Organic Wine

For complexity, depth of flavour, and interest, it’s hard to beat this ancestral method sparkling wine from Vincent Carême. So vinous and lively, it’s delicious in youth, and fascinating with some age. It’s made by transferring the still sweet and fermenting grape juice into bottle, and then trapping the subsequent carbon dioxide as it continues to ferment to dryness in the bottle. No dosage is added, though the spent yeast cells are expelled, leaving a brilliant, crystalline sparkling wine behind. It has such a wonderful depth and complexity on the nose, with a vinous structure on the palate, and a salty zing. The creamy mousse wraps around crunchy apple fruit. Experience from tasting back vintages of this cuvée shows me this wine ages brilliantly, and will develop complex depth, and savoury precision with a few years in bottle.

"This smells just like membrillo. Delicious! Exciting depth of fruit that seems to go on and on. The longest wine so far. Tiny traces of spice are folded like secret love notes into the fruit, and the acidity envelops every sip with its chalky lemon-sherbet ribbons. Apricots and golden figs. Fragrant with lime. This is truly thrilling." 17.5 points, Tamlyn Curran, jancisrobinson.com

Claudie’s father, in his days of running a plant nursery with access to a huge range of plant material, planted seven different clones of Pinot Noir in this 2.5 hectare site. Now at 45 years old, this diversity, twinned with the quality of vineyard husbandry, means the vineyard is thriving. The different clones call for pruning and harvesting at different times, but it’s an effort worth making, as the wine is texturally sophisticated, juicy, and full of Pinot nuance. It’s open, balanced and extremely drinkable, with a touch (10%) of new oak adding a little sweet spice to the gorgeous red fruit.

This is the sweet spot of Domaine de la Butte - from right in the middle of the slope - and as such, produces the most complex and ageworthy of this triptych. Jacky and Jean-Philippe hold the wine back for an extra six months in the cellar before bottling as they know: this wine needs time. Its huge concentration and tannic stature are matched to slightly more new oak than the other wines. The density of fruit is more than a match.

This is everything we’ve been looking for in a dry Vouvray: precise, chiselled Chenin fruit, balanced weight, sappy freshness, and flinty finish. It comes from clay and flint soils around the domaine, andin 2020 has an electric energy. It’s so bright, and with a clean, precise weight and length, it’s hard to imagine a better example of the appellation for the price.

This comes from three neighbouring parcels near the cellar, from vines with an average age of 45 years. The additional clay in the soil here gives added depth to this cuvée, as well as more longevity. This is such an enjoyable wine: it has ripeness and personality in spades, with a razor-sharp line of acidity slicing through to a long finish.

This is juicy, lightly peppery, bright and elegantly smooth Cabernet Franc which is wonderful in its youth. The fruit comes from the bottom part of the slope, hence 'Pied' - foot. This is in contrast to the mid-slope fruit goes into the age-worthy, denser 'Mi-Pente' cuvée. Some vines at the bottom are as old as 80 years, so although the wine is juicy, upfront, and invitingly drinkable, the finish is sustained and persistent with old vine intensity taking this above a simple easy-drinking wine. It’s got a wonderful sour cherry note, with lightly smoky notes.

100% whole-bunch lifts this village Pommard up a notch or two. It’s such a fragrant and appetising style, and the best we’ve seen from Joannes since he took over in 2019. It is a great entry point for one of Pommard’s most promising new voices.

Tasted April 2023. A lovely silky feel on the finish with more fresh mint notes on the finish keeping it lively and appetising. Ripe blackberry, plum and some red cherry flavours, with a bay leaf, sage herbal quality.

Made from a selection from the San Marcellino vineyard, this wine is only produced in high quality vintages. A small vineyard that is majority old vines, the wine has 5-10% of the indigenous Pugnitello grape added, a Tuscan grape that brings colour and perfume to the wine. Aged for 24 months in barrel, the wine has leather, coffee and spice at the forefront with wild flowers, brambles and blood orange notes that support it in the background. Tannins are evident, however there is a lot of concentration and matter on the palate to balance this.

The second wine of renowned Clos Apalta, with pure, ripe berry fruit character, hints of sweet spice and long, complex flavours of violets, pepper, chocolate and damson.

The second wine of renowned Clos Apalta, this year Petit Clos is just fantastic, with pure, ripe berry fruit character and long flavours of violets and damson.

This is an excellent introduction to Saumur Rouge, with its sweet, leafy red fruit and silky tannins. Father and son team Michel and Thibaud Chevré are showing themselves to be every bit as skilled with reds as with whites, which is little surprise given Michel’s long career working with Thierry Germain.

This is juicy, lightly peppery, bright and elegantly smooth Cabernet Franc which is wonderful in its youth. The fruit comes from the bottom part of the slope, hence 'Pied' - foot. This is in contrast to the mid-slope fruit goes into the age-worthy, denser 'Mi-Pente' cuvée. Some vines at the bottom are as old as 80 years, so although the wine is juicy, upfront, and invitingly drinkable, the finish is sustained and persistent with old vine intensity taking this above a simple easy-drinking wine. It’s got a wonderful sour cherry note, with lightly smoky notes.

Pierre de Tuf is Jérôme's stand-out cuvée. It's made from a blend of two parcels of Cabernet Franc, both planted in the 1940s. He uses an incredible fifteenth-century tuffeau cuve, hewn into the wall of the old cellar, to do a long, slow fermentation. This method brings out the delicious complexity in this old vine Cabernet Franc. 2020 is the first vintage that this wine sees 24 months ageing before bottling (previous vintages had seen 18 months). This allows the wine time to knit together, so that it feels composed, powerful, and elegant once in bottle. The tannins of 2020 are still fairly forthright, but with the succulent ripeness of black fruit behind them, the wine shows impressive balance. There's a whisper of smoke and violets on the nose, and a deep fruit core on the palate promising great ageing potential. It remains outstanding value for money.

This is the pinnacle of the Balthazar cellar - a Cornas that defines Franck’s style for making complex and ethereal Cornas from old vine fruit, vinifying with 100% whole bunch. It shows impressive tension, with a superbly long, silky finish. This is Cornas at its very best.

This cuvée is made in only tiny volumes, and released to just a few customers. It is made from Chaillot grapes (a particularly old parcel), and is vinified and aged without sulphur. Just 1 gramme per litre of sulphur is added before bottling.

This classic, old-school Châteauneuf from Jean-Paul Versino is one of the bargains of the list. It comes from a blend of 27 plots, making for a balanced, complete, and inviting Grenache-based Châteauneuf. It is dry and savoury, with the gorgeous combination of red berry fruit, dried herbs, spice and just a hint of licorice. It will drink well from early on, and evolve into an earthy, complex wine in the cellar.

This comes from their youngest vineyard (average age of around 15 years) right next to Marcel’s house. He says this is best opened and enjoyed while it is young. This is a vibrant, fresh and energetic cuvee with plenty of juicy peach and citrus aromas and flavours on display. If you are looking for value for money you simply cannot beat this!

This village wine is 100% destemmed and has a sapid, redcurrant, spiced pomegranate character, with long, lightly structured tannins holding it together. This is a great entry point for one of Pommard’s most promising new voices.