The arrival of summer brought a taste for white wines in June, happily the quality of the wines sated that taste. I mentioned in previous posts that I had purchased a number of Chablis wines trying to establish better understanding of the region’s ‘minerality’. This month I opened Brocard’s Vieilles Vignes 2019. Definitely the fullest and most interesting of the wines so far, worth the extra cost. Two South African wines, Testalonga Keep On Punching 2020, Chenin Blanc from this excellent produces – have I ever had a poor bottle from Craig Hawkins? Badenhorst Secateurs 2020 is also Chenin and just as zingy and refreshing. The descriptor from merchant The Sourcing Table mentions it being a light orange wine with skin contact, I didn’t pick up on that but it was a good wine.

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Spanish white wines featured heavily in the month. Coto do Gomariz 2017 had pleasing freshness and quite full flavours. A blend of grapes including Albarino and Godello but mainly the Galician grape Treixadura which adds the zestiness. Fedellos do Couto Conasbrancas 2019 was similar but with more depth and concentration. It too features Albarino and Treixadura amongst other grapes from a field blend but as well as the acidity there is more roundness and aroma. Very good.

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Heading further south in Spain to Andalucia. Luis Perez’ El Muelle 2019 de Olaso is based on Palomino grapes, the variety used for sherry. Some of the grapes are sun dried for a few hours and aged in old oak but 80% is fermented in stainless steel and this produces a fresh wine with good flavour and length. Cota 45 Miraflores 2018 has a very similar background, Palomino grapes near the sea in the Sanlucar/Jerez area. Ramiro Ibanez ages the grapes in barrel and allows a flor of yeast to develop as in sherry but this is a straight table wine and with only 10.5% alcohol. That lower alcohol does not come at the cost of flavour or weight as the wine fills the mouth with flavour of nuts and fresh apples. The aromas of sherry are, intriguingly present but this is such a great summer wine.

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To Italy and a wine from Daniele Piccinin who featured so much in Isabelle Legeron’s book ‘Natural Wine’. Based in the Veneto region Daniele has a healthy approach to farming in general. This new wine, Monte Scarvi 2019, is based on Durella and Garganega grapes and, again, brings a freshness and apple, citrus profile which is perfect for June. Enjoyable. Like Piccinin I had had been looking for some of Rudolf Trossen‘s wines, one of the pioneers of natural wine in Germany. Silbermond 2018 is classic off dry German Riesling from the Mosel Valley. Typical Riesling aromas with citrus and apples (a theme is developing!) and just 11% alcohol. German Riesling is what first attracted me to wine in general and this bottle pleased me greatly.

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French reds next. Jeff Coutelou’s La Buvette A Paulette 2019 first of all. This has been a major surprise for me even though I helped to make it. The Merlot grapes planted by his father form the basis and Jeff added some Mourvedre and Syrah grapes too. (The Merlot has since been grubbed up by the way). Full, fresh red fruits, this is not a wine to simply use up grapes, it carries quality well, the 19s are very good all round. Some people have apparently noted some Volatile Acidity but I found nothing out of the ordinary myself. Jeff and I were early champions of Louis and Charlotte Pérot’s wines from the Cahors region. L’Ostal Levant Zamblé 2019 is another new cuvée from them, based on Malbec or Côt of course. Louis’ wines are very similar to Jeff’s in many ways, the profile is on the fruit and he adds a drinkability to Cahors which can be missing from many other producers. One of the other producers in the region is Simon Busser and his Polichinel 2018 was a good comparison. More austere but still with good fruit flavours from the Malbec grapes, a food wine.

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Wine of the month? That would be another red (just ahead of the Cota 45) and from a producer already mentioned, Fedellos do Couto As Xaras 2019. The winery is based in the Ribeira Sacra region of Galicia, north of Portugal. They have a multitude of grape varieties, mostly on steep slopes and work them organically. This wine is 100% Mencia, the classic Galician red grape and it was all fresh, raspberry flavours and aromas, with good length. I had this on a hot summer afternoon and chilled it lightly, the 12% alcohol and freshness made it a very good choice. Lovely wine from a very good producer.