My September Wines of the Month are a Majestic pair in every sense of the word:

Altano Douro Organic 2008 (Douro) – this blend of Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca is the second vintage of Altano’s organic wine from 7ha at Quinta de Assares, one of three vineyards the Symington family own in the Villarica Valley in the Douro Superior (pictured).  But watch this space because, from this year, they’re farming all 150ha of these holdings organically, including Quinta Ataide, source of a new single varietal Touriga Nacional under the Alatano label which blew me away.  It’s due for release later this year (check out my upcoming report on a visit with the Symingtons this July).   As for Altano Organic, it’s the perfect autumnal wine, with ripe damson and cherry to the nose and just a hint of smoky bacon/oak.  Black pepper, spicy bay leaf and dried herbs come through on a juicy palate, together with a lick of toasty oak (looking better integrated than when I first tasted this wine in May) .  £9.99 or £7.99 (20% off) at Majestic from 31 August to 1 November 2010 when you buy any 2 Portuguese table wines as part of the minimum 6 bottle purchase.

Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2005 (Constantia) – Constantia’s Muscat de Frontignan sweeties prompted Charles Dickens to speak of “the support embodied in a glass of Constantia and a home-made biscuit” and Jane Austen to encourage her forsaken heroine to try a little Constantia for its “healing powers on a disappointed heart.” Sadly, when I recently tasted this I didn’t have a home-made biscuit but happily, I didn’t have a disappointed heart either – suffice to say that the Constantia worked its magic on this 21st century writer anyway!  Lovely orange and orange peel nose, a touch confit and, in the mouth, it has glorious perfume (jasmine/orange blossom), balance (pithy pithy, sweet sweet) and persistence.  An absolute treat!  Put some away for Christmas (if you can wait…) £30 or £23.99 (50cl) at Majestic (20% off) from 31 August to 1 November 2010 when you buy any 2 South African table wines as part of the minimum 6 bottle purchase.

My August Wines of the Month are the real McCoy from Filipa Pato, one of 3 bargainful Bairrada beauts I tasted last week at The Wine Society (see here for my report).  My red, on the other hand, hails from the Cape but it’s an exciting blend of Syrah with Touriga Nacional and Trincadeira made by David Traddord.  Not from old plantings either, so I’m excited that the Portuguese influence is taking hold elsewhere and not just for fortifieds, which is why you’ll typically find Portuguese red varieties in Australia and South Africa!

Vinhos Doidos Bossa  2009 (Bairrada) –  lemon rind and grapefruit to the nose and palate.  Nice weight and freshness betrays the skilful hand of Filipa Pato, one of my favourite Portuguese producers.  This is a very attractive, characterful white made from Bical and Maria Gomes.  At only £6.75 at The Wine Society, it blows the supermarket fodder out of the water!   You can read my note on the latest release of Nossa Branco 2009, her very singular, single vineyard Bical here.

Malagas Wine Company Sijnn 2007 (Swellendam)- an impressive blend of 42% Shiraz, 26% Mourvedre, 21% Touriga Nacional, 10% Trincadeira and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon.  The vines are planted on mean, super-stony soils -  a touch Douro-like perhaps, so perfect for the Touriga Nacional and Trincadeira, commonly known as Tinta Amarela in the Douro (you can read more about the vineyard here).   It certainly brings out the Touriga Nacional, a little of which goes a long way.  Here its perfume of violets and succulent, fleshy black cherry make for an elegant wine matched by equally elegant, fine tannins.  Terrific RRP: £ 17.75; imported by Bibendum.

I know that last month featured two Aussie wines, but I make no apology for selecting two more Aussie wines, both reds, for my July Wines of the Month, they’re so darned good.

La Violetta La Ciornia 2008 (Denmark, Great Southern) – signals loud and clear that Western Australia can make really exciting Rhonish reds.  Not much of this around, especially after Matthew Jukes included it in his Top 100 Wines and I raved about it at the Western Australia Founders Day tasting earlier this month.  Still, you’ll know for next time!  The 2008 is a little animal, with smoky bacon on the nose and palate, which is balanced by a lovely, sublime even, lift of violets and subtle spice, also the freshness and purity of its well-defined blackberry fruit.   Intense not dense, this is a delightfully nuanced, characterful, mid-weight Shiraz with a dash (2%) of Viognier – positively summery.  £30 at Aus Wine Online.  You can find out more about it here.

