Talk about good value wine buying. This one litre bottle of Baga is a chillable red, which offers superb value for money with soft, spicy, complex flavours. It’s made from the high quality Baga grape from 40 to 100 year old vines, all hand picked. That's no mean feat for a wine of this extremely modest price. Winemaker Dirk Niepoort rates the Baga grape as Portugal's equivalent of Italy's great Nebbiolo when it comes to quality and complexity. That's no mean feat for a wine of this extremely modest price. Winemaker Dirk Niepoort rates the Baga grape as Portugal's equivalent of Italy's great Nebbiolo when it comes to quality and complexity. This lovely, medium bodied red was fermented and aged in stainless steel, so it's all about the fruit flavours and old vines grown on vineyards at a relatively low altitude of 80 to 100 metres above sea level. This wine contains 2.3 grams of residual sugar per litre, which balances the firm tannins of the impressive Baga grape variety and puts it firmly in the dry camp. 

The Niepoort family

The Niepoort family has been making port since 1842. The company's first property in the Douro Valley was bought in 1987 and Dirk Niepoort started a new era when he created the first Redoma red in 1991. Since then, it has acquired two properties in the Dão and Bairrada regions.

APPELLATION: DHC ? Vill?ny wine region

SOIL: dolomite, marl, limestone or occasionally sandy loess

VINEYARD: Pannon region, PDO

GRAPE VARIETY: K?kfrankos

WINE MAKING: Matured in large wooden Hungarian oak.

ORGANOLEPTIC SPECIFICATION: Lifted, earthy aromatics, brick dust and blueberries, cocoa powder and hints of beefy gamey complexity follow and then saturate the palate. From Hungary, the tannins are fleshy, and smooth, and there?s an almost creamy, savoury character running through it.

TECHNICAL DATA
ALCOHOL:13%
ACIDITY:4,7 g/l

Kekfrankos is also known as Blaufrankisch and is a late ripening grape typically with big tannins and pronounced spicy flavours. Here we find full ripeness to balance the elegant tannins and spicy notes - and lovely blue fruits moulded by elegant oak. Fabulous value for money.

Trapiche is one of Argentina's best known wineries and based in the country's wine HQ, Mendoza, where it owns over 1,000 hectares of vineyards, devoted mostly to Malbec - the great red of this part of South America.

Trapiche's Oak Cask Malbec sees a minimal amount of oak, which adds a touch of spice and complexity to this otherwise fruity, dry, medium bodied red. Great value for money and lively drinking year round.

Made from 100% Tempranillo fruit aged for 36 months in American oak and held for five years before release and now with some decent age under its belt - what's not to like. Bold and powerful with spicy fruit and mellow tannins Rioja Reservas really are a law unto themselves and given half a chance the oak just melts into the aged tertiary flavours harmoniously.

Spain's great offering to the world of sparkling wine is called Cava and it is made in the same way as champagne and this exceptional bubbly spends the same amount of time ageing in the bottle on yeast lees as most champagne. That long ageing process is 15 months and it results in a wine with fresh baked bread and yeasty aromas, which are tempered by citrusy freshness and depth of flavour from the complex combination of both. This makes it stunningly good value for money. 

The producer is Gonzales Byass, the largest sherry producer and owners of the great classic, Tio Pepe Fino. 

This bubbly comes from grapes grown on a vineyard planted in 1991 in Espiells, the highest, windiest area of the municipality of Sant Sadurní d’Anoia. 250 metres above sea level. Bordered to the south by the Coastal Serralda and to the north by the Montserrat mountains, the vineyard benefits from an exceptional microclimate. The soil is alluvial and comprises three layers;; of clay and silt, pebbles and loose stones and fine sand that compacts down and is called “sauló”. Together, they produce a cava with very warm climate characters which are balanced by a touch of saltiness. The Parellada vineyard is located at 700 metres above sea level in the municipality of La Llacuna, considered to be one of the highest in Penedés.

