Nov 3: A Tasting with Dandelion & Sophie Evans

 

Five winemakers pouring for the trade on November 3rd!

We're pleased to collaborate again with our good friends Otros Vinos and Roland Wines as we host a tasting for the trade at the lovely new Oranj Wine site on Dray Walk, Shoreditch. Each of us will be joined by a winemaker or two, with five in total pouring their wines on the day, alongside new arrivals from each of our portfolios.

For our part, we're very lucky to be joined by both Christian from Domaine Dandelion and Sophie Evans , Otros Vinos will be joined by Bodega La Senda and Roland by Piri Natural and Andi Mann - it's a rare opportunity to taste with a handful of the most accomplished growers working today just before the silly season kicks in, and we'd encourage you not to miss it.

If you work in the trade, please drop us an email to RSVP with your preferred time slot between 10am - 4pm and your group size. We can't wait to see you there.

 

Nov 6: Domaine Dandelion at The Clarence Tavern

 

We're excited to announce that on Thursday November 6, we'll have the privilege of hosting Christian Knott of Domaine Dandelion (Beaune, Burgundy) in London, as the team at the beautiful Clarence Tavern in N16 will be celebrating their wines alongside the dishes of their region for one night only. This will be a rare opportunity to have access to a deep list of Dandelion's astonishing wines from across the last few years.

To join, you can simply book your table from 6pm on 06.11.25 via The Clarence's website now.

 

Moonage Daydream: Jean Delobre's Sept Lunes

 

Very pleased to release these from Jean Delobre's La Ferme Des Sept Lunes in St Joseph. Beautiful work that heralds the approaching colder months, these are the kind of wines we love to watch develop over a long lunch, complexity in spades without sacrificing drinkability and freshness.

Winding up 350m from the valley floor, perched on the hillside, one would find Jean Delobre and his 10-hectare farm in Bogy. The latest of three generations here, he took over from his parents in 1984, began organic conversion in '96, and converted to biodynamics in 2001- the year he decided to leave the local co-op and focus on vinifying his own fruit. Parcels are mostly on steep slopes over granite, with a little sandy clay topsoil.

Jean was joined in 2017 by his good friend Jaques Maurice, also looking to leave the local co-op to have more input over his own fruit. A companion to help in the vines and the cave has really energised Jean, and the wines found even more focus in the last decade.

These are among our favourite expressions of Syrah, with good energy, delicate tannins and real depth, and the latest white from Jean continues the trick of gaining real tension and minerality from varieties not renowned for either.

Jean is masterful in his balance, but credits much of it to his fruit, and retaining the energy in the parcels, which hum with life.

Now Available:


2024 - VDF Viognier Roussane
50/50 blend from loess soils. Pressed directly, fermented and aged in tank. Mineral and flinty, with a bright crunch of apple, lovely bit of stone-fruit weight and honeysuckle lift.

2022 - Lune Rousse (Roussanne)
The Roussane is from a younger parcel of vines on the plateau beside Jean's house, vinified in tank and aged for a year in concrete egg and a larger old barrel, with no additions. Absolutely pristine, has aged beautifully.

2023 - VDF Syrah
100% Syrah from granitic soils, a mix of whole bunch and destemmed fruit, and raised in tank, with no sulphites added. A wonderfully pure and aromatic expression: black fruit, olive core, a nice bit of weight up front and soft, supple tannin.

2023 - Premier Quartier (Syrah)
From parcels on an east-facing slope at 330m, over deep granitic gravel. Plantings from the early 1980's and massal selection vines from 2006-2008. 12 months ageing in big old Bordeaux barrels. Vivid and lifted, bright fruit struck with a great saline olive balance and garrigue herbal edge.

2022 - Pleine Lune (Syrah)
Pleine Lune is a south-facing slope, among the warmest of the farm's parcels of Syrah. Aged for 12 months in large 600l barrels. No added sulphur. Softer and supple. Plump, juicy fruit, bags of blackcurrant and blackberry, hedgerow lift.

2021 - Chemin Faisant (Syrah)
The oldest vines, planted in 1974 from massal selection, close to the Premier Quartier parcel, but on much shallower soils, over almost pure granite. 12 months in demi-muid, no additions. This is the fullest of the tranche we've received, with deep cassis fruit and spice, beautifully integrated acidity.

