Calvados, cider, Pinot Gris, W...

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

This entry-level dry pinot gris has a wonderful flinty freshness and a very appealing lightness of touch on the medium-bodied palate. Very salty and lemony bone-dry finish. Just 12.2% alcohol. From vines of varying ages, the youngest planted in 1992. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink now. STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

Pinot Gris 25%, Sauvignon Blanc 25%, Vermentino 25%, Verdelho 25%. All fruit sourced from organic vineyards in Lodi and San Benito (Verdelho). Each variety is fermented separately with natural yeasts in a mix of stainless steel and neutral barrels before blending. Matured for 5 months in neutral oak.

Known more as a cutting-edge cider maker, Eric Bordelet was a top sommelier at Arpege in Paris, before returning home to Normandy in 1992 to take over the family business. He biodynamically grows more than 20 apple varieties and 15 pear varieties. JASON WILSON, Vinous

Eric Bordelet approaches Cider-making with the same intensity as a passionate oenologist brings to winemaking. Bordelet worked as sommelier in the leading 3 star Parisian restaurant, ‘Arpege’ where he became deeply familiar with the top winemakers and wineries of France. In 1992 he took over the tiny patch of family farmed orchards in Charchigné, in the heart of Normandy’s premium Cider producing area. Since then he has set about rescuing the ancient ‘heirloom’ varieties of pears and apples that produce tiny quantities and amazing flavour.

Produced from pear trees estimated to be about 300 years old. Poiré Granit has 25-80 grams of sugar per liter, yet it doesn't taste particularly sweet.  This is due to the tannin and acidity, which Bordelet says is twice as high as the apple! Stunning as aperitif or with cheese or desserts. With just 4% alc/vol this can be enjoyed any time. Cider simply doesn't get better than this !!

Richly complex, this is not a simple sipping Pinot Gris. The aromatics are floral and fruit-centred,
with plenty of jasmine, ripe pear and toasted almond. The palate is surprisingly rich and complex, with lanolin, beeswax and sweet stone fruit flavours. Textured and rich with candied ginger, honeyed pear and apricot to finish. This is a lot of vinous complexity. CLIVE PURSHORSE, Decanter Magazine

The 2022 Pinot Gris is scented of poached pears, almonds, meringue and bread dough. The palate is broad and creamy with generous, ripe, spicy fruit tempered by bright acidity and a long, flavorful finish. ERIN BROOKS, The Wine Advocate

A sense of elegance, energy, and complexity with nuance. Mouth-washing acidity with a focus on freshness. Both delicious and pretty. Flavours of citrus blossom, bitter almond, and fresh melon. Accents of flint and oyster shell. Pleasant, lightly textural palate. Beautifully done. (17.5/20) JANCIS ROBINSON

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

Alluring notes of honey and spiced pears mingle with ginger root. This is a wonderfully textured wine with spicy fruit and lilting aromatics; hazelnuts, ginger and pear blossom. Signs off with some pleasing quince-like phenolics on the finish making it a perfect food wine to cut through spicy dishes with attitude. GABRIELLE POY

----
Before Eric Nuccio was Evesham Wood, he was Haden Fig. His journey into winemaking began in Washington D.C., where he developed a passion for Oregon Pinot Noir while working at a respected wine retailer there. After gaining experience in wine distribution and formal education in viticulture and oenology, Nuccio and his wife moved to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. There, he apprenticed under Russ Raney, the founder of Evesham Wood Winery going on to work with him each vintage while eventually starting Haden Fig in 2007.

For his pinot gris Eric aims for a classic Alsace styling. This is achieved through thought the use of barrel fermentation in older, large format French oak. Here he is not aiming to add oak flavours or aromas but seeks out the textual elements through micro-oxygenation from time in barrel and some light lees contact. This is a wonderfully textured wine with spicy fruit and lilting aromatics that packs in the flavour and drives with wonderful energy and freshness. In 2022 the grapes are sourced from the Mahonia property and the recently purchased Torres Bros Vineyard.

Sourced from Mahonia and– the recently purchased!–Torres Bros. Vineyard; it’s barrel fermented and aged in neutral French oak. It is akin to the pinot gris imported from Alsace — this is a spiced, textured, and aromatically-driven wine.

