Jonathan Ray
A fine line-up of favourites via FromVineyardsDirect
Well I don’t know about you but I’m just that little bit overexcited. In a couple of days I’ll be free of this ridiculous, self-imposed, puritanical water wagon regime and I’ve the wheelie suitcase dusted off and ready in anticipation. Roll on Wine Time Friday! If Boris leaves us nothing else to remember him by except this joyful and alternative use for the acronym WTF, then that’s a legacy of sorts, I suppose.
And what finer bottles to cram into the perambulating portmanteau than these select beauties from our old chums at FromVineyardsDirect? All but one of the wines will be familiar to you, as we’ve offered them before in previous vintages — to whoops of delight, I might add — and I just couldn’t resist revisiting them in their more recent incarnations, so darn tasty are they.
The 2020 Ch. Bauduc (1) is clearly one of our readers’ favourite wines judging by how it flies out the door each time we offer it. A deeply refreshing, citrusy/creamy Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon blend from Gavin and Angela Quinney’s celebrated estate in Bordeaux, it’s beloved of such canny cooks as Rick Stein and Gordon Ramsay, for both of whom it has served as their house white, and it’s a blooming bargain at this price. £9.95 down from £10.95.
The 2019 Boira’ Pinot Grigio (2) is a massive step up from the dreary wine bar Peeno Greejio of yore. Fresh, lively and honeyed, dry to off-dry and with more weight than you might expect (it’s oak-aged), it’s organically farmed and produced near Verona and, although not madly complex, begs to be drunk by the bucketload. £9.95 down from £10.95.
The 2020 Domaine de la Motte Chablis 1er Cru Vau-Ligneau (3), on the other hand, has complexity in spades. Produced by the Michaut family from 40-year-old estate vines in the village of Beine, the wine is partially oak-aged and undergoes malolactic fermentation, leaving it full and long with white stone fruit, whispers of honey and cream and a touch of fresh apple. It’s very classy indeed. £20.95 down from £22.95.
The 2018 Ch. Saint Jean ‘Plan de Dieu’ (4) is a Côtes du Rhône Villages of quite some style from Christian Meffre, famed for his glorious Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas. This, a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Carignan is resolutely CdP in style and well worth its modest price tag, being soft, smooth, rich and spicy and full of ripe dark fruit. £11.75 down from £12.95.
The 2019 Domaine Devillard ‘Le Renard’ (5) is produced by the Devillard family (owners of Ch. de Chamirey in Mercurey and Domaine de Perdrix in Nuits-St-Georges) in the relatively new — well, decade-old — appellation of Coteaux Bourguignons. A low-yield, old vine blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay, it’s full of luscious, juicy fruit and the softest of tannins and could hardly be more easygoing. £15.45 down from £16.95.
The 2015 Ch. d’Escurac (6) is an extremely impressive Cru Bourgeois claret from an 11th century estate in Civrac-en-Médoc. A half-and-half blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon that’s just hitting its prime, it’s deep, dark and intense with hedgerow fruit and plenty of blackcurrant. I suggest showing it off in carafe or decanter. £18.45 down from £19.95 (in six-bottle wooden boxes). Magnums, also in wood, are available for £39.50 down from £42.00 (7).
Finally, one of my all-time favourite sparklers: 2016 Crémant de Bourgogne ‘Emérite’ Brut (8). A champagne method Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blend from Burgundy, it’s so good I never tire of recommending it to anyone who can bear to listen. It’s astounding they can make such a fine vintage fizz for so modest a price and I can’t get enough of it. £15 down from £15.95.
The mixed dozen has two bottles each of wines 1-6. Wine 8 is available by the six-bottle box only. Delivery, as ever, is free.
