thewineryuk

Heralding a flurry over the coming weeks, a welcome arrival from Pascal Chalon in the southern Rhône. Pure, fragrant, deep saturated fruit. Powerful, yet elegant. Biodynamic. No surprise that some of the labels & names have changed again but La Petite Ourse and La Grande Ourse remain as benchmarks.

Busy buzzy tasting at The Winery Fulham last night! Close at the top: a draw between Ursa Major Blanc, Pascal Chalon’s remarkably elegant southern Rhône white & Viña Sastre’s Ribera del Duero Crianza. Followed by Gerrit Walter’s sparkling Riesling Sekt & Wrath’s grownup Syrah. See you again soon!

You are invited to our next tasting on Thursday 16th October from 17.00-20.00h in our shop at 797 Fulham Road SW6 5HD. Germany, France, California and Spain are all represented.
bit.ly/4mf72ig
Our tastings are very casual, just drop in anytime and feel free to bring a friend.

Jonas & Martin Müllen, son and father team based in Traben-Trarbach on the Mosel. Utterly distinctive dry Rieslings from seriously steep slate vineyards that have an ethereal, shimmering beauty. The only grower(s) along the Mosel who exclusively use big old oak barrels rather than stainless steel.

It was great to see Rosi & Anthony Hanson again in Burgundy! Beautiful food, wine, company and location. 🙏🙏❤️

That was a busy tasting, spilling out onto the pavement! Our taboo wine, Hébrard’s St-Émilion Grand Cru Harmonie 2011, came out top, followed by the Desconcierto Rías Baixas Albariño. And then to Da Daniela's for a staff unwind.

And, when in the Beaujolais, visiting Anne-Sophie Dubois is always a pleasure. Admiring her new cellar and tasting her various Fleurie bottlings. Also, tasting her boyfriend Sylvain Martel’s Juliénas. 2023 was a generous vintage but 2024 was tiny. 2023s are really expressive.

It’s dfficult not to stop and admire La Roche de Solutré whenever we’re in the Mâconnais and Beaujolais.

You are invited to our next tasting on Tuesday 16th September from 17.00-20.00h at our shop in Clifton Road W9 featuring Champagne and wines from Galicia, Mosel, Rheinhessen, Bordeaux and Sardinia. bit.ly/4mf72ig
Our tastings are very casual, just drop in anytime and feel free to bring a friend.

Bonjour Aurélie ! It was a sunny day in southern Burgundy at the tail end of May. Cheveau very much on form across the range from the various Mâcons up to the multiple Pouilly-Fuissé 1er Crus. Check out the 3D map of the Pouilly-Fuissé 1er Crus!

Rewind a few months. Burgundy. Always chilled at Guillemot. Vincent showed us the latest wines – perfumed, silky & mouth-filling: our favourite Pinots in Savigny-les-Beaune. A treat to taste 2005 Serpentières. Mature, vigorous & haunting. “Would you like to take it for your dinner?” Yes, please!

We were asked to do another Wine Tasting for Formosa Garden. Despite the very real threat of rain, it was very busy. Winners were our very new dry Slate Riesling @weingut_deutschherrenhof in Trier & Champagne Amyot, our top seller for close to 30 years. Page 3 pics @cherylprax.bsky.social

Top scorers at last night’s tasting in Fulham were Deutschherrenhof’s Schiefer dry Riesling followed by Didier Roche’s Pécharmant Cuvée Veuve Roches. Lovely atmosphere, thanks for coming and see you at The Winery Maida Vale on Tuesday 16th of September!

You are invited to our next tasting Wednesday 20th August, 17.00-20.00h in our shop at 797 Fulham Road. bit.ly/4mf72ig
Our tastings are very casual, just drop in anytime and feel free to bring a friend. We look forward to welcoming you on Wednesday!

Meet Carina Jüngling at Paulinshof. We have always enjoyed Paulinshof dry Rieslings & after two trips to Altes Zollhaus Beilstein where Paulinshof popped up on their wine list, now finally was the time to drop in, taste & buy. They’ll be coming back with us in the van. Slatey Mosel magic. Excited!

