This 2001 Ermitage Le Meal is made from 100% Syrah from 30 year old vines that are grafted in-situ on terraces of rounded pebbles with perfect southern exposure. Aged in barrel (30% to 50% new barrels each year) for 14 to 18 months, the nose displays characteristics of small blackberries with nuances of leather. A powerful palate shows well-integrated tannins and oak. Designed to age for the longterm and it certainly has! 23 years old and still many years left at its peak.
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2018 Les Amandiers, AOP Minervois la Liviniere, Château Maris
£11500Add to BasketPerhaps the world’s greenest wine project, Château Maris is located within the of AOP Minervois La Livinière in the heart of the Languedoc, where the Mediterranean sea and the Pyrenees mountains come together. Winemaker Robert Eden is strongly committed to sustainable agriculture and follows organic and biodynamic principles.
The 2018 Les Amandiers is made with the grapes coming from a single parcel of just one hectare from some of the estates oldest vines in La Livinière.
This exceptional vintage has a very limited yield. Made predominantly with Syrah grapes, this wine offers a wonderful bouquet of black fruit, blackcurrant and blackberry aromas, with notes of white flowers, wet rock and liquorice. The mouthfeel is full, powerful, and caressing. Its very velvety tannic structure balances its fruity richness and generous body, combining to give a lingering voluptuousness. Aging potential : 10 -12 years
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2009 Reva Syrah, Alban Vineyards
£12000Add to BasketEstablished in 1989, Alban Vineyards represents California’s first winery and vineyard dedicated exclusively to the varietals of the Rhône. Pioneered by John Alban at a time when anything that was neither Cabernet nor Chardonnay was barely grown in California, Alban was a groundbreaking project and has gone on to be regarded as one of the U.S.A’s best and most influential producers.
It is the Syrah releases from Alban which, justifiably, receive the most attention. Reva Syrah is Alban’s much-coveted, hard to come by top release; a 100% single vineyard Syrah which is aged in oak for 42 months before release. Upfront and highly varietal on the nose, this cult wine exudes aromas of cassis, wild herbs, violet, earth and smoke. The palate is incredibly full-bodied and decadent with immense depth and wonderful freshness. Flavours of dark fruit, coffee, toasty oak and perfumed spice build on an intense mid-palate before continuing on a long, momentous finish. We believe that this is California’s greatest example of this grape variety and will age gracefully over the next 20 years and beyond.
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2014 Vintage Tunina IGT, Vinnaioli Jermann – Magnum
£12000Add to BasketSilvio Jermann is one of the most influential winemakers in Italy, turning his family’s modest farm into a hallmark winery in Friuli. Jermann’s release of his flagship wine, ‘Vintage Tunina’, a field blend of native and international varietals, remains a watershed moment for Italian wine.
Vintage Tunina is a field blend made of Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Ribolla Gialla, Malvasia and a little percentage of a sweet local grape variety. in the glass, it is bright straw-coloured with golden reflections. The nose is intense, wide, very elegant and persistent with scents of honey and country flowers. The palate is dry, soft, well balanced with an extraordinary persistence due to its full body. It matches with truffles, fish and poultry dishes.
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2000 Tokaji Aszu Eszencia ‘Imperium’, Chateau Dereszla, 375ml
£12000Add to BasketChâteau Dereszla is world-renowned for its sweet wines made from grapes affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as “noble rot”. The wine is made from hand-picked grapes from Chateau Dereszla’s finest plots and made into a paste, which is then added to a base wine for fermentation for 14 days. The wine is then aged in French oak for more than 2 years prior to bottling. The elegant label replicates a design created by Carl Faberge for Dereszla’s centenary in 1907.
This is a sensational Tokaji Aszu Eszencia from Dereszla. Only produced in the very finest years, (made twice by Dereszla in the last 22 years), and now a defunct classification, this is a very rare slice of history in a bottle. Incredibly sweet yet with perfectly poised acidity, the wine has a complex apricot and Seville orange marmalade fruit character mingled with spice and gingerbread notes. With an impressive 252 grams per litre of sugar, it is no wonder the wine is syrupy and very rich, but the constant freshness provided by the acidity keeps the wine balanced and makes it a wonderful match to dark chocolate desserts, good quality cheeseboards and rich pates.
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2020 Q Class Pinot Noir, Magnum, Simpsons Wine Estate
£12000Add to BasketSimpsons’ Q Class Pinot Noir will only be produced in remarkable years, in order to showcase the Simpsons’ hallmark of quality, luxury and finesse. Limited to 1000 bottles. The Q Class wines are named after the Q Class engines which traversed the Canterbury to Folkestone light railway in the late 19th and early 20th Century.
In the glass, it has an evocative bouquet of English hedgerow, from woodland bramble to delicate violet, rose and hints of cocoa, with warm earthiness, supple tannins, and notes of wild raspberry leading to a generous finish.
