Stockist/Retailer: The Fine Wine Co

(2026) Ken's multi-vintage 'solera' blend of Chenin's from the ancient vines of Piekenierskloof is always a fabulous wine and edition #5 is no exception. Raised in old, 400-litre French oak barrels, it's a blend of wines from 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Delicious barrel character that is oatmeally, rich, the nose showing glacé fruits and a hint of mint. So delicious with bright, biting green apple, more spice and a long, shimmering finish. A cracking wine that you can confidently age for a decade.

(2026) From the Menfi DOC, Mandrarossa describe this wine poetically as "produced from the sea breezes," coming from clay and limestone soils stretched along south and south-west facing hills. Do not come here looking for Kiwi-style Sauvignon fireworks. Instead the nose has a mineral and citrus intensity, just hints of a more exotic kumquat and fragrant peach in the background. The palate is crystal-clear, and there is restraint again, with a light body and fresh, clean fruit character, not a lot of weight here, but that sea breeze, ozoney freshness is apparent. Price and stockist quoted at time of review are for a previous vintage.

(2025) A very fine Bordeaux-style blend of 76% Sauvignon Blanc, aged six months in mostly new oak, and 24% Semillon. Certified organic. The nose suggests cedar, herbs and lime, with a toasty, nutty underpinning. The palate is quite full, but it immediately shows structure and savoury intensity. It is firm, a bit of phenolic grip like fruit skins and gravel, but the limey citrus fruit does persist into a fresh, appetising finish.

(2025) Just bottled, so un-labelled and not released at time of tasting, this promises to be a cracking vintage of the always lovely FMC Chenin. It is now in the UK at around £40 per bottle. The creaminess of French oak, about 50% new, is apparent in a wine aged for a year in barrel on the lees. The fruit is pristine, already hinting at honey, with ripe and juicy yellow apple and a hint of apricot. One of the world's great Chenins.

(2024) Great to have a chance to taste this eight-year-old vintage of Cantina Tramin's Nussbaumer, made from selected vineyard parcels of Gewürztraminer. It is made from vines that are 40 years old, and aged on the lees in stainless steel. Intense leafy and floral notes almost like geranium leaf, with some Nivea cream and lychee. Luscious, weighty and off-dry, it fills the mouth with creamy texture, spice and tropical fruit married to a pithy, bracing acid note in the finish. Note price and stockist is for the most recent vintage at time of review.

(2024) Barrel fermented and Barrel aged in new and older French, this Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay wears that lightly, a wine in a focused, lightly flint-touched style that is more about ripe golden delicious apple and peachy fruit. Certainly the palate continues the theme of citrus and stone fruit finesse and a certain 'un-showiness'. The palate has texture and very finely tuned oak, a little creaminess to fruit and texture hints at something more exotic, but the acidity of the finish is elegant. Price and stockist quoted are for an earlier vintage at time of review.

(2024) A blend of Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Syrah, Lebanese producer Ixsir's winemaker Gabriel Rivero spent eight years at Sociando-Malet and says “IXSIR is fundamentally about new world winemaking in an old world country." With vineyards at 1,800m metres, each variety comes from a plot matched for climate and soil type. Pale, if not quite as pale in colour as some, it has plenty of fragrance, with watercolour paintbox and floral aromas, cherry and rose-hip. Quite a heady aromatic profile. The palate is dry, with a peachy, nectarine fruit, a little strawberry and good balance with a peach skin bite of a little grip, citrus acidity and good length.

(2024) I'm a big fan of the Cru wines from this Beaujolais estate, this made from 60-year-old vines and seeing partial barrel aging, 30% spending 18 months in oak. It's a serious but still delicious rendition of Moulin-à-Vent, deep in colour with soaring aromatics of kirsch and violet, so charming and yet with real depth, gravel and light smokiness as well and firm damson fruit beneath. In the mouth it is a beautifully concentrated and balanced, with a gloss to the fruit and the polished oak treatment, but a vivid stripe of tannin and acid giving real vinosity. Pure and long, it's a terrific wine. Note that it can be had for as little as £21.00 if buying by the six bottle case. Use the wine-searcher link.

(2023) From a 53-year-old vineyard on terrarossa, this was made in a mix of open top and rotary fermenters (horizontal tanks that rotate to mix the cap, rather than using punch-down, etc. as in vertical tanks). It spent 18 months in 300-litre French barrels, new and second use. Meatier than the Balnaves, also an ashy, slightly eucalypt character touching the ripe black fruit. The sweetness on the mid-palate is apparent, a wine that's not too broad, instead there is a freshness here, real lip-smacking juiciness to the acidity. Tannins are firm in the finish, adding to the impression of freshness along with a little pepper and spice.

(2023) 70% Furmint, 20% Harslevelu, 10% Yellow Muscat with 145g/l residual sugar. The best botrytised grapes are always used for this label - sometimes it is 100% Furmint; in 2018, it was 100% Yellow Muscat. (GD)