its moderate alcohol and architecture of fleshy fruit and beaming acidity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Riesling\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Rheinhessen, Germany\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Katla Wines","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988708872530,"sku":"17002115","price":31.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-helja-2024.jpg?v=1793699098"},{"product_id":"i-vicini-cortese-2021-jean-yves-peron","title":"i Vicini Cortese 2021 - Jean-Yves Péron","description":"\u003cp\u003eCortese from a north-east facing hectare of vines on sandy marl over tuffeau at Asti. Carbonic maceration followed by ageing in foudre.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy the time Jean-Yves returned to Savoie to make wine in 2004, he was already a well-travelled student of wine. Growing up between Paris and his mother's home in Annecy, his formative years were spent in the Haute-Savoie, not far from where he keeps his cellar today. After completing studies in biochemistry he went to Bordeaux to study oenology, then on to Oregon as a budding apprentice. Returning to France, he took a job with the legendary Rhône winemaker Thierry Allemand, whose work on the abandoned terraces of Cornas is reflected in Jean-Yves' approach today. He also spent time with Jean-Louis Grippat, a foundational figure in modern Rhône winemaking, in Saint-Joseph and Hermitage. Both men farmed the steep slopes of the northern Rhône, and the influence of the two can still be felt in Jean-Yves' work. During his time there he met Hirotake Ooka of la Grande Colline, through whom he came to know Bruno Schueller in Alsace, ending up as his apprentice. He set out on his own in January 2004, picking up old plantings on steep sites his neighbours had deemed too difficult to work. Those first fermentations did not finish until August 2005, a bold debut from a nascent estate.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJean-Yves' vines grow in Conflans, a walled medieval quarter above Albertville where the Arly meets the Isère. Over a century ago the hillside carried 80 hectares of vines, but phylloxera devastated the region and the industrial expansion of Albertville drew the working population away from viticulture. The pervasive availability of cheap wine from the Midi did not help, and the wines of Savoie came to be considered vins de laboureur. By the time Jean-Yves returned, the terraces were home to mature oaks and in places had been reclaimed by the forest. Where most saw worthless land, Jean-Yves saw Savoie's own Reynard, the great lieu-dit of Cornas from which Thierry Allemand had reclaimed some of his most cherished parcels. Like his mentor, he could see the diamond in the rough and an opportunity to resurrect these old sites. Today he has restored or replanted 2.5 hectares, and with further holdings in Fréterive he farms 4.5 hectares himself. He embarked on the project solo, but the thankless work on these steep hillsides, all of it by hand, made help necessary, and today Briton Camilla Murray works full time with Jean-Yves in the vines and the cellar.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Cortese\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Asti, Piemonte, Italy\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 11%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jean-Yves Péron","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988709003602,"sku":"170905","price":41.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/i-vicini-cortese-2021-jean-yves-peron.webp?v=1791452515"},{"product_id":"i-vicini-favorita-2021-jean-yves-peron","title":"i Vicini Favorita 2021 - Jean-Yves Péron","description":"\u003cp\u003eFavorita from a south-east facing hectare of 60 year old vines on the sandy marl and tuffeau of Asti. Carbonic maceration followed by ageing in 300L barrels.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy the time Jean-Yves returned to Savoie to make wine in 2004, he was already a well-travelled student of wine. Growing up between Paris and his mother's home in Annecy, his formative years were spent in the Haute-Savoie, not far from where he keeps his cellar today. After completing studies in biochemistry he went to Bordeaux to study oenology, then on to Oregon as a budding apprentice. Returning to France, he took a job with the legendary Rhône winemaker Thierry Allemand, whose work on the abandoned terraces of Cornas is reflected in Jean-Yves' approach today. He also spent time with Jean-Louis Grippat, a foundational figure in modern Rhône winemaking, in Saint-Joseph and Hermitage. Both men farmed the steep slopes of the northern Rhône, and the influence of the two can still be felt in Jean-Yves' work. During his time there he met Hirotake Ooka of la Grande Colline, through whom he came to know Bruno Schueller in Alsace, ending up as his apprentice. He set out on his own in January 2004, picking up old plantings on steep sites his neighbours had deemed too difficult to work. Those first fermentations did not finish until August 2005, a bold debut from a nascent estate.