Bright flavours, fresh and light in style - and lighter in alcohol too with 9% ABV. Sauvignon Blanc is well suited to lower alcohol wines because it's so intense in flavour and this lively wine expresses that with its tropical fruit aromas, fresh herb tastes and its fresh zesty acidity, which adds balance and length of taste.

A great wine to drink when you want less alcohol but still want to enjoy a drink or two. That little bit less alcohol makes a big difference... and here's a tasty example which is also dry in style with 5 grams residual sugar (that's natural sugar from the grapes, retained from stopping the fermentation early). 

This is a bright, bone dry Pinot Gris with an underlying salinity. The nose is zesty and layered with lemon and grapefruit notes. These flavours continue on the palate, and are met with a mineral touch and bright acidity. 

Château de Fesles Bonnezeaux is a yellow, almost ochre-coloured wine. It has an expressive, vinous nose with notes of lemon, citrus fruit and white flowers. This wine is nicely alcoholic, warm and spicy on the palate. This Bonnezaux has a semi-dry style and a slight taste of peach kernel. Bonnezeaux is 100% Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley.

Idee Folle translates to ‘crazy idea’. This is an unusual blend of white wine grapes (Gros Manseng, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay) which has had an eau-de-vie added to halt fermentation, retaining the wine’s residual sugars.

"Tasted at the Mouton-Rothschild vertical in London, the 2010 Mouton-Rothschild is a modern-day benchmark for the First Growth and here, side-by-side with the 2009, it certainly has its nose in front. It is in possession of quite breathtaking delineation and precision, a crystalline bouquet with black fruit laced with minerals, potent pencil shaving notes, a touch of cold slate. It is totally entrancing. The palate has beguiling symmetry, but for me what really distinguishes this Mouton is its effortlessness. Like watching Usain Bolt in his prime sprinting to another world record, this wine is almost self-effacing in terms of its brilliance. Will Philippe Dhalluin ever better this Mouton-Rothschild? Keep it in the cellar for 15 years, if you know what's good for you." Tasted May 2016.

Rating 99

Les Fondraux is semi-sweet: it always has some residual sugar, wich gives concentration and fullness to the palate. White flowers dominate the nose and help bring into focus all of the wine's freshness, fullness, minerality and vivacity. Whilst young, the wine matches perfectly with river fish, charcuterie, goat's cheese, and sweet-and-sour dishes. With age, the flavours can manage more spicy foods and white meat. - Champalou note.

Only old vine Grenache (between 75-90 years) is used to make this wine. This is a deep, rich and vibrant red. The nose is very complex with notes of raspberry, licourice and spices. This is an opulent, generously fruity wine. Drink from now through to 2027.

Ripe powerful aromas of blackberries combine with black olives and spice in this great expression of Cabernet Sauvignon from South Australia. The wine is deep crimson with aromas of lifted berries, spicy oak and a medium body.

A keeper for at least a decade and also drinks well now, decanted for two to three hours and served in large glasses to accentuate its ripe dark fruity flavour spectrum.

Langmeil is owned by the Lindner family, which has been making wine for six generations in the Barossa Valley.

Domaine Clusel-Roch is located in Vérenay, the northernmost village in Côte Rôtie, with a winegrowing history that predates the region’s fame. Although the estate comprises a mere 3.5 ha, their plots are small-but-mighty, consistently producing intensely coveted cuvées. Now run by Gilbert Clusel, his wife Brigitte, and their son Guillaume, the Clusel-Roch family was among the first to adopt organic farming practices in the area, when Gilbert’s grandfather planted the core vineyard of the winery in 1935.

Syrah is the star here, and Clusel-Roch’s vineyards are not planted with just any syrah, but with the unique, low-yielding clone known as serine. Their single vineyard bottlings are in great demand (and limited quantity), but this cuvée provides a rare opportunity to get an affordable taste of Clusel-Roch’s inimitable style

This bottle is classic Northern Rhône syrah, with a woody smoke over spice, plush blackberry, black raspberry, currant, and hints of crushed herbs.

95/100 Wine Enthusiast, Kerin O'Keefe

"Underbrush, camphor, cedar and mature dark-skinned fruit aromas come to the forefront along with spicy notes. Full-bodied and firmly structured but also boasting a surprising weightlessness, the palate features dried cherry, steeped prune, licorice and tobacco set against a firm backbone of tightly knit, close-grained tannins. It's still youthfully austere so give it time to fully develop. Drink 2027–2037. " Drink 2027 - 2037

94+/100 Parker's wine Advocate, Monica Larner

"Considering the untimely passing of Renato Vacca in March of 2020, there is a lot of emotion coming back to this wine: It has always been an expression of Barbaresco nostalgia and romanticism, even when its creator was alive and well, working in these vines located directly under his family house. The Cantina del Pino 2017 Barbaresco Ovello bears his winemaking imprint with balance and elegance that never misses a beat. This vintage offers more density and concentration for sure, and the positioning of the Ovello cru overlooking the Tanaro River Valley sets the wine up for open-knit characteristics and suave softness. Those impressions are amplified in this vintage but are not overblown. Some 6,000 bottles were released and you get terrific value in this bottle. The wine is set to hit the market in September 2021." Drink 2023 - 2038

94/100 Vinous, Antonio Galloni

"The 2017 Barbaresco Ovello is a superb effort for the year. Bright, aromatic and effusive, the 2017 is so expressive right out of the bottle. It has the vintage 2017 power found in all the wines here, but also the cut and verve that make Ovello one of the most distinctive sites in all of Barbaresco. It is such a gorgeous wine." Drink 2025 - 2037

A light ruby colour in the glass with gentle red berry and subtle earthy aromas on the nose. On the palate the wine is light with an elegant and refined mouthfeel and gentle red fruits flavours. Precise winemaking resulting in quality Pinot Noir.

One of the great pink champagnes, combining toasted red fruit flavours and the freshness of a great, complex wine with long lees ageing. Delicious. 

Champagne Laurent-Perrier was founded in 1812 by Andre Michel Pierlot and took the name Laurent-Perrier when Mathilde Emilie Perrier, the widow of Eugene Laurent, combined the two family names after she decided to expand the business.

Eugenie Hortense Laurent, her daughter, inherited the House in 1925 and sold it to Marie-Louise Lanson de Nonancourt in 1939.

A beautiful peachy expression of the viognier grape grown on the sand and granite steep terraced slopes of the northern Rhone.

Fermentation is at low temperatures, a third in new barrels and the rest in stainless steel tanks. The wine undergoes 100% Malolactic fermentation and is aged in 100% new oak.

Brilliant clear golden yellow in the glass with a nose that is Intensely floral and fruity; violets, apricots, peaches and citrus.

The palate is fresh, round and unctuous with lighter acidity and round fleshy fruits.