The Simpsons’ vineyards occupy glorious positions on the sunny, sheltered slopes of the North Downs of Kent, protected from the whimsy of the English climate by ancient woodland and anchored in the iconic chalky soils so highly revered in the world of both still and sparkling wine. On their French wine estate, the award-winning Domaine Sainte Rose in the Languedoc region, the Simpsons have always pursued the cleaner, truer flavours of the grape, and are now bringing this savoir-faire to their English vineyards. With rootstock meticulously matched to the soil and a new world-class winery just minutes from the vines, quality is the watchword.
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2013 ‘Dreams’ Chardonnay, Vinnaioli Jermann – Magnum
£12500Add to BasketSilvio Jermann is one of Italy’s finest winemakers. All his wines are extraordinary, multi-layered and complex, expressing the essence of each varietal character to its purest and fullest degree. In terms of their philosophy, Silvio says “I want the wines to be genuine. I want them to be balanced and elegant but above all, they should move us, prompt our emotions and have a sense of authenticity”.
The 2013 Dreams Chardonnay is a delicious wine and is up there with Italy’s best white wines. It handles its oak treatment with ease, blending pure white orchard fruits, flowery perfumes and stone dust with hints of vanilla bean and brioche. The textures are silky and seamless, contrasted by stimulating minerality with a green citrus twang that adds further depth. Intense.
Dedicated to U2′s “The Joshua Tree” album (1987) and specifically to the song “Where the streets have no name”. This wine was created with the 1987 harvest and over the years its name has undergone a number of variations. For its first nine years, it was called “Where the Dreams have no end…”
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White Wine2006 Savigny Les Beaune ‘Dessus Les Gollardes’ Pierre Guillemot – Magnum
£12500Add to BasketA rare magnum of Savigny Les Beaune ‘Dessus Les Gollardes’ from Pierre Guillemot.
The vineyard was planted in 1957. It is 30% Chardonnay and 70% Pinot Gouges, a rare strain of albino Pinot Noir discovered by the great Henri Gouges. In the 1930’s some of his Pinot Noir vines mutated from red to white grapes. Monsieur Gouges propagated these cuttings and distributed some to various vigneron friends.
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2015 Valpolicella Superiore, Romano dal Forno
£12500Add to BasketLegendary Romano Dal Forno has made wine at his family estate since 1983. His Amarone is the pinnacle of his production, but he uses the same care and attention to his Valpolicella, which is superior to many other producers’ Amarone. A traditional Corvina-based blend, fermented in steel before 24 months in oak barrique.
It is an Amarone in all but name, made entirely from appassimento berries – grapes dried for 20-25 days. The 2015 vintage was exceptional for Valpolicella, as in much of Northern Italy, bringing incredible levels of concentration to the wine. The wine has a deep crimson, rim-staining colour. The nose is rich, full of high-toned aromatics, neroli floral scents, dried cherry, raisins and sweeter vanilla tones. The palate is impressively structured, the oak tannins melding with the rich red cherry fruit, bringing great depth to the palate. There is a great balance of flavours beyond the sweet, dried fruit, with savoury fresh tobacco and sweeter almond pastry notes. Despite the immense concentration, there is plenty of acidity keeping the palate vibrant. With such richness and structure, this will give a good 10-15 years’ drinking pleasure.
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2020 Blanc Etc, Domaine Didier Dagueneau
£12700Add to BasketPouilly Fumé and Sancerre are the global benchmarks for Sauvignon Blanc, and there is no bigger name or more highly regarded producer in the area than Domaine Didier Dagueneau. Now under the guidance of Didier’s talented son Louis-Benjamin, the wines still follow his ethos that authentic Pouilly Fumé requires healthy fruit from low yielding, old vines to produce the purest, and most intense and vibrantly fresh wine. That’s not to say these wines are typical of the appellation. Given the severely low yields and approach to élevage, Dagueneau wines emphasise a creamy texture rather than bracing acidity, and combine mineral flavours with exotic fruits to supreme effect.
Previously labelled as Blanc Fumé de Pouilly, now reborn as Blanc Etc… and looking better than ever. Generally speaking this is the most approachable wine in the range, and since Louis-Benjamin came aboard the wine is now far closer in quality and class to the other releases. While each of the other wine focus on a single soil type or terroir, Blanc etc… blends some young vine parcels on their Saint-Andelain hill with two parcels planted on flinty clay and limestone white clay soils nearby. It was fermented in a mix of new and three-four year old barrels and then matured in both wood and tank.
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2020 Hermitage Blanc, Domaine Des Martinelles, *Magnum*
£13500Add to BasketSigned by winemaker Pascal Fayolle.
This white Hermitage is 100% Marsanne from 45 year old vines. The wine is aged on the fine lees for 18 months in oak barrels giving richness to the palate.
