It has been a hectic start to the year as usual with far too many tastings to attend and a week in the South of France checking out 2008 and 2009 in the Rhone Valley – now I know some of you think this is a frivolous excuse for work but in the short space of 6 days I visited some 22 different vineyards, some old faces but mostly new.

Domaine Santa Duc – Yves Gras – Gigondas

Yves as ever, was in exuberant mood when we dropped by the estate, well at least I always assume he is exuberant, being a complete heathen I can never understand a word he says, relying as ever on Julia from Europvin (who sadly didn’t make it along this trip). He gesticulated wildly with his arms, roughly translating to ‘as always my wines are bloody fantastic and I don’t expect anyone in the region to come too close to this level of quality’ we look forward to offering the 2008’s when we get our allocation. However we still have a little of his sensational Cotes du Rhone and Gigondas from 2007

2007 Cotes du Rhone £12.00
2007 Gigondas Tradition £20.00
2007 Gigondas Haut Garrigues £30.00

Calendal - Plan de Dieu – Cotes du Rhone Villages

Calendal is the joint project Gilles Ferran at Escaravailles and renowned oenologist Philippe Cambie. Cambie consults to some of the very best vineyards in the Rhone, Clos Saint Jean, Clos du Caillou and Escaravailles to name a few. I was lucky enough to taste this wine at the Escaravailles cellars with Gilles a couple of weeks ago, the wines are nothing short of excellent, as with all his wines you have an extraordinary amount of saturated black fruits due to the high proportion of Mourvedre (80%) backed up with sweet Grenache. It is drinking superbly at the moment but will improve over the next couple of years; personally I would not be able to keep my hands off it. Put your trust in me this is nothing short of jaw dropping superb wine; get onboard before the rest of the world

2008 Cotes du Rhone Village £19.95

Domaine Vieille de la Julienne – Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Those of you sensible enough to take advantage of the pre-arrival price on the 2007 Vieille Julienne wines, the waiting is over! They arrived into our warehouse last week. The Chateauneuf-du-Pape is destined for greatness whilst it almost seems cheeky calling the ‘Clavin’ Cotes du Rhone, it puts many Chateauneuf-du-Pape to shame.

2007 Chateaneuf-du-Pape £45.00
2007 Cotes du Rhone ‘Clavin’ £16.50

Get these great wines here