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We’re very pleased to be heading back to Bristol for another summer trade tasting at the beautiful Marmo alongside our pals Beatti & Roberts, Otros Vinos, Roland Wines and Wright's Wines 🌞
On Monday, May 12 we’ll be pouring from 10am to 4pm with a brace of new arrivals and tips for the sun, email us to RSVP if you’d like to attend.
See you there!
We are so pleased to release a trio of new 2023 wines from Lucie & Jules at Ham Street, Kent.
These releases are a delicate, elegant expression of their biodynamic farmed vines at the edge of the Romney Marshes. Resplendent in new labels featuring the wildflowers found growing in the vines, it's a thrill to have these available for spring and summer. All movements in the cellar are by gravity, and all fruit was basket pressed.
CHARDONNAY BACCHUS is the result of direct-press Chardonnay blended with seven-day macerated Bacchus after they had both spent 10 months in fibreglass and barrel. Alive, mineral and with a lovely blast of ripe citrus. For the PINOT GRIS, fruit was hand de-stemmed and macerated for 11 days before being pressed to a single three year old burgundy barrel for nine months. Electric & saline, with a beautifully integrated twist of volatile acidity for lift, one that unfolds beautifully - only 299 bottles produced!
The new vintage of their FIELD BLEND is the most delicate iteration of the wine so far, intricate fruit, great length and with its signature acidity present & correct - Pinot Meunier & Noir make up 70% of the 2023 blend, with the remainder comprising Chardonnay (15%) Bacchus (10%) and a splash of Pinot Gris (5%). 9 days together as a semi-carbonic maceration, the wine was aged 8 months in old barrels. A thriller we can't wait to be drinking in the sun.
Join us on Monday April 28 as we pour new wines for the trade at the beautiful Goodbye Horses in De Beauvoir.
Alongside our good pals Otros Vinos, from 10am - 4pm we'll be pouring wines for the sun, including the new nourishing 2023 terroir Rieslings from Yann Durrmann in Alsace.
Drop us an email to RSVP, and we'll see you there!
Artwork by Ben Walker.
With spring arrives one of our favourite marks of the season: new Alsace wines from Yann Durrmann! We are thrilled to have a brace of new terroir-sourced Rieslings – each a direct representation of their soil – including a new parcel over limestone. With these, we also receive a full house of 2023 releases, available from tomorrow.
2023 was sunny and dry for Yann in Andlau, but with careful cultivation of the vineyard aimed at acidity retention (allowing grasses to grow wild, managing yields to keep vigour, and letting the vine’s canopy grow higher to create a shadow down the rows) the resulting wines have a real freshness and spring in their step. Fermentations were slower than usual for the Riesling, but showing no signs of volatility during their gestation, Yann was able to eschew any sulphur use as he prefers.
To taste these Rieslings with Yann is to gain an understanding of the impact of a soil type on a variety. Picked at more or less the same time and made identically (pressed directly to stainless steel tank, bottled just as fermentation completes) the variation between them is always exciting.
On Grés - compacted sandstone -the variety expresses itself with pithy citrus aromatics, usually the easiest drinking of Yann’s Rieslings, with a pleasing acidity. On Yann’s sandy Granite terroir, it expresses itself with more floral aromatics, and a pleasant white-almond bitterness, complex and long.
On Schist, Riesling makes its terroir apparent with a livewire acidity and snap, feeling chalky and mineral. A more tense style compared to the aromatic Grés and Granite, with white pepper and a very pleasing brittle tannin this year.
For the first time we have Yann’s Riesling sur Calcaire. A limestone parcel he planted 10 years ago that is finally at a high enough yield for its own terroir cuvée. Yann, forever humble despite his experience, speaks with curiosity about this wine to complete the set: “Riesling on Calacaire is new to me, the other soils I have been working with my whole life, so I understand these. I wouldn’t like to say definitively how calcaire shows itself, I’m still learning. It’s certainly on the citrus, perhaps lime, but has more acidity and salinity than the sandy Grés and Granite parcels.”
Available now, we will be pouring the beautiful new Rieslings at upcoming April trade tastings in Manchester & London - being the only occasion we will open the more limited Riesling sur Grés and Riesling sur Calcaire!
