Southern Rhône Blend
Bottle
£8.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 103cs
Bottle
£11.17
Bottle
£14.95
Bottle
£14.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 10cs
Bottle
£16.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl 3cs
Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate (spring 2019)
Bottle
£16.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 7cs
Bottle
£17.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Fiona Hayes, Rhône Buyer
Bottle
£18.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 27cs
Tablas Creek is a driving force in California for its biodynamic and sustainable practices and this attention to detail is evident in all their wines. Patelin – slang for “neighbourhood” – is a Rhône-style blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Counoise, sourced from both their own vineyards and others in their ‘hood, Paso Robles. Bright and energetic, the wine has aromas of violet, blueberry and pepper spice. It has a silky but pronounced tannin profile, with a juicy and generous mid-palate. From the stand-out 2016 vintage, this wine is drinking beautifully now, but has the structure and concentration to keep for a couple of years.
Fiona Hayes, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£19.96
Bottle 12 x 75cl 9cs
Bottle
£20.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 12cs
Fiona Hayes, Rhône Buyer
Bottle
£22.75
Bottle 12 x 75cl 16cs
Deep ruby in colour, this has dark red and black berry aromas of cherries, plums and blackcurrants. The palate is concentrated, with complex savoury layers of rosemary, fennel, liquorice and black olive. The tannins are firm and chewy, continuing on the finish, supported carefully by savoury spice. Drink now to 2025.
Bottle
£27.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 8cs
Bottle
£28.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 25cs
Magnum
£30.95
Magnum 3 x 150cl 81cs
Simon Field MW - Rhône Buyer
Deferential perhaps to what the Chapoutiers have achieved in the north with their single plots in Hermitage, the Perrins have segregated their top domaines into a ‘parcellaire’ category. Fully owned and farmed on the most rigorous organic principles, these exciting wines reflect the family’s faith in the villages of Vinsobres and Gigondas, the hillside locations of which chime with changing meteorological and climatic patterns.
Bottle
£31.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Fiona Hayes, Wine Buyer
Magnum
£35.00
Magnum 3 x 150cl 7cs
D. Magnum
£85.60
D. Magnum 1 x 300cl 9cs
Vivid ruby-red. Expansive, spice-accented aromas of red and blue fruit liqueur, Asian spices and candied flowers are lifted by a minerally nuance. Silky, broad and alluringly sweet in the mouth, offering sappy black raspberry, boysenberry and lavender pastille flavors that become more energetic with air. In a seamless, elegant style. A refreshing jolt of minerality adds focus and cut to the impressively long, youthfully tannic finish.
Josh Raynolds, Vinous (autumn 2017)
Bottle
£39.16
Bottle 12 x 75cl 6cs
Drink 2019-2014.
Simon Field MW – Wine Buyer
Bottle
£47.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Crau plateau, have gifted this blend which is made up
of 80 percent Grenache, 10 percent Mourvèdre, seven
percent Syrah and three percent Cinsault. Gentle
extraction after a modest cold soak has been followed
by eighteen months ageing, shared between vat and
350 litre casks, none of which are new. Benchmark
Châteauneuf aromas of black olive and the scrub cede
to a dark and savoury palate, hugely textured and
with layers of potential. The 2016 calling cards of pure
acidity and elegant tannins are both present and the
finish is imperious. Drink 2020-2028.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£48.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 7cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
of Grenache, Syrah , Mourvèdre and Cinsault, the
Syrah now nearly achieving parity with the Grenache
(and in terms of taste profile it’s certainly just as
influential). Maturation has been 60 percent in
barrel, 40 percent in foudre and the wine rejoices
in classic ripeness and purity, aromatic and subtle
intensity. An archetype from the modern end of the
spectrum, its modernity is tempered by a robust
respect for provenance and the dexterity of an
extremely gifted winemaker. Drink 2019-2025.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£52.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 5cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Case price (Bottle 12 x 75cl)
Bottle 12 x 75cl 3cs
Simon Field MW - Wine Buyer
The forebears of sisters Sophie and Catherine Armenier have been making superb wines since 1344 it seems, maybe modifying their techniques a little along the way, but not too much. Biodynamic in all but the letter, they are based close to Beaucastel, but their plots, albeit more modest in total surface area, are more widely spaced over the appellation, with the most significant holdings in the areas around Courthézon and on the central Crau plateau. Low yields are key to the exceptional quality of the wines.
Bottle
£55.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Simon Field MW - Rhône Buyer
In the late autumn of 2014 I was lucky enough to blind-taste a range of red Hermitage wines with John Livingstone- Learmonth and Andew Jefford. I have yet to see the final article, yet it emerged that my top two wines were both Chapoutier Parcellaires. This is a truly outstanding range, as indeed one would hope it to be, given the historical reputation of the hill of Hermitage and the fact that Chapoutier are in the enviable position of owning more of its vines than anyone else. A great responsibility, which they discharge with consummate skill.
In the same ballpark, the 2013 Châteauneuf du Pape Croix de Bois has a softer, more upfront and textured feel then the Barbe Rac, which always seems to me to be slightly more serious and focused. Giving up loads of jammy blackberry and assorted darker fruits, licorice, and wild herbs, this full-bodied, ripe and layered effort makes the most of the vintage. It will drink nicely on release and dish out plenty of pleasure through 2023.
Jeb Dunnuck - Wine Advocate Issue#215 Oct 2014
Bottle
£59.00
Case price (Bottle 12 x 75cl)
Bottle 12 x 75cl 5cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
and if there was ever an illustration of Grenache
that is richly wrought, powerful and luxuriously
textured, yet still structured and not tipping over into
a decadent over-indulgence, then this would be it. The
herbal hints at the back of the palate ground the wine
magnificently; otherwise it’s an ethereal paean to
Provencal pleasure. Drink 2022-2028.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£60.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 32cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 9cs
although I infer that the Sabons might vote for the
Chaupin. Hard to choose really. I love the dense, richly
complex, nervously adolescent splendour of this wine,
its strutting potential and plush, unending generosity,
a long and happy future definitively secured. Drink
2023-2030+.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£80.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 24cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Case price (Bottle 12 x 75cl)
Bottle 12 x 75cl 15cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
The vast majority of wines from the Southern Rhône are blends. There are 5 main black varieties, although others are used and the most famous wine of the region, Châteauneuf du Pape, can be made from as many as 13 different varieties. Grenache is the most important grape in the southern Rhône - it contributes alcohol, warmth and gentle juicy fruit and is an ideal base wine in the blend. Plantings of Syrah in the southern Rhône have risen dramatically in the last decade and it is an increasingly important component in blends. It rarely attains the heights that it does in the North but adds colour, backbone, tannins and soft ripe fruit to the blend.
The much-maligned Carignan has been on the retreat recently but is still included in many blends - the best old vines can add colour, body and spicy fruits. Cinsault is also backtracking but, if yields are restricted, can produce moderately well-coloured wines adding pleasant-light fruit to red and rosé blends. Finally, Mourvèdre, a grape from Bandol on the Mediterranean coast, has recently become an increasingly significant component of Southern Rhône blends - it often struggles to ripen fully but can add acidity, ripe spicy berry fruits and hints of tobacco to blends.