This expressive Sauvignon Blanc is fresh and bright, brimming with grapefruit and passionfruit flavours complemented by herbaceous notes. Vibrant and beautifully balanced with a moreish texture and an elegant mineral note on the finish. Reminiscent of a good Sancerre.
2014
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White Wine2014 Vermentino, Chalmers
£1750Add to BasketChalmers make incredible characterful wines from Mediterranean grape varieties that they have imported, cultivated in vineyards in Heathcote, Victoria. They released Australia’s first Vermentino wine in 2004 and it’s since become a trademark line in the range, their ‘go-to’ white. There are now more than 100 winemakers working with the grape across Australia and it’s no wonder when it loves the sunshine and makes such delicious wines with ultimate drinkability.
Chalmers Vermentino is a truly unique iteration of the Mediterranean grape and this 2014 vintage marks a decade of Vermentino in Australia. It opens in the glass with aromas of soft stonefruit, herbs and sea spray that is so distinctive to the Vermentino grape. The palate is lively and racy with lovely savoury overtones. Think white nectarine, Amalfi lemons, Italian herbs and a crushed rock minerality as well as that gorgeous sea saltiness associated with the grape. We love this wine at WR!
The grapes come from the Chalmers vineyard in Heathcote and are grown on rich, red Cambrian soil, sitting 150-170m above sea level. The grapes are handpicked, whole bunch pressed with wild fermentation before the wine sits on less for 6 months.
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White Wine
2014 Coralinga Sauvignon Blanc, Henschke
£1895Add to BasketThis Sauvignon Blanc is a tribute to the historic Coralinga homestead and apple orchard that was destroyed by bushfires in the early 1900s. The homestead was situated close by Henschke’s Lenswood property in the heart of the South Mount Lofty Ranges. 2014 was an exceptional vintage with the wine displaying a fragrant and lifted bouquet of citrus blossom, citrus fruits, gooseberry and tropical fruits with notes of anise, white pepper and fresh tarragon. The fresh and vibrant palate shows concentrated citrus and stone-fruit flavours, with pure acidity and balance for a crisp, fine and long finish.
Henschke recommend cellaring this for 5 years plus – so it is at its peak now!
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White Wine
2014 Chardonnay, Carpe Diem
£2750Add to BasketGrapes for the Carpe Diem Chardonnay are selected exclusively from the best vineyards in Northern California`s cool Anderson Valley. This fog-shrouded region not far from the Mendocino Coast and the Pacific Ocean provides ideal growing conditions for these delicate grapes. Carpe Diem`s philosophy is to offer the best of two worlds: the richness of California fruit and the elegance of a French wine
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Red Wine
2014 ‘Cariñena’ Huaso de Sauzal, Bodegas El Viejo Almacén de Sauzal
£2750Add to BasketRenan Cancino is one of Chile’s most sought-after viticulturists, and while he has made his name for tending vines, his wine production under the Huaso de Sauza brand is also turning heads. Cancino is a natural winemaker whose philosophy is making wines how they were always made historically in Chile – naked. Everything is done the traditional way here: vines are worked by hand, the vineyards are worked by draft horse, and there has never been any use of irrigation or chemicals.
Cariñena is made from Carignan grafted onto free-standing País rootstock on granitic soils in the town of Sauzal. Cariñena is a rustic wine with expressive aromas of violet, rose petal, oak, smoke and mushroom. The palate is brimming with flavours of cherry, strawberry, raspberry, liquorice and anise. The finish is mouthwatering, like a mountain breeze!