 

FOR ALL WHOLESALE ENQUIRIES: HELLO@WINESUTB.COM

Photographs of Jean & the vineyards by Bryan McComb

The Autumnal Chinon of Clos Kixhaya

 

Perfect Autumnal arrivals from Béa & Etienne of Clos Kixhaya.

Committed to working simply with what they have, Béa & Etienne have proved very resourceful in capturing a dazzling array of expressions from their single variety: four hectares of old Cab Franc vines on sandy gravel over clay and limestone beside the river in Chinon. Working organically with some biodynamic treatments, in recent years, Béa has also stopped working the soil, and has now developed a whole library of local plant infusions to treat the vines.

Each cuvée's final style is dictated by the picking date: early for the Pet Nat and Blanc De Noir, in the middle for Grappes Me and Les Grappes, and the oldest vines picked last for wines like Le Clos and Amphores. Work in the cellar is careful and considered, working with concrete, old barrels and amphora for ageing, with no additions added at any stage.

The new wines arrive from across a handful of vintages.

A really balanced climate in 2023 has produced an alive, juicy Pet Nat, a Blanc De Noirs with beautiful tension and layers of complexity, and a very gluggable Grappes Me. The wines are showing great depth of fruit. 2021 was a much cooler, wet vintage, so the reds have tremendous freshness and aromatics, with structure that has integrated really beautifully as they have aged. Alongside the new arrivals, we have also released our remaining bottles of their biggest release from their debut vintage - Les Amphores 2020 - macerated in amphora for 9 months and aged in the same vessels for the same time, it has developed into an astonishing wine when given the time to open.

The wines are detailed in full below:

2023 - Pet by Nat - Cab Franc

Very happy to have their Pet Nat back - these are second grapes to be selected, picked a week after their Blanc de Noir, as the grapes just reach maturity. Hand harvested, with fruit basket-pressed over 4 hours. Ferments in stainless steel until residual sugar drops to 20g, bottled and allowed to continue fermentation slowly. Rests on the lees until disgorging, no additions. Bright, juicy and long. Pet Nat Deluxe.

2023 - Blanc de Noirs - Cab Franc

We've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this one since our first taste of Bea's 2020 Blanc De Noir nearly five years ago. Intervening vintages have proved difficult to replicate the lightning bolt of the 2020, so we see the 2023 released next whilst the '22 continues to rest. Beautiful tension, layered and complex, its a wine we adore. Picked earliest, basket pressed over 4 hours. Fermented and aged for 6 months in old oak barrel. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, with no additions.

2023 - GrappesMe - Cab Franc

A giddy-fruited, instantly crushable whole-bunch Cab Franc winner.Hand harvested from 25-30 year old vines. A 5 day maceration of whole bunches in concrete, spontaneous fermentation. Basket pressed back to concrete for 8 months. No additions.

2021 - Les Grappes - Cab Franc

Béa likes to call Les Grappes 'the thermometer of the vintage' deciding in 2021 - and continuing since - to follow the same process each year so the vintage variation shines through. Lots of rain in 21, the wine is nervy and energetic, heady with crushed violets, lovely tension. Whole-bunch maceration in tank for 10 days, no pigeage, just wetting the cap with juice occasionally. Free-run juice emptied to tank every two days, hoping to keep extraction of the green stems as low as possible. Basket-pressed slowly over 24 hours, and aged in concrete for 7 months before bottling with no additions.

20/21 - Transcendance - Cab Franc

A wine dedicated to - and with a label illustrated by - Béa's brother, a trans man who works to support the transgender community. In Béa's words: "We're all made from the same flesh, and I wanted to illustrate this by making a wine bringing together two different methods: at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if it's de-stemmed and in wood or whole bunch in steel: it's all wine!" A portion of the proceeds from the wine will go to a charity supporting the transgender community. 2020 fruit is from old vines macerated for one month, aged 18 months in barrel, 2021 fruit is younger vines, a two-week whole bunch maceration and aged in tank 6 months before the two were assembled.

2021 - Le Clos - Cab Franc

From their first vintage and their oldest vines- up to 90 years old - Le Clos is a deep & vibrant expression of Cab Franc, dark fruited with a saline, mineral core. Picked and de-stemmed by hand, macerated for 40 days with zero extraction in stainless steel, with a little juice poured over to keep the cap wet. Basket pressed incredibly gently over 24 hours to old barrels, aged for a year before bottling.

