Bordeaux Red Fines Wines

Bordeaux is the largest fine wine region of the world. Its red wines (or claret) demand ageing, sometimes needing 20, or more, years to soften and harmonise. The Bordeaux region is split into 2 main areas, left and right banks.

The left bank of Bordeaux (including St-Estephe, Pauillac, St-Julien, Margaux and Graves) uses mainly Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, generally giving the wine a classic quality hinting of cedar, cigar box and pencil lead. The right bank of Bordeaux (Pomerol, St Emilion) use Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes, which tend to mature faster, and give a softer, more fruit driven style. more info..>

Burgundy Red Fine Wines

Burgundy is the spiritual home for the Pinot Noir grape. All the red wine produced in Burgundy (with the exception of Beaujolais) is made from Pinot Noir, and, despite its fragility, it produces some of the worlds most profound, complex and expensive wines. Most Burgundy vineyards are divided between different growers, all with their own ideas of what is best for their crop.

This makes the people who have created a wine more important than the vineyard itself, a fact that makes discovering your favourite Burgundy wine a fascinating voyage of discovery, or a bit of a nightmare, depending on your point of view! The reds of Burgundy tend to be softer and more subtle than those of Bordeaux or Rhone, the top wines developing great depth and richness with bottle age. more info..>

Burgundy White Finest Wines

Almost exclusively made from Chardonnay grapes, the whites of Burgundy are generally accepted as the worlds finest. Vineyards such as Le Montrachet, Corton Charlemagne, and the Meursault 1er Crus produce the most complex and ageworthy white wines.

While these can be very expensive, other nearby villages like Chassagne Montrachet & St. Aubin can provide great value. Chablis is generally included in this region, although strictly speaking it is its own region, its wines having a harder edge to them, typical of its chalky, flint strewn soil. more info..>

Champagne

Champagne is a light sparkling wine which is made only in the Champagne district near Reims. A wine can only be labeled as "champagne" if it is made in the Champagne region of France. To be called "champagne," it must be made only from the Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, or Chardonnay grapes which grow in that region. Champagne, as opposed to sparkling wine, must get its bubbles by undergoing the fermentation process twice: once in barrels and again in bottle.

A bottle of champagne used to be handled over 100 times during its manufacture before being sold, and while some of these processes are now automated, it is the complex and labour intensive nature of champagnes development that makes it so relatively expensive. Dom Perignon and Krug are widely thought to be the 2 greatest champagne brands, and our house champagne is Brice, a smaller family producer, whose 'Traditional' champagne consistently beats all the better known brands in blind tastings. more info..>

Rhone Red Fine Wines

Rhone wines are divided into 2 general areas; North and South. The Northern Rhone runs between Vienne (just south of Lyon) and Valence, with nearly all the vineyards huddled on the Rhone riverbanks. The more famous vineyards include; Cote Rotie, Condrieu, and Hermitage, and the lesser known; St Joseph and Cornas.

The principle red grape is Syrah, which given the right growing conditions can make exceptionally deep, dark and long lived wines. The Appellation rules are unusual here, as they allow a blending of the local white wine into the bottle of red; up to 20% of Viognier in Cote Rotie, and 15% of either Marsanne or Roussanne in Hermitage. The Southern Rhone runs between Montélimar and Avignon. Its most famous vineyard area is Chateauneuf du Pape, but its most popular in terms of volume is Cotes du Rhone which can come from anywhere within the region, and can vary in quality between fabulous rich, dark wines giving off scents of the garrigue, conveying memories of your holiday (which we sell), to insipid, nasty, mass produced bottle swill (which we don't). Other appellations include Gigondas, Rasteau, Vacqueyras, and to the west of the Rhone river, Lirac and Tavel.

The most popular grapes grown here for the red wines are Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedré and Cinsault. ANORAK FACT; The Chateauneuf du Pape appellation was the first in France, created in 1923. ANOTHER; Only the growers within the Chateauneuf du Pape AOC are allowed to use a bottle with the coat of arms and the crossed keys beneath it. Other merchants and buyers from the area have to have the keys (of St Peter) above the Papal Tiara coat of arms. more info..>

Southern Hemisphere Fine Wine

The finest wines from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America. more info..>

Sweet / Dessert wines Fine Wines

Hugely labour intensive, the sweet wines listed here are made from 3 possible methods: The French regions of Sauternes and Barsac rely on Botrytis Cinerea (or Noble Rot), a form of fungus, to shrivel the grapes, leaving a reduced volume of highly sugared flesh in the grape. Botrytis spreads through the vineyard via spores, grape by grape, at different and random times, so the grapes have to picked individually at their peak of affected ripeness. The vineyard also has to encounter specific humidity and temperature to allow the spread of Botrytis, misty mornings and mild afternoons during Sept/Oct are the perfect conditions.

Charpoutiers 'Vin de Paille' is made by laying the picked grapes on straw mats to dry, then pressing the concentrated grape flesh, now high in sugars, and fermenting as usual. Finally, icewine is produced, unsuprisingly, by leaving the grapes on the vines until the onset of cold weather. This freezes the water content of the grape, but not the sugars. The grapes are pressed quickly, often at night, before the water melts, which produces a sweet wine with refreshing acidic balance. When we consider the efforts of these winemakers, not forgetting that some years the weather is so unkind there will be no harvest at all, these wines are a relative bargain! more info..>

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