White

Bright in the glass with tinges of green and white-gold. Classic aromas of citrus zest, candied peels, dragon fruit and hints of herbs and rye seeds. This is an attractively textural wine displaying the variety's intense purity. Bone-dry, its structure and length is underpinned by bracing acidity.

Vineyard: 

Dandelion Vineyards are proven plantings that have stood the test of time, encouraging the humble dandelion amongst the vines as they suppress winter weeds, provide mulch in summer, and proffer their Wishing Clocks in spring to blow off and make the Dandelion wish come true. The Enchanted Garden was planted in 1910 and thrives to this day, a seven acre Eden Valley Vine Garden lovingly tended by Sue and Stuart Woodman.

Vinification:

Whole bunches were hand picked in the second week of March then destemmed without crushing the fruit to fill the press exactly. The free-run juice and pressings were fermented separately in small tanks between 11-13°C. The wine was bottled directly with minimal fining and filtration.

Producer: 

Dandelion Vineyards is the venture of self-titled ‘typist’ Zar Brooks and his winemaking wife Elena, with wines made from the Barossa and Eden Valleys, Fleurieu, the Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale. Nick Stock, one of Australia’s leading journalists, has described Dandelion as follows: “Brooks has teamed up with his winemaking wife Elena, a woman whose talents are outweighed only by her tolerance, in an exciting new venture called Dandelion Vineyards. The approach is remarkably simple and sees Elena making wine from a suite of beautiful old vineyards across that blessed curve that runs from the Barossa, up through the Eden Valley and Adelaide Hills and down into McLaren Vale.”

The Pecorino grape is a legendary story of a variety that was literally brought back from the brink of extinction. Elegant and rigorous. It is benchmark wine that embodies power and smoothness. It is one of Abruzzo’s top white wines. This wine is always a firm favourite with our customers on pop-up bar nights.

Vineyard: 

This wine is from Igé, one of the Mâconnais' top villages. Château London is the specific vineyard or 'lieu-dit' of the grapes. Vine age is approximately 20 years and the yield is 7,000 vines per hectare. The vines are Guyot trained to a height of 1.3 metres, to ensure enough light exposure for photosynthesis. Soils are stony and clay, with a high proportion of chalk. The grape is a clone of Chardonnay, Chardonnay-Muscaté, which gives the typical structure, poise and freshness of Chardonnay together the aromatic expression of Muscat.

Vinification:

The grapes were harvested manually into 20 kilogram crates, then whole bunch pressed for 2.5 hours, before the juice was transferred to 450 litre oak barrels. Indigenous yeasts were used for a long fermentation without racking or lees stirring. The wine was then aged in 30% new French oak barrels for 12 months without being racked. The barrels used are toasted at low temperatures to impart a subtle, delicate flavour to the final wine.

Producer: 

Jean-Claude Boisset was radically transformed with the arrival in 2002 of viniculteur Grégory Patriat, one of the best viticulturalists/winemakers of his generation in Burgundy. Grégory had spent the previous three years working in the vineyards at Domaine Leroy and still spends a great deal of his time in the vineyards, paying his growers by the hectare in order to ensure low yields. He also prefers to work with organic growers, as he finds they produce better fruit. Unlike other Burgundian négociants, Grégory specialises in making wines from 'lieu-dits' or tiny plots of vines, something which accounts for the limited production of most of his wines.

Vineyard: 

Fruit was sourced from various prime vineyard sites in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys, the central Wairau Plains (specifically in Woodbourne, Renwick and Rapaura) and a spectacular river terrace site in the upper Awatere Valley. Soil types vary from the young alluvial soils of Rapaura, Renwick and the upper Awatere, which contain high proportions of New Zealand’s ubiquitous greywacke river stones, to the older and denser clay- loams of the Southern Valleys. The majority of the vineyards were trained using the divided Scott Henry canopy management system, with the balance on a vertical shoot positioning trellis.