2020 - Les Amphores - Cab Franc

From a portion of their oldest vines, up to 90 years old. Picked and de-stemmed by hand, macerated for 9 months in tank, with no extraction. Basket pressed over 24 hours to three Amphora for a further 9 months. Assembled and bottled with no additions. It's deep and intriguing, wiring itself around a mineral core, it has been developing beautifully over the years; we still can't quite believe how accomplished this debut vintage was - one ready for this winter's crowded tables.

AVAILABLE NOW:

 

Oct 13: Antidote

 

In two weeks we're very pleased to be heading to Antidote to pour wines for the trade alongside Otros Vinos and Sén.

We've had a very exciting selection of new arrivals land recently that we can't wait to show (with even more on the way) so we'll be pouring from a broad selection.

Join us from 10am to 4pm on Monday October 13, please drop us an email to RSVP with your group size and preferred time slot.

 

One From The Harz - Konni & Evi

 

We’re incredibly pleased to share a new arrival from Konni & Evi- rare gems from Saale-Unstrut, where Konrad Buddrus and Evi Wehner produce some of the most singular, ageworthy wines we are lucky enough to work with.

What marks a new arrival from the guys so exciting is not just the wines themselves, but the reminder they give us: these wines age beautifully, and whilst drinking well now, their development with time is a profound reward for patience. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been revisiting back-vintages and they are in an astonishing place- precise, layered, alive, and showing just how much detail and longevity is built into Konni & Evi’s way of working.

Over the past decade, Konrad and Evi have painstakingly collected tiny parcels of vines, many planted in the 1930s, while also replanting abandoned grand cru sites with carefully chosen old Silvaner selections. They now farm around 4 hectares across nearly 20 different parcels, spread over 35 kilometres. Everything is high-density planting (9,000–11,000 vines per hectare), often on brutally steep limestone slopes where work is done entirely by hand. Farming has been Demeter-certified since 2016.

In the cool cellar, all grapes are macerated for a few days before being slowly but firmly basket pressed for up to 30 hours (Konni likes to extract as much phenolic detail as possible, vital for complexity in this cold climate), then fermented and raised in oak barrels made by a local cooper from nearby Harz forest wood. Nearly all whites spend time under flor, and élevage is always long- at least a year, often more. Nothing is added beyond a microdose of sulphur at bottling (always declared on the back label). The resulting wines have great clarity and precision, carrying the structure required to age and evolve in bottle.

It’s this combination- steep limestone, low yields, time, and restraint- that explains why the 2019s and 2020s we still have are now drinking so well, and why these new arrivals will reward patience just as much as they deliver energy right now.

Precise and alive, here’s what we now have available, in Konni’s words:

AVAILABLE NOW

2021 – Silvaner Ziegental – Silvaner
Ziegental is one of our best vineyards. The vines in this plot were planted in 1933 on pure rocky limestone. Elevage was for 2 years in barrels and for one year under Flor. South-east facing and really dry.

2023 – Silvaner Thetys – Silvaner
From five different grand cru sites: Hahnenberge, Osterberge, Ziegental, Schweigenberge, Ehrauberge. All vines 60–100 years old. A perfect snapshot of the region’s terroir.

2023 – Silvaner Trias – Silvaner
From young vines planted in recent years on old grand cru sites, with selections taken from our oldest pre-clone Silvaner. A touch of each cru also goes into this wine. Pure limestone, gypsum, and sandstone.

2022 – SOS Rosé – Portugieser, Pinot Noir
From old Portugieser vines (50–90 years) in Steigra and Freyburg, with a small addition of Pinot Noir. Macerated overnight, pressed directly to oak barrels, and aged one year.

A Note on Back-Vintages

If the new arrivals show what’s possible, it’s the older bottles that prove it in spades. We still have limited quantities from 2019–2021- Grand Cru Silvaners, Müller-Thurgau, Blauer Silvaner, Grauburgunder, Weißburgunder- and they are drinking with a thrilling precision and depth right now. A rare chance to see just how beautifully these wines age.

 

Fast Track - UK Harvest 2025

 

Last week due to an unprecedented growing season in the UK, we had to postpone an event in Edinburgh that was intended to be a little pre-harvest celebration of UK winemaking. As the date approached, most of the confirmed growers dropped out one-by-one as fruit raced to maturity at a breakneck speed across the country.

