Thrilling New Wines from Xaviere Hardy

LES TERRES BLEUES - XAVIERE HARDY

60km north of Nantes in the village of La Chappelle-Glain, Xaviere Hardy makes nuanced, delicate wines from an isolated 1.5 hectares on blue schist, (hence Les Terres Bleues).

After close analysis of the terroir, and lobbying the local council to allow her to do so: Xaviere planted her vines in 2013. Being the only vineyard for miles around and with no precedent to follow, she focused her efforts on Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Grolleau, trained in the seldom-seen (in the Loire) Albarello style to help with sun exposure.

Working in such a unique way isn't the easiest path, but the wines are clearly worth it.

2022 marked a fairly triumphant year for Xaviere, with three long nights battling the threat of frost in early Spring, the vines remained well-protected. Come summer, with strong heat waves in the region, she dilligently sprayed her plants with chamomile and yarrow to help them cope with the drought. Benefitting hugely from the vines being trained on stakes, the height of the canopy created great shade, with the fruit seeing no sign of dehydration.

Good rain two weeks before harvest led to perfect ripening before a beautiful harvest in terms of both quantity and quality. Given the struggles Xaviere has faced in recent years, working incredibly hard to make the best of a tricky situation, its a true joy to see her finishing a vintage very happy with the resulting fruit.

The wines are a beautiful reflection of a good year, and are available now:

AVAILABLE NOW

WHITE

2022 - AWA - Pinot Gris

A beautiful vintage for the Pinot Gris, managing to be both concentrated yet fresh and energetic. Incredibly long, textured. A triumph.

ROSE

2022 - Baraka - Grolleau

The 2022 Baraka has the profile of a Blanc de Noirs with just a little colour, waxy, generous and long. Pithy citrus with a very fine line of tannin, beautiful texture and finish.

RED

2022 - Ma Garance Voyageuse - Grolleau

Assembled this year from three different vinifications of her Grolleau parcels, one de-stemmed and macerated before ageing in barrique, one as a 70:30 blend of de-stemmed and whole-bunch, and another as a proper carbonic maceration- both aged in tank. Blended together after 9 months and bottled with no additions.

2022 - XH² - Pinot Noir

Incredibly fine, beautifully pure and expressive. Deep, pure fruited with a brilliant fine line of tannin. A brief, 7 day fermentation (Xaviere's Pinot is often a very fast fermentation)

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A British Wine Fair: 03/03/24 - Quatro Mustachios

Nine days to go before the British Wine Fair with Isca, Where The Light Gets In and Bedrock on March 3rd! Open to all, the fair will be an opportunity for everyone to taste, learn, share stories and celebrate the community blossoming around UK wine. Tickets available via WTLGI below!

Among our UK producers joining will be Sam & Dave from Quatro Mustachios !

📸 Sam Bunker of Quatro Mustachios (and Titch Hill) Bedrock at Ham Street 2023 by Bryan McComb

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Meeting whilst studying at Plumpton in 2017; Sam Bunker & David Haynes officially started their 'international wine collective' Quatro Mustachios in 2020.

Working at vineyards across Europe, alongside the 3rd and 4th Mustachios - Teo Vitsas & Matthias Altmann - the four produced the first collaborative wine under the Quatro Mustachios tag in Austria at Matthias' cellar.

Sam & Dave later produced two more wines in Catalunya and Ribeira Sacra in 2021, before returning home to the UK, to focus on their mutual love of hybrids/PIWI's.

The first UK releases for Quatro Mustachios were produced in 2022 with zero additions in Sussex, using fruit from a 50-year-old vineyard in Somerset, and the other varieties coming from a vineyard on clay over sandstone in East Sussex.

Their wines are huge fun, a testament to intuitive, experimental winemaking and the wild potential of PIWIs in the right hands

A British Wine Fair: 03/03/24 - Offbeat

The countdown continues to the British Wine Fair on March 3rd with ISCA , Where The Light Gets In and Bedrock - 10 days to go! Tickets are available via the link in our bio, the fair is open to all, and we can't wait to welcome you there.

A handful of some of the most exciting producers working on our shores today gathered together to pour their wines in celebration of a blossoming community of enthusiastic and passionate makers & drinkers!

Among our producers joining will be Nicola & Daniel at Offbeat - who we're very excited to release brand new cuvees from later this year. Watch this space!

📸 Nic & Dan at Bedrock at Ham Street, Summer 2023.

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For those unfamiliar, Offbeat is the exciting project from Nicola & Daniel Ham, started in 2018 as a creative outlet, quickly becoming a full-time family operation. Both marine biologists, Dan was bitten by the winemaking bug while living in New Zealand as Nicola completed her PhD.

Since 2020 Dan and Nicola have been making the wines in their own cellar, a converted barn just outside Salisbury. They produce delicate and dynamic wines with no additions, using fruit from trusted growers with shared values. Since 2022, all fruit is organically or biodynamically grown.

A British Wine Fair: 03/03/24 - Ham Street

We're very excited to be heading to Stockport in less than two weeks for a British Wine Fair on March 3: a collaboration with Isca, Where The Light Gets In along with ourselves and Bedrock .

