Under £20 per bottle

Always one of our favourite from the Penfolds stable, Bin 128 is known for its silky, elegant and restrained style, being from the cooler climate of Coonawarra. Bramble-like fruit mixes with savoury, gamey, leathery complexity, and some herbal notes add to this wine’s fresh style. There's more structure here than you might expect and it rewards cellaring.

Thibaud Chevré is a seriously exciting young talent in the Loire. His father spent a magnificent career working with Thierry Germain, and this wonderful vineyard - Clos de l'Ecotard - was the first parcel the father-and-son team bought. It's found right on the edge of the Saumur’s border with Anjou, and its highly active limestone and clay soil produces taut and nervous wines that reverberate with tension and energy, even in warmer years. They only use horses to plough it, but the extra hard work is worth it. The 2021 sees them realising the toil of the past decade, bringing to fruition a truly magnificent Chenin Blanc. It is so expressive, bursting with chalky, saline drive, and a flash of green pineapple freshness. A brilliant Chenin Blanc from a formidably good year for Loire whites. Exclusive to Lay & Wheeler in the UK.

The Durantou stable of wines are, once again, not to be missed, and this is the perfect example. So much going on here, with lots of bright fruit, crunchy tannins, and a long, stony finish. For the medium term this will surprise and delight. Stock up.

Crafted by the team at Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite, this Médoc is subtle, charming, and refined with rich dark cherry fruit flavours and sweet liquorice spice. Densely packed tannins and a long savoury finish make this the perfect Bordeaux for the dinner table. And it’s in the perfect format to age and develop for years to come.

A brilliant 2019 from Chateau de Ferrand, located on the end of the limestone plateau in St-Emilion. Offering bright bramble fruit with cedar and baking spices on the nose, this has the supple tannins and concentration to age gracefully. Cabernet Franc brings a floral freshness to the wine adding to its refined and elegant style.

A blend of grapes from Greyton and Cape South Coast. Lovely energy here, with fynbos and tapenade notes, and then a core of dark fruit. Very nicely done.

Belgrave is situated just outside of the St-Julien commune, and the 2019 expresses all the hallmarks of this special place with inky blackcurrant fruit, sweet spice and a minty lift. There’s an earthy, gravel complexity and black pepper. Beautifully structured with fine tannins and a long flavourful finish.

The fruit comes from the San Sebastiano vineyard in Monforte, a site that has exceptional expositions for the Barbera grape. A significant amount of whole cluster and whole berry fruit goes into this Barbera that is aged exclusively in concrete to preserve the wine’s true expression. Sour cherry and damson fruit take hold of this red fruit focused wine. Subtle reduction adds some complexity, along with the wine’s mineral core.

The forgotten grape of Piemonte, Cavallotto's Freisa is a real joy. So much fresh fruit and pure energy, and there's a slight crunchiness here too. Notes of fresh thyme and plenty of grip of the finish complete the picture. This is a delicious red from one of the region's greatest names.

The Clay Shales is the pinnacle of the white production here, and is a Chardonnay from a single vineyard on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge. With tons of tension, as well as breadth of flavour, it’s surely a contender for South Africa’s best Chardonnay.

Mainly Grenache with 9% of Pinotage, this is a spicy, supple red with notes of violets, black cherry and black team. Poised and finessed, this is a medium-bodied red which focuses on charming aromatics and red berry fruit.

From the vineyard behind the house, the 2016 Barbaresco from Manuel Marinacci is a joy. Vibrant yet concentrated, with notes of spearmint, straweberry, and a hint of quinine, it's a long, pretty, delicious nebbiolo.

Tasted April 2022. Peymouton in 2021 shows a good level of ripeness with fresh, sappy red berries and some darker, more brooding fruit underneath. The structure is firm at this early stage, with lots of fine tannins and fresh acidity. The whole palate is tightly wound, ready to age gracefully in bottle.

A blend of three different blocks on the Klein Constantia hillside, the 2020 Clara is drop-dead gorgeous. Delicate and floral on the nose, with notes of oyster shell, lime blossom, and sea spray, and plenty of fresh ginger too, this is complex and delicious already. There’s the structure here to age beautifully too. Everyone should secure a case of this, if they can.