A process that should usually unfold over weeks has been compressed into days, leaving growers making decisions on the fly, shifting plans and calling for all hands on deck.

We had a chat with Sophie Evans and Jules Philips (Ham Street) who farm within a few miles of one another in Kent to get their perspective on what's happened this year.

At Ham Street, Jules described fruit that’s “five weeks ahead of where it was last year, and about three weeks ahead of the last hot summer we had, 2022.” In the space of eleven days they saw sugar jump three brix (usually a three-week process for them). Acids are dropping, and the canopy has surged with energy. “It’s unprecedented for English wine,” he said. “We’ve had the sunniest year ever in the UK… not blistering heat, but this consistent average temperature from April through July, plus just enough rain at the right time. Everything came much earlier in terms of veraison, so the ripening was happening through a period of longer, hotter days, and you get this exponential ripening curve.”

That rapid pace, however, brings its own pressures. Sophie remarked that even in the last few wet years, September has been fairly dry, but this year we seem to have plummeted straight into Autumn on September 1st. Storms and heavy rainfall have already caused some burst berries, and Jules worries about botrytis setting in before they can get everything safely into the cellar. “It’s so early, and super stressful,” he admitted, “but the quality is in an amazing place currently, if we can get it in. We just need the pickers, as everyone we had organised was for further along in the season."

Sophie has been feeling the same acceleration. “I measured the Bacchus three times the other day and just couldn’t believe the readings.” Usually, veraison crawls along for six weeks in England, but this year it wrapped in four. What would be right on schedule in Europe, has been a huge surprise here. “I already found it really difficult to choose picking dates this year. It took me two weeks to decide, get things locked in and then within two days it all changed so drastically.”

The pressure of logistics - getting people to the site, making sure there's food for everyone - weighs heavy. There's a lot to do at short notice. "The thing is, what we've come to expect of the UK ripening window is this low & slow process, as we don't usually have that same accumulation of warmth they have in Europe. But this year we've had that, and with so much vigour - honestly, things went from 0-100 in the space of two weeks - I've never seen it here, or anywhere else I've worked in my life."

For Sophie, Bacchus will be picked this Thursday (terrible storms stopped her from starting on 15th September) Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir soon after, with Chardonnay following in October- even those plans feel fragile against the weather’s turns.

The good news is that after a couple of tricky vintages in her first site, Sophie's new additional parcel (planted to Bacchus, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on chalky, free-draining soils, surrounded by forest) is showing its strength this year, offering fruit with a precision that contrasts with the heavier soils of her first site. “I love the new site, it's actually shown me how difficult the original site is, it can be so mad trying to keep that under control."

"Ultimately, fruit is looking good and healthy, things are kind of perfect right now," she reflected, "and honestly, more years like this would be better- but it's the lack of consistency that's the issue. We can't plan for this. It's a struggle to really plan at all."

But in a season where the acceleration of everything has really put the pressure on, both Jules and Sophie are reminded that farming the way they do is as much about trust as control. As Sophie put it, “at the end of the day, what will be will be- that’s what’s nice about this way of working. You can’t hold yourself to too many expectations.”

Both Sophie and Ham Street are in urgent need of pickers in the next few days (and weeks) if you're keen and able to help, please drop us an email and we can put you in touch.

HELLO@WINESUTB.COM

 

Sep 14: Montrose

 

We're very pleased to be heading to Edinburgh in just a couple of weeks for a celebration of UK winemaking at the beautiful Montrose.

Alongside a handful of our producers, the tasting showcases growers recognised for their 'progression, lightness of touch, and innovation.'

Organised into several sessions, the tasting will be open for the trade from 10am-12pm, before opening its doors for public sessions at 12-2pm and 2-4pm.

Afterwards, the wine bar will be open with a compact selection of dishes from the kitchen and a focused list of UK wines by the glass.

Tickets are available now via the Montrose website.

 

Introducing Peltier Ravineau - Cheverny

 

PELTIER RAVINEAU - Arthur Peltier & Achille Raveneau

FRANCE, LOIRE, CHEVERNY

Arthur Peltier and Achille Ravineau grew up in Cheverny and have known each other since they were teenagers. Both studied winemaking in Beaune from 2015 to 2019 between them, and cut their teeth with mentors like Philippe Pacalet and Les Foulards Rouges. Returning home they furthered their education with local legends Hervé Villemade, and Clos du Tue Boeuf before taking the leap into their own project.