“I have never seen such an artisanal and true to tradition way of making wines. The nose is a clean, focused and pure expression of the grape, with the violets and earthy, slightly rustic aromas. No sulfur is ever used at the winery, yet the wines are so clean and pure that it’s hard to believe. The palate is medium-bodied with some earthy, slightly grainy tannins and with great acidity. This is more serious, closed than the Garnacha, but at a similar, very high-quality level. Simply unbelievable. 5,000 bottles produced.” 93 Luis Gutierrez – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
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White Wine
2014 Tarraford Vineyard Chardonnay, Giant Steps
£3200Add to BasketChardonnays from the Tarraford vineyard are exceptional and the best description I have ever seen writer is by Australian wine writer Mike Bennie, so here it is:
The One That Goes All Minerally. Huge mineral feel, indeed, you paste this into the section under Wine Minerality in an encyclopaedia. All pebbles and talc in perfume, sure, some citrus, citrus blossom, faint bread dough notes, but you’re drawn to the flint and element rocky notes primarily. The palate does the same, flint, wet slate, smooth pebbles rolled around the palate, olive brine, green apple juice and lime comes in too. Feels quite firm despite a sense of juiciness and being dart-shaped and long. Finishes with the faintest kiss of salted nuttiness. Just beautiful. Poised and fine.
95 points, Mike Bennie -
White Wine
2014 Ladoix Blanc ‘Bois de Mont’, Domaine Chevalier
£3500Add to BasketA white Burgundy of high quality combining the taut, steely character of Chablis with the fruit and floral intensity of the Côte de Beaune.
This Chardonnay is bright yellow in colour, with aromas of citrus, honey and hay. The palate is medium-bodied and refreshing, with firm structure but appealing lemon and stone fruit intensity to round the finish, along with gentle spice and vanilla complexity.
Ladoix sits at the foot of the famous hill of Corton, just to the north of the town of Beaune. The south-easterly facing vineyards lie on chalky-clay soils and the vines are on average 15 years old.
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Red Wine
2014 Pinot Noir, Stargazer
£4500Add to BasketThis stunning Pinot Noir from Samatha Connew is a world-class wine and sits in the top tier of Australian Pinot Noir (it had the honour of being rated Tasmania’s best Pinot noir in the 2014 vintage).
Owner and winemaker of Stargazer, Samantha is a former Red Winemaker of the Year, a title won whilst head winemaker at McLaren Vale’s Wirra Wirra Vineyards. Now bringing her skills to bear on her own project she is undoubtedly going to propel Stargazer onto ever greater heights.
This 2014 is bright crimson with perfumed spicy lavendar and red fruits – the palate is almost smoky with dark savoury fruit and an abundance of fine tannin. Will cellar very well and develop layers of complexity as it ages.
Stargazer pays tribute to Abel Tasman, who as an explorer and navigator, must have spent a fair amount of time gazing towards the heavens. Tasman, a Dutchman under the employ of the United East India Company was the first European to sight Tasmania (on 24 November 1642) and then the South Island of New Zealand, nineteen days later on 13 December.
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Champagne & Sparkling Wine, English & Welsh Sparkling Wine
2014 Blanc de Blanc, Nyetimber
£5500Add to BasketThis Blanc de Blancs is from the amazing 2014 vintage and shows the classic signature of delicate floral and citrus aromas followed by subtle vanilla and toast flavours, but now with a pure crystalline core thanks to the inclusion of incredible parcels of Chardonnay from Nyetimbers Hampshire vineyards. A long, complex finish.
This is meticulously made, with the best performing parcels of Chardonnay hand-picked and fermented separately for optimal blending. The wine undergoes full malolactic fermentation for a richer, fuller style. It is also aged for a longer time on the lees to develop classic brioche and vanilla aromas that are so apparent.
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Red Wine
2014 ‘Serpico’ Irpinia Aglianico, Feudi di San Gregorio
£5900Add to BasketA complex wine bursting with cherry jam, sweet spices, liquorice, coffee and cocoa notes balanced with a beautiful spicy minerality. A well-structured wine with great length.
The Aglianico grapes are produced in a historic vineyard named “Dal Re”. This historic region of the Apennine countryside is known as Irpinia and it has a unique terroir and climate in which vineyards coexist with fruit trees, olives and aromatic herbs. The winds here divert a beneficial rainfall which creates a microclimate in Irpinia that differs from Campania, the winters though brief are snowy and cold and the summers can be wet and prolonged. The soils are volcanic, sandstone and marl. Each vineyard is closely monitored with a meteorological station, and the technologies of the new state-of-the-art wine cellar ensure that each vintage comes as close to perfection as possible.