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

A sweet spice and floral blend complements candied lime and crushed apple notes as the 2021 Bianco Manna opens in the glass. This coasts across the palate lifted and finessed with a stunning mix of zesty acidity and ripe citrus under an air of tropical inner florals. The 2021 leaves a salty flourish and the mouth watering for more as Granny Smith apples slowly fade. The Manna is a blend of 40% Riesling, 20% Chardonnay, 15% Kerner, 15% Gewürztraminer and 10% Sauvignon Blanc. ERIC GUIDO, Vinous

Very fresh and creamy with delicate acacia honey, ripe melon and honeysuckle aromas. Healthy acidity for this grape with very polished texture on the medium-bodied palate. The lightness and liveliness at the finish pulls you back for more. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Screw cap. STUART PIGOTT, JamesSuckling.com

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

Think ripe pomelo and melon with a touch of yellow grapefruit, then let yourself drift into this very fresh and chalky expression of the pinot gris grape. Only medium-bodied, but with a compact structure. Intensely salty finish that has a lot of drive. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

The Keber family settled at Localita’ Zegla 300+ years ago, when Collio (Italy) and Brda (Slovenia) belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today, they have been instrumental in the push for a new DOC, one that would be a world first between two countries and unite Collio and Brda once more. In 2008 they took the radical step to produce just a single white wine, a blend of Friulano, Ribolla and Malvasia that they feel best expresses the uniqueness of their territory. The wine has become an Italian/Slovenian benchmark.

The vineyards are all terraced and the climate is moderated by two competing elements, warm breezes from the Adriatic and the chilly Bora from continental Europe. Farming is certified organic and Kristian uses some biodynamic preparations.

A blend of 70% Friulano with 15% each of Ribolla Gialla and Malvasia. Typically Friulano gives the body and structure, Ribolla for acidity and freshness and Malvasia for complex aromatics. The wine is co-fermented with natural yeasts (in concrete) and aged in concrete for 16 months. This extended ageing, over two winters, allows for a slow natural decantation of the sediment and the wine can be bottled unfiltered. Aromas of white stone fruits, apple, almond and yellow flowers. There's the classic textural push and pull on the palate that the Friulano grape, and wines from Collio, do so well, adding complexity and intrigue. The palate balances a sense of richness and body with minerality and an almost salty finish that really holds your interest. Great, and interesting, white wine.

 

A blend of Riesling, Pinot Gris and some Pinot Blanc, the 2021 Riquewihr was harvested along the Schoenenbourg Grand Cru, on the more exposed side of the grand cru Sporen, and from parcels towards Kientzheim. After some funky reduction has dissipated, luminous candied lemon notes appear. The palate, however, is fuller and seems buffered and airy, with very concentrated freshness, soft fruit and defining pithy bitterness that makes the mouth water. The finish is bone-dry and rapier-like, edged with ginger. (Bone-dry) ANNE KREBIEHL MW, Vinous

This wine comes from the parcels of Domaine Marcel Deiss located on the end of Riquewihr (places called Engelsreben and Rosenbourg) conducted biodynamically. The siliceous superficial framework of these soils resting on deep marls, gives a wine extremely salivating, precise, robust, thick, aristocratic and cold in primitive youth, but fleshy. Complete and very long aging. This is the complex message of a vibrant fruit from a deep cold earth.

If you have never had the wines of Deiss this is a great place to start. He has always been adamant that the great wines of Alsace are 100% about place and grape second, so much so that he famous for his field blend wines that combine several grapes and that which for Deiss represent one of the great expressions of the region.

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

Aged in small apple brandy casks for over 12 months, this rich and generous liqueur is a result of blending pressed French and British heirloom apple varieties with our apple spirit.

Complex and well-structured with baked apple and spice, balanced with firm tannins and cask influence.

Our take on the traditional aperitif from North-West France – enjoy as such or serve with blue cheese or dessert. WILLIE SMITH

This is the bar by which many Willamette Valley producers measure their own Pinot Gris. Made with certified organic grapes, the wine’s pale moonbeam colour casts its glow on aromas of orange blossom honey, lemon verbena and a trace of vanilla. Flavours of honeycomb, lemon sorbet and white grapefruit complement a lithesome texture backed by acidity that packs a pop.
MICHAEL ALBERTY, Decanter

The low-yielding but high-quality 2020 season gave fruit of a density and concentration, Jason Lett categorising it alongside the greats of 1988 and 1998. Hand-picked fruit was destemmed, pressed and fermented in stainless steel tank before resting for 11 months on lees before bottling.

This great pinot gris has stunning concentration and an amazing interplay of chalky, smoky and ripe yellow fruits character. Only medium-bodied, but with so much mineral power. Everything pulling together drives this along at a racy clip. (96) STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

A remarkable pinot gris that radically breaks the mold. Although this has stunning roasted apricot and smoky aromas in the nose it is actually a very cool and restrained wine with enormous mineral tension. Some may find this too extreme, but for us it has an almost overwhelming beauty (96) STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

Hang on to your hat! Here’s a dense and dangerous wine for a grape most wine drinkers think can only give no-brainers. Very compact and structured with a dark personality that some may find shocking, but what makes it that way is the gypsum marl minerality that is its soul. Brain-rattling freshness at the super stony finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. (97) STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

