Gratia Agere Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2012
Leyda Valley, Chile
100% Sauvignon Blanc
Producer: Vina Maola SPA
Attractive, peapoddy nose. Fruity and perhaps a little sweet and light. 5 grams of residual sugar is pretty sweet.
13.5%
£9.99
Residual Sugar: 5g/l

Matua Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2012
Marlborough, New Zealand
100% Sauvignon Blanc
Producer: Treasury Wine Estates
Nice gooseberry and elder nose. Tangy gooseberry palate. As expected.
13%
£9.99
Residual Sugar: 3.8g/l

Badassière Picpoul de Pinet 2011
Coteaux du Langedoc, France
100% Picpoul
Producer: Baron de Badassière
Spicy, southern smell and taste. Very savoury indeed.
13%
£7.99
Residual Sugar: 1g/l


Taittinger Prelude GC NV
50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir
The full bakery ensemble on the nose. Extraordinarily full-flavoured. Biscuity, tangy and long. Heaven.
12%
£48.99
Residual Sugar: 9g/l




Flagstone Cheetah Reserve Chardonnay 2012
85% Chardonnay, 15% Chenin Blanc
Little aroma. Very sweet and cloying. Nope.
13%
£8.99
Residual Sugar: 5.9g/l


Yealands Black Label Riesling 2011
Marlborough, New Zealand
100% Riesling
Fabulous riesling nose. Just like sniffing lime skin. Off dry, but so tangy! Dee-lish!
11.5%
£10.99
Residual Sugar: 7g/l



Quinta do Crasto White 2011
Douro, Portugal
25% Gouveio, 25% Rabigato, 25% Roupeiro, 25% Sercial
Little aroma. Savoury and fairly interesting palate, with marzipan on the finish. OK, not great.
12%
£10.99

De Loach Heritage Chardonnay 2011
California, USA
100% Chardonnay
Definitely fruit- and not oak-led. Refreshing and not too heavy. Good.
13.5%
£9.99

Irony Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2010
100% Pinot Noir
Producer: Delicato Family Vineyards
Beautifully perfumed. Almost floral. Smooth, velvety, tangy and perfumed, with bright acidity. Expensive but gorgeous.
13.5%
£19.99



Novas Pinot Noir 2011
Casablanca, Chile
100% Pinot Noir
Producer: Emiliana
Exciting nose – very spicy and inviting. Spicy palate and clearly, beautifully, pinot. Oaky, warm and gentle. Delicious. A complete bargain.
14%
£9.99



Novas Viognier 2012
Casablanca, Chile
100% Viognier
Producer: Emiliana
A bit reduced on the nose. You’ll need to decant this in and out of a jug. Spicy and rich palate. Full, and quite sweet.
14.5%
£9.99
Residual Sugar: 2.6g/l

Ken Forrester Petit Pinotage 2012
100% Pinotage
Low on smell. Despite being unoaked, this has a very savoury taste. Hot alcohol.
14%
£8.45

St Nicolas de Bourgueil Gerald Vallée Domaine de la Cotelleraie 2011
100% Cabernet Franc
Very pencil-shavings on the nose. Dry, savoury and as expected/hoped. Refreshing and moreish.
13%
£12.99



Wirra Wirra The Widow Hen Shiraz Cabernet 2010
South Australia
50% Shiraz, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Petit Verdot
Very dark, moody, shirazzy nose. The alcohol’s a little burny, but that’s what people expect.
14%
£8.99

Flagstone Cheetah Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
Western Cape, South Africa
85% Cabernet Sauvignon,10% Malbec, 5% Petit Verdot
This has a lot of chocolaty oak on the nose which is very attractive. You could compare this to Chocolate Block. Refreshing, but massive.
14%
£8.99
Residual Sugar: 5.3g/l

Kooyong Massale Pinot Noir 2011
Mornington Peninsula, Australia
100% Pinot Noir
Very reduced nose. Definitely need to decant. Curry spicy nose, once you’ve swirled it for a while. Too expensive.
13%
£16.99