DOMAINE DURRMANN
FRANCE, ANDLAU, ALSACE
SPARKLING
2023 - Grizzling Négoce - Riesling
2023 - Gaz de Schiste - Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris
WHITE
2023 - ron-rond le litron blanc Négoce - Pinot blanc, Riesling, Gewurz, Sylvaner
2023 - Pinot blanc - Pinot Blanc
2023 - Zegwur - Gewurztraminer
2023 - Riesling Sur Grès
2023 - Riesling Sur Granit, Lieu-Dit Rebbuehl
2023 - Riesling Sur Calcaire
2023 - Riesling Sur Schistes, Lieu-Dit Rebberg
2022 - Grand Cru Kastelberg - Riesling
RED
2023 - ron-rond le litron rouge - Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris
2023 - Rouge de Pinot Noir - Pinot Noir
"we had a very nice time here and glorious weather"
Join us on Monday, April 14 for a spring trade tasting at the beautiful Flawd in Manchester beside the marina.
We'll be pouring alongside our good friends Otros Vinos, Wayward Imports and Wright's Wines from 10am to 4pm. For our part, we'll be pouring a tranche of new terroir-focused Rieslings from Yann Durrmann, sunshine-wines from Titch Hill & Quatro Mustachios, and the triumphant 2023 cuvées from Xaviere Hardy among others.
Drop us an email to RSVP, and we'll see you there.
Poster by Ben Walker
We're thrilled to release a new wine from Sophie Evans, the result of a summer jaunt in Franconia - her 2023 Rotling!
In August 2023, with the hard work of that year's sodden growing season mostly behind her in the UK and looking forward to helping her friend Emily Campeau (of Wein Goutte) with harvest, Sophie downed tools to make a trip back to Franconia.
Thankful for her friends (and the opportunity to stop worrying about the UK summer and her broken-down tractor) Sophie spent a week helping Emily with harvest and picked herself a few rows of organic Muller Thurgau & Domina to make a 'Rotling' - a rosé of red and white varieties (in Germany rosés are only allowed to be labelled as such when produced from red grapes exclusively, they coined the term Rotling for these outlaw red/white blends.) With the varieties growing side by side, it made sense to Sophie, who loves field blends, has great fondness for the secret potential of Domina, and with the two varieties growing beside a forest she wanted to capture that special feeling of the parcel rather than separate them.
Sophie's Rotling is an aromatic, textural delight - bags of fruit and alive with acidity, it's the result of macerating the varieties for just 2 days, then 6 months rest in old barrel before bottling. Pretty in pink, Rotling is available now and we're going to be drinking plenty of it whilst the sun shines.
Sophie will be joining us on Monday 24th to pour Rotling for the first time in the UK - drop us a reply to RSVP.
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.
Xaviere describes her 2023 vintage as a "true miracle" - especially in contrast to some of her neighbours who lost huge amounts in battles with mildew given such a wet growing season and a humid summer. Xaviere was blessed with quality and quantity - a reward that brought its own challenge: accommodating all that fruit in her tiny cellar.
She's thrilled to have had this challenge to handle, particularly as 2024 brought catastrophic losses after incessant rain and cold, losing up to 60% of her yield. This is the harsh reality of climate change and the dramatic swings it is presenting growers with, particularly in regions like the Loire.
But with plenty of juice in 2023 Xaviere was able to expand her range from her usual four cuvées to six. A joyful collection of wines with a sense of energy and generosity.
The new wines are all available now and detailed below:
WHITE
NEW 2023 - AWA - Pinot Gris
Pressed directly, with 60% of the blend aged in 5-10-year-old barrels, and the remainder in stainless steel tank for 10 months before assemblage and bottling with no additions. Incredibly long and mineral, elegant.
SKINS
NEW 2023 - Michel'Ange - Pinot Gris
From the same pick as AWA. A short 24-hour maceration of fruit destemmed by hand on a wicker de-stemmer. Aged in a combination of both barrel and tank before blending after 10 months. Usually a white but the warm, ripe vintage has yielded more colour from such a short maceration, a wine with body and complexity.
NEW 2023 - Jeannette - Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir
A direct pressing of Pinot Gris (two-thirds) & Pinot Noir picked and vinified together. Aged in tank and barrel for 10 months before bottling with no additions. Generous, complex, serious and long.
ROSE
NEW 2023 - Baraka - Grolleau
Grolleau pressed directly and fermented in tank to preserve the fruit before gently racking to barrel to fill out its edges and allow its complexity to develop. Taut, fleshy fruit, pithy citrus and salinity.
