If you enjoy the food-friendly reds of northern Italy, especially the Valpolicella Ripasso style, you'll love this. We have worked with Italian Winery of the Year Cantina di Negrar for years. They own a vineyard in the Marano Valley and they’ve offered us a deal on their Rosso Veronese – a wine usually reserved for their Italian fans. It’s named after Bartolomeo Lorenzi, whose epic 18th-century poem of rural life made Valpolicella wines famous the world over.
The Marano Valley is especially cool, so grapes take longer to ripen, which adds depth, character and freshness to the wines. Also included is a dash of dark Amarone. With black cherry fruit and Christmas cake spice, it’s hard to imagine a more appealing Veronese red. Great with game.
Chai winemaker Mark Hoddy reserves the Belle Roche label for a red wine made from the best parcel of grapes of the vintage. In 2022 he found just the ticket in a few rows of dark, thick-skinned Cabernet, grown in high-up Languedoc vineyards close to Carcassonne. There the climate benefits both from Mediterranean and Atlantic influences, hence a wine that echoes both of the warm ripeness of the Med with the structure of Bordeaux.
It's a densely flavoured red, its colour almost black – the reason he calls it his precious ‘black diamond’ of the vintage. Meticulously crafted by Mark at the cellar, Belle Roche is best decanted an hour before serving, just like a claret. It’s ideal with a juicy steak, a rich lasagne or a hearty casserole. Decant.
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From yet another quality Californian vintage, Bold Move 2021 marries three powerhouse grapes. Cabernet Sauvignon packs a punch with it’s deep, black-fruit aromas, brooding Petit Verdot adds great structure and tannins to the blend, while Petite Sirah contributes concentrated berry notes and extra body. Combined they produce this bold, intense fruit-filled red blend. A sure winner for any Californian wine lover – the previous vintage even won bronze at the San Francisco International Wine Competition.
Enjoy its rich, ripe blackcurrant and plums flavours, with baking spice layers, firm tannins and a long, sumptuous finish. A delicious red to sip on its own, or a great choice with roasted meats, vegetarian burgers, or spag bol.
Finding a parcel of 2010 claret nine years after this 5-Star vintage was a coup for our Buyer Jean-Marc Sauboua. Critic Michael Schuster described the wines of 2010 on release as “massively elegant, fresher, firmer, more tannic”, Suckling praised them for being “very precise, focused and fresh to taste”, “dangerously good” said Jancis Robinson MW.
Médoc wines that year proved particularly good value too. The 40 hectare estate Château Carcanieux has very gravelly soils, hence its original name Carcanieux Les Graves. This encourages superb concentration and ripeness in the wines. Cabernet with Merlot, and aged in barrel, this silky claret has a fine balance of fruit and maturity, with spice from the oak. Decant and serve with steak au poivre.
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Jean-Marc Diffonty’s flagship red is a rich, opulent, no-holds-barred style of Châteauneuf. It offers layers of dark, smoky, red berry fruit complexity, with a rich seam of spice. From the superb 2021 vintage, it scored 92-94 points from Decanter.
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