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJean-Yves' vines grow in Conflans, a walled medieval quarter above Albertville where the Arly meets the Isère. Over a century ago the hillside carried 80 hectares of vines, but phylloxera devastated the region and the industrial expansion of Albertville drew the working population away from viticulture. The pervasive availability of cheap wine from the Midi did not help, and the wines of Savoie came to be considered vins de laboureur. By the time Jean-Yves returned, the terraces were home to mature oaks and in places had been reclaimed by the forest. Where most saw worthless land, Jean-Yves saw Savoie's own Reynard, the great lieu-dit of Cornas from which Thierry Allemand had reclaimed some of his most cherished parcels. Like his mentor, he could see the diamond in the rough and an opportunity to resurrect these old sites. Today he has restored or replanted 2.5 hectares, and with further holdings in Fréterive he farms 4.5 hectares himself. He embarked on the project solo, but the thankless work on these steep hillsides, all of it by hand, made help necessary, and today Briton Camilla Murray works full time with Jean-Yves in the vines and the cellar.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Favorita (Vermentino)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Asti, Piemonte, Italy\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13.5%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jean-Yves Péron","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988709069138,"sku":"170910","price":38.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/i-vicini-favorita-2021-jean-yves-peron.webp?v=1791452515"},{"product_id":"la-petite-robe-2024-jean-yves-peron","title":"La Petite Robe 2024 - Jean-Yves Péron","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom a single east to north-east facing hectare of fifty-year-old vines on clay-limestone at Les Marches beneath Mont Granier. Vinified by carbonic maceration and raised in foudre and amphora.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy the time Jean-Yves returned to Savoie to make wine in 2004, he was already a well-travelled student of wine. Growing up between Paris and his mother's home in Annecy, his formative years were spent in the Haute-Savoie, not far from where he keeps his cellar today. After completing studies in biochemistry he went to Bordeaux to study oenology, then on to Oregon as a budding apprentice. Returning to France, he took a job with the legendary Rhône winemaker Thierry Allemand, whose work on the abandoned terraces of Cornas is reflected in Jean-Yves' approach today. He also spent time with Jean-Louis Grippat, a foundational figure in modern Rhône winemaking, in Saint-Joseph and Hermitage. Both men farmed the steep slopes of the northern Rhône, and the influence of the two can still be felt in Jean-Yves' work. During his time there he met Hirotake Ooka of la Grande Colline, through whom he came to know Bruno Schueller in Alsace, ending up as his apprentice. He set out on his own in January 2004, picking up old plantings on steep sites his neighbours had deemed too difficult to work. Those first fermentations did not finish until August 2005, a bold debut from a nascent estate.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJean-Yves' vines grow in Conflans, a walled medieval quarter above Albertville where the Arly meets the Isère. Over a century ago the hillside carried 80 hectares of vines, but phylloxera devastated the region and the industrial expansion of Albertville drew the working population away from viticulture. The pervasive availability of cheap wine from the Midi did not help, and the wines of Savoie came to be considered vins de laboureur. By the time Jean-Yves returned, the terraces were home to mature oaks and in places had been reclaimed by the forest. Where most saw worthless land, Jean-Yves saw Savoie's own Reynard, the great lieu-dit of Cornas from which Thierry Allemand had reclaimed some of his most cherished parcels. Like his mentor, he could see the diamond in the rough and an opportunity to resurrect these old sites. Today he has restored or replanted 2.5 hectares, and with further holdings in Fréterive he farms 4.5 hectares himself. He embarked on the project solo, but the thankless work on these steep hillsides, all of it by hand, made help necessary, and today Briton Camilla Murray works full time with Jean-Yves in the vines and the cellar.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Jacquère\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Conflans, Albertville, Savoie, France\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9.5%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jean-Yves Péron","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988709560658,"sku":"170865","price":41.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/la-petite-robe-2024-jean-yves-peron.webp?v=1791452550"},{"product_id":"le-blanc-2023-domaine-pierre-weber","title":"Le Blanc 2023 - Domaine Pierre Weber","description":"\u003cp\u003eOne hundred percent Riesling, forty percent from Grand Cru Eichberg, vines around sixty years old on argilo-calcaire soils at around 350 metres. Three days of whole-cluster maceration before pressing, not enough to produce orange-wine colour, but some texture, then eleven months on the fine lees in old barriques.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBold aromatics of quinine, lemon curd, and spice, we find a cavernous minerality on the palate, with the acidity well integrated and the citrus and floral character of old-vine Riesling on limestone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003ePierre returned to his grandfather's estate in Husseren-les-Châteaux in 2018, leaving life as an environmental engineer in Paris behind when the yearning to return home to the vines could be ignored no longer. The estate covers four hectares on the hills of Husseren-les-Chateaux, with a hectare on the Grand Cru Eichberg. Most of the vines were planted between 1960 and 1970, and sit at a slightly higher elevation than the rest of Alsace, giving Pierre's wines their unmistakable cool freshness. Pierre's work in the vines draws on the influence of his grandfather and his father, the oenologist