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June 2007

Previous months' recommendations:  March 2006 | April 2006 | May 2006 | June/July 2006 |August 2006 | September/October 2006 | November 2006| December 2006 | Jan/Feb 2007 | March 2007 

Frederic Mabileau Les Rouilleres 2005 St Nicolas de Bourgueil, Loire, France
This Cabernet Franc is deep coloured and has a lovely fresh, gravelly nose of dark fruits. It has that distinctive rain on dry pavement sort of 'rocky' aroma I often get in fresh Cabernet Franc, which gives a nice savouriness. On the palate it's brightly fruited and quite grippy, with earthy, spicy tannins and a pleasing herbal edge to the fruit. The dominant theme is bright summer pudding fruits, and it is lovely. Very good+ 89/100 (£6.99 Waitrose)

Domaine Aux Moines Savennieres Roche Aux Moines 1994 Loire, France
A serious dry Loire Chenin Blanc that's deep gold colour it has a wonderful nose of tangerine, lemon, minerals and a faint hint of spice. The palate is tangy, deep and dry with good acidity, some apricot and a lovely cheesy, herby sort of Chenin complexity, together with citrussy freshness. It's dry, savoury and intense: quite a challenging cerebral sort of wine. A bit like a dry Sauternes in flavour profile. Very good/excellent 93/100 (Les Caves de Pyrene c.£10)

Champagne Le Mesnil 2000 Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, Champagne, France
This is stunning stuff: brilliantly expressive. Bright, fresh nose with a bit of toastiness and lemony fruit. Very fine. The palate is expressive, pure, crisp and bright. I like this a lot because it is so fresh, refined and complex. 93/100 (£26.95 BBR, £20 Waitrose) 

Fonseca Terra Prima Organic Reserve Port NV
Organic Port is a bit of a rarity, and I quite like this one. It's very deep coloured, and comes across as vivid and spicy with dense earthy fruit. Sweet, vivid and nicely structured. 87/100 (£10.99 Sainsbury) 

Cave Tain l'Hermitage Crozes Hermitage 2005 Northern Rhône, France
Sweet pure red fruits nose with a bit of pepper. There's nice savoury, peppery, meaty definition to the palate. Lovely expression of pure Syrah here: a lovely wine. 89/100 (£6.99 Sainsbury) 

Château du Parc 2005 Coteaux du Languedoc, France
This is an organic red from the south of France made from Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre. It's a light-ish sort of red with a lovely vivid peppery nose that's very fresh. The palate has loads of cherryish fruit with a dry, spicy, grippy sort of character. It's the sort of red that would work well with lots of different foods, and on a warm day it would even benefit from a bit of chilling. Honest stuff. 86/100 (£4.99 Marks & Spencer)

Blind River Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Marlborough, New Zealand
From low yielding vines in the Awatare Valley, with 10% going through barrel fermentation. Lovely complex fruity nose with good balance between the fresh lemony/grassy characters and the richer tropical/melon notes. Overall, though, this is at the richer, riper end of the Marlborough Sauvignon spectrum. The palate is full and concentrated with some melon and peach richness and good minerally acidity. There's lots happening here. 91/100 (£9.99 Oddbins) 

Palataia Pinot Grigio 2006 Pfalz, Germany
Fresh, light spicy nose with sweet, honeyed fruit. The palate is dry and fresh with high acid and nice zingy fruit. I like the combination of grapey, honeyed richness plus crisp acid. A nice, personality-filled wine that's very refreshing. 87/100 (£6.99 Marks & Spencer) 

My rating system explained. Use www.wine-searcher.com to locate a stockist in your area and my directory of UK wine merchants for details of those listed here. See also: the wineanorak's shopping list - recommended wines from each of the main UK retail outlets. These recommendations are truly independent: I don't accept payment or other favours for inclusions, nor do I sell wine.

E-mail me with your recommendations or suggestions at jamie@wineanorak.co.uk