Rich in red fruits, cherry and strawberry with delicate oak aromas on the nose. A structured tannic wine. Aromas of blackcurrant buds and vanilla. Remarkable freshness with notable and refined tannins to due long oak ageing. Crozes-Hermitage can be considered the gateway to the red and white wines of the Northern Rhône Valley. The reds, which are the majority of production, have wonderful warm flavors of red and black fruit, and typical Syrah (Shiraz) pepper, spice and savoury notes. They are more approachable than their highly revered cousins in Côte-Rotie and Hermitage, with an appealing freshness that makes them drinkable early in life.

The Guigal family owns vineyards in prime locations throughout the Appellations of Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu, Hermitage and Saint-Joseph from where their iconic wines are produced. The Guigal cellars are located in the centre of the town of Ampuis, on the right bank of the Rhône River, about 40 km south of Lyon. The Côtes du Rhône region stretches 200 km from Vienne in the north to Avignon in the south. Côtes-du-Rhône is the workhorse red of the southern Rhône Valley and is blended from up to 13 grape varieties, but usually leans heavily on grenache and syrah (Shiraz). Deep, bright, garnet-red in colour, it is a fresh, crisp wine with small soft fruit and spices. A full-bodied, elegant wine, with mellow tannins, warmth and aromatic intensity.

We select the fruit from the cool south-facing slopes high in the Adelaide Hills. Sweet strawberry, cherry and spice aromas follow through to the palate, where the lively bubbles add lift and balance to these fruit flavours. This wine has wonderful length and supple mouth feel. Winemaking: The fruit is all hand-picked and whole bunch pressed into tank for fermentation. A remaining parcel of Pinot Noir is fermented as red wine in open top fermenters with daily plunging. Fermentation lasts around 12 days and the wines go through malo-lactic ferment over winter to soften the acids. Blending then takes place, combining the clear base wine with around 4-7% of the red wine to achieve the pale pink colour and fruit lift that is signature of this wine. Try with tuna sashimi, salmon or chilli prawns.

TARDIEU-LAURENT Cuvee Speciale, Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Young, pale green colour, with dominant green nuances, slightly yellow like lime tree leaves in the spring, with a few silvery hints, nicely bright and lively, with delicate tears that run finely down the glass. The bouquet is fresh and lively, crisp and clean, pleasantly aromatic and fruity, green apple, lemongrass, ginger, white peach, fresh moss and blackcurrant, with an agreeable touch of muscatel. This is an authentic, expressive young Riesling. The wine is dry and fresh on the palate, vivacious, nicely taut and elegantly structured, giving depth and persistence and a finish that positively encourages another sip. Despite its youth, this wine?s principal merit is its sincerity. It is clearly defined and ready to enjoy. Yet 2 or 3 more years in bottle would allow its elegant character and minerality to express itself, as only a Riesling can. Enjoy it now for its energy and typicity, or keep it for 3 to 5 years to discover its full bouquet and complexity. Serve it at 8°C. It will make an excellent aperitif. Or drink it with turbot, sea perch, monkfish, lobster, crayfish, seafood, pike-perch, pike, salmon, shellfish, scollops, and carpaccio of raw or marinated fish. Made exclusively from hand harvested grapes from predominantly clay and limestone vineyards, in a dozen of the most favored localities in and around Riquewihr. A cool and long growing season give this unique dry wine great finesse and unequalled intensity.The grapes are taken in small tubs to the presses, which are filled by gravity, without any pumping or other mechanical intervention. After pressing, the must is decanted for a few hours, then fermented in temperature-controlled barrels or vats (at 18 to 24°C). The wine is racked just once, before natural clarification during the course of the winter. The following spring, the wine is lightly filtered just before bottling, and the bottles are then aged in our cellars until released for sale.