This is a brilliant Chenin-based blend but including varieties such as Verdelho, Clairette Blanche, and Colombard it is a racy, and focused wine with notes of white flowers, lemongrass and white tea. The palate is saline and zippy with notes of white grapefruit, lemon essence, and hints of stone fruits.

12 different varieties in the blend but Verdelho and Clairette Blanc based. This offers floral notes of white flowers, jasmine and white tea. Very delicate and finessed, the palate delivers fresh stone fruit, white peach, and little white grapefruit. Very pure and saline on the finish.

The 2023 Steen is a brilliant old vine Chenin produced from a 0.6ha block planted in 1984, at 800m elevation. Tightly coiled, this races out of the glass with energy and vibrancy. This will age beautifully – not one to miss this year.

38% Grenache Noir, 36% Syrah, 10% Pinotage, 9% Carignan and 7% Cinsaut. Minty, floral, and incredibly expressive on the nose, it’s the texture that’s particularly good here. Long, savoury, and very moreish, this is excellent.

The first vintage of this, completing the Grenache trilogy. It’s from the Voor Paardeberg, and it’s a lovely expression of a grape that can too often be flabby and uninteresting. This is anything but. Lime zest and pear flesh, and just a hint of fresh vanilla pod, this is complex, savoury, and delicious.

This is a simply stunning Chenin Blanc from the charming Ginny Povall. From Skurfberg fruit it's textured, with crunchy apples, white flowers, butterscotch and sea spray. Long, precise and ageworthy, it's a simply remarkable Chenin Blanc: a Grand Cru of South Africa.

The Gladysdale sub-region sits at the south of the Yarra Valley and is unique in receiving more of the warm air that travels down the valley compared with other Yarra sub-regions. There's lots of character and complexity here as a result, with earthy notes and dry spice adding a savoury heft around the dark cherry fruit. It remains lithe and elegant, with juicy fruit towards the finish, testament to Mac's considered, delicate style with Pinot Noir.

This is the 50th vintage of the original Margaret River Cabernet. Plush black cherry, with lifted peppermint and eucalyptus aromatics. Finishes with suggestions of sea salt and fine powdery tannins.

From a vineyard on the shoulder of the hill, that gets the morning light, this is a really lovely Dolcetto: one of the best we’ve tried. There’s amazing freshness here, and then a finish that lasts beautifully, too. Just just a joy.

A single vineyard Freisa, and a step up, this is a brilliant wine from this tiny estate. Wild hedgerow and flowers soar from the glass, with incredible structure and length. Mineral, precise, and very long, this is a delight. And it ages brilliantly: older bottles we tried blew us away.

The Grüner from Kögl comes from vines over 60 years old. The style of the wine is always chiselled with real focus and density showing ripe stone fruits, white grapefruit pith and a saline finish.

The aromatics on this wonderful dry Riesling are so precisely delineated. Fresh cut honeysuckle, white flowers and wild herbs mix with peach skin, tangerine peel, and pink grapefruit. Crystalline and delicate yet with a quiet intensity that follows through with a spark of salinity on the finish.

Pure and focused from the outset, this is a finely tuned Kabinett with invigorating balance between sweetness and freshness. Fresh redcurrants, red apple, and apricot fruit make this a succulent and juicy style with a wave of slaty minerality on the finish.

Made up almost entirely of declassified GGs, this year particularly from early-picked Pettenthal fruit, there is a complex mix of floral and yellow peach fruit, spice, soft lemony acidity and dark stony flavours. The finish is long, fresh and silky with real poise and energy.

Made mostly from grapes in the Herrenberg GG in Oppenheim. The loess soils are a little warmer, lending more pronounced floral flavours. Orchard fruit, apricot and white peach, with citrus blossom this is very vibrant on the palate with a cool stony note on the ripe finish.

The quartzite and red stones give more roundness and texture. The 2023 is a ripe and succulent style of Riesling with a yellow fruit emphasis. The palate displays a wonderful energy with mineral inflections and a refreshing salinity on the finish.

From 30-to-40-year-old vines in Felseneck. Clean, precise and with a little white grapefruit pith, this is a little more angular than its volcanic brother, with cool, minty citrus-driven flavours and a dash of spice on the long slaty finish.

