amarchinthevines

Since landing back in the Languedoc I’ve heard little else from locals but how wet it has been over the winter. The wettest in 25 years seems to be the common consent. Much needed in many ways, the region has suffered from numerous droughts in the 15 years or so that I have lived in and visited there. The water table will finally be restored, so, hopefully, whatever heat arrives later in 2026 the vines will still have access to water.

After a brief chat with Jeff Coutelou on Thursday I went out into La Garrigue vineyard to see Flora and Gilles who were busy pruning the new plantation of Syrah. All good at first but, after popping down to the bottom of the vineyard to see the ditch which is currently a stream, the walk back up left me sinking into mud and shoes being pulled off feet as the soaked earth claimed them. Anyway it was good to see everyone and enjoy being back amongst the dormant vines, some sporting their new cuts. The contrast was transparent between the young plantation and older Syrah vines of La Garrigue which, in good vintages, make my favourite wine, La Vigne Haute.

The following day Jeff invited me over to taste through the wines in tank from 2025 as he was expecting a visit from the owners of New York City wine bar Horse With No Name. Cam and Christine with their 3 month old son duly arrived. They stock a good few of Jeff’s wines and, following his recent visit to the city, interest is high in Mas Coutelou there (and in this blog I am happy to report).

We started upstairs with the whites wines from stainless steel and concrete egg and again it became clear to me that the whites are the emerging stars of the domaine. Best of the lot was the free run Clairette, the juice which ran straight from the grapes before pressing. So complex with fruit, freshness and joy. That typical, welcome note of bitterness to refresh the palate too. It was interesting to contrast with the Clairette which had been pressed with more structure and tannin, good but not reaching the heights of that free run wine. The Xarel-lo was also lovely though quantities are way down in its second year of production after mildew ravaged the vines last year. Macabeu was good including from the egg (Macaboeuf) and the other big hit was TSCA, made from Terret Blanc, Servant, Clairette and Aramon planted in Segrairals vineyard. The Servant adds such an aromatic quality and there’s abundant fruit and acidity.

Down to the ground floor and red wines. My favourite was the wine which will be Ploutelou with its Cinsault and especially Aramon Noir. It is so juicy and fruit driven that you have to like it, a mix of delicious Beaujolais and more serious Jura Ploussard. The Grenache was also on song and, to a little bit of Jeff’s frustration, the Carignan. This plot, the Rec D’Oulette vineyard, produces some great wines, such as Flambadou 2016, but these are so often followed by vintages where the vines suffer from mildew or other problems requiring a lot of work to help them. Jeff had decided to grub up this vineyard (as I mentioned in the Carte Des Voeux report) but so good was the wine from last year that he has given it another year’s grace in the hope that a corner has been turned. Fingers crossed.

All in all it does appear that the 2025 vintage will be a superior one, the wines have lovely balance and depth as well as simple fruit pleasure. A very enjoyable and rewarding tasting. Jeff was driving up the following day to La Dive, the celebrated tasting in the Loire, and hopefully some good sales of the 2024 to clear room for the 25s when they are ready to bottle. Meanwhile I was just glad to be back with my friend (and Icare of course) in one of my favourite places, muddy shoes or no.

The Festive season is always a time to open some good bottles and share with family and friends. I wanted to share some of the successes because they deserve praise. And.. one bottle which was fine but ultimately a little disappointing.

Let’s start with Jeff Coutelou of course. A number of bottles were opened but one stood out, Rome 2023. This is mainly Cinsault from old gobelet vines in my favourite vineyard, the eponymous Rome. There are other varieties too, all three colours of Grenache, Muscat of various kinds too with the addition of white grapes such as Servant and Clairette from other vineyards. This has always been good, lots of clean, red fruit with nice structure but a little bit of time has brought it all into harmony, a real sweet spot. In the UK Gergovie are selling Rome in magnums which would be even better.

A few kilometres up the road is another favourite estate, Mas Des Capitelles. They work biodynamically and make full red wines largely based on Carignan and Grenache and they age the wines for a few years before they are released. Crescendo 2019 is made up of Mourvèdre, old Carignan and some Grenache. One of those bottles which changed with every glass, practically every mouthful. Dark fruits, tannins and balance. Lovely.