Their first hectare came in 2021, working with one barrel, one tank, and one tractor. They’ve grown slowly and deliberately since, selling the fruit of their first two years farming, before bottling their first vintage in 2023. Today they work 5 hectares organically over limestone and flint soils, planted to Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Gamay, Côt, and old-vine Romorantin, with a small amount of carefully sourced négoce fruit. Certification will be received next year (2026) but everything has been organic from the start.

It's a farming-led approach here, shaped by intuition and limited equipment. “Most of the time we are in the vineyard” says Achille. "We don't have the luxury of over-complicating things, being just two of us and five hectares to look after." Focusing on historic grapes, they have also been grafting some stock of their Chardonnay with Menu Pineau (known locally as Arbois) to produce more of this expressive, disease-resistant variety.

In the cellar they vinify in fibreglass, old barrels, and a pair of truncated wooden tanks. Presses are through their vintage Vaslin press from the 1960s, and its limitations offer an education: “We need to stay at the press and taste, over three, four hours, so we learn the wines, learn what they need, and decide as we go.”

They hope to reach 10-12 hectares in time, adding more vines, a little more Romorantin and Menu Pineau, slowly expanding the cellar. But at its heart, this is a local project, Cheverny made by people who grew up here and were inspired by its winemaking community. "Sure, it would be nice to be in the Jura, or the Savoie, but we didn’t have the option to make wine somewhere else,” says Achille. “We’re lucky to be able to work where we come from.”

AVAILABLE NOW

WHITE

NV - WD-41 - Sauvignon Blanc

A negoce project to supplement their low yields in 2022 topped up with wines from 2023. Direct pressed Sauvignon Blanc grown over clay limestone. Aged in fibreglass.

2023 - La Marnière - Sauvignon Blanc, Menu Pineau

Fruit hand-harvested with their teams from two different local domaines: de Veilloux in Fougères (10km from their home) and Domaine de Cambalu in Francueil (25km from their home). Pressed gently over 3-4 hours. Aged in fibreglass 6 months on the lees. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

2023 - Taille Ronde - Sauvignon Blanc

From their own fruit, Sauvignon Blanc from their ripest parcel of the variety, on clay and flint soil, harvested by hand, pressed over 3-4 hours. Aged for 8 months in a combination of fibreglass (80%) and old barrels (20%) Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

RED

2024 - Balle dans le Pied - Gamay, Cot, Cabernet Franc

Fruit hand-harvested with their teams from two different local domaines: de Veilloux in Fougères (10km from their home) and Domaine de Cambalu in Francueil (25km from their home) 12 days of whole bunch maceration for the Gamay & Cot, together. Cab Franc pressed directly and added. Aged in a large truncated oak vat for 6 months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

2024 - Le Peu - Peltier Ravineau - Valaire, Cheverny - Pinot Noir, Gamay

From their own fruit, an assemblage of the best red grapes from 2024, 60% Pinot and 40% Gamay. Hand harvested, with a 15-day whole-bunch maceration before pressing. Aged in barrels for 8 months, bottled unfined and unfiltered.

 

September 8: A Tasting at Ducksoup

 

We’re very pleased to be heading to the heart of Soho once more as we pour wines for the trade at the good ship Duck Soup.

Alongside our pals Otros Vinos & Sén, we’ll be pouring new arrivals and wines with an eye on a long, smooth slide from summer into the season lurking with warmer jackets round the corner. Won’t be mentioning the A word today.

From 10am - 4pm on Monday September 8. Drop us a message if you work in the trade and would like to taste.

HELLO@WINESUTB.COM

 

Muscadet Outliers: New Les Chants Jumeaux

 

Welcoming new wines from Chloelie & Matthieu at Les Chants Jumeaux, a trio of Melon de B that brim with life and just the right dose of wild character that make them so thrilling.

First making wine in an isolated shed with a loose-straw floor (or on occasion, a borrowed beach) Matthieu L'Hotelier's unique approach has been an inspiration since the earliest days of Under The Bonnet. Joined in the project by his partner, Chloélie Cholot-Louis in 2020, Les Chants Jumeaux continues on their journey from strength to strength.

With an approach to winemaking drawing parallels with the experimental art & music communities they're a strong part of, Chloélie & Matthieu are producing vivid, alternative expressions of the far-eastern zone of the Muscadet region.