Jacques Weber, and he takes the effort and expense of having his work certified Bio and Demeter. Working from his meticulously kept cellar, Pierre’s wines are among the very best coming out of Alsace with their definitive character - mountain wine freshness and the ripe core of Alsace grown fruit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollow the routes de vins d’Alsace south from Colmar, through Eguisheim, and the you’ll find Hussren-les-chateaux in your sight. It’s commanding hillside position sits at the foot of the Stauffen massif, below the three hilltop castles for which the village is named. This position in significant, these are the highest vineyards in Alsace, at about 350masl, with views all the way across to the Black forest on a clear day. With 2 grand crus(Eichberg is the one more relevant to Pierre’s work) that have been noted for the quality of their wines since the middle ages, the village is today home to a thriving winemaking movement sparked by Bruno Schueller. The microclimate here distinguishes the villages wines from elsewhere in Alsace, particularly the Pinot Noir which is well suited to the cooler nights of these elevated hillsides. The limestone of Eichberg shines in Pierres wines, bringing a chiselled detail and fine structure that keeps the fruit feeling fresh.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Riesling\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Husseren-les-Châteaux, Alsace, France\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Pierre Weber","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988709724498,"sku":"17002044","price":49.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-le-blanc-pierre-weber-2023-2021.jpg?v=1793699099"},{"product_id":"nedjma-2024-le-raisin-et-lange","title":"Nedjma 2024 - Le Raisin et l'Ange","description":"\u003cp\u003eNamed for the Arabic word for star. Roussanne dominates this year, given seven days on skins, with 30 per cent Grenache Blanc, Chardonnay bringing length, and a touch of Muscat from Antonin’s vines lifting the nose. Everything but the Roussanne went straight to press, with ageing post assemblage in stainless. Picked by hand at 30 hl\/ha.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe have the fluidity and fruit volume that Nedjma is built on yer after year, with aromatic breadth from the splash of Muscat. Though the macerated Roussane makes up 40% of the wine, this is most definitely a white wine of the south, and as always, offers the refreshing drinkability that Antonin loves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eGilles Azzoni left office life in the banlieue of Paris behind in the early 1980s and journeyed south, eventually settling in les Salelles, a remote hamlet in southern Ardèche, in 1983. He took the scenic route south, studying at the agricultural school in Mâcon, after which a spell with Gilbert Violot in Pommard and cellars further south in Bandol and Provence emboldened him to pursue winemaking as his métier. Setting out on his own at 29, Gilles took on a fermage from a retiring farmer, complete with six hectares or so of vines. In those early days, Gilles followed the prescriptions of conventional viticulture as it is taught in the formal schools, making vin de pays and Vivarais VDQS (an extinct level between vin de pays and AOC; Vivarais has since been promoted to AOC status). With the passing of time, the use of agricultural products in his vineyards diminished, and by 1997 he was fully organic. Impressed by how this affected his wines, Gilles extended his philosophy to his cellar work, and by 2007 his wines were made without filtration or sulphur. This would herald the dawn of a vital new chapter for the wines of the southern Ardèche, and Gilles' philosophical approach to making wine, alongside that of his good friend Gérald Oustric of le Mazel, would inspire generations of winemakers and sommeliers to come, none more so than his son Antonin.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAntonin, a trained chemist, succeeded his father in 2014, with Gilles continuing to mentor and advise up to 2023, when he finally retired. Having grown up in the cellar with his father, with a rotating cast of winemakers visiting at weekends, Antonin has a palate as sharp as a tack, and this is his primary guide in his work: he follows his intuitions in the cellar and only afterward applies his training in chemistry. More often than not, this confirms what he had expected. He wasted no time in stepping out of his father's shadow, focusing solely on winemaking and continuing to work as his father did in the cellar. Antonin refers to Gilles as his sulphur, with his almost prescient ability to detect problems in the wines before they have appeared. Building on his father's legacy, Antonin encouraged young growers around the region to move to organic viticulture, with the promise that he would buy their fruit to make his wines. And so le Raisin et l'Ange became primarily a négociant house. Gilles kept a couple of hectares for himself, as did Antonin, and the rest was taken over by Samuel Boulay, who had moved into the adjoining cellar from the Loire. This new approach opened windows for Antonin, who could now showcase the diverse terroirs of southern Ardèche and the talents of the region's growers, such as the Ozil brothers and Vincent Fargier of les Deux Terres.