Aimery Grand Cuvée 1531 Crémant De Limoux
This Crémant de Limoux is sourced from the oldest sparkling wine region in the world which continues to produce these amazingly flavoursome, yet affordable sparkling wines. Medium-intense aromas of apple flesh, white melon rind and yellow flowers open the nose of this fresh and inviting sparkler. Made from 60% Chardonnay, 30% Chenin Blanc and 10% Mauzac, it’s brisk and lively, with final hints of green apple and lime leaf.
BK Wines Pet Nat Chardonnay 2021
Pet Nat – or rustic, farmhouse sparkling wine created by producing a fermentation in the bottle – is to sunshine as gumboots are to muddy puddles… you don’t have to have either of them to enjoy the other but you’re a whole lot happier if you do. 100% Basket Range Chardonnay. Whole-bunch pressed to concrete ‘egg’ fermenter. Fermented until nearly dry. Light, white pear flavours and enticing frizz. You’ll find yourself praying for summer sunshine or just sitting under a warm, bright light with your glass and pretending it’s here.
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Commune of Buttons Basket Town 2020
“We picked three parcels that are a mix of Dijon clones including the rare chardonnay Muscat (about 10% of the final wine); an ancient ancestor of the modern chardonnay grapes of today. 1 tone of fruit was picked in the third week of March and crushed underfoot. The juice was fermented in a single 600L demi-muid and aged on full lees for 11 months and stirred for lees integration once a week for about a month. Basket Town white is a spicy saline chardonnay with white flesh peaches and nectarine. The Muscat character lifts the aromatics and makes the wine incredibly accessible.” Producer Notes
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Commune of Buttons Estate Chardonnay 2020
“Fermentation took place in 600L barrels and the wine remained on full lees for a year with some lees stirring over winter (roughly once a week for 2 months). Commune White is a bright, well-rounded wine with pear, lime and peach fruits. There is a delicate savoury brioche thread that lingers into the well-known saline minerality and natural acidity of the clay sandstone soils of the vineyards.” Producer Notes
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Dario Princic Bianco NV
The “Bianco” by Dario Princic is the result of the skillful union of chardonnay, sauvignon and pinot grigio. The grapes undergo a few days of maceration and fermentation in open vats. Subsequently, each variety is left to mature in wooden containers of various sizes and then assembled to achieve ideal harmony. In the Collio district, there is this very ancient soil called Ponka a Calcareous, marl infiltrate with clay very porous, so the roots can seek lots of nutrients in the below substrate. Thus the minerality is dusty, stony and gives sapidity to the wine.
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Decibel Giunta Crispy White 2020
An intriguing blend of 35% Chenin Blanc, 33% Viognier, 32% Chardonnay. Very light, pale straw colour. High notes of white stone fruit and hints of exquisite floral notes, which open up to broader spices and richer tones of ripe peach and red delicious apples. The palate is soft and lush up front but quickly evolves into a racy midpalate and bright finish. Lingering notes in the midpalate of brioche while the finish has a lasting spice and vibrancy.
DIGBY Fine English NV Brut
Vibrant yet understated, this fizz is in its element at home on a Tuesday evening or at a party celebrating one of life’s big moments. An engaging expression of Digby’s house style, it stems from England’s most luscious Pinot Noir with rich, aged Chardonnay and plummy Pinot Meunier.
PLATINUM 97pts (2019 Decanter)
DIGBY Leander Pink NV Brut Rose
Allow yourself to be transported river-side on a warm summer’s day, cheering as boats slice their way past you, glass in hand. This pink fizz is a blend that celebrates England’s most vibrant Pinot Noir fruit, with red berry aromas carried on the back of a light, creamy fruitiness.
Domaine Pattes Loup Vent d’ Ange Chablis 2018
“Thomas Pico’s priority is to achieve moderate yields and full maturity. He picks rather later than most of his neighbours, judging the moment to harvest by flavour and appearance rather than laboratory analyses. Fermentation occurs in neutral wood, concrete and stainless steel varying, like its duration, by cuvée and vintage. Confronted by the tiny crops of 2016 and 2017, Pico elected to retain some of his 2015s for a later bottling, keeping them on the lees in tank for longer, an experiment he had long wanted to make. Pico is extending the Mise Tardive designation and approach to several other cuvées. There isn’t really anything else like these wines in Chablis – imagine if the Mâconnais’s Domaine Valette made wines here and you’ll get a partial idea of what they’re like – but they’re undeniably delicious, indeed thrilling, in their alliance of texture and saline nuance.” William Kelley, The Wine Advocate.
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Easthope Family Winegrowers Chardonnay 2020
This is our most Chablis like Chardonnay of recent years. And that implies aromas of citrus blossom, chalk and subtle oak spice. The palate has a chalky texture to match the white fleshed peach flavours, natural acidity and sublime, long finish.
Egly-Ouriet Brut Tradition Grand Cru NV
Based in Ambonnay, Egly-Ouriet are masters of Pinot. They farm organically, and many of the base wines are fermented in barrel. They like long ageing on lees. Dosage is low or zero. These are proper wines: sometimes a bit stern, but always worthwhile. 48 months on lees, disgorged July 2016. Very fine and detailed with lovely citrus and apple core, as well as some pear and nut richness. It’s quite dry and complex with fine herbs and juicy acidity. Grown up and sophisticated, this is fruit-driven but four years on the lees and another 11 months in bottle has given the first signs of toasty maturity.
