Christmas Tasting 2023 Highlights

A super easy drinking red from native Portuguese grapes. Crunchy red fruit, juicy, supple tannins.

Country: Portugal

Region: Dão

Grapes: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tempranillo, Jaen

ABV: 12.5%

Food Match: Roast Chicken with a roast medley of Mediterranean vegetables.

Adega de Penalva Wine

A modern style Rioja Joven with juicy fruit driven characters of black cherry and raspberry combined with subtle sweet vanilla spice. Medium – bodied with a creamy smoothness leading into a fresh finish.

Country: Spain

Region: Rioja

Grapes: Tempranillo

ABV: 13%

Only 5km from the coast, this cool climate vineyard produces fantastic Pinot Noir.

This wine is bright, aromatic and fresh with subtle oak playing a supporting role. The emphasis on the delicious red fruit flavours, drinkability and enjoyment. A seriously cool Pinot.

Country: Chile

Region: Aconcagua Valley

ABV: 14%

Grapes: Pinot Noir

Rich, intense and packed with dark red fruits. With morello cherry and a touch of sweet spice on the nose, ripe berry, liquorice, chocolate, summer pudding and a hint of cinnamon spice on the palate, this wine is full flavoured and smooth with supple tannins. Brilliant! Perfect for Chateauneuf lovers.

Country: France

Region: Rhone Valley

Grapes: Grenache Noir, Syrah, Carignan

ABV: 14%

This wine has a natural affinity with herby lamb dishes, but would be superb with most grilled meats and roasted vegetables.

Velvety smooth, rich, concentrated and supple. Flavours of cassis, bramble and black cherry with a sheen of vanilla from the oak ageing.

Country: France

Region: Bordeaux, Margaux

ABV:13.5%

Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot

Serve 12 to 14 degrees C

Food Match: Red meat dishes such as beef Wellington or roast lamb.

Forget Prosecco...the best sparkling from Italy comes from Franciacorta. Traditional method sparkling wine from Champagne grapes as well!

An exuberant, confident and bright style  with lovely notes of toasted brioche– lively and very approachable with citrus fruits – a golden apple character which is, at the same time, both incisive yet quite gentle.

Country: Italy

Region: Lombardia

ABV: 11.5%

Grapes: 95% Chardonnay, 5% Pinot Noir

One of the emerging estates in Italy's booming sparkling wine sector. Roberto Gatti spent 20 years as cellarmaster and viticulturalist at Bellavista, one of the early pioneers of the Franciacorta region, before creating Ferghettina in 1990. A new winery and cellars, started in 2002, were completed in 2005 and sit in a magnificent location overlooking the beautiful Lake Iseo. Roberto is assisted by his daughter Laura, also an oenologist, shortly to be joined by his son Matteo. The Gatti's control production of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, using only half of the grapes available for their production of 300,000 bottles. Meticulous attention to detail, skillful blending and long bottle maturation give wines of great finesse and individuality. The 'Italy's answer to Champagne' tag is unavoidable but these wines are much more than that.

Deep, dark ruby colour. Notes of plums, dark chocolate, raspberries and vanilla. Yum!

Country: Georgia

Region: Kakheti

Grapes: Saperavi

ABV: 13%

Made from Saperavi, a highly pigmented black Georgian grape variety which is fermented and aged in a Qvevri - an ancient method of making winein an egg-shaped, beeswax-lined terracotta vessel.The wine is a deep ruby colour with a pronounced black fruit character and balanced tannins.

We love this orange wine with it's pale amber colour. Beautifully pure and textured palate with fresh nuttiness and fine spices. Tangerine and a hint of marmalade and lovely pure citrus fruits. Juicy linear and expressive with a salty tang on the finish.

Country: Portugal

Region: Lisbon

Grapes: 20% Fernão Pires from Lisbon; 80% Siria from Beira Interior

ABV: 13%

Winemaker Andre is always interested in experimenting with new and old methods. He is the 5th generation of winemakers at Quinta do Montalto, the farm has 15Ha of Vineyards grown with organic certification since 1997 in Clay and Chalk soils under the Lisbon DOC Encostas D’Aire.
He uses ancient methods the create DOC Medieval Ourem, but also made new Portuguese Amphoras and uses the most modern low intervention techniques for his traditional range.

Christmas in a bottle!

Argentina has almost made the Malbec grape its own and on this evidence it's not difficult to see why. A port style wine, red purple colour of medium intensity, with light brown hues due to its ageing. Immensely concentrated, ripe plums, black fruits marmalade, dried figs and nuts. A rich, complex wine with final spicy notes like cinnamon, toasted almonds and leather.

