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Discovery Case, Wine Club, March 2012

Discovery Case, Wine Club, March 2012
Product: W00196 Wine Club Exclusive Mixed Case
Cellared Case Size: 1
Discovery Case, Wine Club, March 2012
Wine Club Members' exclusive. Find out more about the benefits of a Wine Club membership.
This mixed case is available for delivery to Wine Club Members from the week commencing 19th March 2012.
Pack Contents
Unit Size Qty
2006 Red, keep
Château St. Georges, Côte Pavie St Emilion Grand Cru -- Chateau St. Georges -- France
Cab.Sauvignon Blend, 13.5% alc.
To our mind, Ch. St. Georges, Côte Pavie is making some of the best value wine that Bordeaux has to offer. The 2006 is approachable now, if given some air, but will be perfect in 12-18 months time. The wine has luscious dark, broody fruit that is underpinned by well integrated tannin and cigar-box spice.

Bottle
75 cl 		1
2008 Red, drink-or-keep
Savigny-lès-Beaune, Benjamin Leroux -- Benjamin Leroux -- France
Pinot Noir, 12.5% alc.
This is the red equivalent of Benjamin’s delicious white Auxey-Duresses, an elegant Burgundy with vigorous raspberry and plum fruit, presented in a delicious style which is approachable early. And with 12.5% alcohol, it gives you a better than average chance of making it through to the curtain call.

Bottle
75 cl 		1
2008 Red, drink-or-keep
Beaune, Les Pertuisots, 1er Cru, Domaine Jean-Yves Devevey -- Jean-Yves Devevey -- France
Pinot Noir, 13% alc.
Beaune providers terrific value premier cru wines, thus far escaping the inflation in prices of the Côte de Nuits.

From humble beginnings, Jean-Yves Devevey has developed a small but perfectly formed domaine making both red and white wines. Jean-Yves started with a small holding of basic Bourgogne Rouge and Aligoté from modest locations and nothing but a shed behind the house to work in. Through hard work and considerable skill he has built up a successful business, part vigneron, part merchant, with a properly equipped cuverie and cellar to hand.

Since 1999 he has also owned half a hectare of Premier Cru Beaune Les Pertuisots where exemplary farming methods have steadily improved quality each year. Les Pertuisots, which means ‘the little drains’, lies on a gentle slope about halfway between the city of Beaune and the border with Pommard.
The wine is aged in barrel for 18 months before bottling.
(Jasper Morris MW - BBR Buyer)

Bottle
75 cl 		1
2008 Red, drink-now
Crôzes-Hermitage, Cuvée Les Galets, Domaine Des Hauts Chassis -- Domaine Des Hauts Chassis -- France
Syrah/Shiraz, 12.5% alc.
This is such an archetype of quality Crozes-Hermitage wine that all other examples will have to be marked alongside it on the bench. Tapenade, blackberry, hints of violet, black pepper and wood smoke… it’s all there, and all perfectly balanced. We are delighted that M. Faugier has had the confidence to stop selling grapes to a prestigious négociant, and started to make wine himself.

Frank Faugieris a vigneron of the old school, only modestly successful at self-promotion. He used to sell all his grapes to the local co-operative and also to a certain M Jaboulet. This was a shame, because the location of the vines means that the grapes are inevitably of superior quality. Now he makes his own wine from his own grapes and the results are impressive indeed.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer)

Bottle
75 cl 		1
2010 White, drink-or-keep
Sancerre Blanc, André Dezat -- André Dezat -- France
Sauvignon Blanc, 12.5% alc.
Compared with the warm 2009s, 2010 has bestowed all the qualities one would hope for in a fine Loire Sauvignon Blanc vintage, and of course the Andre Dezat family have yet again performed.

Drawn from a total of 15 ha (of which 6 is in the home village of Verdigny), across an array of soils of 'terres blanches', 'caillottes' (and smaller 'grillottes')  and 'silex', Dezat's holding all boasts thigh-like vines planted in 1967. Tasting in the icy conditions of January 2011 I perceived notes of nettle, mint, spice even, lime/lemon zip, crystalline freshness along with a waxy texture and fabuolous ripeness. This is definitely a vintage in which Dezat's Sancerre & Pouilly-Fume shine brightly. Drinking now but will improve.
(David Berry Green, BBR Buyer) 

Bottle
75 cl 		1
2010 White, drink-now
Fiano, Bianco Basilicata, Carbone -- Carbone -- Italy
Fiano, 14% alc.
Berrys’ range of Italian wines has never looked so smart. While the traditional strength is still in the north & centre, we’re now exploring the deep south. Fiano is one of the notable white varieties, famous in Campania (Fiano di Avellino) but pretty here in Basilicata only 40 minutes away.

There are a few outcrops of calcareous clay soils near the Carbone’s village of Melfi that better suit a white variety such as Fiano than Aglianico. One is struck by the honeysuckle aromas of this deliciously pure wine; the palate crunchy with refreshing pebbly sapidity, ripeness and great agility.
David Berry Green, BBR Buyer, August 2011

Bottle
75 cl 		1
2010 White, drink-or-keep
Mux Branco, DO Douro, Muxagat Vinhos -- Muxagat Vinhos -- Portugal
Other Varieties, 13% alc.
Muxagat means owl and cat in Portuguese; it is also , probably more relevantly, the name of a small village in the Douro Superior, located 2 km from the small town of Vila Nova de Foz Coa. It was here where Mateus Nicolau de Almeida, from the famous eponymous Port House, set up an organic winery, intent on exploiting the potential of the steep schistous slopes and determined to bring to greater prominence indigenous grapes, especially Touriga Nacional and Touriga Francesa for the reds and even more obscure varieties for the whites.