Hewitson Old Garden Mourvèdre 2007 (Barossa Valley) – I met up with Dean Hewitson a couple of weeks ago and it was great to talk about his approach to wine and his love of Mourvedre, especially this wine, which is sourced from  a Mourvedre vineyard planted in 1854, reputedly the world’s oldest (see my detailed report here). Such is the intensity of its spice character that it put me in mind of an aged vintage Madeira wine’s heady concentration of spice box aromas and flavours.  And it’s quite funky and savoury too with lavender/saddle soap mocha (new oak) coming through as it opens up.  But there’s no doubting the gout de terroir here, especially on the long, tight, intense finish with minerals, liquorice spice and a lick of black treacle amply supported by textured, ripe tannins.  BBQ spare ribs anyone? £26, Planet of the Grapes, Byrne & Co.

My June Wines of the Month reflect an inspiring month of tasting really great Australian wines.  Both these wines come from members of Australia’s First Families of Wines about whom I’ve already blogged here and here, with detailed tasting notes of several vertical tastings yet to come.  These are, however, recent releases, indeed, yet to hit these shores:

Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (Margaret River, Western Australia) – this I tasted alongside the 2007, 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2001, having tasted the 1998 earlier in the week.  The 2008 quite simply blew me away with its fragrance, fine tannins, freshness, fabulous fruit purity (cassis and black olive) and subtle cedary oak – Abercrombie on overdrive!  Fortunately Howard Park’s owner Jeff Burch was on hand so I could quiz him about this vintage’s tangible hike in quality from an already impressive base and one, I might add, that just bagged Cabernet of The Year in Campbell Mattinson and Gary Walsh’s just-released The Big Red Wine Book 2010/11.  Burch told me that he’s using the kit he bought for Marchand and Burch Pinot Noir (a wine he makes in collaboration with Burgundy’s Pascal Marchand).  This meant that, in 2008, Abercrombie fruit underwent even more rigorous selection across the vibrating sorting table, resulting in less petioles (leaf stalks), so finer tannins.  And the tannins are also finer because the wine was fermented in small, open topped stainless steel tanks with twice daily aerative pump overs.  There’s a little less new oak too (40% compared with 50% in 2007).  A gorgeous, elegant Cabernet – contact Howard Park’s importer Bibendum to find out when it will be available in the UK.

Jim Barry The Florita Riesling 2009 (Clare Valley, South Australia) – I tasted this wine as part of a vertical reported here.  This was my stand out wine for the Clare Valley, amongst stiff competition.  Based on my earlier report about Grosset’s particularly shimmering Springvale Watervale Riesling 2009 here, 2009 is a cracking vintage for the Watervale subregion!  The Florita shows a very floral nose with exuberant tropical pink grapefruit. Similarly vibrant, the palate shows rose petal, lychee and very pure, sorbet-like grapefruit, pink and white.  Though the mid-palate is open and expressive, it finishes pithy and austere, suggesting a long life ahead.  Delicious.  The Wine Society currently stock the 2008 vintage, which costs £23.  Contact importer Negociants UK to find out when the 2009 arrives in the UK.

Most Vinho Verde is a blend of several varieties, but if there’s a stand out grape, it’s got to be Alvarinho (known over the border in Galicia, Spain, as Albarino). The variety is spreading its wings outside Vinho Verde and fast assuming the mantle of Portugal’s flagship white grape variety. Take Poeira Pó de Poeira Branco from the Douro, a blend of Alvarinho/Gouveio – for winemaker Jorge Moreira, Alvarinho is “the most complete and complex variety in Portugal.”

But if it’s pure Alvarinho you want, then Vinho Verde is the hotspot, specifically the sub-regions of Monçao and Melgaço, whose wines so adeptly walk the tightrope between ripe fruit and freshness. And because we’re in Portugal, there’s an exciting diversity of styles on offer – this is not the land of identikit wines! Here are two stylistically opposed favourites:

Quinta do Feital Dorado Alvarinho Superior 2007, DOC Vinho Verde – from a vineyard near Alvarinho hotspot Melgaco, this hails from shy-bearing 70-year-old vines, many ungrafted. This is a big, powerful wine, rich, round and a little leesy with ripe apricot fruit and subtly balancing bite of greengage. It’s on the funky rather than fruity fruity side – excellent. A great food wine for weightier fish or chicken dishes. £21.50 at hangingditch wine merchants.