This Reserva Tempranillo from Valdepenas is a great example of the quality coming out of Spain at the  moment.  Ripe and juicy, yet also with hints of oak and complexity.  Grapes from their oldest, low-yielding vineyards were combined with those of younger vines to create a blend of rich dark fruit with smooth vanilla and rich cocoa. 12 months in American oak barrels, followed by a further 24 months in the bottle add a silken texture to the blend.  Superb with hearty stews and char-grilled steaks as well as a variety of tapas.

"Dark cherry red with a savoury bouquet infused with redcurrant fruit and cake spices, then spicy and savoury to the taste with lifted red berry fruit, a touch of orange zest and peppery spices. There's a nice touch of smokiness coming through, underlying earthy notes and a long dry finish lifted by vanillin oak and mint. Tannins are firm yet the wine is ripe and juicy with a pleasing generosity. Fantastic presentation.  13% alc."

Tasting Note: Tender and succulent, the plums are carefully hand-picked at the moment of perfect ripeness. In an aged-old tradition, they are fermented and then aged to ensure a rich, smooth flavour.

Product Details:
Volume: 750ml
Alcohol: 13.0%
Region: Fushimi

Tasting Note: Unlike other types of sake, namazake is a sake which has not been pasteurised before the maturing and bottling process, giving it a stronger taste and aroma. Namazake has a dry and balanced taste, full of fresh aromas of banana and fruit, making it a truly refreshing drink.

Product Details:
Volume: 280ml
Alcohol: 14.0%
Region: Fushimi

100% Chardonnay from the Catalonian region of Penedes in Spain, sandwiched between the Mediterranean and the local coastal mountains not far from Barcelona. The region is famed for its Cava production but here we see new wave wine makers Cellers Avgvstvs Forvm working with a Chardonnay and showing how modern Spanish winemaking is evolving.

Aged in French Nevers oak for 4 month and offering plenty of tropical and citrus fruit flavours and aromas.

100% Bobal from DO Manchuela near Cuenca. 

Bodegas Ponce has been at the forefront of modern Spanish wine since their inception in 2005. 

Juan Antonio Ponce's dream was to make wines with the old vineyards of his native Manchuela. He attended viticulture and enology school when he was 14 years old, and after five years of working with Telmo Rodriguez after his graduation he started his own winery Bodegas Ponce when he was 23 years old. Inspired by his years with Telmo and the growing minimal intervention movement in France. He approached his native varietal Bobal in a way unlike that of neighbors. Farming sustainably, with organic and biodynamic principles and harvesting the grapes weeks before his neighbors. In the winery he works simply and cleanly, whole bunch fermentation, native yeast fermentation and aging in old wood vats. His wines are more like those from Beaujolais and the Loire Valley than Rioja and Priorat. What is fascinating is that Manchuela is a region where the locals joke that there are nine months of winter and three months of hell, which sounds nothing like the bucolic hills of Beaujolais nor France?s garden, the Loire valley. The P.F. stands for Pie Franco. The vineyards for this wine range in age from 40 to 90 years old and they are all ungrafted. Juan Antonio?s wines are some of the most elegant wines being made in Spain.

This outstanding Malbec is made from grapes grown high altitude vineyards in Mendoza, which were fermented with wild yeasts for 12 days with post ferment maceration for 19-22 days followed by 12 months aging in barrel, including first, second and third use barrels. It tastes smooth, dark, full bodied, fleshy, succulent and complex… An incredible red wine.

Argentina’s signature grape, Malbec, was introduced to the country’s biggest wine region, Mendoza, by Frenchman Michel Pouget in the mid 1850s, but it has since been discovered that not all Malbec vines brought into the country were exactly the same. And the family that has done more to advance the understanding, high quality expression and understanding of Argentinian Malbec is the Catena family, whose Zapata Malbec is one of our favourite wines in store; big, bold and full bodied but with elegance to burn, thanks to its silkiness. 

The Catena family has arguably done more for the quality and reputation of both Malbec and the Argentinian wine industry than any other company, advancing the understanding of growing grapes at altitude, high up in the foothills of the Andes where hot days, high sunshine hours and cool nights ripen the grapes and retain elegance.