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe harvest is intense. Antonin works with a small team to harvest early in the mornings in small crates, and the sight of their iconic yellow Transit zipping through the bending gorges of the Vallée de l'Ibie provokes beeps and hollering as they pass neighbouring cellars. The fruit is sometimes chilled for a day or two at the cellar after harvesting, a technique that helps preserve the fruitiness Antonin cherishes in his wines and precipitates an early, almost pre-carbonic fermentation in the bunches. Conveniently, this also serves as a holding space while the cellar is at capacity! The whites go mainly to the press, sometimes seeing a little time on skins first, and the reds are primarily vatted as whole bunches before pressing in a 1960s Vaslin press from Burgundy. The idea is to make wines that they like to drink themselves: soft and supple in the fruit, digestible, and full of character. Somehow, the languid charms of the region and the winemaker have found a voice in these wines, and the soulful, spirited quality of wines made from well farmed fruit has become their calling card. Antonin always makes the assemblages post fermentation, each year recreating the estate's iconic cuvées like Nedjma from a new configuration of varieties, capturing the typicity of the fruit and the intricacies of the vintage while somehow staying true to the recognisable personality of each wine year after year. Antonin has now taken over Gilles' smallholding of Roussanne, Muscat, and Syrah, along with his tiny cellar below the house, so we're entering a new chapter for this storied estate. With their succulent fruit, effortless drinkability, and irresistible personality, these are wines we always keep close to hand, offering value that has become all too rare these days.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis year the fruit for Nedjma comes from the open, rocky limestone of the southern Ardèche, an arid white landscape of the Bas-Vivarais between the Coiron plateau and the gorges of the Ardèche river. The Roussanne gets a short maceration this vintage and though it's barely perceivable, it adds length and definition in the mouth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Roussanne, Chardonnay, Grenache Blanc, Muscat\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Les Salelles, Ardèche, France\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Le Raisin et l'Ange","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988711264594,"sku":"1700109","price":26.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-nedjma-2024-2023.jpg?v=1793699099"},{"product_id":"parfois-je-monte-a-letage-et-je-me-sens-2018-anders-frederik-steen-and-anne-bruun-blauert","title":"Parfois Je Monte a Letage et Je Me Sens 2018 - Anders Frederik Steen \u0026 Anne Bruun Blauert","description":"\u003cp\u003efrom Anders...\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn over-night direct press of Pinot Noir, close to a half of a year of fermentation outside, then in barriques for another 4 ½ years. We love this wine. The oxidation is just there, but without being too much - so light that it’s still gives space to many other characteristic Pinot Noir flavors and its beautiful acidity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis wine was vinified in Alsace at a small cellar Anders keeps there. Every year, after the harvest in Valvignères, Anders travels to Obermorschwihr to harvest what has been offered by Domaine Laurent Bannwarth. Somehow, this estate remains off the radar of many, despite their pioneering of Qvevri in the region and the radiant purity of their wines. The estae has been biodynamic since 2004, with soil health is fundamental to their philosophy of farming.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the midst of the dynamic and collaborative viticultural and winemaking esprit emanating from the remote valleys of southern Ardèche, Anders and his wife Anne remain distinct among their peers in both ambition and approach. The undeniable individuality of their wines is a result of their deep commitment to their process in the vineyard and cellar techniques developed over 15 years in Valvignères, where Anders first began making wine with the enigmatic Jura vigneron Jean-Marc Brignot at a small cellar in the village in the noughties. Anders had met Jean-Marc during his time working as a sommelier at Noma, and by the time he had opened Relae and Manfreds as chef sommelier with Christian Puglisi, the seeds of this collaborative winemaking project had been sown.\u003cbr\u003eAnders' path to wine was somewhat serendipitous, resulting from a brave decision he took while working as an ambitious young chef in Copenhagen. The bright lights of San Sebastián were an irresistible draw for most of his colleagues, with elBulli in its heyday at the centre of world gastronomy. Swimming against the current, Anders took a job at Noma as a sommelier. For the budding chef, bridging the divide between kitchen and service could only deepen his understanding of cuisine.\u003cbr\u003eThe timing here is important. Pontus Elofsson was the head sommelier at Noma at the time, and the restaurant began serving wines that upheld the philosophy already at work in the kitchen. Anders would never look back.\u003cbr\u003eFirst splitting his time between Valvignères and Copenhagen, Anders became fully immersed in viticulture and winemaking with Jean-Marc. Eventually, after Brignot moved to Japan, Anders moved to southern Ardèche full time and was joined by his wife Anne and their young family, setting up in a tiny, 2,000-year-old cellar at the heart of the village. Initially Anders bought fruit from his neighbour and mentor Gérald Oustric and his wife Jocelyne, who had been farming organically in the village for 40 years and making wines in the way they learned from Jacques Néauport. Anders also rents a small cellar in Alsace, where he heads directly after the harvest in Valvignères every year, buying fruit from the Bannwarth family in Obermorschwihr. They now farm 3 hectares of vines themselves around Valvignères, growing on clay and limestone, with a small holding of Petite Serine growing on a vein of Marne Bleue that goes to their cuvée Les Vignes des Enfants every year.