Pauline Lair’s avant-garde urban winery in Angers takes its name from the length of the great Loire River, which flows 1,006km from its source in the Ardèche to the Atlantic Ocean. Here in the heart of the city she crafts tiny amounts of natural wines that reflect the unique terroirs of the Loire Valley. Pauline works only with partner growers who are farming organically in emblematic regions such as Côtes-du-Forez, Touraine, Anjou and the Pays Nantais. They are beautiful, natural and honest wines with real vitality.
Halesworth
Bruno Lafon Le P’tit Chardo 2021
Bruno Lafon wines are wines Bruno personally endorses with passion. With more than 30 years of experience in wine-making and viticulture, Bruno has a unique insight and feeling for seeking out exceptional wines across the pricing spectrum. His extensive experiences, first as Head of Comte Lafon in the 1980’s, then as founder of his own estate in the South of France have given him a unique and respected place in the international wine industry.
Bruno Lafon Le P’tit Pinot 2021
Bruno Lafon wines are wines Bruno personally endorses with passion. With more than 30 years of experience in wine-making and viticulture, Bruno has a unique insight and feeling for seeking out exceptional wines across the pricing spectrum. His extensive experiences, first as Head of Comte Lafon in the 1980’s, then as founder of his own estate in the South of France have given him a unique and respected place in the international wine industry.
Bruno Lafron Le P’tit Rosé 2022
The development of Les P’tits Cépages wines would not have been possible without the relationships that Bruno was able to establish with several Languedoc growers over the last twenty years or so.
Bruno Lafon wines are wines Bruno personally endorses with passion. With more than 30 years of experience in wine-making and viticulture, Bruno has a unique insight and feeling for seeking out exceptional wines across the pricing spectrum. His extensive experiences, first as Head of Comte Lafon in the 1980’s, then as founder of his own estate in the South of France have given him a unique and respected place in the international wine industry.
Cà di Rajo Lemoss col fondo
This independent family-owned winery in Piave has been going since 1931. They own all their own vineyards, don’t buy in any grapes or wines, and so are able to maintain high standards every step of the way. Refreshing Lemoss is made in an old-fashioned col fondo cloudy style: zero dosage, unfiltered and frizzante. They do a bit of pink fizz made from rare Manzoni Rosa, a 1920s crossing of Trebbiano Toscana and Gewürztraminer, and of which there remain just a few vineyards left.
Cantina Sobrero Langhe Nebbiolo
Established in the 1940s by Francesco Sobrero, this family-run winery has been carefully managed by third generation Flavio Sobrero since 2000. The family manages 16 hectares, three quarters of which are located in the heart of Langhe’s Castiglione Falletto region. Producing some of the region’s top-tier Langhe Nebbiolo, Sobrero is also lucky enough to own vines within six magnificent Crus: Villero, Pernanno, Ornato, Piantà, Valentino and Parussi. We were incredibly impressed by the balance between old and new school Nebbiolo expressions, and the conversion to organics in 2020 marks a new chapter in their family history.
Casa los Frailes Monastrell 2022
One of Spain’s first certified organic producers back in 2002, this altitudinous farm (650- 700m) in the Terres de Alforins has been in the hands of the Velázquez family since 1771. Vines have been grown here since the 13th century with bushvine Monastrell the mainstay to this day. Casa los Frailes has particularly old plots, dry farmed and more than 75-years-old. Yields are very low and quality is very high. Longstanding traditions persist in the cellar too, with old clay amphorae and concrete tanks built by the Jesuits in the 17th & 18th centuries still in use.
Cossetti Barbera d’Asti Superiore 2020
Clementina Cossetti is the fourth-generation winemaker in the heart of Asti, where her family has been farming for well over a century. It was in 1891 that Giovanni Cossetti first built a winery, and his son Clemente began achieving wider renown for their wines in the early years of the twentieth century. Within the current vineyards where vines are on average 30-years-old, the yields are kept low and historically Barbera has performed exceptionally. The Cossetti family prioritise this and also make awesome bottlings of more obscure local Piemontese varieties like Ruchè, Grignolino and Albarossa.
Frederic Guilbaud Muscadet sur lie
Frédéric Guilbaud and Emmanuel Tuffreau make revolutionary Muscadet for an adventurous age. Their vines are certified Terre Vitis and the wines are made at Château La Bretonnerie, where Frédéric’s family has been farming for three generations, and combine all that inherited knowledge and understanding of the region with old, well-established vineyards, but packaged up radically new ways, including barrel fermentation and traditional method sparkling wines.
Holton Lodge cheese & wine case plus two half price tickets
The Holton Lodge, Cheese & Wine experience case and two half price tickets for the tasting on the 29th September, 7pm
Includes Half a Kilo of Cheese and Five selected wines
In order to make sure the cheese is fresh and kept at the correct temperature, this box will be delivered after the event.
Maison Ventenac Coup de Chance 2022
Olivier Ramé’s ever-changing, always interesting blend, this year with Petit Manseng, Sauvignon Blanc and Colombard, making for a medium-bodied, gently aromatic easy drinking southern French white in a similar vein to the Petit Xavier, but at an even keener price
Maison Ventenac Le Paria 2022
Winemakers Stephanie & Olivier Ramé, a husband and wife team, are the third generation of their family to run the show at Maison Ventenac. Their vineyards are in Cabardès, the only Languedoc appellation that allows both Atlantic and Mediterranean grape varieties, so offering a unique exploration of flavours. Their specific location around the village of Ventenac-Cabardès is famed for its limestone, chalky soils, which they say gives their wines their saline & fresh characters. The winemaking philosophy is to allow their unique terroir to shine through in the wines, presenting them as naturally as possible and raising in tuns, terra cotta urns and concrete vats to enhance their purity. They are also experimenting with winemaking without sulfites but deploying non-saccharomyces yeast to avoid spoilage from the likes of brettanomyces.
Trêve Estivale Rosé, Langudoc
Once upon a time there was a village called Ventenac, located in the heart of the Aude region of France. In this special place, vines stretch across the rolling foothills of the Pyrenees, caressed by warm breezes.” But the work is hard and the aches are close. In the middle of all these efforts appears the summer break. A breathing space. The calm comes back to the vineyard, because man finished his work… and the grapes ripen under the sun, always dancing to the rythm of the wind. Aromas of ripe strawberry and raspberry. On the palate it is fruity, round and lively. A lingering finish.