They'll be opening the doors at WTLGI to over 10 of the most forward-thinking, committed winemakers and growers working in the country at the moment. Nearly all of the growers we work with will be joining, including Lucie from Ham Street who we'll soon be releasing new wines from!

Portrait of Lucie at Bedrock 2023, in her own vineyard by Bryan McComb.

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Ham Street Wines is the project of husband & wife team Lucie & Jules, who planted four hectares of vines in 2019 on the edge of the Romney Marsh.

Certified organic, working according to biodynamic principles and following regenerative agricultural practices, the pair have a keen understanding that improving soil health and not upsetting the natural balance is the key to healthy fruit, and happy wines. Their first zero-sulphur releases were made in collaboration with Dan & Nic at Offbeat, and the build of their winery on the farm was completed in time to welcome the 2023 harvest.

Who Durr-mann? Yann Durrmann!

In anticipation of new 2022 cuvées arriving from the Durrmann family of Andlau, we're very pleased to announce that Yann himself will be landing in London at the beginning of March, to pour across his range at Ducksoup on Monday, March 4.

A tasting for the trade, Yann will be pouring from 10am until 5pm and we'd encourage you to seize the rare opportunity to pop down to meet Yann, and learn firsthand the terroir of Andlau. We love these wines, but they become particularly special when placed in the correct geographical context with the help of Yann.

We really hope you can join us, please RSVP via the button below or email.

Still Life: New from Domaine Hugo

DOMAINE HUGO - HUGO STEWART & DANIEL HAM
ENGLAND, SOUTH WEST, WILTSHIRE

Here's a rare one from Domaine Hugo! A wine we've been eagerly anticipating since we were first lucky enough to try it, we're pleased to be releasing the one-off cuvee: TWO TIMES A HALF

After the blend for the 2020 traditional method was finalised, Hugo & Dan kept aside two barrels of the wine. Either for a future experiment or as reserve for another vintage, it never hurts to have spare wine tucked away.

With the barrels not being topped up over their 2 years of ageing, a little flor had begun to develop. Enjoying the progression of the wine so much, they decided to bottle some as a limited release: half of each barrel (hence the name)was assembled and bottled on August 12, 2022, whilst the other halves were combined and saved as reserve wine for the future.

With a total of only one barrel (or two half-barrels...) produced, we can welcome the first still wine to be released from the Domaine Hugo project! Individually labelled with handmade paper produced from textile scraps in Manchester. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Available now!

FOR WHOLESALE ENQUIRIES: HELLO@WINESUTB.COM

Hugo portrait by Bryan McComb
Paper by Lauren Smith
Label by Ben Walker

A Tasting at Ducksoup with Jonas Brand

BRAND BROS - DANIEL & JONAS BRAND

On Monday, January 22 we'll be teaming up with our pal Roland Wines for our first tasting of the year at Ducksoup‌ Soho ! A tasting for the trade, from 10am until 4pm, please RSVP if you'd like to attend.

We're very pleased to also have Jonas Brand with us for the day, to open as many of the Brand‌ Bros wines as we can.

If you haven't been lucky enough to meet Jonas and hear firsthand his enthusiasm and knowledge for agriculture and winemaking, we'd heartily recommend jumping at the chance. Those who have had the opportunity will know this isn't one to miss.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Special Reds from Barouillet

CHÂTEAU BAROUILLET - VINCENT ALEXIS
FRANCE, SOUTH WEST, BERGERAC

As a last-minute Christmas-tip, the new vintages of Hecate & Larcin have arrived from Vincent at Château Barouillet in Bergerac!

A pair of special cuvees both arriving from the fresh 2021 vintage, LARCIN is from parcels of rich clay over limestone, carbonic Merlot as the majority of the blend, cut with a little Malbec macerated for 6 days. HECATE is a single-parcel selection of the oldest vines in Pecharmant, grown over white clay and flint, beautifully balanced and profound following a two-week mille-feuille maceration and 12 months ageing in both terracotta and concrete egg.

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Vincent, Basile, Alex, and a famous Crow.

Incoming: JP Rietsch + Konni And Evi

With the arrival of special wines to both our portfolios that we have been eagerly anticipating, Otros Vios and ourselves thought the occasion warranted one more trade tasting before the close of 2023.

So - this Monday, December 4 we return to our beloved Ducksoup, Soho to pour the latest wines of JP Rietsch and Konni & Evi - wines we truly cannot wait to open - whilst Otros showcase the new wines of Marius Long , Château Baby Girl and Contsantina Sotelo.

For the trade only, please RSVP via email and we'll get you booked in - we'll be pouring from 10am - 4pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

FOR WHOLESALE ENQUIRIES: HELLO@WINESUTB.COM

A Winemaker's Lunch : Titch Hill at Papi

On Sunday the 3rd of December, our pals at Papi will play host to Alex and Sam from Titch Hill, pouring their thrilling first vintage. There'll be a Papi lunch on show with all the trimmings and Alex and Sam will be in situ to pour and chat about their wines. We can think of few better ways to spend a Sunday, in the relatively safe hands of such passionate people.

Open to all, bookings are live now and available above, it'll be a great occasion to celebrate wine, food and stories.

To learn more about the project directly, you can head to Alex & Sam’s website: https://www.titchhill.com/