Mimi, where have you been? It’s been too long! You never ring, you never write, you never text… But what a treat to bump into you at Vintners’ Hall the other week and what a treat, finally, to welcome Averys of Bristol to the Spectator Wine Club.
I last worked with Mimi Avery – the fifth generation of her family to work at the company that bears her name – during my distant Telegraph days, and we did many offers together. This is the first time, though, that Averys have graced The Spectator’s pages.
Mimi, daughter of the great John Avery, former chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine, is the company’s brand ambassador and is rightly proud of its heritage. It was, after all, the first British wine merchant to list mighty Ch. Pétrus, the first to list such California ‘icon’ wines as Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, the first to list fabled Penfolds from Oz and the first to import quality Kiwi wine.
In short, Averys knows its stuff and it was great to reacquaint myself with its vino, my favourites of which are below.
The 2023 Domaine de Ménard Cuvée Marine (1), from the glory that is Gascony, is a blend of Colombard, Gros Manseng and Sauvignon Blanc, produced by Elizabeth Francois at family-owned Domaine de Menard. Named after the marine fossils that comprise the vineyard’s soils, it’s fresh, juicy, dry to off-dry, with hints of pineapple, peach and grapefruit. Averys’s answer to Picpoul. £10.99.
The 2022 Averys Fine Organic Riesling (2) is so pale I thought I’d picked up my water glass. One sniff of that petrolly, wet slate, honeyed apple nose, though, and it was unmistakably and deliciously German (Pfalz) Riesling.
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