Superstars

Country: USA

Region: Paso Robles California

Grapes: Counoise

ABV: 13%

Food Match: 

If tasted blind, you would never in a million years guess that this wine was English! Perfumed, vibrant, juicy Pinot with violets, lavender, cherries, rhubarb, cinnamon, and pepper. Smooth and silky with a long finish. Excellent.

Country: England

Region: Grapes sourced from Essex Vineyards (Martin's Lane in Crouch Valley) wine vinified in Gavin Carver's winery in The Cotswolds

Grapes: Pinot Noir

ABV: 12.5%

Food match: Tagliatelle, con porcini e crema

Such a wonderful expression of the Listán Blanco grape variety, otherwise known as Palomino Fino in mainland Spain and other parts of the world. An aromatic nose, with notes of ripe peach and apricot. Green pear on the palate with a textured, saline, long finish from spending 4 months on its lees.

Country: Spain

Region: Tenerife

Grapes: Listán Blanco

ABV: 13.5%

Food Match: 

Practicing organic, but not certified.

Ripe, round and elegant with classic, subtle butter, toast and pineapple notes balanced by juicy acidity. On the palate there are notes of lemony cream biscuits and key lime pie. A broad, decadent and ripe long finish. A top quality white Burgundy with more than 10 year aging potential.

Country: France

Region: Burgundy

Grapes: Chardonnay

ABV: 13%

Sublimely crisp, floral and minerally in style with an almost Chablis -like saltiness on the finish. Very elegant and unique traditional method sparkling.

Country: Japan

Region: Yamanashi Province

Grapes: Koshu

ABV: 12%

Food match: Seafood salads and pasta dishes or fresh oysters.

Regarded as one of the best sites in the region, Montestefano does not disappoint! Complex aromas of red fruit, blood orange, sweet spice and cedar wood. Juicy, rich and full bodied with a mid palate and finish that goes on forever. Very elegant and refined. Special wine!

Country: Italy

Region: Piemonte

Grapes: Nebbiolo

ABV: 14.5%

97
Drinking Window: 2025 - 2035
Antonio Galloni, September 2024
The 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano is one of the most elegant, polished wines in this range. Bright red-toned fruit, blood orange, spice, mint and cedar are beautifully lifted. The tannins are remarkably polished for a young, recently bottled Riserva. I admire its poise and elegance. This is an especially refined edition of the Montestefano. In 2020, the mix of vineyards is a bit younger than in the past, as one of the blocks of older vineyards was replanted and not used. If I could have only one of the Riservas in 2020, this would be it!

Deep and complex aromas of blackberry, rose petals, sweet spice and balsamic glaze. Juicy, rich and full bodied with lots of flavour. Morello cherry, cranberry, liquorice and ground white pepper with a backbone of vibrant acidity and grippy tannins. 

Country: Italy

Region: Piemonte

Grapes: Nebbiolo

ABV: 14.5%

Antonio Galloni, September 2024
The 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Asili is gorgeous. It offers a beguiling mix of intense fruit and supporting structure. A wine of depth and complexity, Asili has a lot of everything. It is clearly a step or two above many of the wines in this range. Today, the 2020 comes across as a bit somber, but that may partly be a reflection of its recent bottling. There is gorgeous depth and resonance in the Asili.

Drinking window 2025- 2045

A beautifully aromatic, ruby red wine, this RiNera has wonderful aromas of red berries, bitter cherries and a touch of spice with green and black pepper. On the palate, it is elegant and bright, slightly tannic with a long, satisfying finish.

Country: Italy

Region: Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Italy

Grapes: Schioppettino

ABV: 12%

Food Match: Minestrone soup; roast chicken or fillet steak with creamy peppercorn sauce.

‘Ronchi’, in Fruili’s dialect, means hills cultivated by vines; ‘Cialla’ is a small valley surrounded by woods with chestnut, oak, and wild cherry trees. Located in the Cialla valley, one of three sub-zones in Colli Orientali del Friuli, it is a picturesque area with perfect growing conditions for the indigenous grapes. The company philosophy has always been to work solely with indigenous varieties, such as, Ribolla, Refosco, Schioppettino, Verduzzo, and Picolit. In fact, the Rapuzzi Family restored and revitalised the Schioppettino grape from near extinction, defying the odds and local wine laws.

The single vineyard wines from Mount Difficulty are made in limited quantities and are not produced every year. This wine has the distinctive classic Pipeclay cherry and blackberry with a slight spice kick and lovely light violet floral notes. Rich and sensuous mid palate
the wine finishes strongly with a combination of fruit and finely grained structured
tannins.