\u003cbr\u003eIn the vineyards, Anders is exacting, refusing to use sulphur or copper, preferring the lactoferments and tisanes he brews from local bush herbs and the seawater he collects from the Mediterranean. In the cellar, the fruit is most often pressed slowly over several days, with Anders determining how each portion of the press will be used by tasting the juice. Fermentation is usually started in fibre, and a long élevage in barrique non-ouillé follows, meaning many of these wines take quite some time to rediscover their balance and be released. The idea is to let the wine go where it wants to go, reading the cues he detects as they evolve over time and following along.\u003cbr\u003eThe results are breathtaking, peerless expressions of Valvignères and Obermorschwihr respectively, wines that remain true to the place they come from while taking an entirely new perspective on what is possible with the ripe fruit of southern Ardèche or the rich, unctuous fruit of Obermorschwihr. Often lightly oxidative and salty in expression, the wines have a complex structure that does not rely on acidity. Anders picks at the very last minute, prioritising phenolic ripeness above all else, building instead on a thread of saltiness and fruit drawn out over these long, thorough presses. Since expanding their cellar a few years back, Anders and Anne have moved to lengthen the élevage in their wines further. The results speak for themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is perhaps the finest cuvee this cellar has ever released. After the harvest in Valvignères each year, Anders heads to Alsace, where he keeps a small cellar. Here he vinifies whatever fruit he can get fro Stéphane Bannwarth, of Domaine Laurent Bannwarth in Obermorschwihr. This cuvée in particular, represents the apex of Anders winemaking methods, repaying his trust in the quality of the Bannwarths farming to sustain the oxidative process with both power and elegance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSomehow, the Bannwarth's estate wines remain off the radar of many, despite their pioneering of Qvevri in the region and the radiant purity of their wines. The estate has been biodynamic since 2004, with soil health is fundamental to their philosophy of farming. Definitely worth seeking out.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pinot Noir\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Valvignères, Ardèche, France\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13.5%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Anders Frederik Steen \u0026 Anne Bruun Blauert","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988711493970,"sku":"26\/000387","price":88.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-parfois-je-monte-a-letage-2018.jpg?v=1793699099"},{"product_id":"pedecastello-bianco-2023-alex-della-vecchia","title":"Pedecastello Bianco 2023 - Alex della Vecchia","description":"\u003cp\u003eBianchetta Trevigiana blended with six PIWI varieties: Solaris, Souvignier Gris, Johanniter, Bronner, Aromera, and Muscaris, in a 50\/50. All the fruit grows over one hectare at 600 metres on alluvial soils from the Piave. Direct press fermentation and ageing in stainless, with bâtonnage throughout winter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSpring flowers, green citrus, and a spry vegetal freshness on the nose. The palate is driven by a chiselled, mountain fresh acidity, with saline and citrus following from the nose, and a supple, lees driven, roundness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlex grew up on his family farm in Belluno, in the northern reaches of Veneto, far from the hulking economy of wine booming from the plains of Treviso to the south. After inheriting some land from his grandfather, Alex initially intended to continue his work as a victualler, producing cured meats from the animals he reared on this inherited land. Having grown up making wine with his grandfather at their farm, Alex wanted to plant some vines so that he could carry on the tradition. In Belluno, the tradition of growing grapes had existed on the south facing terraces of Piave, where vines gres in the old promiscura way,and were mainly used to make wine for the family. That had been washed away with the arrival of oidium, then phylloxera to the hills. Soon after, Piave was a front during the first world war, after which mass emigration emptied thesee mountains of their working population, many travelling to America, Belgium and Switzerland. The Valley floors are at 400 metres in elevation, and farming is on narrow terraces higher up the mountains, so even though it’s warmer these days, the onditions are still challenging for the vines. Alex planted his first parcel of Pinot Noir there were only 60 hectares or so in the region under vine. If it wasn’t for the changing climate there would be none at all, according to Alex himself. After early success with his Pinot, Alex planted varieties of the Veneto like Bianchetta Trevigiana, a handul of PIWIs, and eventually varieties suited to the mountain conditions like petit Arvine. When it came time to make wine, Alex’s timing was serendipitous. He met Ernesto Cattel in the early days of Costadilà, who by chance was looking for some cattle. Alex took his opportunity and negotiated a spot at Ernesto’s cellar where he could vinify his grapes. This was the beginning of a fruitful collaboration between the enthusiastic student and the old master, and Alex worked alongside Ernesto over the years