Appellation
Vinho Regional Alentejano, Portugal
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Variety
Arinto / Verdelho / Antão Vaz
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Tasting Notes
With a bright and citrus colour, this is a wine full of tropical aromas. In the mouth it shows a good natural acidity, great balance and structure and a pleasant persistency. It is an excellent choice to serve with salads, fish, sushi and seafood.

Varietals: Grecanico Dorato 50%, Carricante 50%

Our first white wine started out as an orange wine, fermented with the skins for an extended period. I liked the tactile feeling and density, but missed the finesse and precision of the classic French white wines from for example the Loire. With the vintage 2015 I changed our technique to search for the purity and flavors of Etna which evolved in maintaining a short period of skin contact and aging our white wines for an extended period in the coldest part of our cellar before bottling. The obtained elegance, purity and density makes this wine very suited to accompany a wide variety of dishes and cuisine, from fish to white meat.

Superbly balanced Blanc de Blanc Champagne.

Serge Gallois is a small-scale grower-champagne (récoltant-coopérateur) situated in the famous "Côte des Blancs" area of Champagne, known for its chalky soils that bring finesse and elegance to the wines.  

This is a Premier Cru wine, meaning that the grapes are sourced from high quality cru-rated vineyards from the village of Vertue - one of the highest rated villages in the Côte des Blancs. This is made with 100% Chardonnay and matured for 3 years on lees before bottling.

Bright, fine bead, aromatic and delicate florals combine with autolytic notes of brioche, citrus and stonefruit on the nose and palate.  Lovely freshness and minerality."

Direct and impressive acid-cherry nose. Nice in the mouth, a little structural too – the flavour a bit disassociated after filtering. The finish is excellent though – wide, long and persistent. This will be super – probably excellent!

Burgundy Report

With scents of peonies, raspberry and kirsch, the Saint-Amour is a refined and voluptuous wine. With a seductive shiny ruby red robe, this elegant and tender wine is very enjoyable. Wine-maker notes.

Here’s a deliciously different wine from South Australian brothers Peter and Duncan Lloyd, who were brought up with wine in McLaren Vale, South Australia, which is an experimental hotbed for interesting varieties. Flavours here are all about ripe licorice balanced by soft plummy fruit flavours balanced by firm acidity which adds structure and length to every interestingly quirky sip.

They used five grapes which originate in five different countries to make this interesting new take on Australian red wine. The grapes are Touriga (originally from Portugal), Grenache (French), Negroamaro (Italian), Mourvedre (French/Spanish) and Shiraz (Australia’s stock in trade).

Excellent value red from Domaine De La Charbonniere, with Grenache leading the way in this full bodied beauty, which is 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah.

The Domaine de la Charbonniere is owned by Eugene Maret, who owns 19 hectares in the Chateauneuf du Pape appellation, nearly six hectares in Vacqueryas and two hectares in the Cotes du Rhone appellation.

This is an outstanding Cotes du Rhone red with body to burn and flavours of approachable, soft and smooth spicy red fruit notes supported by a tannin structure of impressive velvet smooth framework and complex savoury, clean notes on the finish.

Dark and delicious Tempranillo comes from Toro DO, a wine region where this great red grape is known as Tinto de Toro and is typically a more deeply coloured, tannic variation on the Tempranillo theme. 

This wine is made with grapes grown on several different vineyards in Toro and was fermented with native yeasts then aged for six months in stainless steel tanks.

The result is a smooth, full bodied, unmistakably dry and savoury red wine with earthy notes and firm big tannins, which are suggestive of a region with hot days and cool nights, which lengthen the ripening season and enhance the balance in this wine by providing refreshing acidity to its smooth, rich, full bodied style. 

Telmo Rodríguez is one of Spain’s most dynamic wine pioneers, using native grapes, biodynamic growing methods and old bush vines to express a wide range of flavours from this vast and diverse wine country.

Terrazes Malbec is one of our favourite Argentinian reds and is made from grapes grown at over 1000 metres above sea level. The vineyard was planted by Moet & Chandon in the 1950s and was the champagne giant's first winemaking venture outside France. 

It is a spicy, dry, full bodied red that ages superbly for at least a decade and drinks well young with its dark fruity flavours, great structure and long finish. A keeper and one to enjoy right now.

The fruit for this succulent Malbec is 50% from the Uco Valley, with a majority of calcareous soils and 50% from Luján de Cuyo with loam clay soils. The vineyards are located between 950 and 1.400 metres above sea level. In our vineyards, we do not use any herbicide or systemic product, managing it in an agro-ecological way.

The wine is vinified with 20% whole clusters grapes, and the rest is destemmed. Fermentation is in small concrete vats with indigenous yeasts and at temperatures between 24º and 26ºC. Maturation continues in small concrete vats until next harvest.

This is a succulent juicy expression of Malbec (as it should be) with red fruits combining with floral aromas and black pepper. Ripe tannins lead to a soft and opulent finish.

Hand picked grapes go into this smooth, dry and way too drinkable Riesling made from dry grown vines on low yielding vineyard sites in the elevated Eden Valley. 

This Riesling is beautifully integrated as a youthful wine, drinking well without acid dominating and it has the complexity, palate weight and structure that will reward further aging. 

This is a gift for the Riesling lover in your life. 

Rockford Wines' legacy

Rockford Wines is an icon itself and a relatively new one, established in 1971 by Robert O'Callaghan, who has forged a reputation for preserving winemaking tradition and saving many of the world's oldest grape vines from being pulled up in the Australian Government's vine pull schemes of the 1970s and 1980s.

The Rockford vintage shed houses equipment from 50 to 100 years ago, which was discarded by other wineries as modernisation took over.

“Coteaux du Layon vineyards are situated on hillsides rolling along the Layon, a small stream joining the Loire near Angers. The region has a special climate; mild with a long Autumn ripening season giving very ripe Chenin Blanc grapes which are often affected by botrytis. This produces sweet wines of complexity, intensity, acidity and remarkable longevity.” – Winemaker’s notes.

This sweet wine offers complex honeyed flavours and excellent minerality.