The 2021 Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal is a monopole for Zind-Humbrecht. It is located between Brand and Heimbourg, utterly different from both, with calcareous marl and gypsum on south-facing terraces. In the past, this was dedicated to making sweeter wines with botrytis. The vines were planted in 1983. The nose has a flicker of reduction, followed by an aromatic notion of pear, freshly turned earth and orange peel. The palate has concentration and flow, a russet pear texture and a salty, cool, mouth-watering core. The saltiness is more intense than the fruit. The beautiful, bone-dry finish is very appetizing ANNE KREBIEHL MW, Vinous Media

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

Welcome to the wild side of pinot gris, but don’t imagine for a second that this is a lush wine. In spite of all the power, this is super-cool and tense. If you have the patience, then let yourself sink into this incredibly dense and compact dry wine. Massive dark minerality in the extremely long finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. 97 STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

Very smoky and chalky, this remarkable pinot gris has power and concentration, yet is emphatically dry on the medium- to full-bodied palate. Such a zesty freshness in the long, elegant finish, where there’s a touch of tobacco leaves. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.  STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

Smoky and delicately exotic with touches of bergamot and gunpowder, this is a super-elegant dry pinot gris that shows what this grape is capable of. Tremendous textural complexity in the very long, silky finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.  95 STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

Aromas of peach, thyme and lilies. Medium-bodied with refreshing tannins. Bright acidity, but overall pleasant, mellow presence. Fresh stone fruit and jasmine on the palate. Well balanced with a soft finish. 63% roussanne, 20% grenache blanc, 14% picpoul blanc, 3% picardan. 95 points, JAMES SUCKLING

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

A rich and vibrant pinot gris that manages to also be light, delicate and graceful. Very deep and cool finish that pulls you down into dark ocean waters where you encounter the mystery of this great wine (96) STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

Pinot gris has the reputation of being easygoing, but this dry pinot gris from Alsace has enormous energy and vitality. The staggering citrusy juiciness electrifies the super concentrated, medium-bodied palate. At this stage in the wine’s very long life, the finish is a wild ride thanks to the chalky intensity. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but best from 2026. 97 STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

There are only a select few, perfect locations, to grow great wine on this big blue orb of ours and those are between 30 and 50 degrees north and south latitudes. Those regions need to provide just the right temperature, humidity, heat and climate to grow high quality grapes. We are absolutely spoilt for choice when it comes to the northern reaches with the whole of Europe at our disposal, but travel further south and things are a little different.

While New Zealand and Tasmania provide us with plenty of choices (and we would be remiss not to include them) the southern reaches sitting on and just below the 40 degrees latitude offer a up a wholy unique drinking experience.

While grapes like riesling, cabernet and pinot noir are familiar to us, a number of the wines in this months pack aren't seen so regularly on your local wines list or on the shelves of your corner wine store. From Malbec's in Argentina to the infamous Pinotage and the more classic varietals like Chenin in South Africa this is an exploration of all that is good in these great southern lands of ours.

Where do we start with such an awesome selection of interesting wine? It's hard to decide we might just do a quick run down by country.

South America is relatively new to the wine scene but has come along in leap and bounds. WE start with a couple of classics with the Finca Los Moras Malbec and the Santa Ana Cabernet. These are text book varietal wines with plenty to love in their up-front fruit and modern styling. For something a little different we through in the Bouchon pais. For those who do not know, Pais is an old variety that is Chile's answer to pinot noir. With a little more bite and a wild flourish this a great introduction to this fascinating wine.

Closer to home in New Zealand we have few classic drops with the Palliser Estate Pencarrow pinot. A wine you would be hard pressed to find with the structure, concentration and complexity at the same price. Off to Hawkes Bay for some stonking Chardonnay from Bilancia fame and some of the world most underrated syrah from stars Te Mata. What a treat!

Just in our backyard, Tassie continues to pump out some of the best wine in the country and while we would never miss out on showcasing another great pinot there is some real winners with pinot gris and riesling on the rise. The Moores Hill gris is a freat example of textural and vibrant gris from the Apple Isle with the Riversdale riesling hot on its tale.

And for something a little different we have got the latest release Willie Smiths Cider. This is an absolute belter, and we couldn't help but included it once we were told it had been released. Perfect timing! We will take that one!

Last, and something we don't see much in Aus is a cracking selection of wines from South Africa. Long-term customers may recognise some of these wines and as far as we are concerned, they are some of the best modern day Cape wines to make it over. The Bare Bones cinsault is a zippy red full of energy while the Winery of Good Hope pinotage is a juicy and fun take on this classic red variety,

And what would a selection of wine from South Africa be without a chenin blanc. The Secateurs is clean and crunchy with a plush fruit profile that is cleaned up by chenin's zippy acidity.
All in al a pretty awesome and exciting collection of stellar wines from the great south!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!