RED
NEW 2023 - Ma Garance Voyageuse - Grolleau
Continuing Xaviere's masterful blend of three vinifications she perfected for this wine in 2020 – one-third as a carbonic maceration aged in stainless steel, one-third de-stemmed and aged in old barrels, the final third comprises a tank layered with 30% whole bunch fruit to 70% destemmed – she believes it lends the wine balance and synergy. Deep with fruit, soft and easy with just the finest frame of tannin.
NEW 2023 - XH2 - Pinot Noir
An infusion maceration in tank: 30% whole bunch, 70% de-stemmed for eight days, with two thirds aged in old barrels and the remainder in stainless steel. The two vinifications are assembled after 10 months before bottlling with no additions. A generous and round Pinot with supple tannins and elegant length and minerality.
Join us in two weeks as we head once again to Ducksoup, Soho alongside our good friends Otros Vinos to pour spring wines for the trade from 10am til 4pm.
On Monday March 24 we'll be pouring new arrivals from Sophie Evans, Xaviere Hardy, plus sunshine wines courtesy of Andi Weigand, Roche Buissiere and more.
Drop us an email with the time you'd like to pop by to RSVP.
Look forward to seeing you there!
BRAND BROS & BAUMBERGER
At the end of December we received a message from Daniel & Jonas telling us excitedly about their new creation - inspired by their partners Pauline & Melanie becoming mothers and in collaboration with Pauline, her brother Carl & their Baumberger family - Freija is the first edition of their new alcohol-free sparkling!
Experimenting and tasting a lot over the last two years whilst both Melanie & Pauline were pregnant and on the search for something delicious to drink, they hoped to use their organic, regenerative agriculture and zero-additions approach in the cellar to create a drink without alcohol that didn't sacrifice on flavour and complexity, or compromise their philosophy. With a huge focus on agroforestry in both families' vineyards, Freija lends an outlet to the literal fruits of these labours, and acts as another talking point around production and consumption.
Freija No.1 is a complex & wild sparkling, consisting of herbal teas made with foraged ingredients from both the Baumberger and Brand family vineyards, their own grapes and fruit, lacto-fermented, blended and carbonated. The ingredient list is short, and completely natural - a sight you rarely see on many no-alcohol alternatives.
It's properly delicious, and we're so pleased to have it available on the list now.
An arrival from Lori Haon is always cause for celebration, his juicy, dynamic expressions of the Gard are a joy to drink, particularly as the days brighten and spring approaches.
At Domaine du Petit Oratoire, nestled into the limestone at Valliguieres – ten minutes west of Tavel – Lori farms 19 hectares biodynamically across a cluster of parcels.
In talking with Lori about the new wines, it's apparent that the erratic nature of climate change is keeping him on his toes: the two recent vintages that we've received wines from (22 and 23) are years of stark contrast. 2023 was among the wettest on record, with many of his older friends and neighbours in the village admitting they had never seen such incessant thunderstorms and rainfall. With a deluge from spring through to summer, Lori and the team battled mildew with 13 sprays that season (twice as many as he would generally do) and only saved 50% of that year's yield. A completely different story to 2022 - a remarkably dry year, with one of the hottest summers on record. In a dramatic comparison to 2023, no sprays were required at all.
Lori's been keenly observing the region's varieties, and how they have fared in the climactic mood swings of recent years. A huge supporter of indigenous varieties – to the extent that he intended to stop working with his Syrah (a variety planted in the region after the war) – it has been these sodden conditions that have been most difficult for indigenous varieties like Grenache, Cinsault and Carignan. Indeed in 2023, they lost nearly all their Grenache. Syrah meanwhile, which struggles in the heat for Lori, proved to be remarkably resistant to mildew, and was one of the few varieties with a healthy yield in 2023. He now admits his appreciation for having plenty planted!
It has meant changing some of the vinifications for the 2023 reds - infusing what survived of his whole-bunch indigenous varieties in direct-press Syrah to disguise its dominant Syrah-ness.
Alongside new editions of the reds BOUCHON TROP and COPAINS, we're very pleased to have two special cuvees - OXYMORE is a Chardonnay aged oxidatively under flor. A wine he didn't make to sell, hoping just to have a nice little Chardonnay to drink with the team, but as the flor developed (much to Lori's surprise, it's a rare occurrence in the south of France) - he decided to leave the wine to age, and so pleased with the result, has released it as a one-off cuvée. For now at least... "_I do hope to be able to recreate the accident at least one more time in my lif_e".