Matt set up shop in 2012, first leasing 1.8 hectares of Chenin and tiny plantings of local red varieties outside Ancenis. Once Chloélie joined the project, the pair set their sights on a 17th-century farm they took over together in the summer of 2022, with 7 hectares of meadow outside the village of Montrelais. The farm was under vine until the 1950s, and they started re-planting in 2023 with 0.7ha of Pineau d'Aunis. The old cowshed is now their new cellar.

In Montrelais - equidistant between Ancenis and Angers - Matthieu & Chloelie are farming the last 2.5 hectares of vines of the 300ha once planted around the village. Since 2012, Matthieu has been as hands-off and low-input as is possible with viticulture, allowing nature to take its course and working with what is provided. The vines are ploughed and treated without synthetic products, using local plant concoctions instead.

Thanks to the cowshed affording them a little more cellar space, they have now started their négociant project to experiment with expressions of Melon de B that channel their vision of Muscadet's possibilities.

The three new wines are hand-harvested from two organic parcels in the hamlets of Loroux-Bottereau and La Rebourgère, over Mica-Schist, Gneiss and Granite. All the wines undergo their 12-hour 'Sailboat Press' for texture and complexity, a technique perfected over the last decade:

"For the whites, we like to press very gently in our horizontal Vaslin press from the 1980s. All the automatic systems & programs have been removed from the press, so it can only be controlled manually with an on/off switch. This gives us to total control of the detail in extraction- we taste the juices as they're pressed through the night, and this is all that guides us. We press in 20-30 minute intervals, sleeping in short bursts between like the watches organised through the night on a sailing boat."

Through the harvest, Chloelie & Matthieu alternate shifts between days in the vines and nights at the press, meaning one of them is always handling the two most important jobs: tasting and pressing, or having a keen eye on their picking.

The wines are detailed below the picture of the new arrivals, we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

These are among our favourite expressions of a region and a variety we have worked with for the longest, one that will always surprise and delight us. Chloelie and Matthieu are certainly outliers in their approach, and all the better for it, a reminder of how alive Muscadet can be.

AVAILABLE NOW

2022 - Melon B MBXXII - Melon de Bourgogne.
2022 - Melon B MBXXII Key Keg - Melon de Bourgogne.

Hand harvested from the terroir of Maisdon sur Sèvre, in the hamlet of La Rebourgère over mica schist and gneiss. 2022 was a very sunny vintage, making a richer Melon de Bourgogne. Fermentation was slow and complicated, which required great patience.

After their 12-hour 'Sailboat Press' the wine was fermented in tank. With problems due to slow fermentation and at risk of becoming volatile, they added 20mg/l of SO2 before the end of its ferment. Over a year later- with the 22 Melon still safe in tank - when racking and bottling the new vintage, they passed the 2023 Melon lees back over the 2022 to refresh the fermentation and help it finish its sugars. Bottling and keg filling was done in the spring of 2025 with no further additions.

Such a phenomenal little wine, intense and fresh, with concentrated orchard fruit, energetic salinity and serious mineral zip. ** 2023 - Granite MBGXXIII - Melon de Bourgogne.

Harvested by hand, MBGXXIII is from the Loroux-Bottereau terroir, over a granite-vein soil. 2023 was an easy vintage. 12-hour 'Sail Boat Press' aged in tank, racked in the spring and then aged on fine lees for several more months. Bottled in November 2024 - unfined & unfiltered with no additions.

Big salty tropical fruit, pineapple, grapefruit, ripe pear, and a hint of honey. Wild and alive, wonderful natural Muscadet.

2023 - Vielle Vigne VVMBXXIII - Melon de Bourgogne.

Harvested by hand, VVMBXXIII is picked from old vines- 70 to 80 years old - on the terroir of Maisdon sur Sèvre, the hamlet of La Rebourgère over mica schist and gneiss. 12-hour 'sail boat press' - the wine is aged in tank, racked in the spring and then aged on fine lees for several more months. Also bottled November 2024 unfined & unfiltered with no additions.

Soft stone fruits and pithy citrus crushed in hand, layered and complex, with a long mineral line providing beautiful tension.