This delicious white wine is a blend of 90% Rabigato and 10% Mistura, only the former of which will be (vaguely) familiar to the UK market. The wine is fermented in stainless steel and then matured  60% in Austrian and French barrels (600 litres)and 40% in tank.

It has taken on notes of crystalised fruit, spice and minerals, with an impressive seam of acidity, which is characteristic of the Ribagato grape.  Farmed in accordance with organic principles with all the husbandry (as it is hard to avoid on such terrain) done by hand, this wine is a real labour of love and nicely reflects the aphorism, given Mateus’ extensive vinous travels, that one can only know one’s home for the first time after a period of travel and exploration.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer)

Bottle
75 cl 		1
2006 Red, drink-or-keep
Pago de los Capellanes Reserva, Ribera del Duero -- Bodegas Pago de los Capellanes -- Spain
Tempranillo/Tinto Fino, 13.5% alc.

From the clay and limestone soils of the high plateau of Pedrosa in the Ribera del Duero, this aromatic Tinto Fino (aka Tempranillo) wine is richly concentrated with mulberry and black cherry fruit aromas and flavours, all framed by a veneer of stylish, spicy new oak and bright damsony acidity.

The wine includes 10% of Cabernet Sauvignon and has spent spent 18 months in French oak and was bottled unfiltered. Purple-colored, it has an uplifting perfume of pain grille, scorched earth, violets, cinnamon, and blackberry liqueur, then a dense rich and velvety palate, pleasingly decadent but with a refreshing cerebral twist on the finish.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer)

Bottle
75 cl 		1
2009 Red, drink-or-keep
Kenwood Vineyards, Russian River Pinot Noir -- Kenwood Vineyards -- United States
Pinot Noir, 13.5% alc.
The Russian River flows into the Pacific Ocean so the valley in which it lies acts as a natural channel for the cooling breezes from the sea. This, together with the poor rocky soil of the valley, creates excellent conditions in which to ripen Pinot Noir. 2009 yielded a small crop but the fruit was healthy and concentrated. In very good years such as this the winemaker sometimes adds 10% of whole bunches to the vats, rather than de-stemming every bunch, as this adds structure and body to the finished wine.

After fermentation this Pinot Noir spends 11 months in French oak, none of it new, varying from 1-3 year-old barrels. The bouquet displays soft red fruit aromas, raspberries and cherries with a hint of spice. On the palate there is real concentration, with silky texture, and a long, clean finish with fresh balancing acidity.
(Alun Griffiths MW, BBR Wine Director)

Bottle
75 cl 		1
2008 Red, drink-or-keep
Waterford, Kevin Arnold Shiraz, Stellenbosch, South Africa -- Waterford Estate -- South Africa
Syrah/Shiraz, 14.5% alc.
Waterford are one of South Africa’s top estates,the vineyards are well-positioned, lying between the Simonsberg and Helderberg mountain ranges, and from the outset the aim was to produce quite simply one of the very best wines in South Africa. Their Shiraz has been  recently gaining rave reviews for its quality; it  combines superbly the spicy, peppery elements of then grape with a brambly soft fruit element. 

The grapes are fermented in stainless steel before being aged for 16 months in Burgundy barrels of 1, 2 or 3 years of age. A small element of Mouvèdre is introduced to provide backbone and acidity.
(Alun Griffiths MW - BBR Buyer) 

Bottle
75 cl 		1
2009 Red, drink-or-keep
Hewitson Ned & Henry Shiraz & Mourvèdre, Barossa Valley (Stelvin) -- Dean Hewitson -- Australia
Southern Rhône Blend, 14% alc.
Dean Hewitson and his wife Lou set up his eponymous winery in 1998 with the aim of finding and then buying grapes from some of South Australia’s oldest vineyards, some of them dating back to the 19th century. He seeks to produce wines highly reflective of the terroir on which they are grown and with that in mind the produce of each vineyard is vinified separately.

Dean is a graduate of Australia’s leading wine “university”, Roseworthy College, and apart from cutting his teeth by working for other Australian wineries from 1987-97 he gained valuable experience in Europe and California, too. The Ned and Henry cuvée is designed to offer a wine which can be drunk young and fresh but which still adheres to Dean’s aim of making ageworthy wines.

After alcoholic fermentation in tank the wine completes its malolactic fermentation in barrel, always of fine-grained French oak, and is then aged in barrel for a further 15 months before bottling. The inclusion of a small percentage of Mourvedre in the final blend is done because Dean believes it emphasises more precisely the structure and nature of the Shiraz.
(Alun Griffiths MW, BBR Wine Director) 

Bottle
75 cl 		1
2010 White, drink-or-keep
Petit Chablis, Domaine du Colombier, G. Mothe -- Domaine du Colombier -- France
Chardonnay, 12% alc.
A fresh and charming approach to Chablis, the sort of wine which slips down by itself.

Guy Mothe built up the highly successful Domaine du Colombier by starting with a tiny holding and then acquiring small parcels of land that came up for sale over the years. Today the domaine, based in Fontenay-pres-Chablis, has 33 hectares of vineyards and is run by Guy`s son, Thierry.

Everything is made in stainless steel tanks: the skill is in the maturation on the lees and in the blending. Most of their land is for straight Chablis, along with small plots of 1er cru and one grand cru vineyard, but they also have a healthy holding of Petit Chablis, which comes from plots just outside the main Chablis appellation: including, in their case, some vineyards on the crown of the hill just above the grand cru sites.

The 2010 harvest began in the third week of September in good conditions, making a deliciously aromatic style of wines.
(Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director, July 2011)

Bottle
75 cl 		1
Tasting Notes Discovery Case, Wine Club, March 2012 --

- 1
12 Bottle Outer, Wine Club (CSW353x267x360-WC) --

- 1
12 Bottle Divider (DIV345X262X360) --

- 1