☁️DREAMIN' OF LA DIVE ☁️

Hey lovely lot,

Apologies for the later-than-usual email. I’m still getting back up to speed after our Salon Sesh across the Loire. So much fun was had, and I’m sure our resident wordsmith, Megan, will cover the adventure in further detail at some point. But for now, you're stuck with me.

To kick things off we tasted the new Zeroine gear which is still bouncing around in my now-dehydrated brain. This is the project from Maylis Bernard, aka Ms. Ganevat, aka all-around queen. Her wines are pure class, and in my humble opinion, they edged out her hubby’s offerings (don’t tell him that). Her Crémant stood out with its laser-focus and that signature salty finish. Very much up with some of the elite champagne we tasted on the day. There is also a super-limited Gringet, sourced from the late, great Belluard Estate. After three years of élevage, it’s savoury, seductive and simply stunning.

We’ve also put together a little party pack featuring some of the more sought-after of her wines. Megan and I agreed (rarer than you’d think btw) that the Oxy Savagnin was a particular highlight. It had such a long, driving finish with perfectly integrated nutty and saline oxy notes. The Chardonnay? Electric, with more salt and sesame. Finally, GaGa is a juicy, herbal gem made from Fleurie fruit.

On the topic of Jura Packs aren’t I nice? ;)

I could honestly go on and on about all the wines we tasted, but a few favs that are resting on the shelves are as follows. The Champagne offering provided much relief and energy in what was a mammoth exercise for the palate. Despite being kindly told off by Vouette Sorbee for swirling too much (apparently that’s a no-no in Champagne? I’m still not convinced, but hey, he knows best), the wines were singing as usual. Fidele is a great intro to the powerful house style. Textures from the rarely spotted Pinot Blanc was even more expansive and it felt almost criminal to taste in the small tasting glasses. Laval might have pipped it. Relaxed and effortlessly calm among the chaos, perched on his stool, the wines (mostly expressive Meuniers) convinced me to start the dangerous theme of abandoning the spittoon. How these are still knocking about is beyond me…

It was also fantastic to catch up with some of our imports. I’ve long admired Jef’s wines from afar, so it was nice to finally put a face to the name. His energy was chaotic in the best way, and the wines were singing. Meet the man himself when he’s at Kens next week! He mentioned he was staying with 15 other winemakers in a big house with a jacuzzi. We politely declined the invite to spend the night in the sweaty waters before catching up with Vincent Gross. Everything was on point. Not even the exceptional new vintages could stop the tasting from being interrupted by a fan-girling Jaime after spotting one of the Supervino bros. You know, the TikTok winos? Yea me neither… However,  if their content gets the youth of today to drink the good stuff, I ain’t mad about it!

There was plenty more familiar faces showing why they’ve got a much-deserved place on our shelves. Beck, Marto & Alanna, COS highlighting the insane value that is to be hand. Whilst Muster, Vino Di Anna and Princic gave us a beautiful insight into their unique corners of the wine world. Gotta stop, as I’ve gotta go break down boxes, stock shelves, and recover from my never-ending hangover…

LYSM
Fionn
XOXO