Malbec Reserve, Domaine Bousquet, Mendoza, Argentina
The Bousquet family hail from the city of Carcassonne, in the South of France and are 4th generation winemakers. In 1990, they began to explore the idea of leaving behind their vineyard in France to travel and explore opportunities further afield. On one particular trip to Argentina, they fell in love with Mendoza, intrigued by combination of soil variation, altitude and terroir on offer.
In 1997, they took the decision to permanently relocate, buying a parcel of land in the Gualtallary Valley in Tupungato, in the foothills of the Andes. The site is defined by its altitude, with the majority of the vines at around 1,200 metres!
The key objective of the Bousquet family was to unite their tradition of European wine with these unique conditions and produce wines that speak of their terroirs.
Syrah Solevari Reserve, Viile Timisului, Romania
The Cramele Recas Estate, owned by Englishman, Philip Cox and his Romanian wife Elvira, have put in a huge amount of work into transforming their slice of grape growing history into a contemporary winemaking haven.
The immaculate vineyards are a combination of evolved plantings from 1447 and much more recent plantings too. With recent investments into modernising and improving their winery, they regularly host world class flying winemakers, vintage to vintage, to work with their team. This enables them to create top quality wines and constantly challenge themselves push innovations and approach winemaking with an open mind.
Velvet, Pittnauer, Burgenland, Austria
Gerhard Pittnauer is undoubtedly one of the stars of the Austrian winemaking scene, producing a host of powerful reds which showcase the quality of Austria’s indigenous grape varieties. His base in the town of Gols is located in the Burgenland region, famed for the amount of sunlight it receives each year. As a result, Gerhard is able to fashion supple, modern wines that all display his signature, silky soft tannins.
Terre des Olivettes Rouge, Vin de Pays, Languedoc, France
The Caves d’Alignan is a co-operative in the Languedoc region that has a very good reputation for producing quality wines utilising modern techniques. In the past few years, Alignan has augmented its winery with the addition of modern equipment that ensures that all their wines are of a consistently high quality. Situated in the Côtes de Thongue area, the vineyards benefit from the Mediterranean climate, giving their grapes a real feel of ripeness, yet also are exposed to a northern prevailing wind.
Secateurs, Shiraz
One often hears wine merchants saying that winemakers like to let the wines speak for themselves. Well, Adi’s wines would be lucky to get a word in edgeways! He is a fast-talking, quick-witted, warm-hearted kind of guy who aims to produce wines with bags of personality. If you want to drink wines with soul that were made using gut feel rather than technical recipes, then this is definitely where you should be focusing your attention.
Today, Swartland is among the most exciting up-and-coming wine regions in the world – it’s extremely old bush vines attracting the attention of some of South Africa’s most pioneering winemakers. Adi took over this ancient winery in the Paardeberg district, utilising his 35 hectares of mature, dryfarmed bush vines to produce a range of grapes.
Zinfandel, Dancing Crow Vineyards, Lake County, California, USA
Example of ‘cool-climate’ California – British winemaker – excellent value for money
Owned by Londoner Tony Cartlidge and his wife Sarah, Dancing Crow is an exciting addition to our growing American portfolio. Tony has worked in the Napa Valley since the late 1970s and his latest project sees a return to a more focussed production than his previous projects, as he and his team fashion only a handful of key cuvées.
Merlot, Costa Vera Indomita, Central Valley
The dynamic winemaking team at Indómita skillfully craft wines from their vineyards in two of Chile’s very best regions. Indómita produce superb, expressive wines that are both beautiful and stunning value for money. From selected vineyard sites across Chile’s Central Valley. The cooling influences of the Andes and the Humboldt current together with the diurnal temperature difference here allows for slow ripening so that the grapes develop maximum flavour.
Beaujolais, Domaine de la Couvette, Rouge
Gautier Marion is the fifth generation of the family to manage Domaine de la Couvette, tucked into the gently undulating countryside of Southern Beaujolais. If you could picture what a quintessentially small french producer should look like then Gautier’s property would come very close. He takes great pride in making wines in the traditional carbonic macerated style using his trusty, old concrete vats, which he uses to age the wines as well. Respecting not only the winemaking traditions, but also their 11 hectares of land and the vines that are up to 50 years old, they demonstrate their commitment by making a fully organic Beaujolais – which is full of ripe red fruit, spicy, earthy notes and a lovely smooth minerality.
Montsablé Pinot Noir, IGP d’Oc
Wines inspired by the spirit of place – ‘L’esprit de lieu’. The wines of Terres Fidèles are created in the Roussillon and surrounding regions, a place of remarkable stories where layers of history and cultures are embedded in the raw and wild landscape. Authentic, crafted small batch wines. Wines of the wilds. Old vine Grenache, Carignan, Malbec, Cinsault, Viognier and more. Wines to share…, some of which, namely Felicette, Mont Rocher and Montsablé we have been proudly producing for some time.
Pinot Noir, Iona, Mr P, Elgin
At 420m above sea-level, set high above the picturesque Elgin Valley Andrew Gunn founded Iona. It is here overlooking the Atlantic ocean that he has secured some of the coolest vineyards in the Cape.
In a country where cool climate vineyards are like gold dust, these vineyards are veritable nuggets. There is an extremely long growing season, allowing Andrew to create wines with complex flavours and a fresh, elegant style. The approach is hands off and the land is farmed according to organic and biodynamic practices with a particular focus on ensuring the health of the soils whilst pests are kept under control by the resident flock of geese that roam the vineyards.
Mr P, is a “Pinot for the people”, showing all the characteristics of classic, high quality Pinot Noir at an affordable price, making use of younger vines and older barrels with careful and dedicated wine making.
The Opportunist Shiraz, Wild & Wilder, Langhorne Creek
Wild & Wilder is all about good clean fun. Working hand in hand with their merry (in a good season) band of growers, they craft wines of supreme quality but don’t take it all too seriously.
Great fruit, grown by great people and made with a lot of love by people that know that wine is all about the good times, delicious food and creating great memories. Founded by Giles Cooke MW & Fergal Tynan MW, who also make the Thistledown wines, the mundane is just not in their DNA. Being involved in every stage of the winemaking process from bud burst to bottle means that every bottle from Wild & Wilder is an experience you’ll want to try again.