Syrah Reserva Falernia 2010
Elqui Valley, Chile
100% Syrah
Dark, moody, ripe and plummy nose. However, the alcohol is too, too hot and makes the palate almost undrinkable.
14% it says
£11.99

Fattoria di Travalda Toscana 2008
34% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot
Producer: Santa Lucia
A Bordeaux style. Farmyardy aroma. Hot alcohol and a liquorice palate with bretty finish. All the above sounds negative, but I rather like this.
13.5%
£14.99



Irony Napa Valley Merlot 2010
86% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petite Syrah
Producer: Delicato Family Vineyards
Very spicy nose. Lovely palate. Spicy, warm and Merloty. Yum.
14.5%
£17.99
Residual Sugar: 2g/l



Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2011
62% Shiraz, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon
Wanted this to be good, for old time’s sake. Quite a baked aroma and palate. Not nice at all.
13.5%
£9.99

Yalumba Barossa Bush Vine Grenache 2012
100% Grenache
Herbal, floral and inviting nose. Savoury, spicy and lovely palate.
14%
£12.99



Heartland Directors’ Cut Shiraz 2010
South Australia
100% Shiraz
Heartland are just coming onto my radar, in a very positive way. Really exciting nose. Eucalyptus, mint and blackcurrant leaf. Really gorgeous. Quite sweet but, long, juicy and bright finish. This is fabulous.
14.5%
£19.99



Ixsir Gran Reserve Red 2009
Bekaa, Lebanon
61% Syrah, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon
Producer: Ixsir
Nicely developed nose. There’s a lovely farmyardy aroma, but also syrupy blackcurrant. Makes a lovely contrast. The palate is balanced, nicely oaky – really good but not cheap.
13.5%
£22.20
Residual Sugar: 2g/l

Trapiche Broquel Malbec 2009
Mendoza, Argentina
100% Malbec
Dark, oaky nose and palate. Really dark. Strong, oaky but refreshingly juicy.
14%
£12.49
Residual Sugar: 3g/l



Rancho Zabaco HeritageVines Zinfandel 2010
Sonoma, USA
93% Zinfandel, 7% Petite Sirah
Very spicy, baked nose and palate. This is nice. Although it says 15% alcohol, it seems balanced.
15%
£11.99
Residual Sugar: 3.3g/l


There were then a row of lovely clarets and Napa cab from £29 to £109, which I just didn’t have time to taste.


Marques de Riscal Rioja Reserva 2008
90% Tempranillo, 7% Graciano, 3% Mazuelo
Sweet, woody, toasty nose. Beautifully refreshing with a liquorice finish. Complex and extraordinarily good.
13.5%
£14.99
Residual Sugar: 7.9g/l



Piccini Brunello di Montalcino 2006
100% Sangiovese Grosso
Pale brick colour. Very perfumed. Gorgeous dinner party wine. Lovely development and beautifully smooth.
14%
£17.99
Residual Sugar: 4g/l



Paulinshof Riesling Kabinett 2011
Mosel, Germany
100% Riesling
Great, petrolly, riesling nose. Tangy, pithy with perhaps some dry orange on the finish. Yum.
10%
£15.56
Residual Sugar: 57.2g/l



Peller Estate Cabernet Franc Icewine 2010 37.5cl
Niagara Peninsula, Canada
100% Cabernet Franc
During the growing season the vines are tended similarly to those destined for table wine. The grapes are netted in the autumn to avoid being eaten by birds and stay on the vines until January, when they are harvested at –10°C and pressed while still frozen. The wines are fermented in small stainless steel fermenters with specially selected yeasts that can handle the high concentration of sugars.
I left in the winemaking description as it’s more interesting than the usual nonsense. If they made roses this colour I’d plant one. It’s a dirty dark pink. It has a cranberry nose and tastes like redcurrant syrup. Absolutely stunning. I adore it.
11.5%
£45.00
Residual Sugar: 240g/l



Peller Estate Riesling Icewine 2008 37.5cl
Niagara Peninsula, Canada
Deep golden colour. Very, very exciting nose. So honeyed, rich, tropical and tangy. Imagine a pink grapefruit, fried in butter and soft brown sugar.
11%
£38.56
Residual Sugar: 194g/l

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