One more red though much lighter in nature. I have become increasingly fond of light reds and Jean-Christophe Garnier’s Les Nouettes 2024 fits that bill perfectly at just 10.5% abv. Pale in colour like a Gamay or Pinot Noir this is from the Anjou with a 50-50 split of Grolleau and Pineau D’Aunis. Spicy, herby and red fruits it was another bottle to reveal new features as the bottle disappeared.

Two other wines to add to the hit list, both white. Sylvain Pataille is a much admired producer from Marsannay in Burgundy who works biodynamically with minimal sulphur. This Marsannay 2020 was made with Chardonnay from five vineyards including Clos Du Roy, aged for 18 months in barrel (one third new). The result is exactly what you’d hope for from a good quality Burgundy – citrus and peach fruit with a light nutty note and a lovely salty, dry finish. Lovely.

Possibly my favourite wine was from Lucy Margaux based in the Basket Range of the Adelaide Hills. I was fortunate enough to visit the winery and meet Anton van Klopper in 2024 and was hugely impressed. I was able to buy a bottle of Le Sauvignon Sensuel 2022 here in the UK and it was superb. There’s so much going on in the wine; freshness, zesty fruits, a salty minerality. It was vibrant, refreshing and delicious. Such a great wine, what a producer. I love the hand made labels.

I don’t usually include negativity in these reports but I thought it was worth mentioning a wine which was perfectly good but just a bit dull and disappointing. It was also the most expensive bottle in my cellar, money doesn’t always buy success. Henschke Edelstone Shiraz 2004 was bought a few years ago at a much lighter price than the approximately £120 cost new now. It was very nice, classic blackcurrant, mint and dark fruits, good tannins even at twenty years old. It just lacked excitement, it didn’t develop or add nuance. I can’t fault it but I’d take any of the other bottles mentioned first and together they cost about the same as this one.

Santa kindly brought me a copy of Pascaline Lepeltier’s fantastic ‘One Thousand Vines’, probably the most authoritative wine book I have read. Plus some nice new glasses from IKEA, cheap but very good especially at concentrating aromas. Of course a few nice bottles arrived too including some interesting sherry. So, we reach 2026 and I shall be heading down to the Languedoc later this month for a catch up and will bring you the news. I hope that 2026 brings happiness and health no matter how worrying the state of the world around us.

The image above is of the last leaf to fall from the two vines I planted this year, one Regent and one Bacchus. With such a warm year they grew well, both are babies though and will strengthen with time. The warm weather also brought humidity and mildew however, something I realise will be an annual problem in the NE of England. It was fun to watch their progress this year and I look forward to seeing them grow in 2026 and beyond.

Part one of this recap of the year’s wines concentrated on those from around the world. This one will focus on European producers, the heart of my wine consumption. Naturally the wines of Jeff Coutelou make up the most important for me and the vendanges were a true joy this year. The most notable wine of Jeff’s this year was the new cuvée Sauve Qui Pleut, based on the Xarel-lo grape from the new plantation on the terrace of Peilhan vineyard. These vines thrived from the first day and the first wine shows lovely fresh minerality and texture, I can’t wait to see how the wine and vines will develop in the years to come.

France has always been, and always will be, my favourite wine producing country. Wines from Alsace and the Jura shone for me. Charlotte and Cyril Delval have a tiny amount of vines near Poligny and I imagine they shower care on the production they have. The result in the cuvée Céline 2020 was outstanding, Pinot Gris grapes macerated to produce a rosé colour from the natural skin taint of that grape. The maceration adds texture and flavour of red fruit, a lovely wine. Vignoble Du Rêveur is the project of Mathieu Deiss and Emmanuelle Milan, both from well known viticultural families. Rien Ne Bouge 2023 is made of Pinot Noir grapes which are macerated in Gewurztraminer grape juice for 15 days. The result is another light red wine with Pinot red fruit boosted by the spice and floral notes of the Gewurz, intriguing, enjoyable and characterful.