Vinification:

Harvested largely by machine during cool (often cold) nights, the Sauvignon Blanc was picked into half-tonne bins, which were tipped directly into the tank press and lightly pressed. The resulting juice was cold-settled prior to fermentation, primarily using cultured yeast in stainless steel for cool, slow fermentation. A portion was allowed to undergo spontaneous indigenous yeast fermentation in old oak barrels. All individual vineyard batches were left on lees and kept separate until late July, when the blend was assembled.

Producer: 

Greywacke was created in 2009 by Kevin Judd, chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay from its inception for 25 years and instrumental in the international recognition which Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc enjoys now. The name 'Greywacke' was adopted by Kevin for his first Marlborough vineyard located in Rapaura in recognition of the high prevalence of rounded greywacke river stones in the soils of the vineyard, a sedimentary rock which is widely found in Marlborough. Kevin Judd is also New Zealand's finest wine photographer and has recently published a book 'The Landscape of New Zealand Wine'.

Vineyard: 

Peter Lehmann Wines works with over 140 growers across the length and breadth of the Barossa Valley region, with access to over 750 individual vineyard sites. Grapes for this wine came from selected vineyards in the Barossa Valley with the Pinot Gris sourced from the Adelaide Hills.

Vinification:

Cold fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks prior to blending and early bottling which produced a lively, fresh yet complex white wine.

Producer: 

Peter Lehmann, with 33 vintages already under his belt, started his own winery in 1979, partly as a means of helping with the glut of grapes then afflicting the Barossa. "I'll take your grapes and turn them into wine," he told the desperate growers, many of them conservative farmers of Silesian descent who regarded their old vines as part of their patrimony. "But I'll only be able to pay you when I sell the wine." They gratefully accepted. Without this deal, it is widely thought that the Barossa would have lost a huge chunk of its old vines. Since its first vintage, the Peter Lehmann winery has championed Shiraz and Semillon, the two great traditional varieties of the Barossa. The Layers blends use these two varieties as a base upon which to build a wine that expresses the new face of the Barossa, using varieties that are new or innovative. These smartly packaged wines show that while Peter Lehamann is a traditional winery, it continues to be as innovative today as it was 40 years ago.

Vineyard: 

Saint Martin refers to the patron saint of Chablis, whose relics were kept in the domaine's ancient monastery for many years. Domaine Laroche owns 63 hectares of Chablis vineyard on the famous Kimmeridgian soil that gives the wines such precision. Each plot, of which there are 30 in total, has a different exposure, soil depth and vine age which contributes complexity to the wine and means that every parcel ripens at a different time. Gregory Viennois refers to Chardonnay's 'two-day window' of maturity - if the parcels aren't harvested in this time the precious Chablis aromas are lost.

Vinification:

The grapes were pressed and settled at low temperatures for 12 hours in wide tanks, to help the settling process and minimise the need for sulphur dioxide. Fermentation lasted 21 days at 17°C, followed by full malolactic fermentation. After filtration with Bentonite, the majority of the wine was aged for eight months on fine lees in stainless steel tanks with a small amount (8%) in large oak casks (foudres). Filtration was light to preserve the natural body of the wine.

Producer: 

Domaine Laroche epitomises Chablis, with impeccable quality and a remarkable 100 hectares of vineyards, including 30 hectares of Premier Cru and six hectares of Grand Cru sites. Founded in 1850, there is still a dynamism which permeates everything they do. Michel Laroche merged with another family-owned producer, Jeanjean, in 2009 and he remains involved in the business, along with his wife Gwénaël. As part of their aim to retain purity and minerality in the finished wine, Laroche was the first Burgundian producer to move to screwcaps in 2002.

Taste Notes:

This Chardonnay is concentrated and beautifully balanced. The nose is wonderfully expressive with notes of lime, grapefruit, nectarine and ripe peach. The palate is intense and layered with a strong fruit core and lovely fresh acidity.

100% Chardonnay

Vineyard: 

The grapes for this wine come from selected vineyards around the Etang de Thau, planted on clay and limestone soils.

