The text of this article was first published in The World of Fine Wine issue 68 (June 2020) LATEST, April 12, 2022: I asked Moët to give me an update on the release of MCIII 002. Here's the reply: "There isn’t any update to MCIII yet." When Moët launched its sumptuous and pioneering MCIII in 2015, the first release was described as “the ultimate expression” of Champagne and was named 001.14. It sounds slightly James Bond, but the numbers simply refer to the chronology: cuvée

Perrine Fenal and Aubert de Villaine, co-directors of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, at Corney & Barrow's offices in London. The photo of Perrine was taken at the tasting on 3 February, and the photo of Aubert, her uncle, was taken at the previous tasting, pre-pandemic, on 29 January 2020. (I didn't catch him in time last week.) Domaine de la Romanée Conti releases its wines en primeur a year after the rest of Burgundy, so the estate's 2019 wines got their first UK showing last

£8.95, The Wine Society I'm always delighted to find a red Fronton to recommend. We don't see many wines in the UK from this small appellation in southwest France (about 30km north of Toulouse), but they're always worth a look. The best are deliciously supple, round and fruity, and yet with their own distinctive flavours thanks to the Négrette grape, which has to be the principal variety in any Fronton wine, red or rosé (there's no white). It's a grape variety almost unknown

It has a centuries’ old history, a cult following and has given its name to a shade of green and so far no one has succeeded in replicating it. Welcome to the world’s most mysterious liqueur Chartreuse but not as we know it: a small Chartreuse bottle, or, as it says on the label "Une Tarragone" and on the metal base Une Chartreuse. It was made in Tarragona and, when given to me in 1988 at the distillery in Voiron, it was thought to date from around 1935. Below is the back of

£11.99 on offer, waitrosecellar The rocky, arid Saint Chinian appellation in Languedoc is much better known for its red wines, but its whites – just 5% of production – are always worth trying. Witness this captivating example with its late-summer orchard fruit, dried flower and hay aromas and full, yet elegantly mineral, spice-edged palate – a wine bound by energy, texture, structure and freshness. The grape varieties are Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Vermentino and Viognier (40

£13.99/£12./59, Laithwaites A red Bordeaux in a Burgundy bottle without a capsule and label graphics showing a love-you hand squeezing a bunch of grapes was never going to be a conventional Bordeaux. Stand by, then, for generous, bright fruit (sweet plums, blackberries and blackcurrants), fleeting whiffs of parma violets and spicy tobacco and a gentle undertow of refreshing leafiness. Tannin? There's not an elbow or an angle in sight, just glossy curves and mouth-filling, ve

£12.95–£16, The Wine Society, Haynes Hanson & Clark This is the kind of wine that gets pigeon-holed as a summer wine, usually as an alternative to Beaujolais, but it's absolutely delicious and deserves to be drunk all year, cool in winter, cooler still in summer. Like Beaujolais, it's made from Gamay, but in the small Côtes du Forez appellation in the Auvergne to the south west, near to the source of the river Loire. Gilles Bonnefoy, who started La Madone in the late 1990s a

I hadn't planned to do a Pinot Noir post to coincide with International Pinot Noir Day today, but it's a good opportunity to spread the love, not least because I was bowled over by the two Akitu wines below, especially the A1 2018, and by the latest Craggy Range Aroha. There's also an amphora-fermented Pinot from Shropshire, which is a revelation and a triumph. Who knew England could do this? And there are two Burgundies I wanted to highlight, although the delightful, mature

As in part one, there's a cross-section of styles, grape varieties, origins and prices here and I'm going from high to low again, so that the more expensive rosés don't get overlooked (scroll down for the £8.25 Spanish rosado). There are some food suggestions along the way, but there isn't a wine here that couldn't be taken to the table, thanks largely to the more interesting textures we're seeing in so many rosés. Finally, a reminder that if you want a comprehensive review o

£12.99–£13.95, Urban Grapes, Alteus Wine, Gourmet Hunters, Simply Wines Direct, All About Wine I tasted this Roussillon rosé for the second part of my Summer Rosé Round Up (coming up soon, click for Part 1 in the meantime), but was so taken with it that I'm putting the spotlight on it here first. The very pale colour gives it the look of a typical Provence rosé (as does the chic bottle), but it's more aromatic than many of its Provence counterparts, with Mediterranean herbs,

