January Wine Club | 22 January 2015

The end of the month is nigh and the sorry few still on the January water wagon are no doubt clinging to it by their fingertips, knuckles ever whiter. I’m not trying to tempt any of you to jump off prematurely, I promise, but we’ve some cracking wines this week courtesy of FromVineyardsDirect, those crafty runners-to-ground of hidden treats and treasures.

I don’t know what the vinous equivalent of a truffle hound is, but FromVineyardsDirect must have a few in the kennel, because nobody is better at coming up with bargain parcels from the unlikeliest of places than FVD’s Esme Johnstone and David Campbell.

The 2011 La Réserve Claret (1) is a case in point. We offered the previous vintage, which proved extremely popular, in March last year, and the 2011 is a worthy successor. Produced by Jonathan Maltus, the maverick English winemaker behind St Emilion clarets such as Château Teyssier, Château Laforge and the cult Le Dôme — whose 2010 vintage scored an extraordinary 100/100 from Robert Parker — La Réserve has an impeccable pedigree.

A blend of Merlot (lots) and Cabernet Sauvignon (not much), it’s rich, ripe and soft and extremely approachable. There’s lots of juicy dark fruit here with a persistent finish and if you could bung it in a carafe or decanter I would. An under-ten-quid house claret from the producer of a Parker 100-pointer? If that’s not a rarity worth snapping up, I don’t know what is. £9.95.

Travel a little further west into Bergerac and you will find the 15th-century Château de Fayolle, the top wine of which is 2012 Château de Fayolle ‘Sang du Sanglier’ (2). The terroir here is excellent — limestone, chalk and clay as it is in St Emilion — and the blend of grapes is similar too, with a preponderance of Merlot.