Country: Argentina

Region: Mendoza

Grapes: 100% Malbec

ABV: 20%

Zuccardi combines forward thinking with a deeply rooted wine culture to craft wines of unique quality and identity. At the heart of this family winery is the drive to continually improve and with Sebastian Zuccardi heading up their 'Innovation and Experimentation' program, they are literally taking quality to new heights. After many months of building and many years of planning the breath taking new winery, in Altamira in the Uco Valley, is all but complete. At 1100 metres above sea level with the Andes as it's stunning backdrop, a new chapter in the history of Zuccardi is beginning. This is one of the most exciting producers to work with. Their understanding of the soils and terroirs of the Uco Valley is reflected in their beautifully expressive wines.

Fresh citrus fruit and apple aromas, with liquorish and tropical notes...

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: 56% Rabigato, 32% Gouveio, 12% Viosinho

ABV: 18%

Wonderful as a long summer drink with a slice of fresh orange and tonic...

Serve at 6 to 8 degrees centigrade

A fresh, crisp and fruity Chenin with a dash of Sauvignon Blanc. Complex beyond its style with flavours of pear, white peach and lychee.

Country: South Africa

Region: Voor Paardeberg

Grapes: Chenin, Sauvignon Blanc

ABV: 13%

Concentrated, complex and rich, oak matured Douro red, made from a blend of selected parcels from the best vineyards on the estate.

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro Valley

Grapes: 74% Touriga Nacional, 13% Sousão, 12% Touriga Franca, 1% Fernão Pires

ABV: 13.5%

A great value, fruit driven sparkling blend. Refreshing, zesty with notes of green apple and a creamy finish.

Country: England

Region: Devon

Grapes: Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Meunier, Chardonnay, Seyval Blanc, Reichensteiner.

ABV: 11.5%

One of our favourite bubblies in the shop - such good value for money for a traditional method sparkling. Rich, toasty and complex.

Country: Spain

Region: Catalonia

Grapes: Chardonnay, Macabeo and Paralleda

ABV: 11.5%

Made with Pinot Gris (AKA Pinot Grigio / Sivi Pinot).  Fermented in stainless steel, the wine then spends two months on fine lees to develop texture. Bottled unfined and gently filtered. 

Ripe grapefruit, almonds and citrus, flavours on the nose. Moderate acidity, with a fleshy stone fruit character, very elegant on the palate and finish.

Grapes:  Pinot Gris

Region: Ormoz

Country: Slovenia

ABV: 12.5%

Food Match: Fleshy white fish dishes such as pan fried Halibut with artichokes Cod served with seasonal squash and green vegetables.

Verus (Latin for “true”) is an exciting new winery founded in 2007 and owned by three friends who now produce some of the most exciting white wines coming out of Slovenia. The 12 hectare vineyards are located around Ormoz in the appellation of Styria (Stajerska) on the Jeruzalem-Ormoz hills. The cool climate here is influenced by the Alps, the Adriatic Sea and the Pannonian Plain.
The wines are true expressions of each grape variety and are bottled under screw cap with anexquisitely designed label. Their inaugural vintage 2007 received much acclaim from the press and wine writers and previews the future success of this young dynamic winery.

This extraordinary speciality red sparkling wine is based on a cool climate Cabernet Shiraz blend from vines situated on the Trillians Hills in Clare Valley. It is a deep ruby colour with a lively mousse yet the savoury and plum aromas and subtle tannins give a lasting impression of elegance and well balanced restraint. Can be enjoyed in two ways - a standalone drink with friends or a beautiful accompaniment to a meal.

Country: Australia

Region: Clare Valley

Grapes: Shiraz (86%)
Cabernet Sauvignon (14%)

ABV: 13.%

Food Matches: turkey, veal and duck, pates, barbecued meats and plum pudding. Dark chocolate pudding.

Crisp peach, under-ripe pineapple, honeysuckle and a touch of tangerine all emerge from this medium-bodied, fresh and crisp white that doesn’t lack for intensity or length.

Country: France

Region: Southern Rhone

Grapes:50% Grenache Blanc
20% Marsanne
20% Viogner
10% Bourboulenc

ABV: 13.5

The Proposal Hill Cap Classique Brut Rosé is made from 100% Pinot Noir grown on the western slope of the Tygerberg hill on De Grendel, overlooked by the original homestead built by the first baronet Graaff, the vines enjoying the same view that Sir De Villiers and Lady Graaff treasured all those years ago.

Country: South Africa

Region:  Durbanville Hills, Tygerberg

ABV: 12.5%

Grapes: Pinot Noir

Food Match: Oysters, fresh from the sea or antipasti.

De Grendel Wine

De Grendel Brut Rosé has all the hallmarks of a traditional, meticulously constructed Cap Classique, with the added allure of being playful and exciting, Hopkins said. Complex and with a weightier palate than the average sparkling wine, this bone-dry rosé has a fine and persistent mousse introducing hints of oyster shell and fresh lavender on the nose. Intense strawberry coulis and black cherry flavours are well-balanced by firm acidity and linger in the exceptionally long finish.

With gentle aromas of rose petals and clementines, the restrained palate is lightly perfumed (as wild flower honey) and long.

Country: France

Region: Alsace

ABV: 13%

Grapes: Gewurztraminer