Iberia has become a growing source of excellent wines for me, the combination of indigenous grapes, ancient vineyards and variations in climate help to produce wines of great character in the hands of talented producers. For example, Ossian 2021 is made from Verdejo grapes produced by pre-phylloxera vines in the Segovia region north of Madrid. The wine was fascinating with its mix of viscous citrus, spice and nutty oxidative notes – a really great wine telling a story. Casa Balaguer’s Salicorno Moscatel 2024 was one of my favourite orange wines of the year. Moscatel / Muscat d’Alexandrie grapes grown just 50m from the Mediterranean near Alicante on sandy soils (like the Ossian). Skin contact for 5 days and then 6 months in tank and the result is a wine of depth, distinct notes of yellow fruits and, dare I say, oranges with a lovely saline, fresh finish. Another example of this grape making excellent orange wines. Celler Pardas ‘Sus Scrofa’ 2022 comes from Penedes, Catalonia made with the local Sumoll grape variety. Bright, juicy red fruits almost like a Beaujolais, a wine I’d enjoy at any time. Finally, from the Sousa region of Portugal, east from Porto, was a very drinkable, refreshing and mineral white Vinho Verde 2021 made by Sem Igual. I enjoyed a number of bottles through the year (and will over Christmas) and it’s white flower and citrus / apple profile really hits the spot.

2026 will bring a trip to Austria and hopefully a better familiarity with some of the excellent wines being made there. Claus Preisinger’s Kalkstein 2023 comes from the Neusiedlersee, Burgenland, south of Vienna. Preisinger produces quite a wide range but this Blaufränkisch is my favourite so far, pure cherry and dark fruits with freshness and very drinkable. Lovely, and it has whetted my appetite for the trip next June and the promise of another exciting wine year.

I hope you have enjoyed my selection of wines of 2025 and I would like to thank you for taking the trouble to read about them. Numbers have risen greatly this year and I am very appreciative, it makes the writing worthwhile. May I wish you a very happy and healthy New Year.

Character. That’s what I enjoy in a wine. Whether it be natural, organic or conventional I want a wine that tells me a story and shows character. That could be the character of the grape, the winemaker, the place – preferably more than one of those. We have all had wines, often by the glass, which taste ok but could be anything – identifiable by only the most brilliant blind taster. Supermarkets sell these by the thousand. Nor do I want a wine recognisable by its faults, whether mousiness, cork taint or bad decisions by winemakers such as too much oak.

So, when I looked back through photos of the bottles I had enjoyed this year it was character that influenced my pick of wines which made most impact and which I enjoyed the most.

English (and Welsh) wines made a big impression on me in 2025. I have enjoyed a fair number in the past from producers such as Davenport and Westwell but this year I was able to enjoy more examples and I think that the quality is rising at a serious pace. My favourite bottle is one I have described here a number of times, Mountain People‘s TAM 2023, a Chardonnay made in Wales by the excellent David Morris. Actually produced from grapes grown in Somerset this would easily rival many a top Jura wine. I had a few bottles through the year including this one shared with Jeff Coutelou (background left) who liked it a lot.

Westwell sold a really lovely wine called A Little Bit, 2023, which I really enjoyed. Made from the third pressing of Pinot Noir and Meunier grapes and therefore the press had to be firm making the juice too tannic and coloured for sparkling wine. yet, it made a light but fruity rosé/red with a nice grip. A triumph of getting the most from your grapes. Blackbook winery is based in Battersea, London and makes grapes from within two hours of its base. I could choose a number of their wines but Pinot Meunier 2022 was my favourite. Nicely judged skin contact gave a lovely colour and mouthfeel as well as stone fruit flavours.

The New World continues to produce some great wines, South America included. I bought a bottle of Le Petit Voyage Criolla 2020 on a quick visit to a wine bar in Durham on a whim. It turned out to have bags of fresh red fruit flavour, a real treat from Argentina’s Uco Valley. A nice discovery. I enjoyed a few wines from Chile’s A Los Vinateros Bravos but especially the Pais Granitico 2022, nice acidity balanced by cherry fruit flavours. Both of these wines tell the story of early colonial vines imported into the continent by the Spanish but finding a home there which brings out a real sense of place, grape and enjoyment too!

Three wines from Australia and New Zealand complete this first section of my 2025 selections. I do think that Canterbury producer Hermit Ram‘s Theo Coles is one of the best winemakers around and any bottle of his is memorable but the Field Blend Amphora 2021 was particularly so. Riesling, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Gewurztraminer make for an unusual combination but the fruit of the red grapes is lifted by the freshness of the whites making for joyful aroma and flavour. The amphora gives texture to the mix too so that those flavours lingered long in the mouth.

