Organic Wine

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.

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.

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.

The Pieropan family were the first to bottle and release a single vineyard wine in the region, this was the Calvarino vineyard that is planted to 60 year old vines on very steep slopes. The basalt soils help to produce a wine that has great finesse and a saline core. Expect florals, red apple, ginger and honey notes as well as a zesty acidity with herbal hints and an attractive phenolic grip.

This is such a juicy, inviting delight. It has wonderfully primary floral notes, and Cabernet Franc’s structured freshness. Zappy and delicious, and brilliant if served a little chilled.

Comtesse Madeleine: a brilliant white from Lirac, based on Marsanne, grown on limestone, and Clairette, whose vines are an impressive 140-150 year old. It is salty and mineral, with juicy stone fruit, some chalky notes and a refreshing and charming finsh.

Casimir is a blend of fruit from the younger vines of the domaine grown across a few parcels. Like the Chaillot it is made with 100% whole bunch fruit, and aged in old oak barrels, using minimal sulphur dioxide additions. There is plenty to get excited about here, particularly if you like the wilder side of Cornas, as this cuvée plays with volatility in a beautiful way.

This is the pinnacle of the Balthazar cellar - a Cornas that defines Franck’s style for making complex and ethereal Cornas from old vine fruit. The 2021 shows impressive tension, with a superbly long, silky finish. This is Cornas at its very best.

This village wine is 100% destemmed and has a sapid, redcurrant, spiced pomegranate character, with long, lightly structured tannins holding it together. This is a great entry point for one of Pommard’s most promising new voices.

A single vineyard Sangiovese, from the area of Rufina, the 2019 Vigneto Bucerchiale is intense and pure with incredible concentration and freshness. Old vines dating back to 1968 allow the wine to have a concentration and complexity that's rarely seen in the region. This is a remarkable wine that stands up to many of the top wines of Tuscany’s greatest estates.

Expect juicy red and black bramble fruit combined with pronounced red plum notes and sweet spice notes. The tannins are fine grained and provide a great backbone to this complex and powerful wine. The wine needs decanting in youth to unleash the wine's true finesse.

A wine with an amazing story, where the proceeds go to helping the workers on Johan Reyneke's farm, this Bordeaux blend is classically styled, with just enough South African energy. It's a total bargain: this with a barbecue (or a Braai!) will be heaven.

This impressive white comes from 50-year-old+ Marsanne vines, is whole-bunch pressed and is fermented half in 600l oak foudres, half in vats. The vineyards are south facing, and are always the first to be harvested. This is full-bodied, concentrated, powerful and intense on the palate with notes of fresh pear, honey and hazelnuts. Yet a lean, freshness prevails. Incredibly impressive.

Ermitage De l'Orée comes from 60-70 year-old Marsanne vines from lieu-dit “Les Murets” at the top of the hill. Perfumed with white flowers, stone fruit and quince, the palate is wonderfully textured, with zippy acidity and a chalky, mineral finish. Expertly-judged.

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.

50-year-old Syrah vines grow in the high terraces of shingle and clay on the Hermitage hillside. This is rounded, with a voluminous texture and superb notes of dark fruits, black cherry, smoked meat, leather and a hint of dried rose petal. There is impressive complexity, with layers that build and build.

Coming from a 65 year old parcel, on the all-granite soils of lieu-dit Les Bessards, Le Pavillon displays cassis, blackberry and cracked black pepper notes. On the palate, the tannins are fine and swept along with fresh acidity, underpinned with a lovely, smokiness. This is a captivating Hermitage.