to come, eventually taking over from Ernesto at Costadilà after his untimely passing in 2019. Alex safely guided this now legendary estate through a difficult period before returning his focus to his own project in 2023. Tirelessly curious and eager to learn, Alex has worked with vineyards from across the north of Italy and beyond, absorbing the lessons and techniques he picked up along the way to implement them back at the family farm. In recent years, as his vines have matured, Alex has extended the time his wines age on lees in cask, with sensational results. He also continues to produce his ‘fermo’ and frizzante wines, showcasing a breadth of experience that belies his relatively youth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eBelluno has long been the forgotten story in Veneto’s wines, though as temperatures climb, these mountains in the northern reaches of the region are emerging as a new frontier for viticulture. Belluno’s plantings of vines have been increasing over recent decades, and Alex’s work on his family farm has been on the crest of that wave. Having trained in Conegliano, Alex did not want the soils of his mountain farm to go the same way as the eroding trevigiana hills, so chose to plant PIWIs, with these robust, resilient vines suited to the pressures of growing grapes in these hills. The Bianchetta Trevigiana, a regional variety, was grown here pre-phylloxera.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePIWI varieties are hybrid crosses between vitis vinifera and American or Asian vinestock, before back crossing with vitis vinifera over generations. The idea is to breed vines with natural resistance to disease pressure that produce wines that retain acidity and freshness. While they are not permitted by the DO, we’ll no doubt be seeing alot more of these varieties in the years to come\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Bianchetta Trevigiana, Solaris, Souvignier Gris, Johanniter, Bronner, Aromera, Muscaris\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Belluno, Veneto, Italy\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alex della Vecchia","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988711592274,"sku":"1700640","price":28.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-pedecastello-bianco-2023.jpg?v=1793699098"},{"product_id":"q-blanc-2023-la-vrille-et-le-papillon","title":"Q Blanc 2022 - La Vrille et le Papillon","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom Ugni Blanc vines planted in 1976 on limestone and clay, with production of just 1200 bottles. Hand harvested, with whole bunches going straight to the press. After a light settling, the juice fermented in tank with temperatures controlled, before ageing on fine lees in stainless for 8 months prior to bottling.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNotes of citrus and a fine acidity make this a thirst-quencher of a wine, to be drunk as an aperitif or with a plate of shellfish. Electric Ugni from Géraldine and Méryl!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eI first met Géraldine and Méryl via Anders Frederik Steen and Anne Bruun Blauert, when the couple suggested I tasted with their village neighbours during a visit in 2021. Tasting through the cuves and vats with little conversation, the immediate drinking pleasure of their wines was what struck me that day. Since then, their wines have remained firm favourites, offering outstanding value and remarkably gratifying drinking, a forgotten virtue in modern wine. The couple’s unassuming, matter-of-fact sensibilities makes perfect sense, the poetry is all in the bottle, and the almost physical sensuality of their wines so tricky to articulate\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe couple live at Méryl's old family cellar in Valvignères, across from the local co-op, which Méryl's father helped establish. Méryl first worked as a stagiaire with the Oustric family, whose influence is reflected in the couple's approach today. He then went on to study agriculture in Dijon and oenology in Montpellier, working in Madiran and the Maconnais before returning home to set out on his own. Géraldine grew up in a winemaking family in Burgundy, training in law before eventually returning to wine, studying viticulture and oenology, after which she took an apprenticeship with Philippe and Catherine Jambon. The pair remain characteristically bashful when the pedigree of their training is mentioned. When returning to Valvignères in 2012, they took over Méryl's family cellar and set about establishing a GAEC, inheriting 2.5 hectares of vines around the village that have since increased to 6, mostly straddling the eastern and western flanks of the valley. The varieties are what you might expect - Syrah, Viognier, Grenache Blanc, and Merlot, and Grenache Noir - and some you might not, such as the Ugni Blanc that goes to their stellar Q blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and a handful of hybrids. As part of transhumance, sheep pass through their vineyards twice per year, turning and fertilising the soil, cutting the grasses that grow between the rows, and adding to the biodiversity that thrives in their vineyards. La Vrille et le Papillon, meaning the tendril and the butterfly, is a name inspired by their parcel of Ugni Blanc at the base of the valley, where butterflies thrive through the growing season, a fitting symbol for the couple's endeavours.