Some wines from a weekend away

burgundy loire new zealand south africa

Some wines from a weekend away

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Just been away for a weekend with family, staying in a lovely house in Puddletown, Dorset. It wasn’t a wine geeky sort of weekend, so I brought along some good solid wines that delivered a lot of pleasure, without being at all wine nerdy.
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Marks & Spencer Macon-Villages Uchizy 2013 Burgundy, France
From Raphael Sallet, 13% alcohol. This is a really impressive Macon, with lovely tangerine, lemon and grapefruit. Lovely texture here with purity and focus, and a really delicious almost saline mineral quality. 90/100 (£10.99 Marks & Spencer)
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Domaine Fillatreau Chateau Fouquet Saumur 2012 Loire, France
This comes from a domaine with 6.5 hectares of organic vineyards and another 4 ha in conversion, and in 2012 because of the short harvest everything went into this wine. 12.5% alcohol. It’s really fresh and varietally (Cabernet Franc) true, with sappy raspberry and cherry fruit, together with some nice mineral, gravelly characters. It’s fresh and quite grippy, and rather tasty. There’s no doubting where this wine is from. 89/100 (£12.50 Yapp)

Domaine de Valmoissine Pinot Noir 2012 IGP Var, France
Louis Latour’s venture in the South of France has yielding this fairly convincing Pinot. It has cherries, plums, spice and some grip. It’s ripe with a savoury, spicy edge, and has a delicious plummy personality. 89/100 (£10.99 Majestic)

Stratum Pinot Noir 2012 Waipara, New Zealand
Made by Sherwood Estate for Virgin Wines. Silky and fresh with lovely cherries and plums. Juicy but supple with sweet fruit and a hint of warmth. So drinkable and delicious with some fine spicy notes. 90/100 (£12.99 Virgin Wines)
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Bouchard Finlayson Missionvale Chardonnay 2011 Walker Bay, South Africa
13.5% alcohol. Full yellow colour. Rich notes of butterscotch, popcorn and toast. The palate is bold and tangy with lemons and grapefruit notes, as well as some orange peel. Rich, developed and intense with bold flavour. 91/100
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Aubert Vouvray Sec 2012 Loire, France
12.5% alcohol. Taut and really stony with bright green apple and citrus fruit. Very pure and linear with keen acidity and real finesse. The dominant theme here is the distinctive stony quality this wine possesses. 90/100 (£12.25 Yapp)

7 Comments on Some wines from a weekend awayTagged , , ,
wine journalist and flavour obsessive

7 thoughts on “Some wines from a weekend away

  1. Nice to see a clutch of affordable wines, Jamie. I take it these are the sort of wines you’d shell out for out of your own pocket, so will definitely try and track some of them down. Have tried Louis Latour’s Domaine de Valmoissine a few times before and have always found it really delicious. I can’t think of another pinot noir for around £10 that offers so much straight-forward pleasure and value while being in a fairly authentic and elegant burgundy style. It’s certainly far better quality and value than most of Latour’s actual Bourgogne Rouge production which can be pretty terrible even at premier cru level.

  2. Brave stuff “buying blind” from Saumur and Vouvray in 2012. While the vintage was super for earlier-picked varieties namely Melon and Sauvignon, the later-picked Cabernets and Chenins really struggled. It was particularly difficult in Vouvray. You did well to chance upon what reads like a drinkable wine.

  3. Chris, you’d hope a good merchant like Yapp would’ve done the sorting before offering wouldn’t you, so not so brave?!

  4. Damien, I see quite a few good merchants carrying 2012s from Anjou/Saumur/Touraine where I think quality has taken a hit, so I’m not convinced of your argument, especially as when it comes to the Loire many merchants just tend to stick with a handful of domaines just bringing in the latest vintage.

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