France was the region most represented at this year’s The Bunch tasting in London. Here’s our pick of the bunch.
Every autumn six of the UK’s leading wine merchants – The Bunch – get together to show wine writers a small selection of their latest wares, and some old favourites, ten wines each, a sort of subjective snap-shot of their lists.
The six merchants– Lea & Sandeman, Berry Bros and Rudd, Corney and Barrow, Adnams, Yapp Brothers and Tanners – actually represent a good cross-section of the trade, ranging from high-end London-focused businesses boasting royal warrants and years of history, to companies based in provincial cities and towns, with a very different customer profile (although of course, the merchants sell across the country).
Tanners’ shops, for example, run north-south along the Welsh border, though their base is in Shrewsbury. This has hardly done them any harm or caused them to narrow their stock range: Decanter has just named them Outstanding Retailer of the Year and Large Retailer of the Year, seeing off the likes of BBR, Majestic and M&S.
And given that Adnams of Southwold is first and foremost a brewery, its selection is also pretty impressive, offering good value for money without slacking on quality. And, as anyone in the trade knows, the London-based companies represented here are world-leading, providing a range of wines and quality that underpins The Bunch’s claim, For Wines Less Ordinary.
So how were the wines this time around?
Last year I seem to recall the focus was mainly new world with a nod to lesser known producing regions – the likes of Macedonia, Bulgaria and Lebanon. This may have been the year of the Rio Olympics, but South America was absent altogether, as was New Zealand – not a Marlborough Sav Blanc or Central Otago Pinot Noir to be seen (aside from a low alcohol SB offered by Adnams), suggesting these merchants have no qualms about bucking current wine fashion.
Instead France was very much to the fore: all the Yapp wines on show were French (scarcely surprising as that country represents 95% of Yapp’s list), all but one of Corney & Barrow’s, but so too were most of those offered by the other merchants, with Bordeaux, Languedoc-Rousillon and Burgundy all getting good representation. From Jura there were two fine representations: a fine, wonderfully complex and aromatic Arbois Chardonnay 2012 (La Mailloche from Stephane Tissot, BBR £39.95) and a mysterious, slightly smoky Arbois Trousseau 2013 (Domaine Jean-Louis Tissot, £14.65, Yapp Brothers).
My favourites though lay elsewhere. Tanner’s two biodynamic German finds: The Jacobus Dry Riesling Trocken 2015 from Peter Jakob Kuhn in the Rheinegau and its fruity counterpart, the Oestrich Lenchen Riesling Kabinett 2015 were excellent examples of their kind; Kuhn was named winemaker of the year by Gault Millau, which makes these pretty good value at £12.70 and £13.90 respectively.
Also well worthwhile was Tanner’s Alsace offering, a Gewurztraminer from Dopff and Irion in Riquewihr, which has been recently merged with the cooperative there – a delightfully fresh wine, not too OTT and inexpensive for this grape at just £10.95.
Lea & Sandeman deserves some credit for finding a decent Franciacorta for under £20 with the Brut Corteaura (£17.95 or case price £15.95), a good example of entry level Franciacorta. But their star turn was the Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2007 (£70.50 or case price £61.95), a wonderfully rich and fulsome wine that reminds you why this region is so prized – and expensive.
The biggest surprise from BBR were its Uvaggio Vermintino (2013) and Primitivo (2012) offerings; despite the name of the producer and the grape varieties, these two finds herald from none other than Lodi in California. Very nice they are too, at £11.95 and £14.95 respectively. I was also intrigued by the burnt tobacco and coffee undertones of BBR’s Circe Hillcrest Road Pinot Noir 2013 from Mornington Peninsula in Victoria; for Australia, different and quite uncharacteristic, but alas also quite pricey at £44.95.
At the other end of the scale, I shouldn’t forget Adnams’ 2013 Vranec/Syrah/Petit Verdot blend from Stobi, Macedonia; this a good, well-balanced blend of the three varieties with plenty of fruit and decent acidity, and very good value at just £8.99. The Adnams Grapes Range, Adnams Selection and Adnams Estate Range also deserve good mention: this is an honourable and quite successful attempt to attach their name to a wine characteristic of a variety or region, at a good price, and thus bring it to a wider audience who might have been discouraged by a wine bearing the name of a un-familiar producer or region.
The 2010 Moulis-en-Medoc, made by Jean-Baptiste Cordonnier – and part of the Estate Range – is very moreish and good value for this region at £21.99, well-balanced with 60% Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
So, all in all, despite the accidental over-emphasis on France – an inadvertent, reflexive riposte to Brexit, perhaps? – this was an interesting and quite diverse tasting. If nothing else, the Bunch demonstrates that for all the talk of harder times and shrinking margins, the British wine trade is in pretty good shape; it is happy to provide what the market wants but is unafraid of stretching out a little, going that extra mile to offer something beyond the mainstream.
In these days of supermarket dominance, boring brands and “price above all else,” that really is something to be treasured.