Reguengo de Melgaço Alvarinho 2009, DOC Vinho Verde – a wonderful concentration of tropical fruit salad on nose and palate. Lush, yet somehow delivered with great linearity thanks to good acid drive with a long, mineral finish to boot. Very good. £13.95 at Kevin O’Rourke Wines (currently stocking the equally fine 2008 vintage).

Other great examples: Quinta do Soalheiro Primeiras Vinhas 2007/2008 £17.95 at Halifax Wine Company, Gloria Alvarinho 2008 £9.95 at Slurp Wines, Poema 2007 £11.95 at Castas and any Alvarinho from Anselmo Mendes – contact Atlantico Wines for stockists.

Last week I discovered that “hair of the dog” is as applicable to holidays as hangovers.  The evening after I returned from a particularly fabulous break in Western Australia (see my top 10 tips here), I presented a Western Australia tasting – a great opportunity to extend that holiday glow and flash my rapidly receding tan, since blanched in shock reaction to our lovely “summertime” weather!

And that tan was hard to come by.  Not because of the weather in Western Australia, no,  rather more blanching.  This time in response to the price of wine Down Under!  Aussies pay much heavier tax on wine than us and the exchange rate has plummeted to a disheartening $AUS1.6 to the £.  Frankly, we don’t know how lucky we are and April’s Wines of the Month  – a pair of Margaret River Bordeaux blends  – represent cracking value for money given their sheer class and complexity.

Vasse Felix Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2008

This wine transported me back to WA in an instant with its sweet, talcy herbal riff, lemon peel, lime and line.  Zesty, long and intense, it’s the perfect partner for prawns, yabbies or marron on the barbie with a squeeze of lime or grilled with garlic and herbs.  Yum.  A lot of wine for £9.49 at Waitrose and here’s a plea to WA?  Stick with this style.  With a bit of ambition and verve (winemaker Virginia Willcox picks early and part-barrel ferments the Sauvignon) it’s so much more interesting than a straight Sauvignon.

Clairault Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

This time last year I showed the 2004 vintage, one of three WA Cabernets awarded 5 stars by Decanter.  The follow up 2005 vintage is also receiving plenty of plaudits, including an IWC Gold and best in class in 2009.  Both wines have impressed me with their depth and concentration of flavour.  Last week the 2005 picked up nods of approval from the Bordeaux lovers as well it might with its ripe but restrained dried herb-edged blackberry, currant and cherry fruit supported and extended over a long finish by fine, chocolatey tannins.  A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc it’s normally around £18 at Marks & Spencer but buy it online (as I just have) and it’s currently 25% off at £81.00 for 6 bottles (i.e. £13.50 a bottle) – an out and out bargain!

Ex-Rustenberg man Adi Badenhorst’s Paardeberg Rhone blends, white and red, were one of my finds of the 2008 Cape Fair (see here).  A A Badenhorst Family Red 2006 received plenty of plaudits when I showed it at my “Cape Rhone blends with a twist tasting” last summer (reported here).  The only grievance?  That it wasn’t available on these shores.  Well good news! South African specialist importers Swig have recently added Adi’s wines to their list.

Even better, at the Specialist Importers’ Trade Tasting last week, I got my mits on a pair of Secateurs, Adi’s entry level white and red (hmm looks like Adi has lost a pair of secateurs in the picture).  As Adi puts it, Secateurs come from the world’s smallest co-op, its sole members comprising Adi and his neighbour.  My March Wines of the Month, Secateurs white and red are quite simply knock out value for money for this level of complexity.