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White Wine
2014 The Florita Riesling, Jim Barry – Magnum
£5995Add to BasketThere is nothing quite like a magnum for sharing and this iconic 2014 ‘The Florita’ Riesling from Jim Barry is just the ticket.
This magnificent wine opens in the glass with delicate floral aromas of citrus blossom, rose water, lime citrus and hints of green pear. A wine of immense drive and purity. It shows the
hallmarks of a youthful but restrained Florita with a promise of more to come. Lime citrus is dominant with elements of pear and rose water with long lingering acidity.
A magnificent benchmark dry Riesling to be enjoyed now or with careful cellaring for the next ten years.The Florita Story – 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 PX 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 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
2014 Schist Syrah ‘Roundstone’, Mullineux
£7500Add to BasketGrapes for our 2014 Schist Syrah were from a single parcel of sustainably farmed 18 years old vines planted in the stony Shale and Schist soils of our farm on the Kasteelberg. This parcel of Syrah gives the best expression of the Kasteelberg’s terroir – density and structure. This is the most structured Syrah in our Single Terroir range. On the nose, there are notes of black pepper, black fruit and spices. The palate is full-bodied with a meaty, savoury character, silky tannins giving structure and a balancing natural acidity. The finish is fresh, long and supple. Ageing potential 10 – 15 years.Limited production of 2724 bottles & 150 magnums.
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White Wine
2014 Chardonnay ‘Durell Vineyard’, TOR
£9500Add to BasketEd Durell planted the first vines in the rock-strewn, windy hills in 1979. Today, Durell Vineyard spans three AVAs: Sonoma Valley, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. The block TOR sources from lies in the famed Sand Hill section of the vineyard, which overlooks the Sonoma Valley. This 2014 Durell Chardonnay ranks among the best they have ever produced. “This has the classic seamless, almost oily palate weight and texture to it that the best Durells have but with a thread of focus that helps to pull the intensity of the palate together. This shows mandarin oranges, stone fruits and an almost cut wet grass note to it.
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Dessert Wine, Port & Dessert Wine
2014 Dolce, Far Niente
£9750Add to BasketDolce is Napa’s true Sauternes-style dessert wine. Dolce embraces the pursuit of perfection in the art of late harvest winemaking. Created in 1985 by the partners of Far Niente, Dolce stands as a standard-bearer for this type of wine in America. With a classic blend of late harvest Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc inspired by the Sauternes region, Dolce is the only American winery dedicated to producing a single late harvest wine.
After nearly three years in French oak, this luxurious vintage shows lifted and youthful aromas of orange zest, vanilla bean and butterscotch with subtle notes of minerality and oak-derived spices. The entry is juicy, and Dolce’s signature texture is lively and enduring on the palate leading to a mouthwatering finish. Flavours of orange, pear and dried apricot mingle together with rich caramel notes and hints of minerals that make this vintage a delicious expression of the season’s exceptional ripeness.
Dolce’s 20 acres of vineyard are located in Coombsville, east of the city of Napa, and are situated at the base of the Vaca Mountains, which define the eastern border of the valley. The volcanic soil is loose and well-drained, and the west-facing vineyard is protected from the prevailing winds so that the damp, morning fog of autumn (a very important factor in the development of Botrytis cinerea) hangs longer amongst the vines, often until midday. A combination of high humidity followed by drying conditions encourages, but does not guarantee, the growth of Botrytis. As it develops, its coverage is seemingly random with individual berries succumbing to Botrytis at different rates, if at all.
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Red Wine
2014 Côte-Rôtie, Maison Rouge, Georges Vernay
£11000Add to BasketAlthough 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 name of the wine refers to a small red house situated at the foot of this impressively steep “lieu dit” or registered plot of ‘Maison Rouge’. The vineyards are made up of two hectares of sandy, granite terraces located in the southern part of the appellation. Trained according to the Guyot simple method, the vines have an average age of 50 years and they have been planted to a density of 10,000 vines per hectare.
