Showing all 14 results

• Dessert Wine, Port & Dessert Wine

  2008 Muscat de Beaumes de Venise ‘Cuvée Les Trois Fonts’, Domaine de Coyeux – 375ml

  £1250

  A delicious sweet wine, with notes of lychee, candied apricot and pear, tropical pineapple complemented by honey undertones. Rich, smooth and sweet on the palate, beautifully balanced by freshness and elegance.

  The vineyard provides naturally healthy conditions, due to its altitude, exposure to the sun and the microclimate of the vineyard and enables gentle methods of cultivation to be employed, in order to maintain a healthy vineyard. The vines are planted in alluvial, sandy soils. Excessive buds and leaves are removed in the spring to aerate the strains and increase the leaf’s surface area exposed to the sun. Debudding reduces the production of berries and concentrates the flavours and aromas in those remaining. The living soils, where microbial life creates organic soil enrichment, nourishes the vines.

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• Red Wine

  2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, Forest Hill

  £3500

  The Forest Hill philosophy is to make individual wines of the highest quality which can express the distinctive regionality of Mount Barker.   They have taken aim to produce an approachable, understated Cabernet that’s a pure expression of the unique blocks that lie within the forty year old Forest Hill vineyard. An exuberant wine displaying intense layers of plump black fruits, chocolate box aromas and well integrated, luxuriously tight grained oak. An accomplished Cabernet of finesse and elegance, of power and suitably vigorous varietal definition.

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• White Wine

  2008 The Florita Riesling, Jim Barry

  £3900

  This legendary dry Riesling from Jim Barry has matured under optimum conditions and displays the complexities that fine Australian Riesling develops over time.

  The Florita Story

  This story is best told by famous Australian wine writer, Huon Hooke and head of the Barry Family, Peter Barry who below tell the wonderful story of Florita…..

  It starts in 1946, just after the war, when Leo Buring bought land at Watervale and planted Pedro ximénez for sherry – the preferred wine of Australians at the time. He named the vineyard Florita, which is Spanish for ‘little flower’ – a reference to the sherry flor (or flower), the film of yeast that covers the dry flor sherry as it matures in its ullaged casks.  Public tastes shifted, table wine became fashionable, and in 1962 Buring’s winemaker John Vickery began to remove Pedro and plant riesling. “He started to make riesling (wine), which began to be seen as the future of Australian white wine,” says Barry. Indeed, Vickery and the Leo Buring brand became almost synonymous with riesling.   “In 1986 Philip Morris (the tobacco company which owned the Leo Buring brand at the time) had six years supply of riesling in its cellars, and no-one was drinking it – chardonnay was the new fashion. They decided to sell the Florita vineyard.

  My brothers and I went to the auction. I was 24.  Mum said ‘You’re not allowed to buy it’. She said we already had plenty of vineyards. We told Dad he’d better buy it, and that would let us off the hook.
  Southcorp (the precursor of Treasury Wine Group) owned the Florita trademark at the time, and although the Barrys began using the grapes immediately, they couldn’t use the name.
  “I had to wait eight years until the registration period was up, but then Southcorp renewed it for another 10 years, so I had to wait 18 years all told, and I registered the name Florita two days after it lapsed.

  Eighteen years is a long time to wait for a drink.”

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• Red Wine

  2008 ‘La Ciornia’ Shiraz, La Violetta

  £4500

  The inspiration for La Ciornia comes from Andrew Hoadley time spent working in Barbaresco.    Really refined bright, the aromatic nose showing sweet, pure raspberry and cherry fruit with subtle hints of meat, olive and spice. The palate is superbly elegant with pure, seamless, beautifully poised cherry and raspberry fruit. Lovely elegance and freshness   I think Matthew Jukes summed it up best for me when be said of Ciornia “I certainly had no idea that a Shiraz from Denmark could have Pinot Noir tenderness under its malevolent, vampiric exterior.”