Country: New Zealand

Region: Bannockburn, Central Otago

ABV: 14%

Grapes: Pinot Noir

Mt Difficulty is Central Otago’s leading artisan winegrower with a pioneering heritage
based in Bannockburn. With their founding vineyards established in 1992, Mt Difficulty owns some of the oldest vines having harnessed this once brutal terrain to produce premium wines that are among the finest in New Zealand. Mount Difficulty is Bannockburn’s highest peak and the backdrop to their vineyards – some of Bannockburn’s oldest. Sustainability is at the heart of everything they do including using recycled glass made locally, a living roof to encourage biodiversity and new waste reduction technology to list just a few things they do.

Kisiskhevi is a superb terroir within the wider Kakheti region, particularly for Saperavi. The best grapes are selected for fermentation in Qvevri, resulting in a deep coloured and structured wine that is still remarkably approachable due to its vibrant primary fruit and roasted nut aromas.

Country: Georgia

Region: Kisiskhevi, Kakheti

Grapes: Saperavi

ABV: 13%

Food Pairing:  Grilled or BBQ meats

Read all about Penny's recent trip to the cradle of wine, Georgia in her blog here.

Dry, complex and textured Chenin from a part of the Loire typically famed for its sweet wines.  Beautifully rich and ripe on the nose that suggesting it may not be bone dry - and yet it is! Notes of beeswax, honey, white peach. There is a touch of vanilla on the nose on the palate. Wonderfully complex and special wine that is a steel for this price.

Country: France

Region: Loire Valley

Grapes: Chenin Blanc

ABV: 12%

Perfect Pinot Noir! Only 24 barrels made of this, so snap it up while you can!

Ripe in dense black cherry, blueberry and raspberry. This wine has a delicious juiciness that keeps it balanced in the glass. A firmness of acidity supports the well-integrated tannins and lithe fruit, while the finish brings a swirl of cinnamon, baked red apple and vanilla. 

Country: USA

Region: Russian River Valley, California

ABV: 14%

Grapes: Pinot Noir

The nose is delicate, restrained and elegant with its grapefruit, greengage, chamomile and apple blossom aromas and whiffs of exotic spice. The floral character of the nose follows through onto a richly textured mid-palate, showing yellow peach, poached pear and nectarine against a backdrop of fresh mandarin and green fig flavours with integrated acidity and a full body. The ripe stone fruit character adds to the complexity on the palate and the spicy finish with hints of fenugreek, black cardamom and Cape fynbos complements a very balanced wine.

Country: South Africa

Region: Franschhoek Valley

Grapes: Semillon (97%), Muscat d'Alexandrie (3%)

ABV: 13.5%

Great with Cape Malay dishes such as beef baboti - a well-known South African dish consisting of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping.

Tim Atkin MW
96 points. Boekenhoutskloof's world-class Semillon uses grapes from three distinct blocks in Franschhoek, planted in 1902, 1936 and 1942, combining these with 3% Muscat d'Alexandrie. Showing more acidity and restraint than the stunning 2020, and less of the struck match character, it has notes of lemongrass, custard and beeswax and a core of chiselled acidity. Drinking 2024-32

Light and super easy drinking red full of crunchy red fruit, bitter cherries and sweet spice notes.

Country: Portugal

Region: Bairrada

Grapes: Baga

ABV: 11%

Special Limited parcel wine from talented South African winemaker Izele Van Blerk. Drinking window 2025 - 2035. Only 1000 bottles made!

Full-bodied, intense and concentrated. Aromas and flavours blackcurrant, black cherry and ripe plum, with notes of tobacco, eucalyptus and subtle capsicum. The palate is rich and full with prominent fruit ripeness. Great tannic structure and a well balanced, lingering finish.

Country: South Africa

Region: Stellenbosch

Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon

ABV: 14.5%

A very rare grape variety, mostly found in the Canary Islands, particularly Tenerife. The vines are 'pie franco' or ungrafted ancient specimens that thus far have managed to avoid the dreaded Phylloxera bug which devastated many European vineyards in the 19th century. The wine is complex, concentrated and flinty with aromas of green herbs, apples and quince. 6 months in barrel and on its lees has given the wine a beautiful texture and long, saline finish.

Country: Spain

Region: Tenerife

Grapes: Vijariego Blanco

ABV: 13.5%

Food Match: Seafood such as grilled prawns and calamari would work well with this wine.

Practicing organic, but not certified.

From the Quinta do Cruzeiro winery. Made with hidden gem grape varieties Encruzado and Malvasia Fina -  famous grapes in Portugal and should be world famous in my opinion!

Aromas of lime, green apple and toast. This wine is clean, precise and has great depth of richness and minerallity with a long, complex finish.

Country: Portugal

Region: Mangualde, Dão

ABV: 13.5%

Grapes: Encruzado and Malvasia Fina