Each Bottle, Each Year

We are back and easing slowly into the new year. After the chaos of Christmas, now is a time for both reflection and looking ahead. Winemaking, as much as anything, requires this way of thinking. It takes the time it takes. The labours of yesterday will be enjoyed tomorrow.

2025 was a wonderful vintage in the UK. A long, dry summer meant good yields and high quality, mature fruit. It's exciting to think of the wines that will come from it over the next few years. The still wines in particular should be excellent.

Elsewhere in Europe, southern France and northern Spain remained in near-drought conditions, with record early-harvests, and wildfires in the hills of Corbières. The Loire saw localised heatwaves and crippling hailstorms in July. In Alsace, a very very wet 2024 left the soils rich in nitrogen, so 2025 fermentations have been stable and quick. Germany recovered well from a dreadful, frostbitten 2024. Italy also had a good 2025 - with a warning that yields might've been too high in many regions, meaning overproduction in a (slightly) declining market; a problem France is 'solving' by paying growers to rip out entire vineyards . . .

And yet, wine persists. The wine-drinkers of the future will note these factors the same way they do the catastrophic frosts of 1956 in Bordeaux and of 1991 in the Loire. And who of us can forget the French heatwave of 1893?

Each bottle, each year. So it goes.

This is not to downplay the very real and existential threat of man-made climate change - a threat to everything as we know it, not simply wine. More to reflect on wine's ability - through thoughtful, watchful, and hardworking winemakers of the kind we work with - to reflect, adapt, and find new ways to move forward.

Cheers to that!

Christopher

New arrivals:

Freija No. 1 (alcohol free)
Brand - Pfalz, Germany
£16.50

Wonderful, wild, and aromatic, zero-alcohol, zero-additive sparkler from Germany. Herbal teas made from foraged ingredients from both the Brand and Baumberger (GlowGlow) family vineyards, blended with their grape juice, carbonated, with a dash of raspberry. That's it. The ingredient list is short and completely natural - a sight you rarely see on many zero-alcohol alternatives. Best not to think of this as wine. Pet Nat-adjacent grape soft drink with wine-like complexity? Whatever. It's its own thing. Very refreshing. Properly delicious.

Also new in, we have two beautiful pinot noirs from Yann Durrmann in Alsace. Rouge de Pinot Noir 2024 (£31.00) is the benchmark red from the domaine, made with their own fruit and with that trademark Durrmann freshness. Red hedgerow fruits, some earth and spice, and a little brittle tannin adding structure and warmth. Pinot Noir Rouge Gorge (£27.00) means "red throat" and has a lovely robin on the label (see below), is the lighter, crunchier of the two. More immediate and with a very satisfying tart bite. Both would be perfect company to a Sunday lunch.

Midrium 2023 (£22.00) is a rustic winter-warmer from the south of France. 100% old-vine Carignan, this is sappy, dense, and dark-fruited, while still heady with herbaceous notes. Great value southern charm.

And if you're in the market for a treat, Premier Quartier 2023 (£42.00) is a stunning northern-Rhone Syrah from near Saint-Joseph. This has all the depth and richness you'd expect from wines of this area, but with lifted freshness, vivid dark fruit, and a delicious touch of briny black olives and garrigue. A true wine of place.