Calmel & Joseph Crémant de Limoux NV, Languedoc, France (£11.95-£16.95 Viader Wines, Raffles Wines, Haslemere Cellar, South Down Cellars, Richard Granger Wines) Young, fresh style, green apples – fresh and baked – to the fore, with hints of nuts and citrus fruit behind, and a light saline/mineral edge to add further […]
Pinot Noir
Champagne Jean Diot Cuvée Sélection NV, France (£19.95 Richard Dawes Fine Wine) Attractive mix of ripeness and freshness, young and lively, with toasty brioche notes alongside the raspberry, apple and citrus fruit, and a clean mineral tang to the finish. Not hugely complex but an appealing dainty style, and a […]
Champagne Jean Diot Cuvée Sélection NV, France
Cinco Manos Pinot Noir 2014, Colchagua, Chile (£15.99 Laithwaites) Smells good, with generous and gentle juicy warm berry and plum allure, but then when you taste it, the imprint of toasty vanilla oak and the slightly rubbery reduction spoil the party. Decent, but could have been better. B-
Cinco Manos Pinot Noir 2014, Colchagua, Chile
Blind Spot Pinot Noir 2014, Yarra Valley, Australia (was £9.50 The Wine Society) Soft, gentle, quite mature and very moreish, this is made by the talented Mac Forbes, whose wines seem to have retained the freshness they’ve always had, but now seem to offer a little more joie de vivre. […]
Pinot Noirs from Australia, Austria & France
Byron Pinot Noir 2013, Santa Barbara County, California (£16 Slurp.co.uk) Some will like the soft, vanilla tinged ripe red berry flavours here, but others will think that (like many Californian Pinots) it veers too much towards the overripe. I tasted this over a couple of days to see if a […]
Four Californian Pinot Noirs
Have to say that I prefer the Sauvignons from these two domaines… Denis Jamain ‘Les Pierres Plates’ Reuilly Rouge 2013, Loire, France (£14.95 Berry Bros & Rudd) 2013 wasn’t the best of vintages in the Loire, and while there’s OK red fruit flavours here, this is just a little fey […]