Ochota Barrels is another excellent source from Down Under. Amber Ochota has continued the fine work of her husband Taras after his tragically early death and I thoroughly enjoyed The Price of Silence Gamay 2023 with its fruitiness and spice highlighting the pleasures of the grape. Also from the Adelaide Hills region came Commune of Buttons‘ Basketolo 2022 made from Nebbiolo and again so full of that grape’s character with its fresh acidity and bite as well as generous red fruits, a lovely food wine.

Wines from around the world rather than mainland Europe but it is to there I shall turn in my next article.

Time to get back to work. A thunderstorm overnight meant there was no picking on Monday September 1st and so I turned up on Tuesday ready for action. I popped over to Sainte Suzanne first as the newish parcel of whites, Maccabeu and Clairette were the focus for the day. On a clear morning with the sun not long risen it was fresh after the rain, a good time to be back. The vines showed ravages from mildew with the brown spots of the disease but the grapes were in good nick.

Into the cellar and the Maccabeu was beginning to arrive, pressed directly. Pièr, this year’s stagiaire, was the one loading the grapes into the press. He’s a bright, enthusiastic lad from the Anjou and has experience in the work, he is the son of Jean Christophe Garnier, so it’s a real help to Jeff to be able to leave him to do tasks along with Flora in the cellar.

From there upstairs into the courtyard of the house leading into the upper cellar where the sorting table has been positioned since 2020 when being outside was a healthy option for all. It works very well, there is more space for everyone there and in the cellar itself. Plus the fresh air and dappled sunshine make it a pleasant place to be. Alongside me on the table were Boris, who has been coming to help Jeff for many years now, Mari from the village and Jean-Jacques from nearby Bédarieux. These two have worked together before in wine, with Didier Barral for example. So we form an experienced team and they are good company as we chat over the course of the day.

The Clairette was in good order other than a few dried stems from mildew and the morning passed swiftly. The Clairette from Segrairals also arrived including the attractive pink Clairette Rose which brightens the mix. These grapes have been making the eponymous cuvée for the last few years and it has become one of my favourite bottles from Jeff, the Clairette has a lovely freshness but a bitter note too to add a touch of grown up complexity. A year or two in bottle is recommended, at least to my taste.

It was a hot day and my body was aching after my first day. I have chosen to just work some days this year, I am now officially a pensioner! Wednesday went ahead without me at the winery and Jeff told me that evening there’d been one calamity (not because I wasn’t there I hasten to add). One of the pumps had broken down and couldn’t be repaired for a few days therefore he was having to redraft plans. The day was given to the Cinsault from Segrairals, now one of the biggest crops of all and the source of fruit for cuvées 5SO and Vin Des Amis.

I returned on Thursday and again the early grapes were going directly into press. This was still the Cinsault but from a part of the vineyard which had suffered a little so the grapes were fragile and Jeff wanted to extract the juice without the skins. When that couple of rows had gone into the press the rest of the Cinsault was taken back to sorting table for fermentation on skins.

Cinsault is so generous, the big open leaves seem to hint at the friendly fruitiness of the juice, the typically big sized grapes almost bursting through the thin skins. It has to be picked at the right moment or it will cross over into over ripe and flabby. These bunches were good sized and healthy. Well the vast majority. Frustratingly some of the bigger, tighter packed bunches have to be checked carefully, breaking them open because ver de la grappe, the grape moth larva loves these bunches. The moth lays its eggs in the young bunch and the larva eat their way through the centre leaving a powdery black mess. Not what you want in your wine. Careful selection, in the vineyard and sorting table, is needed to ensure only good grapes go into the tank.

The afternoon brought a change of grape variety, Grenache from La Garrigue. I had noted the bunches when touring the vineyards last week and they arrived in good order. Hardly any ver de la grappe thankfully, the major issue was effects from mildew. The leaf marking is unsightly but not serious however, when the mildew affects the bunches it dries out the fruit causing buds not to develop into grapes and leaving gaps on the stalks or hard, dried grains.

Fortunately the vast majority of bunches were in very good condition and the tanks began to fill with Pièr keeping a close watch. After that, everyone’s full effort is given to cleaning the equipment thoroughly, none spared in ensuring that cleanliness rules so that we make wine in healthy, optimal conditions. This is essential for any winemaking but particularly when no chemical additions are made to the wine, the wine has to look after itself.

Two good days of work, encouraging signs from the grapes and the infant wines. It was a pleasure to be back even if I am not as involved as previous years. And all supervised by another old chap.