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eHistorically overlooked and ignored, Valvignères has emerged as an epicentre for progressive viticulture and winemaking in the 21st century. Existing in the shadow of the hulking economy of the Rhone valley, the small valley west of le Teil made its name when Gérald Oustric and his sister Jocelyne decided to cease selling their fruit to the local co-op(which Geralds father helped found in 1919) to begin producing wines themselves. Having farmed organically since the 80s, Gérald had been convinced to make his own wine after several trips to Beaujolais in the 80s, where he met Jacques Neauport, Jules Chauvet, Pierre bonneton et al. This move would have significant domino effects, with Gerald adopting Carbonic maceration for his reds, no filtration or fining, and no sulfitage in his cellar. This freed to small region from the shackles of the establishment in the region and reconnected with the valleys historical winemaking traditions(Valvignères comes from the Roman Vallis Vinaria, meaning valley of vines). Gerald would go on to mentor 15 growers in the region, cultivating a spirit of collaboration and sharing of ideas that existed few other places in France. The wines from cellars in this cluster share an irresistably heady, telluric, and deeply soulful quality that makes them great value and well worth exploring. In terms of geology, we are almost in the south, but noticeably cooler than you might find just 20km south. Situated on what's traditionally known as the Bas Vivarais, the soils are predominantly clay and limestone, with outcrops of marne bleue and basalt.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Ugni blanc\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Valvignères, Ardèche, France\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"La Vrille et le Papillon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988711952722,"sku":"17000148","price":29.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-q-blanc-2022.jpg?v=1793699100"},{"product_id":"sardone-23-24-vins-mercuriales","title":"Sardone 23\/24 - Vins Mercuriales","description":"\u003cp\u003eChardonnay harvested by hand in 2024, on the clay-limestone soils of Cucuron in Vaucluse, with a splash of Ugni Blanc from young vines in Jouques, Bouches-du-Rhône, harvested the previous year. Direct pressing of the Chardonnay, which aged in 600L demi-muid for 12 months sur lie. A touch of colour here, with the Ugni getting 14 days of carbonic maceration before ageing in demi-muid sur lie for 24 months. The assemblage was\u003cbr\u003emade 10 days before bottling. 3,100 bottles produced.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA vibrant, sun-kissed assemblage that channels all that's great in Chardonnay from this corner of France. A kinetic, citrus zest, floral maquis aroma that takes us to a warm summer morning in the Midi, and a wave of fruity acidity and mineral compression on the\u003cbr\u003epalate, framed by the soft phenolic grip of the Ugni.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eBased in the breathtaking troglodyte Caves Cathédrales in Saint Restitut, Drome, Vins Mercuriales is a négociant project started by Antonin Roux and Aymard Caillol in 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAntonin Roux, a Paris based experimental composer, and Aymard Caillol, who runs a wine bar in Marseille, first collaborated as DJs on the circuit in Paris. They were inspired to make wine after a groundbreaking tasting at the BIM fair in Arles, after which they began ordering cases to serve at their parties. The draw to make wine themselves eventually became irresistible, and after staging with Martin Texier the pair produced their first micro cuvées at his cellar in 2019. In 2022, after landing a spot at Les Caves Cathédrales, a vast troglodyte cellar carved from the old stone quarries above Saint-Restitut in the Drôme, they produced their first wines as Vins Mercuriales, sourcing fruit from vineyards to the south. The duo's releases to date reflect their artistic perspective, expressing the ancient rhythms and musicality of the Midi\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fruit for Sardone comes from two Provençal villages an hour apart. The 2024 Chardonnay grows at Cucuron, on the southern slopes of the Luberon in the Vaucluse, while the 2023 Ugni Blanc comes from young vines at Jouques, in the hills north of Aix-en-Provence. Both sit on the clay-limestone soils that run through this stretch of upper Provence, where warm days ripen fruit early but altitude and youth keep the wines fresh. The grapes travel north each harvest to Saint-Restitut in the Drôme Provençale, where they are vinified in the steady coolness of the Caves Cathédrales.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Chardonnay, Ugni Blanc\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Drome Provencale, France\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vins Mercuriales","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54988712313170,"sku":"170852","price":37.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-sardone-23-24.jpg?v=1793699099"},{"product_id":"pierre-de-sisyphe-2020-les-bories-jefferies","title":"Pierre de Sisyphe 2020 - Les Bories Jefferies","description":"\u003cp\u003eBoth varieties grow on the basalt and limestone that surround Caux, growing predominantly in gobelet, with a small portion trellised. