£50-100 per bottle

72 year old vines. Lovely freshness here, dark fruit, tension, power, salinity and nervous energy. This is intense and powerful, with loads of salinity: so mineral, but also lots of burnt orange peel, and some almond kernal. It’s so complex and very well balanced: an astonishing Barolo from a real magician.

This is one of the finest sites of the Côte Blonde, and it produces a wine of huge elegance and subtlety, although you’ll want to tuck it away for a few years before pulling the cork.

The nose is already inviting, showing power and deep cherry fruit. There’s amazing drive and energy on the palate, with black fruits, spice and fine tannins. The power is undeniable, but it’s so elegant and finessed.

Tasted April 2023. 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. 14.6% ABV. 50% new oak. Picked from 1st September. Aromatic and floral on the nose with bright black berry fruit and some fresh cherries. Opulent style of fruit compared to Le Chenade this year, with plenty of ripe tannin and a seam of stony freshness. Layered with stony and dried petals.

This is a blend of two parcels and is the hidden gem of Sorrel’s range. 20% comes from Bessards, and 80% from Les Plantiers, just below Le Méal. These vines produce fruit with real power, and this wine has a great presence. But the floral tones and salty fruit make it more accessible than the Gréal, and mean it should start to open up a little earlier.

This is always one of the prettiest in the Grivot cellar, and 2022 is no exception. There is a sweet balance between the graceful tannins and red berry fruit, with fresh drive and elegant body.

From extremely rocky terraces, this is mineral style of Pinot Noir that opens with a lift of wild herbs, violets, and warm earth. Linear on the palate the cherry fruit is accented with notes of pepper and cocoa. Very focused on the finish, this is a very detailed and precise wine.

Sourced from very old vines on slate soils that take on an additional layer of salty minerality in vintages like 2020. Expect the jasmine, lemon citrus and fleshy peach notes to be underpinned with steely and stone notes as well as a saline core. Restrained concentration defines this wine.

This excellent lieu-dit, south of La Viallière near Ampuis, produces a well-balanced wine, with fresh acidity and fine-grained tannins in 2021. It shows hints of violet on the nose and there is a long, pleasing, mineral finish. This should open up with a little time.

There are big expectations with new ownership for this Grand Cru sandwiched between Angelus and Le Dôme. The 2017 has impressive texture and energy with finely judged tannins.

Cheval des Andes is an exceptional blend of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon from Las Compuertas and Paraje Altamira in Mendoza. There's lots of violet, blackberry and plum here, with lifted minty, floral limestone character. There's a boldness to the fruit in this warmer year and a round feel to the tannins, before leaving a fresh, energetic finish.

The 2022 is a superb vintage from this Tuscan estate, based on 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. There is a richness of red and black berry fruits combining with leather, liquorice and cinnamon spice. The tannins are plush and velvety and there is a refreshing acidity that lingers on the finish, displaying this wine's pedigree.

A mini Ornellaia, this second wine is made up of a Bordeaux blend of Merlot (44%), Cabernet Sauvignon (30%), Cabernet Franc (13%) and Petit Verdot (13%). 2020 saw rather changeable weather with very long periods followed by heavy rainfall and drops in temperature, resulting in a longer harvest than usual to enable the different varieties were picked at optimum ripeness and condition. A combination of hand picking, sorting tables at the winery as well as the addition of an optical sorter in 2016 has resulted in a wine that is of impressive quality. The wine is aged in French barriques (25% new) for 15 months before being bottled and remains in bottle for a futher 6 months prior to release. The winemaker believes the 2020 is reminiscent of 2018, 2013 and 2010, and having tasted all three recently, this wine is destined for great things. Expect red plums and red wild berry perfume, combined with liquorice spice and herbal undertones.

From the Ornato vineyard in the commune of Serralunga d'Alba the 2020 vintage is beautifully open and expressive with wild flowers and herbs at the forefront. Expect the structure that this vineyard gives, along with the vibrant acidity and freshness that the 2020 vintage provides.

An estate with less than 10 hectares, this Alto Piemonte estate is truly unique and groundbreaking. L'Franc comes from the 0.4 hectare Castagnola vineyard, in the village of Lessona at over 300 metres altitude, with the vines planted on volcanic soils with a high mineral content. 2018 vintage started with a wet and cold spring with some hail that led to lower yields, but summer and early Autumn was warm and sunny and the grapes achieved perfect ripeness. The wine spent 18 months in French barrique (50% new) prior to bottling, giving the wine an attractive texture and sweet spice. 100% cabernet franc, the wine offers blackberry, black cherry and blueberry aromas combined with tobacco and dark chocolate notes with a juicy core and firm but fine grained tannins.

A tightly coiled wine at this stage, is shimmers in the glass with notes of peach, fresh apricot and white grapefruit pith. Very saline and linear through the palate this is wine with a long life ahead.

