Named “enough stone” after the copious quantities of rocks and boulders that populate the vineyards and surrounding land.   A blend of Trincadeira, Aragonez, Alicante Bouchet and Cabernet Sauvignon from separately vinified parcels. The final assemblage normally has around 20 – 30% new oak with the rest 2 to 3 year old barrels, french oak. The wine spends around 1 year in oak.  2007 was bottled in May 2009.  The 2007 reflects the extended growing season in Portugal for that vintage, giving the vines every chance to produce well balanced ripe grapes.  This has produced a certain subtlety and finesse, which seems almost restrained compared to the hot, exuberant 2006. The 2007 is ultimately more expressive with good supple tannins, but has certainly benefited from a few months in bottle.  Purple/ruby in hue, there is a slight hint of fruit pastilles on the nose and the palate.  The wine feels wonderfully soft and juicy in the mouth, with a lovely fruity clean finish.  On re-tasting recently, it was having a slightly reductive moment, but this disappears quickly if the wine is decanted from the bottle, before pouring into the glass.  This wine has needed more time in bottle than the 2006 and is still settling down, but demonstrates a further progression up in quality for this new winery.

Richard Mayson is now onto his third vintage in this successful partnership with Rui Reguinga, one of Portugal’s top winemakers.  The northern sub-region around the town of Portalegre is distinct from the rest of the Alentejano due to its higher altitude, schist and granite soils and slightly more temperate climate, with higher average rainfall than the rest of this dry, hot region.  The Quinta do Centro has 20 ha of which 10 are currently in production.  The property is in the foothills of the Serra de São Mamede mountain ranges, at 500–560 metres above sea level and unusually for the region has its vineyards located altogether in a shallow valley, rather than in fragmented parcels.  The soils are predominantly granite, rocky, poor and well-drained.  The vineyards are planted to Trincadeira, Aragonez, Alicante Bouschet and Grand Noir with a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon, with the oldest vines around 25 years old.   Richard and Rui invested in a brand new state of the art quinta with the cave dug into the local bedrock.

GHISLAINE BARTHOD, 2009  Bourgogne Rouge 75cl - £17.95 Bottle

The fast-rising star of Chambolle-Musigny is the domaine of Ghislaine Barthod.  It was established in the 1920’s and for many years was run by Ghislaine and her father Gaston - he died in 1999, yet effectively Ghislaine had been making the wine for the last decade or so.  Ghislaine has 6 hectares of vineyards, which include holdings in 7 Chambolle-Musigny Premiers Crus.  Yields are kept low and the grapes are hand harvested at optimum ripeness.  They are partially destemmed before being fermented in open-top wooden cuves.  The wines are then matured in oak barriques (up to 25% new) for 12-18 months.  The wines from this domaine are always supremely elegant and harmonious and display admirable concentration and length.  The best examples can age gracefully for up to twenty years.  Bourgogne Pinot Noir is impressive and sold very fast.

ISABELLE CHAMPART, Bramefon

“70% Mourvèdre and 30% Grenache, with about 300 cases produced. A trial blend was oaky - this is only wine chez Champart which is raised in barrel, well demi-muids – with aromas of tar and Christmas pudding. The Mourvèdre is very positive, smoky, cold chimney – sensual in a dusky sort of way.

Nestling in the foothills of the Cévennes, to the north-west of Béziers, St.-Chinian is an appellation which has traditionally been dominated by its cooperatives. For the past 30 years, a mere handful of domaines have continuously been producing quality wine, and have helped to establish the reputation of the appellation. Since its inception in 1976, Mas Champart has consistently been one of its leading lights. A reserved but charming couple, Isabelle and Matthieu Champart fell in love with this region in the ‘70s. They set about buying up parcels of old vines and abandoned plots of land, which over the years they have re-established and nurtured. The best parcels of old vine Carignan and Grenache were kept, a further 11ha were replanted. Today they have a total of 16ha covering 20 parcels, 12ha of which are vinified in their cellars, the remaining 4ha being taken to the local co-op. Their viticultural practices are very much “à l’ancienne” – one British journalist remarked that their vines are tended like a garden. Dry stones wall are maintained, grass cover encouraged on steep slopes to prevent soil erosion, and two-thirds of the land is now cultivated organically. Old narrow terraces and poorly-aligned vines in certain areas mean that chemical weed killers are still needed, but they are trying to find alternatives solutions so that these too can be dispensed with. This is a mountainous area, where vines and garrigue are intermingled and soil types varied. Whereas the northern part of the appellation is predominantly schist, producing more delicate wines, here the limestone gives greater weight and character. The Champarts have done their best to marry the right grape variety to the right soil type: the Grenache thrives on the high limestone plateau, the Syrah gains finesse from its position on north-facing slopes and the Mourvèdre Clos de la Simonette (some which was taken as cuttings from Domaine Tempier in Bandol) finds its place on the clay-limestone terraces, which have a subsoil of multi-coloured marl rarely found in the Languedoc.