Our latest press mentions in July: The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardia, The Daily Mail, The Independent & Matthew Jukes.
Benefit from our case price discount in red by buying any 12 bottles from this selection – in a mixed case of your design or simply by the dozen.
The Telegraph, The best sparkling wines to buy this summer, Victoria Moore, 31/07/2020:
2018 KAAPSE VONKEL Brut Simonsig Estate
£15.95 | £13.50
Review: ‘2018 was a serious drought vintage in the Cape but Simonsig pulled off an adroit, classy sparkling wine. Made from the champagne grapes, it majors on chardonnay (55%), with 43% pinot noir and a dash of pinot meunier.’
The Guardian, Soft white wines that pack a punch, David Williams, 26/07/2020:
2018 CHABLIS Domaine des Hâtes
£20.95 | £18.75
Review: ‘To refresh and accompany fish on a hot summer evening from the generous 2018 vintage the almost electrically charged but exquisitely polished Domaine des Hâtes Chablis 2018’
The Sunday Times, Wine review: the best pinot noir to buy now, Will Lyons, 26/07/2020:
2018 PUY-DE-DÔME PINOT NOIR Cave de Verny
£11.50 | £10.75
Review: ‘Understated country wine can be a joy when crafted by the French — in this case the growers of Cave St Verny in the mountainous Auvergne region. Well balanced, robust and packed with fruit, this is worth seeking out.’
The Times, This week’s star wines (Seltzers: my top tip for summer picnics), Jane MacQuitty, 25/07/2020:
2018 PETIT CHABLIS Hauterivien Domaine Denis Pommier
£20.75 | £18.75
Review: ‘The Pommiers’ organic chablis are a joy, and even this steely, leafy petit chablis hits the heights.’
TheWineDetective.co.uk, First taste: Quinta da Romaneira Vintage Port 2018, Sarah Ahmed, 15/07/2020:
2018 QUINTA DA ROMANEIRA Vintage Port
£160.00 per 6 In Bond
Review: ‘An open knit, relatively broad, soft palate with perfumed, sweet, ripe wild bilberry and mulberry to nose and chocolatey palate, with savoury black olive and grainy, graphite tannins. On day two, violet, black pepper and orange blossom notes emerge, with dried herbs on day three. Upfront, if lacking a little freshness. A medium-term prospect. 19.5% 555 cases of the 2018 Quinta da Romaneira Vintage Port were bottled. Imported and retailed by Lea & Sandeman – £160/6 bottles in bond/en primeu.’
The Independent, Bastille Day: Honour your inner Alain Ducasse and cook up a French feast, Louise Whitbread, 13/07/2020:
2019 L’HYDROPATHE Élite Rosé Côtes de Provence Sainte Victoire Domaine des Diables
£19.95 | £17.95
Review: ‘In our guide to the best Côtes de Provence rosés, we loved L’Hydropathe élite rosé Sainte Victoire domaine de diables 2019 (Lea & Sandeman, £19.95) made in vineyards owned and run by Guillaume and Virginie Philip at the foot of Mont Saint-Victoire.’
The Telegraph, The 50 best summer wines, Victoria Moore, 11/07/2020:
2018 CÔTE DE BROUILLY Les Grillés Domaine Chevalier-Métrat
£14.50 | £12.95
Review: ‘A family domaine making superb wines. This is gloriously perfumed with a sappy vitality. Pop it in the fridge for half an hour before opening to give it a bit of edge.’
2016 MORELLINO DI SCANSANO Heba Fattoria di Magliano
£15.95 | £14.50
Review: ‘Morellino is the name given to sangiovese in the coastal region of the Maremma, where this is made. It’s very different to a central Tuscan sangiovese – like roasted and stewed damsons with hints of thyme. Gorgeously juicy.’
2018 BOURGUEIL Cote 50 Domaine Yannick Amirault
£16.95 | £15.50
Review: ‘Cabernet franc as you dream of it: sumptuous yet also fresh, like cushions of summer berries with a leafy fragrance.’
The Daily Mail, Two wonderfully contrasting Verdicchios and a 4th July Californian blockbuster this week!, Matthew Jukes, 04/07/2020:
2018 VERDICCHIO CLASSICO SUPERIORE Classico Superiore dei Castelli di Jesi Andrea Felici
£17.95 | £16.50
Review: ‘The Verdicchio grape is usually light, smooth, refreshing and elegant, but Felici’s version is simply mesmerising with an extra dimension if haunting pear juice fruit and a longer finish that I could have ever expected. This is one of the most expression and impressive versions of this grape I have tasted in years. ‘
The Times, The 100 best wines for summer 2020 | Reds, Jane MacQuitty, 04/07/2020:
2018 CHAVAL Bobal ‘Ecologica’ Bodegas Nodus
£8.50 | £7.50
Review: ‘Organic, vegan and vegetarian-approved, this rich, peppery, rustic red is made from the quirky, indigenous, but really rather delicious bobal grape; fermented cool in stainless steel to preserve all its black-plum fruit, this young, unoaked red ticks all the contemporary Spanish boxes.’
2018 GARNACHA Bodegas y Viñedos Monfil
£8.50 | £7.95
Review: ‘Tuck into this glorious, vibrant, rose-petal and stewed strawberry-sweet garnacha — one and the same as grenache — with garlicky charcuterie, and you and yours will have a great time. It comes from the deep stony soil of Cariñena, one of the earliest places in Spain to be demarcated.’
Money Week, A new dawn for Douro reds, Matthew Jukes, 04/07/2020:
2016 QUINTA DA ROMANEIRA Reserva
£49.95 | £44.50
Review: ‘It has been a long wait for the guardians of the Douro Valley to make truly awesome red wines. While Port is, rightly, the focus for this historic wine region, the famous houses have all been trying to crack the red-wine code for a good many years. Prats & Symington (the amalgamation of Bordeaux maven Bruno Prats and the Symington family, owners of Dow’s, Graham’s. Cockburn’s and Warre’s, among others) come closest with Chryseia, which often hits the spot and gets serious red fans and collectors excited.
I have tasted a lot of wannabe Douro red heroes and they often seem to lack polish and sophistication. Granted,they are inky, powerful and long-lived – a few but not all of the ingredients for collectable wine – but they are usually missing vital parts, namely control, balance and finesse, which Burgundy, Bordeaux and even the great Northern Rhônes have in spades.
Just the other day I tasted the current release 2016 and soon to be released 2017 (due out at the end of this month) Reservas from Romaneira and I could not believe it. Both weighing in at a fit 13.5% alcohol, and with the meticulous build-quality of top Left Bank clarets, but with the heady touriga nacional and franca perfumes and flavours, these wines are sensational. The 2016 is more foursquare and pensive, while the 2017 is pure liquid charm. A new Douro dawn has arrived. ‘