A A Badenhorst Secateurs White 2009 – 90% Chenin Blanc cropped at a measly 2.5t/acre, it shows bright tropical fruit, flowers, honey and aniseed – the latter a characteristic trait of old vine Paardeberg Chenin, as is the underlying minerality and balancing freshness.  Rich and ripe but it’s no cloy boy.  As for the winemaker, he’s no coy boy – I quote from the website here “the property is owned by the dynamic and good looking cousins Hein and Adi Badenhorst….” RRP £8.50, contact Swig

A A Badenhorst Secateurs Red 2007 – a co-fermented blend of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage, Merlot, Carignan, Cinsault and Grenache, this is earthy and dark – liquorice not aniseed, with round and fleshy bonfire toffee-edged plum and blackberry fruit.  Should be on every self-respecting sausage and mash serving gastro pub’s wine list.  RRP £9.50, contact Swig

A cheeky reference to Sex, Drugs & Rock & Roll, the excellent Ian Dury biopic? Yes and no.  We’re into February, not my favourite month of the year, and I’d love to be transported somewhere warm and sunny.  So if my monthly selection, two Rieslings, seems a bit perverse, there’s your answer!

Grosset Springvale Watervale Riesling 2009, Clare Valley, South Australia – in 2008, Grosset’s tightly coiled Polish Hill Riesling from “hard rock” slate soils won me over hook line and sinker but this year, it’s the pretty but precise Springvale from Watervale’s limestone and rich red soils that wins my heart.  Lifted, floral and shimmering with bright, jewel-like citrus fruit, it’s clear as a bell, with lovely lemony line and length.  A beauty.  £17.99 at Noel Young

Framingham Classic Riesling 2009, Marlborough, New Zealand – an off-dry Riesling with  delicious honey-licked ripe apple and lifted apple blossom, gently balanced by ripe but lipsmacking pink grapefruit acidity.  Gorgeous intensity.  Hard to believe it has 18g/l of residual but fans of Ernie Loosen’s “Dr L” would get on with this like a house on fire.   RRP £10.99, contact Caves de Pyrene for stockists.

The New Year ushers in a fiscal tightening of the belt and resolutions of the type aimed at tightening actual belts, so how about a cut price, trophy-winning red which weighs in at a feather-weight 12.5%?

French Connection Classics Saumur Champigny 2008 is made by Eric Laurent, the gifted winemaker at the Cave de Saumur, an impressively forward-looking, quality-focused co-operative. Originally from Pinot Noir country, Laurent’s Burgundian sensibility is perfectly attuned to Cabernet Franc, capturing this variety’s aroma, fruit and freshness, together with its structure.  Bright deep crimson with purple flashes, a perfumed nose and palate, it shows fresh, well-defined crushed raspberry with juicy red cherry and blackcurrant fruit and a cool lead pencil note to the finish.  There’s an attractive coal dust edge to its fine powdery tannins.

A really good example of Loire Cabernet Franc from a tip top vintage, it won a Gold Medal at this year’s International Wine Challenge and picked up the International Cabernet Franc Trophy.  You’ll find it on promotion in selected Co-operative stores between 4 – 19 January 2010 at £5.99 (normally £8.99)

As for my white, writing up tasting notes is thirsty work.  Exciting then that Vouvray Le Mont Demi-sec 2002, a favourite that I recently wrote up (see my vertical tasting of Domaine Huet Demi-sec Vouvrays here) is widely available via Waitrose, also at Planet of the Grapes for around £20.  As you’ll see from my report of demi-secs back to 1949, patience is a virtue with Huet,  so thanks to the retailers for saving us from infanticide in this case!

Vouvray Le Mont Demi-sec 2002 – I love this vintage and this is an exquisite example.  An enticing, fresh, lifted nose with some tufa (white porcini) and honey hints shows a very tight core of steely, almost smoky, grapefruit.  Long and persistent with a rich underbelly of honeyed fruit and chiselled minreals to finish.  Divine now, with an invigorating plunge pool freshness that will make for a bracing start to the New Year and keep this wine in business for years.  It weighs in at 12.83% abv

I’ll be visiting the Loire’s annual trade fair at the end of this month – expect that’ll be thirsty work too!  Will keep you posted with my finds.

Happy New year!

Sarah Ahmed
The Wine Detective

It’s that time of year to go for it on the wine front and, if you’re in need of some vinous inspiration, here are some of my favourite wines of the year for each of my areas of focus and a couple more besides, starting with Champagne of course!