 

Summer Releases from Lucie & Jules

 

We're very pleased to introduce two new wines that we're very pleased to have with us here from Lucie & Jules' 2023 vintage on the edge of the Romney Marshes. Farming biodynamically, with all movements in the cellar aligning with the lunar calendar and undertaken by gravity alone. Both of the new wines are bottled unfined, unfiltered and with no additions.

Firstly - and not to be confused with its twin (the 23 Carboy Carbonnay - the same base wine, aged in glass demijohn) CARBONNAY is a 31-day carbonic maceration of Chardonnay, aged in terracotta amphora for 10 months.. Carbonnay is juicy and bright, packed with tropical fruit, quite the magic trick to coax something so vibrant and colourful from that rainy year!

Alongside it is the thrillingly electric and nimble MEUNIER CHARDONNAY, it's a co-ferment of the two varieties (80% of the blend being Pinot Meunier) whole bunches macerating for 25 days in tank. Basket pressed to stainless steel and aged for 8 months. Landing in the special intersection of the venn-diagram between light red and rosé, it chills very happily, framing detailed fruit and opulent aromatics in the finest frame of structure.

Photos are from a great visit to Lucie & Jules at the end of July - a huge thanks to them for hosting us and so many wonderful teams from the trade. A special shout out to our St Leonards power-trio: Mish, Kacper (Bistro Albo) & chief-shucker extraordinaire Eliot (Collected Fictions) for a beautiful lunch in the vines: Maldon oysters with pickled sea herbs; tomatoes with apricot, smoked sausage, mackerel & harissa, flat iron steak, grilled courgettes.. endless summer riches. A huge privilege to have a gathering of enthusiastic and curious folk learning all about biodynamic farming and UK winemaking together.

 

Dandelion's Pinot de Zinc

 

We're glad to make available a special one-off cuvée from Domaine Dandelion.

Pinot de Zinc* 2022 is the result of Christian seizing an opportunity he was offered, to swap fruit with a friend farming biodynamically near Pouligny, a unique chance he didn't want to miss. 2022 was a warm, dry year - and even more so down from the hills of Beaune where Morgane & Christian are - so it's a little more concentrated and brooding than the '22 Dandelions. It's a 50/50 blend of this Pouligny fruit, and a 'Dessus de Lies' from the 2022 Dandelion fruit. After two years ageing separately, the two spent another 6 months ageing together before bottling with no additions, unfined & unfiltered.

A deeper wine from Dandelion, with good structure and concentration, it plays beautifully with food.

Pinot de Zinc 2022: The 'Dessus De Lies' is a barrel collecting the final 10L of clear wine saved when racking off barrels for the Hautes-Cotes Nature, aged for longer to settle out into a clearer wine but still a little cloudy. Aged for 2 years in barrel.

The Pouligny fruit had three weeks maceration as whole bunches before a manual basket pressing, aged for 2 years in barrel. The two barrels were assembled in tank for a further 6 months ageing together before bottling with no additions, unfined & unfiltered. All movements in the cellar are by gravity.

 

Introducing Emile Pasquier - Chateau Gaudrelle

 

CHATEAU GAUDRELLE - EMILE PASQUIER
FRANCE, LOIRE, VOUVRAY

Back in 2022, Emile Pasquier returned to Vouvray to take over at Château Gaudrelle, the 16-hectare domaine his father Eric had been running since 2008. Emile hadn't initially intended to move into winemaking but after a life-changing tasting in the cellar of Nicolas Renard and trying endless natural wines at his older brother's restaurant in Tours, a spark was lit. Moving to the Jura to study winemaking,his eyes were opened further to the possibilities afforded to him, and he returned home ready to express his impression of the Vouvray terroir.

The vines sit on the Vouvray plateau, around 100m above sea level, on flint and clay soils over limestone. Below them, a 50m chalk cliff drops to the banks of the Loire, where the winery and cellars are cut directly into the rock. Close to the cliff edge, topsoil is almost nonexistent for the vines; inland, it deepens to several metres of clay. The site spans 16 hectares, all hand-harvested, with careful sorting in both the vineyard and cellar. Currently in biodynamic conversion, Demeter certification is expected in 2026.