This is a mix of Tim Fröhlich’s various terroirs to create a wonderfully bright, succulent Riesling. Chiselled and saline in form, this offers a great deal of enjoyment at first sip.

A real charmer, this has a focus on ripe orchard fruit on the palate. A little spiced pear, white grapefruit dance around the steak of salinity running through the wine.

Stéphane Riffault, one of Sancerre's most talented winemakers with demand to match, makes rosé in only tiny amounts. We are thrilled to have a small parcel of the delicious 2022. Sancerre rosé is made from 100% Pinot Noir and this iteration is vinous and long, with a mineral backbone, as if chiselled from Sancerre's limestone soils, and a juiciness from the sunny conditions of the year. Unlike Stéphane's whites which demand a little ageing, this is ready to drink already, though do not underestimate its ability to age.

Les Créots is found in the relatively unknown village of Thauvenay at the south-eastern limit of the appellation. Its quartz-flecked clay soils are fertile ground for quality-minded producers seeking vineyard expression. For an introduction to the domaine’s whites, you couldn’t do much better than this. It is floral and delicate on the nose. The palate has an agile freshness. This is a wonderfully restrained style of Sancerre Blanc, with zesty freshness.

This was yet again our top pick from the domaine’s four single vineyard wines. It comes from old vines planted on sandy gravel soils. It is always the first site to be picked, and in 2020 it captures the vibrant acidity and freshness of the vintage. The nose has subtle melon and green apple fruit, whilst the palate has beautiful energy, with crisp weight. A very complete and composed example of Quincy.

These vines are grown on sandstone soils, and are picked around 10 days after La Jalousie, when the skins are a little thicker and beginning to turn golden brown. The wine is aged for 18 months in demi-muids, and the result is a wine that so perfectly captures the essence of Chenin Blanc. This is all crisp russet apple with just a hint of nutty complexity emerging. The palate is, whilst arresting in its freshness, also so silky in texture - a quality Evelyne says is typical of Les Caillardières. This is the dark horse of the Closel cellar: one to drink before the Clos du Papillon perhaps, but capably of giving as much enjoyment from its complex layer.

The domaine might have 15 hectares in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but a wine you shouldn’t miss is this cuvée, from lesser-known Châteauneuf-de-Gadagne just to the south. The name is a nod to their ability to throw off the constraints of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape regulations in this peppery and fragrant wine. It is mainly Grenache with some Mourvèdre, Carignan and Syrah thrown in for good measure.

The Lafarges always pick their Aligoté a couple of weeks after the main harvest, and rely on the small clutch of family members rather than the main harvest team, to bring the fruit in. The vines are approaching 90 years of age, and yield only tiny volumes of beautiful, characterful fruit, producing a wine with superb phenolic complexity. The small golden-skinned berries of the ‘raisins dorés’ clone produce a richness and incredible energy.

Unlike some Côteaux Bourguignons which are a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir, this is 100% Gamay, from a parcel of very old vines the Grivots inherited via the Jayers, one of whom was married to Etienne’s father. Etienne says that Henri Jayer made him promise to never, ever rip out these vines. He has kept his word, and it is now one of the wines that Etienne is most animated about in their whole cellar.

Unlike some Côteaux Bourguignons which are a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir, this is 100% Gamay, from a parcel of very old vines the Grivots inherited via the Jayers, one of whom was married to Etienne’s father. When tasting, Etienne mentioned that Henri Jayer made him promise to never, ever rip out these vines. He has since kept his word, and it is now one of the wines that Etienne is most animated about in their whole cellar. It’s a more slender wine than the 2019, and is focused and vibrant with lively red fruits.

Tasted April 2023. 87% Semillon, 13% Sauvignon Blanc. The highest proportion of Semillon ever used in the blend. Full of fragrant, white peach aromas, lilac and white flowers on the. There's lots of concentration on the palate from the Semillon, with lemon peel giving a welcome bite on the palate, alongside more aromatic flavours. Well-balanced and fresh.

Tasted April 2022. Fresh black and red berries are framed by elegant tannins and there's a classic, savoury note on the palate. The acidity is fresh and clean. Tightly wound now, this will age beautifully.