Meet Sebastian Oberbillig of Deutschherrenhof in the outskirts of Trier on the Mosel.
His dry Rieslings (and one Pinot Noir) are as vibrant as his labels. And yes, they’ll be coming back with us in the van next weekend.

Meet Materne & Schmitt the ‘Wine Witches of Winningen‘, that’s what the locals called them after they arrived in 2012 followed by a few ‘challenging’ vintages. Their dry Rieslings are indeed magic potions - as dizzy and intense as the slopes they come from. We’ll be bringing some back in the van.

Missive from the Mosel. Well, hello! Yes, Altes Zollhaus in Beilstein is goood. We enjoyed it last year & this year it’s even better, thanks to excellent wine-list newcomers: some Gerrit Walter wines & this wonderful Paulinshof Riesling Spätlese trocken, which reminds us how good their wines are.

Chassagne-Montrachet, one of the three white Burgundy villages that make Burgundy lovers go giddy. Rightly so. Caroline Lestimé took over from her father, Jean-Noël Gagnard in 1989. Biodynamic since 2011, the 2023s are fabulous, whether under her Maison Caroline Lestimé label or Jean-Noël Gagnard.

The legend that is Russell Hone! We have learnt so much about Burgundy from Russell over 3 decades. His late wife Becky Wasserman was v influential, encouraging growers to bottle themselves, raising Burgundy’s profile. We were Chez Russell on our recent trip. Wonderful food, wine, company & stories.

Great to see Gerrit Walter today. Gerrit’s Rieslings are electric; our biggest selling dry Riesling for 15 or 16 years and, for many in Maida Vale, Fulham and beyond, their introduction to the joy of Riesling!

Prinz Hallgartener dry Riesling came equal 1st at last week’s tasting. From making wine in the family’s garage to a new building at the edge of the vines, Fred Prinz has always made quintessential Rheingau Rieslings. Exotic in the nose & mouth. Passion fruit & pineapple. Expressive & fleshy.

We visited Wrath again last October in California, 40 miles southeast of Monterey, to pick out the contenders for our latest order which has just landed. Pinot Noir is Wrath’s speciality and, as if to prove the point, their 2021 Pommard 4/777 bottling tied in 1st at our monthly tasting last night.

A lively tasting last night in Clifton Road! Out in front it was a tie between Prinz Hallgartener dry Riesling and Wrath Pinot Noir Pommard 4/777.

You are invited to our next tasting on Wednesday 9th July from 17.00-20.00h at The Winery Clifton Road W9. We have had a flurry of arrivals & will have Champagne, Rheingau, Sardinia, Rhône & California in the line-up. Our tastings are very casual, just drop in anytime & feel free to bring a friend.

Blimey – that was good!! A starry lunch at The Silver Birch in Chiswick. Very aspirational food, serious chef, charming staff. Eduard is a very enthusiastic Somm. Lovely, relaxed experience. Highly recommended.

Hafner at Wimbledon today! Message from our Goddaughter😃 : We’re having the best day so far! Greatly helped by this glorious bottle of Hafner xxx #hafnervineyard #wimbledon #californianwine #chardonnay

Hélène Michaut, the enthusiastic, energetic owner of Clos des Poulettes. Her wines are fabulous. Proper Pinot, proper red Burgundy: all perfume & silk. She also has an enviable spread of parcels in Nuits-St-Georges including the 1er Cru Clos des Poulettes, a monopole vineyard - exclusively hers.

Meanwhile in Vosne-Romanée, where did all the barrels go from Sirugue’s cellar? They showed up not far away - the other side of the RN74 - in Arnaud Sirugue & Sophie Noëllat’s brand new, expansive facility. Already functional, finishing touches are being made. End of an era & beginning of a new one.

In Vosne-Romanée, it’s the end of an era. Jean-Louis Sirugue & his sister Marie-France Wilmotte née Sirugue have retired & Domaine Sirugue has been split between their children. The barrels have left the cellar. We love Sirugue wines, have bought them for decades & will buy them until they run out.