Sweet Wines and Bubbles

This cuvée has gone from strength to strength since it was first made in 2000. The percentage of Chardonnay is slowly growing, and in 2018 sits at 20%. Ageing in oak barrels adds complexity and depth. The palate is nicely textured and vinous, and there’s a wonderful fresh bread and bruised apple character throughout. This is really impressive for the price.

90% Chenin Blanc, 10% Chardonnay. Year after year, this is a firm favourite of ours for its deliciously smooth, creamy palate, and fresh, lightly citrus and apple flavours as well as its unbeatable price. The 2022 Saphir is bright and vibrant, and just delicious.

90% Chenin Blanc, 10% Chardonnay. Year after year, this is a firm favourite of ours for its deliciously smooth, creamy palate, and fresh, lightly citrus and apple flavours as well as its unbeatable price. The 2022 Saphir is bright and vibrant, and just delicious.

As the name suggests, this cuvée has no dosage, and so has not a drop of residual sugar. As a result, the wine expresses abundant freshness and minerality, supported by bright citrus and green fruit. The 2021 has an energetic refreshing acidity and subtle richness, thanks to its oak ageing.

For complexity, depth of flavour, and interest, it’s hard to beat this ancestral method sparkling wine from Vincent Carême. So vinous and lively, it’s delicious in youth, and fascinating with some age. It’s made by transferring the still sweet and fermenting grape juice into bottle, and then trapping the subsequent carbon dioxide as it continues to ferment to dryness in the bottle. No dosage is added, though the spent yeast cells are expelled, leaving a brilliant, crystalline sparkling wine behind. It has such a wonderful depth and complexity on the nose, with a vinous structure on the palate, and a salty zing. The creamy mousse wraps around crunchy apple fruit. Experience from tasting back vintages of this cuvée shows me this wine ages brilliantly, and will develop complex depth, and savoury precision with a few years in bottle.

"This smells just like membrillo. Delicious! Exciting depth of fruit that seems to go on and on. The longest wine so far. Tiny traces of spice are folded like secret love notes into the fruit, and the acidity envelops every sip with its chalky lemon-sherbet ribbons. Apricots and golden figs. Fragrant with lime. This is truly thrilling." 17.5 points, Tamlyn Curran, jancisrobinson.com

This sparkling wine is made by transferring the still sweet and fermenting grape juice into bottle, and then trapping the subsequent carbon dioxide as it continues to ferment to dryness in the bottle. No dosage is added, though the spent yeast cells are expelled, leaving a brilliant, crystalline sparkling wine behind. It has such a wonderful depth and complexity on the nose, with a vinous structure on the palate, and a salty zing. The creamy mousse wraps around crunchy apple fruit. Experience from tasting back vintages of this cuvée shows me this wine ages brilliantly, and will develop complex depth, and savoury precision with a few years in bottle. It’s one of the most exciting wines on the list this year.

This has got to be one of the best value sweet wines on the market. It is bottled in 50cl exclusively for Lay & Wheeler - the perfect size, we feel. It's made from 100% Chenin Blanc in the Loire Valley, and its balance of sweetness and freshness absolutely hits the spot. It is a beautiful pale golden colour, with aromas of Seville orange marmalade and acacia honey. The palate is fresh and vibrant giving it a refreshing, long finish. There is so much going on here, just delicious.

Although the Loire is a region that has not embraced the cru system, it makes an exception when it comes to the magnificent sweet wines around the tributary of the Layon, near Angers. Quarts de Chaume is made from Chenin Blanc, and offers up a complex symphony of Seville orange bitterness with sweet candied citrus peel depth. The wine is intensely perfumed with honey, flowers, quince and apricot. It shows outstanding acidity which cuts through the concentrated sweetness.

This sparkling pink made from 100% Gamay has been a firm favourite with customers and staff alike. The ‘Zéro’ indicates zero chaptalisation, zero liqueur de tirage, and zero dosage. It is as dry as they come, and made much like a Pet-Nat (pétillant naturel), though the lees are disgorged at the end, meaning the wine is crystal clear and bright in colour. It has a beautiful pithy, pink grapefruit character, a light, scintillating line of freshness through it, and a gentle, creamy mousse.

This sparkling Chenin Blanc has fast become one of our go-to fizzes. It has zero chaptalisation, zero liqueur de tirage, and zero dosage, so is as dry as they come. This 'méthode ancestral' is the same as that used to make Pet-Nats (pétillant naturel) where the fermentation is finished in bottle. But unlike a Pet-Nat, this sees the lees disgorged at the end, meaning the finished wine is crystal clear. The crisp orchard fruit aromas combined with a complex biscuity character on the nose are followed by taut precision and depth of flavour on the palate. The texture of the bubbles is spot on: creamy and persistent. It's one of the most interesting, delicious, and best value sparkling wines you'll find.

"Les Quarts Saint Vincent" is a cuvée made from Chenin planted on limestone soils. With no oak contact, this cuvée shines with its precision and mineral freshness. Natural fermentation, with zero dosage. With more than 5 years of aging on the lees and 2 years of aging in bottle, “Les Quarts Saint Vincent" 2018 is a true gem worthy of a great Champagne. The intense color displays a delicate bead of bubbles. A high-class brut cut in balance and subtlety: fresh quince and pear, subtle dried fruits, abundant mineral, grilled almond and a hint of pastry. Refined and persistent palate. Disgorged in January 2024.