Around of applause, please, as we welcome Haynes Hanson & Clark to the Spectator Wine Club. Hurrah! Established almost 50 years ago with shops in Chelsea and the Cotswolds, HHC is a firm favourite of canny wine lovers and I’m delighted to offer their wines. Buying director Sióbhan Astbury sent me some absolute peaches to choose from and it was a thorny exercise narrowing them down, hindered (rather than helped) by Mrs Ray who, with a curt ‘I’m on the phone!’, nicked one of the bottles and buggered off upstairs with it.
Welcome Haynes Hanson & Clark – a firm favourite of canny wine lovers
The 2023 Domaine Gayda ‘Sphère’ Viognier (1) is a charmer from an eye-catching estate in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Owners Tim Ford and Anthony Record and winemaker Vincent Chansault have turned Gayda into a special place where you can taste, dine and stay, and their wines are always worth a punt. Their Viognier is peachy, apricotty and toasty, with just enough acidity for freshness. I love it and its price. £11 down from £12.65.
The 2023 Tinhof Grüner Veltliner (2) is right up my strasse, being a delicious, brilliantly priced example of this most Austrian of varieties. Made in Burgenland by 11th–generation winzer Erwin Tinhof from 40-year-old vines, it might be rather muted on the nose but is full of generous crunchy green apple and citrus fruit in the mouth and makes a great food wine. £13.75 down from £15.65.
I’m pretty sure the 2022 Kellerei Kurtatsch Kerner (3) is the first example we’ve ever offered of this grape variety, a cross between Trollinger and Riesling grown right across the Alto Adige. Made by a well-run 125-year-old co-operative, it’s racy, lemony and peppery and has the freshness of a true mountain wine. £16.60 down from £19.10.
The 2023 Vinos de Altura Gancedo Mencía (4), from a modern estate in Bierzo in north-west Spain, is an ideal summer red. Fermented in open tanks and aged in French oak, it’s similar to fine Beaujolais (and considerably cheaper), being a deep cherry red and full of juicy, jammy, bramble fruit. There’s a touch of youthful tannin and it benefits from a light chilling. £13 down from £15.10.
As does the 2020 Domaine des Sanzay Saumur-Champigny (5), a fresh, lively Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley. I would love to have a regular supply of this in my fridge for the summer, if I thought there was a chance Mrs Ray would leave me any. Dom des Sanzay is certified organic and the wine-making immaculate and this is a joy – full of concentrated mulberry/blackberry/blackcurrant fruit with a long refreshing finish. £13.75 down from £15.75.
The 2022 Cascina Alberta Barbera d’Alba (6) from the Guermani brothers in Piedmont, north-west Italy, is soft and juicy with gentle tannins, lively acidity and buckets of ripe raspberry/cherry fruit. I might drink far too much wine, but I don’t drink enough Italian wine and this has prompted me to ensure that I do. £15.50 down from £17.50.
Finally, as a swanky, blue-chip add-on, we’ve the glorious 2020 Scorpo Old Cherry Orchard 10k Pinot Noir (7) from Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia. If you like top-notch Pinot you will absolutely love this. From a much-lauded boutique estate, it’s soft, smooth and giving, with wonderfully ripe red and dark berry fruit and the longest, most sophisticated of finishes. I only had a couple of mouthfuls but was completely smitten. Mrs R, who’s half Aussie and a complete Pinotphile, spotted the words ‘Pinot Noir’ and ‘Australia’ and, as I say, snuck the bottle upstairs and drained it while gassing at length on the phone to her sister, who only lives a few doors down. I don’t know why they can’t go to the pub like normal folk and leave my vino alone. £45 down from £52, available only in a half-dozen case.
The mixed case has two bottles each of wines 1-6. Wine 7 is available in a six-bottle box. Delivery, as ever, is free.
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