Champagne

Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 1998 – very elegant and pure with subtle biscuit and toast autolytic notes to its taut, lemony fruit. Finishes long with a persistent fine bead. I bought some when Waitrose were running a 25% off deal but at £95 full whack, the Waitrose price still beats most; £100 at Majestic.

Raymond Boulard – I discovered this small house because it featured in “1001 Wines You must Try Before You Die,” to which I contributed. The UK importer is Marrs Leather in Cambridge and the barrel-fermented Petraea is excellent, complex and full-bodied – best to double-check prices and availability with Marrs.

Australia

Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay 2007 – this has been heaped with praise in Oz and is being touted as Cullen’s best Chardonnay ever, with good reason. It’s long, stony, pure and focused and has more in common with a driza-bone Australian Riesling than a Chardonnay with its racy lime, crisp apple fruit and an ever so subtle savoury leesy tang. Intense and, I found, a perfect match with pan fried king scallops with lime and coriander with taglioni. £29.95 at Slurp

Yalumba ‘The Virgilius’ Eden Valley Viognier 2007 – this, Yalumba’s flagship Viognier, delivers plenty of complexity and, though undoubtedly rich, has a lovely balance to its subtlely cedary fruit with succulent lychee, aniseed and good length. £22.50 at Noel Young Wines

Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2008 – this put me in mind of a Touriga Nacional from Dao or Beira Interior with its elegant, fleshy, fine and floral nose and palate shot through with violets and rock rose. There’s a real depth of flavour and youthful “grip” yet it’s elegant with fine tannins. Winemaker Tim Kirk describes it as a Shiraz for Pinot Noir lovers (of which he is one). Terrific. £35.95 at Slurp or £42.50 at Fortnum & Mason

Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard 2004 Merlot (Wrattonbully) – deep opaque purple with a crimson rim and an equally youthful, opulent, lifted nose of plum with red and blue berries and liquorice. Class in a glass, the palate is rich with velvety tannins, saturated with sweetly ripe fruit balanced by darker, more savoury undertones of liquorice, spice and eucalypt. Generous and vigorous, a really great example of Merlot. £28.80 at Nebuchadnezzar Wines

The Loire

Alphonse Mellot La Moussiere Sancerre 2008 – made by one of the region’s leading producers, a biodynamic estate, this is a characterful Sancerre with good oomph and persistence. Quite a funky nose and palate with lots of honey and apple blossom, the mid-palate showing a good weight of juicy blackcurrant bud and gooseberry fruit, cut with zingy acidity, giving length and persistence. Complex and good value for a wine of this quality and soul. £14.99 at Sainsburys

Agnes and Rene Mosse Anjou Blanc Mosse 2007 – stylish packaging and this biodynamic producer’s Chenin Blanc really delivers in the mouth too, with an edge of Christmas spice to its honeyed ripe quince and baked apples, spliced with minerals and steely acidity. It’s rich, with taffeta layers, yet dry, putting me in mind of strudel and mince pies. Would be great with turkey or goose. £12.80/bottle at Vinifera Boutique.

Chateau Soucherie Clos des Perrieres Savennieres 2007 – from a carefully tended 1.8 ha parcel (as the back label says “ici nous jardinons nos vignes…”), this is a terrific, sprightly example of modern Savennieres with a lovely depth of fruit, bright acidity and oak lending support and complexity. An expressive nose shows ripe white orchard fruits (apple & pear) minerals and oak. The oak is nicely integrated on the palate which has lovely upfront fruit. It tightens up on the finish, which shows mouthwatering apple sorbet-like acidity – this wine keeps going now, showing terrific persistence and, will go for some years yet. £13.50/bottle at Vinifera Boutique For sweet Chenin fans, Chateau Soucherie’s Coteaux du Layon Vieilles Vignes 2007 at £13/bottle is a fine example with impressive levity to the nose and palate at this price – cheaper wines can tasted a little slugged up with sugar.

Domaine Frédéric Mabileau Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil Les Rouillères 2008 - a lovely, floral, lifted nose and palate with jewel-bright red fruits and an underlying minerality. Long and persistent, a great example of this elegant vintage from one of the region’s best modern producers. Just over a tenner at Waitrose.

