I’m just back from a week in Alsace and I can’t stop grinning. It’s my favourite of all French wine regions, ridiculously pretty and warmly welcoming. The winemakers are just so genial and – unlike many other regions we can all think of – inherently collaborative, forever bigging up the wares of their rivals, who are invariably also their close friends.
I’m delighted, then, that one of the wines that Laura Taylor of Private Cellar put up for tasting for this offer was the 2021 Domaine Allimant-Laugner Pinot Blanc (1), a bottle of which I shared with the owner-winemaker Nicolas Laugner only the other day. A blend of Pinot Blanc and Pinot Auxerrois, it’s fresh and fruity with that inimitable creamy, peachy ‘Alsace-ness’ that I love so much. It’s also great with food as, indeed, all Alsace wines are. Choucroute garnie anyone? £14.95 down from £15.50.
Private Cellar are brilliant at winkling out wines like this
We’ve offered the 2017 Chanson Mâcon-Villages (2) before, and I couldn’t resist doing so again because it’s in cracking form – a great wine from a top vintage and a celebrated producer. We kicked off our notorious Spectator Clays, Claret and Cognac Cruise with it last year, and Laura tells me that there are just 20 dozen bottles left. You’d be mad to miss it. £16.95 down from £17.50.
The 2019 Rijk’s Private Cellar Chenin Blanc (3) is a barrel-fermented beauty from Tulbagh, South Africa. We offered the 2018 vintage here before and this is even better, with rich, rounded quince and pear fruit backed by a long toasty, buttery finish. This is Chenin Blanc at its tastiest best. £18.45 down from £19.
The 2021 Badilante, Podere 414 (4) is the latest vintage of a Speccie favourite. It sells out every time. Simone Castelli’s award-winning estate in Maremma specialises in Sangiovese (known there as Morellino), and this is mouth-wateringly juicy with fresh cherry fruit and a seductively smooth, easygoing finish. £14.40 down from £14.95.
With dread Christmas on the horizon, the 2019 Château Beaulieu (5) should be on every claret lover’s shopping list. An oak-aged, Merlot-based blend from 40-year-old vines, it’s velvety soft and deliciously concentrated with plenty of briary fruit and tobacco. Private Cellar are brilliant at winkling out wines like this and I love it. £12.45 down from £13.
For barely a fiver more, there’s the 2016 Château La Fagnouse (6), a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru of some style. 2016 was a stunning vintage and this, from the eastern side of the appellation, is bang on song with ripe tannins and fulsome fruit melding perfectly. PC bought the very last pallet of it and once it’s gone, it’s gone. £16.95 down from £17.50.
That would have been it, but my head was turned by the delectable 2019 Mehofer Pinot Noir (7) from Wagram, north-west of Vienna. Pinot Noir grows increasingly well here, in the land of Zweigelt and Grüner Veltliner, and this is spot on with fresh and sour cherries, spice and even a whisper of chocolate on the finish. Given that, equivalent quality red burgundy would be at least £25, it’s a blooming bargain. £18.70 down from £19.25.
And that really would have been it, had Mrs T not told me in passing that lurking in the PC cellars were several magnum boxes of the 2019 Pinuaga Colección (8). Made in Tierra de Castilla in central Spain from a special clone of organically farmed, single-vineyard Tempranillo, it’s rich, full and fruity and – in magnum – my absolute go-to vino for rambling Sunday lunches. £41.50 down from £43.95 per magnum.
There’s no mixed case, just tasty wine in unmixed dozens (or six magnums) at pre-duty increase prices. Delivery is free.
Oh, and by the way, Private Cellar’s new wine list coincides with this offer so if you fancy a good read with great wines, email hello@privatecellar.co.uk or give Laura a call on 01353 721999.
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