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• Red Wine

  2008 Shiraz ‘Westgate Vineyard’, The Story

  £4500

  This is a single vineyard wine made (in the winemaker’s words) ‘naturally fermented over 21 days in open French oak puncheons, then hand bucketed and pressed to 31% new French oak from Francois Frères, and Gillet cooperages. It was allowed to mature for 14 months (then bottled) without fining or filtration’.   The result – very floral Shiraz characters such as violets, graphite, meat, black fruits and black pepper.  The palate is full of warm spice synonymous with the Grampians region. A dark, ripe, controlled and firm core of black fruit and spice ripples through the palate, the tannins are generous but supportive, and the finish fresh and lengthy.

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• Dessert Wine, Port & Dessert Wine, White Wine

  2008 Pinot Gris Vendange Tardive, Trimbach

  £4500

  This wine is made from botrytised noble Pinot Gris, hand-selected and from the best vineyards. and is only made in only exceptional years.

  We love this tasting note from Robert Parker: ‘A remarkable nose – vegetarians beware! – suggests smoked pork, sauteed veal sweetbreads, and truffle-studded foie gras, and the palate is just as sinfully rich as the nose implies, encompassing as well a honeyed intensity of quince and Mirabelle preserves; white Burgundy-like toasted brioche; and hints of brown spices. This is a meal unto itself, and for all of its amplitude reveals a sense of buoyancy.’

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• White Wine

  2008 Farrago Chardonnay, Kooyong

  £4900

  A truly stunning rich and elegant Chardonnay.   Mouthwatering intense stonefruit, pear and fig notes are on the nose, leading to a rich penetrating palate of ripe nectarine, nuts, brioche and lees/barrel-ferment nuances.   Finish is very long, rich with nervy grapefruit acidity.   In short its a demi-god of a wine that will live long in the memory.

  The Farrago Vineyard

  Exclusively planted to Chardonnay, this small block is gently north-sloping with sediments ranging from those higher in sand to those higher in clay.  The best fruit within the block comes from the zone higher in clay where the soil has a mottled appearance due to high sandstone pebble content, hence the block’s name Farrago.   The Chardonnay from the Farrago block is defined by a precise linear character with strong silicaceous minerality. At its best, this is the premier white wine with the greatest ageing potential.

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• White Wine

  2008 Beaune 1er Cru Les Aigrots, Albert Morot

  £4950

  This Domaine only makes five barrels of white wine which comes from a vineyard near the Clos des Mouches.  This 2008 has a sweet, delicate honeysuckle perfume with a hint of oak. The palate is pure and mineral and finishes with a lovely perfume.

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• Red Wine

  2008 Seven Hills Vineyard Perigee, L’Ecole No.41

  £6950

  L’Ecole Nº 41 has been producing premium, handcrafted varietal wines in the Walla Walla Valley since 1983 in the historic Frenchtown School in Lowden, Washington.

  Perigee is an iconic Washington State Bordeaux blend and is one of 3 incredible single vineyard wines from L’Ecole No.41, the other 2 being Apogee and Ferguson. (see bottom of this page)

  The grapes for Perigee are sourced from the Seven Hills Vineyard, one of Washington State’s most illustrious. L’Ecole has been producing wines from the Seven Hills Vineyard since 1993. They hand-select their oldest and most distinguished blocks to produce this flagship wine.   The Seven Hills Vineyard is planted in wind-blown loess of geologically young and mineral rich soils.  In 2004, it was named one of the “Ten Great Vineyards of the World” by Wine & Spirits Magazine. 

  Perigee exemplifies this vineyard’s characteristic cedary, black cherry, richly structured elegance. Perfumed aromas of dark spice, blueberry and silky plum fruit are accented with earthy, graphite minerality, exuding power and grace on a velvety, chalky tannin finish.

  The winemakers at L’Ecole recommend the age-ability of this wine to be between 10 to 20 years, so at 12 years this 2008 is really starting to show at its best. Delicious now and for many more years yet!

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• White Wine

  2008 Les Beaux Cailloux Chardonnay, Craggy Range

  £7500

  If this lunch or dinner is a special occasion then look no further!  The soils of the Gimblett Gravels Vineyard impart a finely textured mineral quality into the finished wine, unique to Chardonnay made from this region.  Traditionally made from a single Chardonnay block planted with a variety of clones, “Les Beaux Cailloux” represents the ultimate expression of winemaking art.  Finely flavoured, complex and tautly structured.    After 12 years in bottle this wine is at its peak and truly magnificent as well as being incredibly rare.