Why would the luxury goods giant Chanel buy a wine estate in a remote part of the tiny (car-free) island of Porquerolles? The answer that immediately comes to mind is: because it's part of the Côtes de Provence appellation and wines don't come more trendy than Provence rosé. And if you've got the money to invest in an estate or simply a brand you can endorse with your celebrity status, they don't come much more money-spinning either. Just ask the celebs who've been buying the

Now that winemakers all around the world treat rosé with as much respect as red and white wines, there are so many good rosés in such a diversity of styles that I'm dividing this year's round-up into two posts, with a cross section of styles, grape varieties and origins in each. And in a break with the past, I'm going from high to low in price this year because I don't want the more expensive pink wines (the first five in particular) to be missed. Scroll to the bottom and go

£14.50, The Daily Drinker Bright, breezy and light as a feather, this is a delightful example of the Alpine purity and flavour of the Savoie region's Jacquère grape. It's as pale as snow with just a hint of green, smells of spring blossoms, jasmine and summer orchards and glides across the palate in ripples of pear and citrus fruit and mountain-stream stones. It's quietly insistent in flavour, soft textured and effortlessly fresh. You could drink it alongside simple salads an

Cleverly branded corks – Château de Pommard is worked organically and biodynamically, as are many of the wines under the Famille Carabello-Baum label I wrote about the Carabello-Baum family and their purchase of Château de Pommard, here, together with tasting notes on seven of the 2018 whites and 2017 reds, so I'm confining myself in this post to four wines: three newly released 2019s that I recently tasted and talked about (on zoom) with winemaker Emmanuel Sala and owner Mic

£15.20, Tanners Wines In summer, drunk distinctly cool, red Saumur or Saumur-Champigny is vital. In winter it's an essential punctuation point between bigger reds. In spring you need it to lead you you into warmer sunnier days and come the autumn you need it to take you gently towards the darker, colder months. On my increasingly crowded desert island there has, therefore, to be one such red Loire and for some time to come it's going to be Château Hureau's Tuffe, a Saumur-Cha

£12, Haynes Hanson & Clark Vieilles Vignes are the key to the Boulon family's cracking Beaujolais, or certainly one of them. There's no variety of wine vine that seems to benefit more from age than Gamay. The vines that add depth and intensity to the quintessential exuberant charm and immediacy of this 2019 are all 60–100 years old. It starts with a lovely waft of strawberries and continues with a surge of soft summer-berries, stony, damp earth, a streak of currant leaf and s

£26.50, Berry Bros & Rudd There is joy tinged with sadness in this week's wine. Let's start with the joy, which is that this is a beautiful wine. Elegant, precise, pure, textural and gently rippling with aromas and flavours of blossom, spicier flowers (marigolds), citrus and minerals, turning to red apple, lychee (just a whisper), orange zest and peach – and all emphasised by the silk-smooth texture and long, fresh, mineral spine. You may find other or completely different ar

£11.50–£12, The Wine Society, Tesco Full-bodied, succulent, Viognier-based dry white from one of the big names in a region much better known for its red wines – and one that doesn't usually major on Viognier in its whites. But it's the 60% Viognier (supported by Roussanne and Marsanne) that leads the way with fleshiness and soft texture, blossomy aromas and lush peach, cream and patisserie flavours. There's a sprinkling of white-pepper spiciness and a squeeze of grapefruit, t

£10, Morrisons There'a a lot of noise about orange wines – wines made from white grapes fermented with their skins like red wines, rather than without skins – but they're still very much a minority sport, even though it's how wine was originally made whatever the colour of the grapes. It's good, then, to see Rigal in southwest France venturing into the arena and making a success with a characterful local grape variety and the UK's Morrisons supermarkets taking the wine on. In

£24.67, Justerini & Brooks If you're looking for something classic, crowd-pleasing and versatile for Easter, this is it: a red Bordeaux (aka claret) of beautiful proportions, soft-suede tannins, ripe fresh fruit, sandalwood, tobacco, Christmas cake and mocha flavours . It's also a wine of impeccable provenance: impeccable but not revealed, at least not by Justerini & Brooks who say that, such is the sensitivity, the buyers involved in the assemblage (blending) have had to si