Vinification:

The grapes arrived in the winery in the early morning and were macerated on the skins for a few hours, then pressed by pneumatic press. The must was cold settled for 48 hours and then fermented at a controlled temperature of 15 °C for 16 days. No oak was used and the wine was bottled early to retain freshness and delicate aromatics.

Producer: 

Baron de Badassière is from the Picpoul de Pinet region of the Languedoc, near the coast of the south of France. The name of the wine refers to the Badassière vineyard which lies near the small town of Pomérols. In the 18th century, the vineyard belonged to Baron Charles Emmanuel, a colourful character who was rumoured to be the illegitimate son of King Louis XV. The wines are made exclusively for Liberty Wines by New Zealand winemaker Graeme Paul, with consultant Matt Thomson, at the Cave de Pomérols cooperative where the Vignes de L'Eglise range is also produced.

This Chardonnay has fresh pear and lemon notes that combine with delicate white flowers. Lovely soft aromas of poached apple and marzipan evolve in the glass. Crisp, fresh and dry on the palate, the wine is tightly sprung then unwinds to reveal a citrus pith texture, wrapped around a fresh stone-fruit core.

100% Chardonnay

This wine has aromas of ripe peach and pear with hints of flint. On the palate, it is rich and well-balanced. It is refreshing and crisp on the finish, with attractive Pinot Grigio characters.

100% Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris

Vineyard: 

Domaine Joël Delaunay is situated on the bank of the Cher Valley, 50 kilometres east of Tours near the famous Château de Chenonceau. The soil is clay and silex (a mixture of flint and sand) and the pruning method is simple Guyot. The vineyards are planted with grass between the vines to control yields.

Vinification:

30% of the cuvée was macerated on the skins for 12 hours before pneumatic pressing. Alcoholic fermentation took place over 20 days at controlled temperatures of 16°C. The wine was aged on fine lees after fermentation with bâtonnage (lees stirring) for three months prior to cross-flow filtration and bottling.

Producer: 

Domaine Joël Delaunay is a family-owned estate, located in the Touraine AOC. Today, fifth-generation owner Thierry Delaunay runs the domaine. Like his forward-thinking father, Joël Delaunay, who insisted on estate bottling in 1970, Thierry was the first Touraine producer to bottle under screwcap in 2004. Domaine Joël Delaunay has 34 hectares of vineyards, practising sustainable viticulture. 90% of their production is white, with Sauvignon Blanc being the predominant grape variety, and 10% is red, mostly Gamay and Cabernet Franc.

Taste Notes:

The Meunier dominant blend gives richness and red berry fruit to this crisp and lively Champagne.

Vineyard: 

Charly-sur-Marne lies a mere 50 kilometres east of Paris along the Vallée de la Marne subregion. The Baron family owns 38 hectares of sustainably managed vineyards that are largely planted with Meunier, the dominant grape in the region.

Vinification:

The Grand Réserve is fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel and undergoes malolactic fermentation to give it roundness. It is aged on its lees for three years and has a balanced dosage of 10g/l residual sugar.

Producer: 

Sophie Baron Champagne comes from a family run property in Charly-sur-Marne. The Champagne is named after Sophie, the daughter of the founders Gabriel and Dolorès. She joined the property in 1982 and works alongside her winemaker brother, Ignace.

This fizz is sealed under stelvin to protect against random oxidation and cork taint. It is fresh, soft, scented and grapey, with delicious lightness and good length.

New Vintage in 2020.

A stunning little gem from David Maudry, whose family have a long old history of wine production in Tracy-Sur-Loire. This Sauvignon Blanc comes from young vines directly next to their Pouilly-Fumé vineyard. Whilst this vineyard remains unclassified, the soils and aspect are the same, indeed the wine tastes almost identical (at a fraction of the price)... lots of that struck-flint note we all love in Pouilly-Fumé, and then a nice elegance and gentle tang.

Seeing Pouilly-Fumé (and Sancerre) getting rather out of reach price-wise this was an exciting find. 

The name, ‘À Peu Près’, means ‘as good as’ (as good as Pouilly Fumé) and we were delighted to have this wine on our list.