   

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• Red Wine

  2008 The Paringa Pinot Noir, Paringa Estate

  £9500

  Paringa’s and arguably Australias top Pinot Noir – made from barrels which were selected as clearly superior at the time of blending and bottling. The wine has rich powerful aromas of spice and dark cherry, combined with charry oak, secondary barrel-ferment mocha/coffee characters that will integrate further to become more Burgundian like with bottle age. On the palate the wine has rich ripe fruit, firm fine-grained tannins helping provide excellent texture and length.

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• Red Wine

  2008 Côte-Rôtie, Blonde du Seigneur, Georges Vernay

  £9900

  Although Domaine Georges Vernay has built its reputation around its excellent Condrieu white wines, its reds should not be neglected, especially ones from the Côte-Rôtie. From a 5 ha plot of vines, Vernay’s Côte-Rôtie is amongst the most exceptional wines from the same appellation. Thanks to a perfectly mastered elegant wine style, Christine Vernay successfully expresses the elegance and depth of syrah; never over maturing or over ageing.

  The 2008 Blonde du Seigneur is wonderfully refined.  Seductive nose with smoked lard, pepper and juicy notes. Magnificently dense on the palate, with great depth, style and longevity. A very elegant, classic wine

  Côte Rôtie is a prestigious red wine appellation at the northern tip of the Rhône Valley wine region, where the vineyards are situated on steep slopes (the Côtes). Due to these steep slopes the 30-year-old vines are maintained manually, without the use of weed killers and all treatments use organic products.

   

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• Red Wine

  2008 Andromeda, Sean Thackrey

  £10500

  Andromeda is a Pinot Noir from the famous Devil’s Gulch Vineyard in Marin County and is made by Sean Thackrey who is often called a mystical and an iconic winemaker because of his winemaking techniques and lack of detail about his wines and the success he has had. In fact, unlike 99.9% of wine producers in the world, who broadcast the minutiae of their vineyard practices and technical methodology on press materials and on their websites, Thackrey releases no such information, believing that the wines speak for themselves and that everything else is none of our business. A trip to his website on which he offers no information on his own wines but instead offers texts from the history of winemaking that come from his extensive collection of books and manuscripts. All this is very refreshing and all the more so because of how wonderful his wines are.

  The 2008 Andromeda is an interpretation of Pinot noir you won’t come across very often. The unique array of aromas include cut flowers, ponzu and green grass. The flavours are unusual and challenging to describe and rather befitting this quirky, talented winemaker. The wine does not follow the usual flavour profile of Pinot Noir but does offer some tasty black cherry and berry fruit. A leafy, green note runs consistently through the taste profile as well as oak-derived vanilla. 

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• White Wine

  2008 Moon Select Chardonnay, Flowers

  £12500

  Flowers are pioneers of the Sonoma Coast region and make extraordinary Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

  Perched on top of soaring coastal ridges that border the Pacific Ocean, Flowers’ estate vineyards were some of the first planted on the “extreme” Sonoma Coast in 1991. Flowers’ vineyards rise up just two miles from the rugged Pacific Ocean cliffs at elevations of 1,150 to 1,875 feet. The maritime breezes and coastal fog cool the vineyards during the heat of summer allowing fruit to fully mature with fresh, complex flavours and lively acidity resulting in wines with a distinct coastal minerality and bright natural acidity.

  Moon Select is the ultimate expression of the vintage and showcases the best barrels from the Camp Meeting Ridge vineyard.  Only 280 cases produced were produced of the 2008 vintage.   The 2008 is now mature and developed.  On the nose, it has aromas of butter, lemongrass and ripe apricots.   Caramel and brioche are abundant on the palate – that coastal acidity is still present as is the precise structure.  Very rich and textural.  The finish is savoury and long.   It’s a stunning glass of wine.

  Grapes were harvested in the early morning hours to ensure the fruit arrived at the winery at cool temperatures. The grapes were pressed as whole clusters and the juice allowed to settle for 24 hours before a gentle gravity transfer to French Oak barrels. After 100% native yeast fermentation, the wine continued to mature in-barrels: 100% French oak, 35% new for 14 months to allow the true expression of the vintage and varietal to stand out.

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