HORS SERIE is another special wine, Lori's love letter to the high-acid wines of Alsace that changed his pallet for good: "Before I studied in Alsace, I couldn't drink wines with lots of acidity. Alsace, the Jura, Savoie, I couldn't enjoy these. But after my year in Alsace and tasting so many delicious wines, little by little, I developed this love of acidity. And now, I really love acidity. So when we got the domaine, I decided to plant a little parcel of Pinot Noir & Riesling and each year since 2020 we mix them together as a four-day infusion to have a very juicy wine, with great acidity - it's very different from the others."
With climate change tearing up the rulebook each time Lori has got to grasps with a new challenge, he's very thankful for the stability that the practices of biodynamics have brought him:
"What I love about biodynamics, is that to spray the preparations, we have to do this on foot. So that's me and the team, on foot through all the 19 hectares of vineyards, teaching us to really observe, learn, and understand what is happening with the plants. It can't be done from a tractor, so we gain much more of an insight from our time in the vines. I think it's a little bit like when a human talks with a psychologist: it helps with stress, internal traumas, the little things that we can't always see: it's very holistic, and we start to learn more of the vine's needs. We're in conversation."
"It has been really improving their defences against mildew - despite the losses - they are much more disease resistant. And more than this, in the cellar now our fermentations are so clean, and clear. We basically have no reduction, they always smell so beautiful. The plants are happier, and healthy, and it shows in the wines."
AVAILABLE NOW
WHITE
2020 - Oxymore - Chardonnay
RED
2022 - T'as poussé le bouchon trop loin! - Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah, Carignan
2023 - Copains - Cinsault, Grenache, Carignan, Syrah
2023 - Hors-Série - Pinot Noir, Riesling
Join us in De Beauvoir Town next month as we pour new wines for the trade alongside our pals Otros Vinos (themselves joined by Marius Long of Domaine Sense Pressa)
On Monday Feb 24th we'll be at the lovely Goodbye Horses, from 10:00 - 16:00, pouring wines with an optimistic promise of the approaching spring!
If you work in the trade and would like to taste, drop us an email to RSVP with the preferred time you'd like to join.
New wines from Melaric have just landed!
In Saumur-Puy-Notre-Dame, one couple has surely had a bigger impact on the area's recent winemaking culture than any other: Melanie Cunin and Aymeric Hillaire. Picking up where Philippe Gourdon left off- who retired in the mid-2000s and leased his biodynamic vineyards to the pair- they've since found a cluster of young growers to take on the remaining parcels.
With Melanie teaching winemaking nearby (counting David of La Folle Berthe and Beatriz of Clos Kixhaya among her students ) and Aymeric offering experience and assistance to budding winemakers in the region, they've worked tirelessly to support new projects in the area.
There's a genuine sense of community in Puy-Notre-Dame, with growers working together to support each other's projects. Pauline from L'Austral credits much of the energy to Aymeric and Melanie:
"Working with them was very special, it was fascinating. We're very happy here. There's no competition, everyone is here to help one another, sharing knowledge. If people drink the wines from Saumur Puy-Notre-Dame they'll discover how special a region it is. Aymeric is very passionate about that, he really pushes the movement for discovering our location."
Working a surface of just under five hectares over Tuffeau and Silex farmed according to biodynamics, the wines of Domaine Melaric continue to be a skilled demonstration of the possibilities available at this southern tip of Saumur. Work in the cellar is careful and considered, favouring slow presses, long fermentations and ageing in the caves, with minimal sulphur use.
We have a handful of new arrivals from Melanie & Aymeric available now from their recent vintages:
SPARKLING
2022 - Globules Rose - Cab Franc
From a parcel located on the southern slope of the cherry orchard of Puy Notre Dame, with a silt clay top soil over chalk. Pressed directly, fermented for 6 weeks, bottled with 20g/l residual sugar to continue as a pet nat. Disgorged after 24 months on lees.
WHITE
2023 - Sac de Billes - Chenin
From a parcel farmed by friends in Montreuil Bellay (8km from Puy Notre Dame), young vines on sandy gravel over clay. Whole-bunch pressed after selection, fermentation and ageing for 8 months in fibreglass tanks. Bottled unfiltered, with 15mg/l sulphur added at bottling.