Pure on the nose, with fresh, fragrant notes of citrus zest and acacia honey. On the palate, bold in style, yet expressive, with lime flower characters coming through alongside richer notes of crême-caramel and butterscotch. There is a fine minerality here that comes through on the finish, lending this a subtle elegance.

Tasted April 2022. Bold and structured, with the 25% Cabernet Sauvignon shining through in precise black berry fruits, graphite and grippy tannins. Deep, concentrated fruit flavours and layered with spicy, savoury notes.

The 2020 Giscours is classic Margaux. There's refinement of tannins, and a lovely tension to the palate. The finish has breadth and complexity, and a hint of stony minerality. This is a lovely effort from the team at Giscours.

From the oldest vines on the estate (alte reben means old vines), this is a wine that wows with its intensity, power and structure. Notes of thyme and a pure core of blue and red fruit are encased in wonderfully refined tannins. And it’s the length that really marks this wine out as special: it’s detailed, pure, and incredibly long. Spectacular.

One of Loosen and the Mosel’s greatest vineyard sites on rich blue slate soil. (The Sundial of Wehlen) is a precipitously steep and rocky vineyard that yields wines with a lively mineral character and a delicate, zingy acidity that perfectly complements the expression of white peach and lemon fruits on the palate. The 24 months ageing gives the wine amazing complexity and length.

The Ürziger Würzgarten vineyard forms a massive amphitheatre of red, volcanic sandstone and red slate that is unlike any other site in the Mosel region. It’s compact, energetic and concentrated with a core of tantalising exotic fruits and spicy aromas.

The superb 2022 vintage was another relatively cool year for Seña, like 2021, and the influence from proximity to the ocean can certainly be felt in the pure line of acidity and elegant fruit. Winemaker Francisco Baettig talks about 'fine tuning the style' of Seña in recent years, using old oak foudres and reducing the time spent ageing in barrel to avoid having the wine in wood over a second summer. The result is gorgeous and justifies Seña's position as one of the great red wines of the world, with a rich spiced fruit character and beautifully silky tannins. This has all the structure to age for a very long time, and will reward patience.

Lingua Franca is the project started by Master Sommelier Larry Stone, with the help of winemakers Thomas Savre and Dominique Lafon. The 2019s might be the finest set of wines they've produced yet. This is one of their top Pinots, perfumed and ripe with red and black berry fruit, incense and exotic spice. It perfectly treads the line between richness and finesse. They used a very small 8% whole bunches and 26% new French oak.

This parcel sits at the bottom of the Hermitage hill on alluvial soils. In 2022 it is fleshy and full, with notes of fragrant red and black fruit, game and cracked black pepper. It is detailed, pure, elegant and complex. Utterly charming.

Tasted April 2023. 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. 14.5% ABV. Long and robust, there's more peppery Cabernet Sauvignon character in the 2022 Clinet than one might expect from Pomerol. This is a powerhouse shaping up to be a long lived wine, but there's also an elegance to go with the structure here. With hints of mint leaf, liquorice, and fennel, the herbal lift makes this an intriguing prospect.

Tasted April 2022. Very precise Cabernet nose with blackcurrant and bramble, with graphite and cedar. There's a lovely brightness to this wine, and rhubarb-like acidity. The core of the wine is ripe and deep, with a silkiness to the texture. There's a long mineral-laden finish. This is a class act, with concentration and freshness in harmony.

The 2020 Clerc Milon is a really beautiful iteration of this well-placed Pauillac. More elegant than usual, there's lovely purity here, and silky acidity, and a very long, savoury finish.

So mineral and deep, this balances a charming bitterness with lots of citrus fruit and also a core of very fresh fruit. This always reminds us of Negronis (in a very good way) and the 2017 is no different. Don’t be afraid to age this.

From the remarkable Herrenberg with a soil of weathered-slate, greywacke this is a powerful and muscular iteration this vintage. Ripe cherry and hedgerow fruit, this maintains real precision on the palate with finely etched tannins, and aromas of sandalwood, cocoa, and nutmeg. The finish is so long and detailed, this is a wine that will age effortlessly.

Pure is 100% Grenache, all from 100 year old vines on sandy soils. The result is very intense, and, as the name suggests, pure. There's tons of black fruit here, surrounded by rich, chocolately textures and spicy flavours. This needs time in bottle to weave together, but already impresses.

The 2021 Monts Luisants, from one of Morey's most celebrated vineyards, is lovely in 2021. Lots of whole bunch spice, and there's a fragrance and purity here, too. Very nicely balanced.

Tasted April 2022. Seriously concentrated with tightly-packed black cherry and blueberry fruit. As the palate develops more mineral, saline notes emerge and rise to a long fresh finish. Broad and slightly creamy texture with grippy tannins. Really impressive.