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Felton Road Bannockburn Chardonnay 2020
Delicate citrus flowers, jasmine followed by hints of peach. A substantial but taut palate, honeysuckle, creamy stone fruit and citrus, mouth-filling and generous, but always with nervous tension, then tightening to a stony and saline finish. A definitive (maybe “The” definitive) example of our Bannockburn Chardonnay. Detailed, precise, long and very satisfying.
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Flowers Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2018
Bright citrus notes, white flower, nuances of dried apricot and hints of flint. Palate is energetic with acidity and tension balanced with flavors of orchard fruit and almond, finishing long and bright. 100% French Oak, 18% new, for 11 months. Aged for three months on lees in stainless steel tanks prior to bottling.
Jules Desjourneys Pouilly Fuisse 2016
The 2016 Pouilly-Fuisse wafts from the glass with a honeyed bouquet of yellow orchard fruit, lemon oil, confit citrus and beeswax. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, mineral and tense, with considerable concentration and structural reserve, concluding with a long, saline finish.
ORGANIC / BIODYNAMIC / NATURAL
Kumeu River Rays Road Chardonnay 2020
This Chardonnay has aromas of citrus peel, flinty minerals and salty seashells. There are creamy, peach-like flavours on the mid-palate, but then it finishes firmly with zesty fresh acidity and a steel backbone.
Larmandier-Bernier Longitude Premier Cru
Superbly fresh and mineral! This non-vintage cuvée contains 40% of wines coming from our perpetual reserve begun in 2004. Each bottle is disgorged by hand 6 months before being marketed. The dosage is only 3g/l (extra brut!). Perfect as an aperitif, its straightness and its mineral character will whet your appetite. It’s ready to drink now, but may also be laid down for a few years.
Lo-Fi Santa Barbara County Chardonnay 2018
Hand harvested and sustainably grown; Whole cluster pressed to tank. Settled 48 hours prior to racking to barrel and concrete amphora. Fermented on the native yeasts, followed by partial malolactic by naturally occurring bacteria. No sulfur used at pressing. Quite an elegant delicately buttery style of Chardonnay. Not about oak, just nice mouth filling texture with a good line of citrus keeping the wine lifted.
ORGANIC / BIODYNAMIC / NATURAL
Meursault Cuvee Charles Maxime 2017
The Latour-Giraud Meursault Cuvée Charles Maxime is a very attractive Meursault in terms of price, made by a fantastic authentic house. In the glass, the Meursault Cuvée Charles Maxime is light yellow to yellowish. In the nose butter, nuts, apple and spiciness of wood. In the mouth a round attack, creamy but elegant and with finesse because of the minerals and the beautiful acids. Good integration of the wood.
Pask Chardonnay 2020
Vibrant, rich Chardonnay with intense citrus fruits and pure acidity. Rich and mouthfilling, generously textured.
Ponsot Rully en Bas de Vauvry Blanc 2020
Jean-Baptiste farms 8.5 hectares all located in the AOP Rully and sustainably farmed with organic practices: no insecticide, no weed-killer, no anti-rot and no chemicals at all. Jean-Baptiste doesn’t care to be certified but is as respectful of his land as many certified organic producers.
This wine was able to adopt its lieu-dit when fruit from a second plot was discarded and everything came from this excellent site that sits just below the 1er Crus. Aged in a both stainless steel and oak, though very little new, this is full of lively, floral fruit with some spice and good drive.
Unison Reserve Maestro Chardonnay 2019
Pale Gold in colour. Lashing of baking spice, fresh ripe apricots, yellow flowers, toasted almonds and hints of fresh cream, give complexity and intensity to the aromatics. The palate is rich with a velvety texture and packed with stonefruit, toasted nuts and a citrus finish. Enjoy this chardonnay in its youth, or cellar carefully for enjoyment over the next 5 years.
Vandal Gonzo Militia Blend 2021
Vandal Wines was set up by three unnamed, masked Marlborough winemakers as an escape from the restrictions of their day jobs. The Gonzo Militia is a field blend, picked together on the same day and vinified together. The blend is unusual to say the least 20% Viognier, 20% Pinot Noir, 20% Pinot Gris, 15% Riesling, 15% Syrah, 5% Chardonnay, 2.5% Tempranillo and 2.5% Muscat, sourced from a single site in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys region. After pressing 50% is macerated on its skins for 24 hours, the whole is fermented in neutral French oak barrels using the natural yeasts and undergoes malolactic fermentation. The wine then spends 6 months on its lees with battonage, lees stirring, before bottling un-fined and un-filtered. The wine has delicate pink hue to its golden colour with a slight haze due to the lack of fining and filtration. The flavour is wild with a creamy mouth full of peach, plums with lemony, green apple acidity and nutty notes from the casks. A complex and fascinating break from the norm.
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Vandal Pet Bat 2020
Vandal Wines was set up by three unnamed, masked Marlborough winemakers as an escape from the restrictions of their day jobs. Hand harvested Muscat 50% and Chardonnay 50%. Fruit was sourced from a 30 year old single vineyard in the Southern Valleys of Marlborough. Grapes were gently pressed and co-fermented ‘wild’ in seasoned French barriques at ambient temperatures with high solids. At 10 g/l residual the wine was bottled to capture natural effervescence. Harmless yeast sediment remain.
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Vincent Couche Rose Desir Extra Brut
Vincent Couche isn’t afraid to experiment. He made this rosé Champagne by using carbonically macerated Pinot Noir, saignée Pinot Noir and macerating Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Three methods adding to the sheer complexity you’ll find. Dry on the palate but exuding a salmon-colored rosé with aromas of cherries, pomegranate and citrus all at once.