This is the first single variety release of Cabernet Franc from Reyneke and it's a beauty. An expressive and elegant wine it was matured for 16 months in second and third-fill French oak. It offers notes of blackcurrant, violets, and wild herbs. Red cherry fruits emerge too, it is juicy and fresh with some earth, and white pepper. Chalky, supple tannin frames the fruit and it is wonerfully fresh on the finsh.

A classic Cabernet that opens with dark cherry, blackcurrant, some vanilla, cedar and sandalwood. There is a hint of tea lead, menthol and dried herbs but there is plenty of fleshy on the palate with subtle oak spice. The tannins help to focus on the finish with great finesse and aromas of pencil shavings and sandalwood.

This Syrah from Reyneke is around a third whole bunch fermented, a third submerged cap fermented, and a third crushed and destemmed fruit. It is refined and spicy, with delicious and classic Syrah aromatics of wild herbs, lavender, black pepper and black olive. The palate is fleshy but still so elegant with juicy dark berry fruit and a peppery spice on the finish. Very classic and certainly reminds you of a young Cornas.

This is a fabulous Sauvignon Blanc that even doubters of this variety will enjoy. It is beautifully assertive with ginger spice, gooseberry, kiwi and green mango notes. It is very crystalline in structure with freshness and salinity and a breath of lime blossom and elderflower on the finish. Vinified and matured in a combination of first, second and third-fill cask.

This old-vine Chenin is a blend of Reyneke's oldest vineyards planted in 1974 and 1976. The grapes were fermented in 500 litre amphora and a large foudre. It offers notes of ginger, quince, apricot and white peach. There is a texture here which is round but there is a flash of acid that drives through giving a real sense of salinity and purity. The finish is fresh and extremely well balanced with notes of fresh pear and honeysuckle.

This is a new release from Champagne Tarlant, replacing the higher dosage Brut Réserve. The Extra Brut has just 3g/l residual sugar, much closer to Benoît and Melanie’s preferred dry style of Champagne. Their wines have all the textural depth of flavour you could want without the softening dosage sugar, thanks to their long ageing before release. Although this is their ‘entry level’ cuvée, it has 2016 vintage at its base. It’s a blend of 51% Pinot Noir, 34% Pinot Meunier, and 15% Chardonnay from the Tarlant’s vineyards around Oeuilly. It is chalky, chiselled, mineral, and moreish. And it offers a brilliant level of quality, and huge character, for its price.

The Zéro Brut Nature is the signature cuvée of the Tarlant family. They place great emphasis on maturity: in the vineyard (with a proliferation of old vines); in barrel (using long ageing in old oak), and in bottle, sur lattes (long lees ageing before disgorgement and release). As a result the most recent release of their wonderful Zéro Brut Nature has 2016 at its heart, where most other Champagne houses are on 2019 or 2021. The wine shows fabulous complexity and depth thanks to its unusually long ageing. It is tightly-wound, with a vinous concentration and length. Its extended ageing in bottle before disgorgement adds depth and creaminess. Blind, you'll trip over yourself saying it's Krug. If we had a 'house' grower champagne, this would be it.

From grapes grown on Bajocian limestone, this is always a mineral expression of Chardonnay, with an ethereal character and a flinty, stony reduction. Tight, tense and laser-like in its focus, Stéphane feels this wine has a character that is closer to Chenin in its salinity and mineral precision.

There is a real sense of classicism to the 2024 VCC. It is serene, supple, classic but with modern refinement. Dark cherry fruit, wild herbs with violets and crushed rocks it is very expressive and charming. There is structure and freshness which shows this is a wine that will go the distance - it finishes with a real focus and intensity.

A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, this is such a beautiful and expressive Pomerol this year. It begins restrained with subtle notes of pepper, violets, incense so full of detail. It is a tense, saline and vibrant wine which is full of energy just with a fine, caressing texture. There are accents of oyster shell, kelp and soy around the ripe dark cherry fruit. A wine of purity and focus it numbers among the best wines made this vintage.