2022 - Billes de Roche - Chenin
Billes de Roche Blanc comes from a single parcel of 1.4 hectares. The vines are between 30 - 50 years old. The plot is located at the top of the Cerisaie hill on its eastern slope, with 30 to 80 cm of silty to sandy clay over yellow tuffeau. Whole-bunch pressed after selection, aged 12 months in 228-500l barrels and 4 additional months in tank. Unfiltered, less than 20mg/l sulphur at bottling.
2021 - Billes de Roche Blanc (Magnum) - Chenin
2021 - Clos de La Cerisaie - Chenin
A blend of two small plots (0.7 ha) of Chenin aged between 45 and 50 years old. The vines have been grown organically since 1998. Located at the bottom of the slope of the Cerisaie hill, on its eastern slope. A little silty clay over white tuffeau. Whole-bunch pressed after selection, slow fermentation and ageing in a combination of 228l - 500l Burgundy barrels and a 500l Stockinger. Racked from barrel to tanks after 24 months, bottled unfiltered with 15mg/l sulphur at bottling.
SWEET
2010 - Liquoreux de La Cerisaie - Chenin
Made only when conditions are conducive to the full development of botrytis in their Chenin Blanc. Three weeks after harvest of the still wines, they return to all the parcels to pick what fruit remains. During the first pass these were observed with 30% botrytis, with full botrytis after two weeks. An 18 hour press to extract what little juice is present in the fruit, the wine is settled lightly before transferring to Burgundy barrels. The 2010 Liquoreux was racked from barrel in May 2014 after 30 months of ageing, before bottling with 30mg/l sulphur. Only 600 bottles produced.
Join us in 4 weeks as we pour new wines for the trade alongside our pals Otros Vinos, Wright's Wines, Wayward Imports and Beattie & Roberts.
On Monday Feb 17th we'll be at the beautiful new Isca in Levenshulme, from 10:00 - 16:00, pouring wines with an optimistic promise of the approaching spring!
If you work in the trade and would like to swing by, drop us a DM to RSVP.
We're so pleased to begin the year with new wines from Celine & Alexandre at Domaine Balansa, who make wonderfully precise, elegant wines from their patchwork of old vines over soft brown schist in the hills of the Hautes-Corbières.
Celine & Alexandre farm 14 hectares biodynamically, on parcels up to 400m above sea level, centenarian vines that have been in Celine's family for several generations. Until she returned home in 2013, the Peyre family sold their fruit to the local winemaking co-op. Celine had vision for these old vines though, and the pair have been doing vinification themselves since.
Each wine is a snapshot of a single vineyard, the whole collection painting a picture of Celine & Alex's surface in the hills. Work in the cellar is gentle and precise, wines are aged simply in concrete tanks, old barrels and bespoke terracotta amphora, sulphur use is kept to an absolute minimum at bottling, nothing is filtered or fined.
Given the name, Celine & Alex are always aiming for balance, trying to produce wines of substance whilst retaining tension and freshness, hoping to reflect the extremes their old vines have battled over the last 100 + years.
WHITE
2022 - Coume de Maliès - Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Vermentino, Carignan Blanc, Carignan Gris
From a 250m elevated co-planted parcel on schist, limestone and a little clay. Three days as whole-bunches in the cold room, fermented in stainless steel, aged 6 months in concrete. Unfined and unfiltered.
ROSE/RED
2023 - Peche de Rozies - Grenache Noir, Syrah
Named for the vineyards location beneath the Pech de Roziès mountain, with bat boxes recently installed, pressed directly after two days in the cold room, fermented in stainless steel. 4/5ths aged in tank, with 1/6th in demi-muid, both for 6 months
2023 - Vinhota - LLedoner Pelut, Grenache Noir
From the highest vineyard at 400m over pure schist with very little top-soil, with one day in the cold room, five days carbonic maceration, aged for 6 months with half in tank and half in barrel.
2022 - Bel Soula - Carignan, Grenache Noir, Syrah
Another parcel over soft brown schist at 400m elevation, Bel Soula has a 10 day carbonic maceration, and six months in concrete before bottling.
2022 - Can del Rey - Carignan, Grenache Noir, Syrah
From an incredibly steep vineyard on loose, flaky schist at 300m, comprising a centenarian co-planting of Carignan, Grenache and Syrah. Carignan and Grenache have a 17-day carbonic maceration, whilst the Syrah (just 10% of the blend) is de-stemmed and macerated separately. Aged for a year in barrels, before blending and bottling.