Planted mainly to Chenin Blanc, Emile is working across a range of styles to paint a full picture of Vouvray and its strengths. Some wines are fresh and snappy, bottled early from stainless steel, stone jars and concrete eggs. Others from older vines, or riper parcels, he prefers to keep long in barrel. We're seeing the first releases of some of these, but many will rest for up to 10 years. Everything is indigenous fermentation; some wines are bottled with no additions, others see a touch of sulphur at bottling only. Drawing on his time in the Jura as a stylistic reference point, Emile is nevertheless seeking a local vernacular that balances structure and drinkability.

Farming has been organic for over a decade, and increasingly shaped by biodynamic thinking. Roughly 15% of work is now also done by horse, and in Emile’s words: “everything changed” with the move to biodynamic agriculture. It hasn't been easy and in 2022 - their first year practising biodynamics, they suffered huge losses thanks to climate change. "This was hard for business, and hard for me but - everything in the winery was more intense, more acid, more fruit, so much more fun to work with. The wines were alive, and I knew it was the right decision." As the soils and vines found new life, resilience returned, and production has now steadied.

These are keen-eyed wines of both tension and generosity from a young grower working incredibly hard to capture the best of his terroir.

AVAILABLE NOW

SPARKLING

2022 - Notre Methode - Chenin Blanc Traditional method sparkling. A blend from two flint-heavy plots - one shallow, one deeper - harvested by hand. Fermented in steel, aged 9 months on light lees, then bottled in June 2023 for secondary fermentation using selected yeast. Aged for 2 years in bottle before release. 15mg/l sulphur at bottling.

For Emile, the Chenin on Flint is more aromatic and crisp compared to the wines on limestone.

2021 - Extra Brut - Chenin Blanc

Traditional method sparkling. Always hand harvested from one limestone parcel near the Vouvray cliffside, very little topsoil here, and much drier - the first 'grand-cru' site in Vouvray.

Vines aged between 60 to 15 years old, occasionally blended with a splash from flint plots to lift freshness. Fermented and aged 9 months in 15 to 25-year-old barrels on the lees, then aged 2 years in bottle. Richer lees profile than Notre Méthode.

WHITE

2023 - Turonien Unf - Chenin Blanc

Hand harvested from parcels mostly on deeper clay and flint soils, from 25–35-year-old vines with lots of energy & vigour. Pressed directly and fermented in stainless steel, bottled unfiltered in early (February) to preserve freshness.

"This is a wine all about freshness, the vines are less concentrated and produce a fruiter wine, so we aim for something easy & refreshing rather than the parcels picked for the longer-ageing wines. It's about primary fruit instead of autolysis."

2023 - Le Sec - Chenin Blanc

Hand harvested from the same 'Grand Cru' limestone plot as Extra Brut, mainly from the 60-year-old vines, with some younger vines. A site very close to the cliff, much drier, less soil here and producing more concentrated wines.

Pressed directly to barrels, fermented partly in 20% new oak and the rest old. Aged 12 months on heavy lees before bottling.

2020 - Oxy - Chenin Blanc

An experiment inspired by Vin Jaune that Emile produced back home whilst studying in the Jura. Hand-harvested from both the flint & limestone soils, Emile sourced one barrel from the cellar that was too powerful and wasn't bringing balance to the other wines, an outlier that was interesting enough to see how it would develop.

Fermented dry in barrel, then decanted off its lees. The clear wine was seeded with live yeast from a Domaine Macle Vin Jaune barrel, and aged sous voile in Burgundy barrel outdoors for three years. No sulphur added; protected by its 17% alcohol and oxidative strength.

"I was studying in the Jura, and as the final experiment you need to have in to finish your diploma, I wanted to examine what components make Vin Jaune so special - Is it the yeast? The climate, or the Savagnin itself? I see a lot of similarities between Chenin & Savagnin - obviously our climate is very different - so I was keen to take this at the start of my experiment."

"We had one barrel at home that was too strong to blend, it was knocking other wines out of balance when we tried it, so I asked if I could use it for this, it seemed perfect. I was lucky to be friendly with Domaine Macle- who have been producing Vin Jaune for 300 years - and they gave me some live yeast using sediment from one of their Vin Jaune barrels."

I added this to my wine and left it outside for three years, where the temperature and humidity would vary as much as possible. This is the idea in the Jura, and it's these strong fluctuations in humidity and temperature that contribute to the character. The more variation you have, the more oxidation impacts the wine. The colder it gets, the more oxygen the wine breathes. The idea was to make something really strong, really powerful. We learnt so much from it. Now I aim for more balance, but that wine was something I really wanted to do."