Crisp Whites
Crisp Whites
Babylonstoren Chardonnay 2023
Regular price £24.95If you're a rich white Burgundy fan - then this is the wine for you. A rich nose of lemon curd and freshly baked butter biscuits. The beautifully fruity core is perfectly balanced by layers of oak spice, vanilla and roasted almonds. Supple with fresh acidity and an underlying minerality, which adds focus and length to the finish.
Country: South Africa
Region: Paarl, Western Cape
Grapes: Chardonnay
ABV: 14%
Food Match: The elegance and substance of the wine will
complement mushroom risotto, rich fish dishes and also steak béarnaise.
Ready to be enjoyed within the year of production, but will
mature well for the next four to six years.
KWV Mentors Grenache Blanc 2020
Regular price £19.95Layered aromas of pineapple, mandarin and orange . Fresh and earthy palate with a creamy vibrant texture, smooth, round finish.
Country: South Africa
Region: Paarl
Grapes: Grenache Blanc
ABV: 13.5%
Babylonstoren Viognier 2022
Regular price £16.95Floral nose combines with ripe stone fruit on the palate to make a rich and satisfying Viognier with plenty of weight , depth and complexity.
Country: South Africa
Region: Paarl, Western Cape
Grapes: Viognier
ABV: 13%
De Trafford Chenin Blanc 2019
Regular price £31.95WOW! What a stunning wine. One of the best wines from South Africa.
A full and rich wine with great depth of flavour and character. There are aromas and flavours of ripe apricots, honey and tropical fruit with a touch of vanilla oak and crisp citrus fruit.
Country: South Africa
Region: Stellenbosch (nestled between the Stellenbosch and Helderberg Mountains
ABV: 13.5%
Grapes: Chenin Blanc
Food Match: Fish dishes, shellfish and sushi
David Trafford is one of South Africa’s most individual winemakers. David is completely self-taught, save for a few months working a vintage in St Emilion. By trade he is an architect but in 1983 he decided to plant a small vineyard for fun. In 1991 David turned his part-time hobby into a full-time career. More than twenty years on, he is one of South Africa’s most decorated winemakers.
Label by Rita Trafford: 'Helichrysum Dreaming'
Darriaud Côtes du Rhône Blanc 2022
Regular price £12.95Crisp 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
Blank Bottle Aasvoel 2021
Regular price £26.00Another beauty from genius winemaker Pieter Walser. A tiny production and not made every year, 100% Verdelho, from the oldest vineyard of the variety in the country. Incredible concentration and energy and what a great nose! Concentrated lime peel and a little chalkiness too, with a super zingy palate - apples and sherbert, gloriously mouth-filling, broad and long, with a very biscuitty finish and saline streak.
Country: South Africa
Region: Wellington
Grapes: Verdelho
ABV: 13.5%
NEAL MARTIN - VINOUS.COM
Royal Tokaji Mézes Mály Dry Furmint 2021
Regular price £26.95Made with fruit from the legendary first growth vineyard Mezes Maly, this is Hungary's equivalent to a Grosses Gewachs Riesling trocken or a Grand Cru White Burgundy; but without the price tag!
Mézes Mály's characteristics are based around its translation as 'honey pot'. Its incredibly long and exquisitely balanced aromas and flavours combine the very essence of aszu wines.
Apricot and honey on the nose, beautiful fruit driven depth of palate which is bone dry, followed by a gorgeous minerally finish. If you love white Burgundy - this one's for you.
Country: Hungary
Region: Tokaji
ABV: 13%
Grapes: Furmint, Hárslevelû, Muscat
Co-founded in 1990 by wine writer Hugh Johnson, Royal Tokaji has quickly become one of the most important wineries in Tokaj, producing sweet and dry wines.
Chateau Musar White 2015
Regular price £57.95One of the most unique and long-lived white wines in the world. A blend of indigenous grapes Obaideh and Merwah, with a deep golden colour and honeyed aromas, full of tropical fruits; pineapple, banana with warm, toasty creamy notes. Pale golden colour with aromas of pear, lemon zest and apple and vanilla on the nose. Hints of lemon, orange with good body, concentration and mouthfeel , tangy acidity with ripe fruit.
Country: Lebanon
Region: Bekaa Valley
Grapes: Obaideh and Merwah
ABV:12%
The very scarce 2015 vintage is clean and pure with a lovely vibrant energy. It is a stunning example of the indigenous Merwah grape with its origins in the mountains of Lebanon – it is a rare light skinned grape variety, closely related to Semillon in Bordeaux and gives wines of great ageing potential and elegance.
Château de France Pessac Léognan Blanc 2022
Regular price £38.95Quinta da Pedra Alta Reserva Branco 2021
Regular price £27.95A wonderfully complex and textured barrel fermented white Douro. Made from four different indigenous grape varieties from very high altitude vineyards.
Country: Portugal
Region: Douro Valley
Grapes: 46% Rabigato, 29% Viosinho, 24% Gouveio,1% Fernão Pires
ABV: 12.5%
Diemersfontein Sauvignon Blanc 2022/23
Regular price £13.95This Sauvignon Blanc displays acidity and a delightful spectrum of ripe tropical fruits like pineapple and passion fruit, ending with a zingy lime, a textured mouthfeel and a lingering finish
Country: South Africa
Region: Wellington
Grapes: Sauvignon Blanc
ABV: 13%
Pairs well with seafood salads and richer poultry dishes
Vergelegen Reserve Semillon 2020
Regular price £21.00The superb Sémillon grapes for this wine have been sourced from the Korhaan Vineyard, block number 11, planted in 1988. The nose shows intense citrus, white flowers, honey and spice. Stunningly focused, complex and well balanced with a crisp acidity.
