Stockist/Retailer: Lay & Wheeler

(2026)

Always a superb wine, Virginia Willcock's top Chardonnay is made from the gingin clone, fermented with wild yeast, and aged in French barrels, 52% of which was new oak. This wine always has ripeness and the winemaker's signature flinty character, but I have to say the 2023 is a beauty.

The combination of those components and winemaking style mean there's buttercream, vanilla and hints of tropical fruit, but a steely precision where gunpowder and Lapsang souchong notes add layers of intrigue. Mid-palate the fruit is sweet and ripe, creamy and mouth-filling, with plenty of concentration. Lemon pith grip is evident in a long, savoury, chewy finish that still retains elegance and freshness.

Heytesbury 2023 is a superb Chardonnay for drinking now, or for medium term cellaring.

(2026) This vilage Chassagne with 10 years under its belt has a ripeness with buttered mint glimpsed on the nose, real ripeness here, the oak shrugged off to leave fine creamy apple fruit and some dried twig and leafy earthiness. Still such lovely cut and precision, that twiggy edge follows through with a very pleasing, long finish. Price quoted at time of review is for a more recent vintage.

(2026) The A1 sees 23% new oak, and again around one-third is fermented with whole bunches. As pale as the A2, but aromatically it seems a little more intense, a little more ripe red fruit character showing with cherry and a hint of summer pudding, and that lightly stemmy, hessian and truffle background. The palate certainly shows a little more fruit sweetness and concentration too, the acid a little more juicy and biting and the tannins just showing more muscle. The elegance is there, however, beautifully composed into a long, balanced finish. One that could be given a little more time, but delicious now. Once again, the quoted price and stockist is for the previous vintage at time of review.

(2025) In 2020 the recipe for this top Chardonnay from Leeuwin is 20% whole bunch, fermented in new Burgundian oak, the balance destemmed, and fermented in new Bordelais oak. It remained in barrel for 11 months. Lots of creamy almond and oatmeal on the nose over taut apple fruit, very nutty with a wispnof whisky barrel in the mix. The palate is pin sharp, a little bit of flint, but a cool minerality at the core of this. There's ripeness, some light apple pie character, but the freshness is winning.

(2025) A dark crimson but quite transparent colour. The fruit is from the youngest vines of their Barolo vineyards. Aromas are quite dark, quite meaty, but lighter and higher floral notes do weave around cherry. The palate also has that meatiness, with very firm tannins and real grip. That brighter red fruit is there on the mid-palate, but I wouldn't describe this as 'easy drinking': it has rustic structure and a strong acid backbone that I suggest would benefit from decanting if opening soon.

(2025) Bottled especially for their centenary, this comes from Gramolere and was harvested on October 12th, 2009. After natural fermentation it aged in neutral oak barrels for 84 months, and a further 60 months in concrete tanks. That's a full 12 years before bottling, with only very occasional stirring during that time. The colour is garnet into amber. Sumptuous on the nose, the essence of Barolo, so much truffle, spice and yet rose petal, the bouquet multi-layered and so deep and satisfying. The palate still has firmness through its tight tannin and acid structure, a real mineral streak of freshness that tingles on the lips. Flavours span red fruits - cherry and plum - to coffee and fudge, but all the time that precise and taut core never gives up its grip. 90 bottles were imported into the UK.

(2025) Winemaker Mauro says this vineyard, with some of their oldest vines, always produces a distinctive wine. Colour is softening on the rim and the nose is sensual and elegant, could it be Piedmont's Pinot Noir? Maybe a little far fetched, but the gentle character and floral and truffle notes give the idea some credibility. In the mouth the tannins are very unlike Pinot, but are also softer than the Castelletto. Acid is firm, but there is such juiciness to this wine, pomegranate and cherry, so much racy freshness but also a hint of plump and supple generosity. Drinking beautifully already for me, but will age foe sure.

(2025) From the vineyard closest to the winery that was their original vineyard. Colour is already quite a lot softer than the 2023 Langhe, a little amber on the rim. The real Barolo fragrance is already evident here. The 'tar and roses' cliché writ large, with quite plush cherry fruit and gentle spice and earthiness. The palate is beginning to ease from its very firm tannins, showing some juiciness of tart red fruits. The finish shows firm acids and plenty of spicy clove, in a wine that will need another few years to show its best, but is of fine quality.

(2024) Quite old vines here, and around 10% barrel fermentation for a Chablis that is restrained and perhaps lacks just a bit of the zing and kimmeridgean freshness of the best. But it is elegantly proportioned, showing cool but rounded fruitiness and a suggestion of summer blossom on the nose, then a creamy palate that just hints at salinity in the finish. Drinks well, and although there are no fireworks here, it is a fine village level wine.

(2024) From a vintage described as 'joyous' after a more difficult few years, this cuvée is a selection of the best quality Cabernet Sauvignon, with small berries and high skin-to-juice ratio. Fruit was optically sorted before a portion was fermented in new French oak barrels, the rest in stainless steel and concrete tanks. The wine was then blended with 6% Petit Verdot and aged 22 months in French oak, 95% of the barrels new. There's so much depth and lush, plump black fruit in the nose, with vanilla and spices, dark chocolate and yet a floral, violet and kirsch element that lifts the aromas too. The oak is sensitively and beautifully done. In the mouth the plush concentration of the black fruit is silky and velvet-rich, the creamy oak adding a light veneer of toast, and yet the cherry-skin bite of the acidity and dusty, very fine tannins adds savoury complexity. Really very impressive wine, which Beaulieu Vineyard suggests will cellar for 30 years. Note that this wine will not be available until September 2024.