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSea Breeze saltiness on the nose, with minerals and lime leaf. Sinuous on the palate, with big mineral compression, this has the fleshiness of a ripe white peach on the palate. A beaming acidity keeps things fresh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWine writer Aaron Ayscough described this cuvée as a Grand Cru of the Hérault, with its intensity, depth, and complex structure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the spirit of his mentors Bernhard Bellahsen and Antony Tortul, Joe showcases here the dynamism of these long overlooked varieties and their capacity for greatness on the right sites. Where lava once flowed from the Volcan de Beaume into limestone valleys, these hardened flows today form the hills on which Joe's vines grow, outlasting the limestone that is now dispersed in chunks around them as they grow. Referred to as a Grand Cru of the Hérault by wine writer Aaron Ayscough, this cuvée has a sinuous tension and luminous vitality that is deeply mediterranean, allowed to realise its potential through Joe's delicate work in the vineyard and cellar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Terret Blanc, Terret Gris, Ugni Blanc\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Caux, Languedoc, France\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABV:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13%\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Les Bories Jefferies","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55039948063058,"sku":"25\/000803","price":33.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-pierre-de-sisyphe-2022-2020.jpg?v=1793699097"},{"product_id":"bianco-2024-samodia","title":"Bianco 2024 - Samodia","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is brimming with personality and charm, channelling the ancient traditions of the valley with its sylvan complexity and mineral density in the mouth. A thread of bitterness on the finish adds gusto and class.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGood with:\u003c\/strong\u003e tortellini in brodo, or mortadella with warm flatbread.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom three parcels of old vines growing at the top of the valley, about 500 metres above sea level, where these vines were planted almost a century ago. All the fruit was pressed into concrete, where it fermented and aged over winter as a single mass.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSamodia is a collaborative winemaking project founded by Jacopo Stigliano and Flavio Restani, both from Valsamoggia, where their project is based. A valley in the foothills of the Apennines in Emilia-Romagna, Samodia is the old Latin name for the valley, a historical reference that tells the story of what these inspired friends aim to achieve through their work. Existing at the frontier between Bologna and Modena, the valley is a melting pot of the viticultural traditions of the wider region, preserving in its vineyards a tether to Valsamoggia’s longstanding viticultural legacy. Taking inspiration from the old masters of the region, Antonio Ognibene, Giorgio Erioli and Vittorio Graziano, Samodia represents a passing of the baton of sorts, carrying the gestures developed over millennia in both the vineyards and the cellar, forward into the next generation. The first vintage for Samodia was in 2023, when the two friends rented three hectares of vines at the top of the valley, between 400 and 500 metres above sea level, on the limestone and clay soils that predominate here.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTheir idea is to produce three wines each year, a red, white and sparkling. In this approach they oppose the commodification of wine and the faddish forces that shape contemporary wine discourse. They make vino per tutti, made the old way, using the old techniques inherited from the generations gone by. With many of these old vineyards being uprooted and replanted with tillage, or simply abandoned, their work is vital to the preservation of this valley's identity in the face of encroaching homogenisation and urbanity. Producing just 13,000 to 20,000 bottles a year, these are among the most rewarding wines we've tasted in recent years. They are wines for any occasion, as intended.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe place\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSamodia is the old Latin name for Valsamoggia, which is itself named for the Samoggia river that runs down through the Apennines between Bologna and Modena. The old vines that grow here follow the Emilian tradition of mixed farming, with fruit trees and several varieties all planted on one site. Up here, at the top of the valley, the temperatures allow for slower ripening than below, helping to preserve acidity in this warm climate. Valsamoggia's position at the border between Bologna and Modena is described by the varieties planted here, particularly the trebbiano vines. Trebbiano was used in medieval times to describe vigorous varieties, about the only characteristic these two share. Trebbiano Modenese is known for its edgy acidity, often used in the production of balsamic vinegar. Trebbiano Romagnolo is a true workhorse with a relatively neutral profile, used most commonly in sparkling wines or easy drinking whites. They form part of the architecture for this wine, framing grapes like Albana, considered the great golden grape of Romagna with its almond and stone fruit register, Montuni with its soft citrus, and pignoletto's almond skin bitterness. So much history in one bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pignoletto, Albana, Montuni, Trebbiano Romagnolo, Trebbiano Modenese, Moscato\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRegion:\u003c\/strong\u003e Valsamoggia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Samodia","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55040265650514,"sku":"25\/000932","price":26.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1116\/0246\/7154\/files\/bw-samodia-bianco-2025-2024.jpg?v=1793699099"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.brianswines.ie\/collections\/white.oembed","provider":"Brian's Wines","version":"1.0","type":"link"}