Portugal

Soalheiro Primeiras Vinhas Vinho Verde 2007/2008 – a fabulous, modern Vinho Verde – set aside any prejudices and check this out. Both vintages have a marvellous balance which combine the best of Viognier crossed with Riesling! The 2008 is tighter, more mineral. This is terrific with shellfish or crab and has enough body to work with fish too. You’ll find the 2007 at Halifax Wine Company and Butlers Wine Cellar and the 2008 at Ultimate Wines

Luis Pato Vinha Barrosa 2003 – this ripe vintage produces a forward Baga from Luis Pato’s oldest vines. It won plenty of admirers at a tasting I presented at The Harrow Inn, Little Bedwyn in the summer. I reckon its plum and red cherry fruit with lifted incense spice makes a good foil for turkey and it certainly works with pork belly – £23.95 at Halifax Wine Company and £22 at Butlers Wine Cellar.

Fonseca vintage port 1977 – very complete, enjoyable now with expansive spicy plummy fruit; a mellow fellow and a good buy for a port of this maturity – £59.99 at Oddbins (and Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage Port 1986 is a steal at Sainsburys at £20.49)

Taylor’s Vargellas Single Quinta Vintage Port 1998 – expressive and approachable now, quite elegant with lots of liquorice and spice – £26.99/bottle at Oddbins or £25/bottle at Majestic who are also selling the 2001. The latter is huge – one to put away.

Bacalhôa, Moscatel de Sétubal 1998 – this fabulous fortified Moscatel shows heady orange, spicy orange peel, caramel and nuts and is lighter and fruitier than Portugal’s more famous fortifieds (port and sweeter Madeira styles). Great with mince pies and Christmas pud, especially if the recipe includes citrus peel. If you haven’t tried it before, now’s the time and, out of season, you will not find a better match than pasteis de nata (Portugeuse custard tarts) £18.99 at Waitrose

Barbeito Malvasia, 30-year-old, Lote Especial - Barbeito, my favourite Madeira producer have picked up a stack of awards this year and this wine won an IWSC 2009 Gold and Best in Class. It’s a beautiful wine, with fabulous length and Barbeito’s trademark racy citrus to its sophisticated nut-edged grapefruit, orange and orange peel, balanced by a delicate sweetness (Barbeito don’t add caramel). Tons of pedigree – £92.95/bottle at Berry Brothers & Rudd www.bbr.com

South Africa

Hamilton Russell 2008 Chardonnay – a fantastic drop, so cooly mineral, powerful and textured, its intense citrus fruit supported by classy, savoury oak. £17.49 at Hailsham Cellars and £18.99 at Averys.

Jean Daneel Signature Chenin Blanc 2006 – a complex and persistent wine with honey/dried honey and nougat to its silky stone fruits. Rich but by no means heavy, beautifully integrated acidity carries a long finish. Lovely now but will keep going a few years yet. Harvey Nichols.

Vilafonte Series M 2005 – lovely cedar-edged plummy but restrained nose and palate for this well-balanced, finely structured Bordeaux blend with 52% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon and 17% Malbec. Drinking well now – £19.99. For a few more quid (£23.99) you can buy the Cabernet-dominated Vilafonte Series C 2005 – it has chunkier tannins, so would benefit from decanting and shows plum, cherry and red berry with attractive lead pencil/pencil shavings and great persistence. Both available at South African Wines Online. www.sawinesonline.co.uk

Burgundy

Finally, I was recently recommended this producer and regret, could only find the 2004 and 2005 vintage in the UK, but I thought this was a great Burgundy to enjoy now, so I’m going to flag it anyway in case anyone has better luck than me wine detecting at this late hour and a little distracted by the thought of getting up in 6 hours to fly to Portugal! Please do comment on my blog if you do!  Hah! received an email to say the 2006 is now at Portland Wine (see the link below), still priced at £17.95.

Domaine Bachey-Legros Santenay Sous la Roche 2006 - lovely honey-edged nose and palate of baked and fresh apple, a sense of balanced richness with some classy, well-integrated oak and subtle beurre noisette. Drinking very well now. Well made, a natural, direct wine, not at all tricked up. The balance is very good here and this vintage won a Coup de Coeur au Guide Hachette 2010. The 2005 vintage is £17.95 at Portland Wine.

Wishing you a fine festive period and New Year!

Sarah Ahmed
The Wine Detective