Country: South Africa
Region: Stellenbosch
Grapes: Semillon
ABV: 14.5%
Chateau De Cruzeau Pessac Léognan Blanc 2021
Regular price £24.95Nativo The Bees Organic Viognier 2021
Regular price £19.95Deliciously fragrant with notes of pineapple and almond. Smooth and balanced finish with lingering orange blossom.
Country: South Africa
Region: Swartland
Grapes: Viognier
ABV: 13.5%
Blank Bottle Kortpad Kaaptoe 2021
Regular price £26.00One of two releases of Kortpad Kaaptoe in 2021! One of Pieter's most unusual cuvees, so-named for the Kortpad Kaaptoe, or cut through road close to the vineyard that Pieter took when having to rush back to Cape Town one day. With its bling ACDC style label, this wine is as stand out as its label. Ripe pineapple, tangerine, stem ginger and spice with a pithy, lightly grippy palate and slivers of bitter sweet orange peel, apricot and long stoney finish. Great acidity keeps it all in check. Great example of skin contact wine!
Country: South Africa
Region: Swartland
Grapes: Fernao-Pires
ABV: 13.5%
Food Match: Drink with coronation chicken (trust us), tandoori dishes or a Persian feast of spiced lamb, stuffed aubergine and jewelled tahdig.
Winemakers don't come much more creatively brilliant than the genius that is Pieter Walser. He's the sort of man that's had more fantastic ideas before breakfast than we manage in a whole week and that talent shines through in his wines. Each comes with a story often as captivating as they are mystifying so we've asked him to record a few to give you an insight into the magic behind the vino!
Blank Bottle Luuks 2022
Regular price £39.95Luuks - it keeps getting better and better! Now in its third release, this is at first smoky and tense, coupled with just the right level of opulence - clotted cream, crunchy biscuits and chiffon cake, white flowers and buttered toast too. Very broad and long. So well-balanced, and with a long future ahead of it. The name comes from the barrel it was aged in: the first ever new barrel that Pieter bought. Luuks roughly translates from Afrikaans to 'lux' or 'luxury' in English and it became a bit of a nickname for this wine aged in their fancy new barrel.
Country: South Africa
Region: Swartland
Grapes: Chardonnay
ABV: 13.5%
Food Match:
Winemakers don't come much more creatively brilliant than the genius that is Pieter Walser. He's the sort of man that's had more fantastic ideas before breakfast than we manage in a whole week and that talent shines through in his wines. Each comes with a story often as captivating as they are mystifying so we've asked him to record a few to give you an insight into the magic behind the vino!
Warwick White Lady Chardonnay 2021
Regular price £29.95Limited edition Chardonnay from Warwick’s Estate vineyard Block 18 and the Helderberg Vineyards. Aromas of flowers, minerals and stones, white nectarine and poached pear on the nose. Silky yet austere with a round yet clean and long lemon flavoured finish.
Country: South Africa
Region: Stellenbosch
Grapes: Chardonnay
ABV: 14.5%
Chanzy Mercurey Blanc 'Les Caraby' 2021
Regular price £36.95A much warmer site than ‘Clos Les Bussieres’, ‘Les Caraby’ is a small 1 hectare ‘clos’ tagged on to the end of Mercurey’s most famous premier cru, ‘Clos du Roy’. Almost always the first vineyard picked, this is a fast ripening site with its own little valley of both north and south facing vines. This vintage has produced a really well balanced wine with ripe tropical fruits jumping out of the apple and citrus background. Really good texture and weight. No new oak was used in this vineyard. Only one barrel produced. *Limited Availability*
Country: France
Region: Burgundy
Grapes: Chardonnay
Food Match: Wonderful with rich lobster linguini
Star investment wine - drinking 2024 to 2030
Royal Tokaji Dry Furmint 2021
Regular price £15.95A fresh, crisp wine showing all the fine qualities of the unique Furmint grape. Aromas of blossom, apple, and pear combine with flavours of ripe apricot and peach to produce a
sleek, intense dry wine with a long, refreshing finish.
Country: Hungary
Region: Tokaji
ABV: 13%
Grapes: Furmint
Tokaji wines have enjoyed a long, glorious history. Louis XIV of France described them as “The wine of Kings and King of wines”, whilst Catherine the Great of Russia stationed a contingent of Cossack soldiers in the region to protect the vineyards and escort the wine on its journey to St. Petersburg. Many European monarchs are known to have enjoyed Tokaji wines over the centuries. Napoleon III ordered 30–40 barrels of Tokaji for the Imperial Court each year, while Emperor Franz Joseph sent Queen Victoria a gift of Tokaji every year on her birthday - a dozen bottles for each year of her age.
Chanzy Rully 1er Cru 'Rabourcé' 2020 Magnum
Regular price £95.00Wow - This is beautiful, and a masterclass in balance. Rich stone fruit, apples, pears, and quince. Hints of spice, orange zest apple strudel, and a great backbone of acidity make this a very delicious wine indeed. Rabourcé is one of the warmest sites in Rully and lends itself very well to creating fruit forward wines with spice and texture. This wine was not produced in 2021 - so a good vintage to stock up and keep!
Country: France
Region: Burgundy
Grapes: Chardonnay
Food Match: Salmon En Croûte