In the glass, it has wonderful golden colour with an intense and powerful nose. Toasted notes with fruity, floral and buttery nuances. The mouth is rich, wide and very long. The final is long with a beautiful mineral weft. This is a wine with great ageing potential
The Hermitage Appellation extends over the hills that dominate the City of Tain l’Hermitage on 136 Ha, on three municipalities of the Drôme: Tain l’Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage and Larnage, on the left bank of the Rhône. The vineyard that this wine is made from is a very small old south facing vineyard that’s dates back to antiquity.
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2001 Riesling Auslese, Ürziger Würzgarten Goldkapsel, Dr. Loosen
£14500Add to BasketThe Ürziger Würzgarten vineyard is blazing red and insanely steep, it fills a picturesque amphitheatre formed by a dramatic bend in the Mosel river. Although it is directly adjacent to the vineyards of Erden, this site produces a completely different kind of wine, with exotic, spicy aromas and a mesmerizing earthiness. No other vineyard on the Mosel produces wines so bursting with tropical fruit flavours. Many of the Dr Loosens estate’s oldest vines are found here.
This Auslese is which means selected out of the harvest is a luscious, medium-sweet wine made from clusters of very ripe grapes that have been partially affected by botrytis. This classic example is now 20 years old and in majestic condition. Stored since purchase many moons ago in our cellar and last sampled in 2019 with its sister the 2001 Riesling Auslese, Wehlener Sonnenuhr – both were extraordinary.
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2020 Pouilly Fume Pur Sang, Domaine Didier Dagueneau
£14900Add to BasketPouilly Fumé and Sancerre are the global benchmarks for Sauvignon Blanc, and there is no bigger name or more highly regarded producer in the area than Domaine Didier Dagueneau. Now under the guidance of Didier’s talented son Louis-Benjamin, the wines still follow his ethos that authentic Pouilly Fumé requires healthy fruit from low yielding, old vines to produce the purest, and most intense and vibrantly fresh wine. That’s not to say these wines are typical of the appellation. Given the severely low yields and approach to élevage, Dagueneau wines emphasise a creamy texture rather than bracing acidity, and combine mineral flavours with exotic fruits to supreme effect.
Pur Sang is a superstar in the Dagueneau cellar, and is widely considered one of the great white wines of the world.
Pur Sang translates as thoroughbred, this wine coming from a densely planted, 30-year-old vineyard called La Folie, five kilometres north of Saint-Andélain. Hidden between two parcels of woodland, the vineyard – whose name literally translates as `madness` – is named for the local farmers who thought Didier Dagueneau was crazy when he purchased the land, which was not a vineyard and was full of huge boulders. It was not even registered as part of the Pouilly-Fumé appellation. But Didier had done his homework, as not only was La Folie an historical Pouilly vineyard, but its vein of pure flint, as well as its gently sloping, south/south-east exposure, made it potentially one of Pouilly’s finest. Very pale colour, aromas recall grilled pink grapefruit with a hint of white peach – beautifully expressive. Palate is full, having a rich, floral, complex, aromatic core, creamy texture, and a satisfyingly long finish.
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1993 Picolit, Livio Felluga
£16500Add to BasketPicolit is Friuli’s noblest wine, but its origins are still a matter for debate. It is only since 1750, thanks to the writings of Count Fabio Asquini, that we have any accurate documentation of this “nectar produced by the meagre berries of the bunch.” The peculiarity of this odd, delicate vine is the partial fertilization of its flowers. This means that only a few, very concentrated berries ripen in each bunch. A complex wine the color of old gold, Picolit marries sweet and acidulous sensations, releasing a pervasive aroma of candid peel, vanilla and spring flowers. In the past, Picolit was the wine of Europe’s nobility.
In the glass the colour is an intense golden yellow. The nose is complex, captivating, and ripe with sweet sensations; it has notes of Calla lily, white rose blossoms, ginger, dates, quince jelly, trifle, sultana grapes, dried figs and white cherry. The palate is rich, full, persistent and lasting; the powerful tastes of honeycomb, a fruit blend of apricot, syrup and yellow peach, layered with hints of cream and crème brûlée. These flavours fade into an elegant, sapid vanilla ice cream finish. Picot is truly an age worthy with old examples hard to find – This stunning 1993 vintage rivals any Sauternes.
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2015 Hermitage Rouge, Domaine Des Martinelles, *Magnum*
£16500Add to BasketSigned by winemaker Pascal Fayolle.
The 2015 vintage is regarded as one of the finest on record.
The nose of this 2015 Hermitage Rouge by Domaine des Martinelles evokes ripe black fruits and spices. In the mouth, this expressive, bewitching wine asserts itself immediately. It has power, concentration and persistence.
Drink from 2025 – 2035
This cuvée results from the assembly of two plots located on the hillside of the Hermitage, La Beaume and Pierrelle, both facing south. These forty-year-old syrah vines are planted on a brown sand terroir with pebbles and a clay-limestone terroir with large pebbles.
