“It was great to see the big boss Paul Holmes à Court standing and pouring behind the Vasse Felix table,” reports Jones from the Fells portfolio tasting.
Fells portfolio tasting, IET Savoy Place, London, February 20, 2024
Euan Mackay took over as managing director of Fells in September with Steve Moody taking up the role of chairman. All change at the top but the iconic Fells portfolio tasting continues to shine, showcasing an increasing number of family-owned star producers, and uniquely highlighting to its customers how these wines age; if you are lucky enough to have Richard Girling or Jack Dundas’ contact details, you can get hold of their hallowed mature fine wine list, that offers exceptional value. Euan Mackay noted that he did question the value and size of this stock when he first became aware of it, but was soon nurtured into the Fells policy.
As a restaurateur in the past I found it so rewarding to be able to speak to the principals of wineries, and again Fells had them in abundance.
Wiston Estate is the first English winery to join the Fells portfolio, and it was good to see Richard Goring (the son of the founders Harry and Pip) enthusing about his wines, although it was Pip’s dream back in 1972, when they arrived at Wiston, to build a vineyard, rekindling her childhood memories of the Western Cape.
Wiston Estate, under the leadership of Richard and his wife Kirsty, are developing not only the sparkling wine side of the business but making Wiston a centre of excellence with their Chalk restaurant, accommodation and wonderful tours of their grounds, you might even bump into some ‘secret agents’ (if you know you know!). For an in-depth look at Wiston click here.
From Australia Yangarra joined Fells in September a world class producer from McLaren Vale which has brought the old bush vine Grenache wines to the fore. The estate is also planted with Shiraz, Roussanne and more obscure varieties such as Bourboulenc, Picpoul Noir, Clairette Blanc and Counoise. For an in-depth interview with Yangarra’s head winemaker, Peter Fraser, click here.
Royal Tokaji also recently joined Fells, and this sits in well with their fortified wines, bringing another world class family estate to the fore.
Chateau Musar’s flagship red is rightly recognised by most wine lovers, so it is good news that this great producer has joined Fells to showcase its full range. Established by the great Gaston Hochar in 1930, before his son Serge Hochar took over in 1959 with the determination of perfecting Chateau Musar’s red wine and making the brand famous. Musar’s full range is certainly worth a look at, if you have never gone beyond the classic Musar red in the past.
So how were the wines?
How many plates of this did you want Mr Jones?
Ah let me tell you about the food offerings first! Besides trays of delicious hot and cold quality canapés being served throughout the day we were treated to Spanish importer Brindisa being on hand and carving an aged leg of Iberian acorn fed ham, whilst next to the Wiston stand, was Hampshire’s Chalk Stream Trout, with their cold smoked trout being hand carved. These beautiful trout are grown up to 3 kilos before being gently cured and smoked by the Severn & Wye Smokery.
Richard Goring from Wiston: Fells’ first English sparkling estate
Wiston Blanc de Blancs NV
Based on the 2019 vintage but with 20% reserve wines this is a precise, focused, linear wine that displays hints of vanilla, delicate peeled stone fruit, cedar and crisp apple notes. RRP £40.00
Wiston Estate Cuvee 2016
To me this is a star; a fraction more in price than the NVs but this is a serious perfectly made sparkling. A blend of 55% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 12% Pinot Meunier. This vintage was released after the 2017, and what a triumph! This is a complete wine that delivers good age development, freshness, depth, texture. It is all about balance and how well one enjoys it, no descriptive words needed, it is a fabulous glass of quality fizz. RRP £47.00
Wiston Library Collection Blanc de Noirs 2014
Good to see aged English sparkling, both citrus notes and dark berries, savoury and spiced with lots of character, some saline notes, macadamia nuts, rhubarb and dried fruits evolve on the palate. This will continue to age and excite. RRP £55.00
Jean-Federic Hugel was in his usual table & place at the venue, showcasing these beautiful wines with great friendship and knowledge.
Famille Hugel Riesling Grossi Laue 2014
This is the current release, and follows the 2012, which was released after the 2013. Riesling at its very best, worth every penny, it is full flavoured but with classic dry notes, lime marmalade, toasty brioche, white stone fruit, white nuts, mouth-watering. RRP £57.00
Famille Hugel Gentil 2021
32% Gewürztraminer, 25% Pinot Gris, 15% Riesling, 15% Pinot Blanc, 10% Sylvaner, 3% Muscat
Jean-Federic noted that the Riesling yield was down in 2021 so the level of Riesling in Gentil was lower than normal. This is a great entry into the wonderful World of Alsace wines giving a basket of luscious fruit with fresh acidity and a glowing smile. RRP £16.99
Famille Hugel Riesling “Schoelhammer” 2012
Fresh and pure, stone fruit, wet stone, lovely intensity which is just starting to evolve, deep and rich, but still with steely clean cut notes. RRP £76.00
Famille Hugel Pinot Noir Grossi Laue 2014
Vibrant and fresh, clean, red berries, hint of perfume and rose buds on the nose, delicate and refined on the palate, a beautiful Pinot Noir, quite exceptional. RRP £51.64
Famille Hugel Gewürztraminer Estate 2019
Fry’s Turkish Delight, Istanbul market, tinned lychees, purity is immense, a perfect style, Jean-Federic stated that “precision is important in making this wine”. RRP £27.99
Philippe Guigal (r) and Roger Jones
Philippe Guigal was in fine form, hugely enthusiastic and keen to open and share everything near him, even other estates.
Guigal Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2019
For value I highly recommend the entry level Côte du Rhône Blanc at less than £10 for restaurants, but this is a step up and delivers excellent quality. White flowers, delicate honeyed notes, fresh, clean and lots of minerality. 95% Marsanne, 5% Roussanne. RRP £24.99
Guigal Condrieu “La Doriane” 2022
Philippe explained that he does not keep these wines to age, and would put five years as a max to cellar, they will soften after a few years but if you want the full monty drink them on release and wow! what a mouth packing wine this is. Power and elegance on the same palate, the finest juicy peeled apricots, white floral notes, the juice of white peaches, mesmerising. RRP £97.00
Guigal Hermitage “Ex Voto” Blanc 2019
95% Marsanne, 5% Roussanne, sourced from the Hermitage hill. Lime and citrus, textured, layered, nutty, waxy, wet stone, herbaceous, focused, evolving, youthful. RRP £104.00
Barone Ricasoli Torricella Chardonnay 2022
Italian Chardonnay can get quite expensive, but this wine offers great value for a clean, focused, linear Chardonnay that really delivers. RRP £23.00
Barone Ricasoli Castello di Brolio Sanbaranaba 2020
100% Trebbiano
This white wine is relatively new to the estate, sumptuous, mouth-filling, great purity, creamy, wild flowers and fresh herbs, love the depth and texture. RRP £54.00
For an in-depth look at Ricasoli click here.
Tom Symington with one of his first class white wines
Whilst good quality fine red is a welcome addition from Portugal, getting fine whites is harder, but I was delighted to see some on show at this tasting.
Fonte Souto Taifa 2020
100% Arinto
Debut release, and what a showcase, a multi-layered structured wine that oozes in class. Sourced from small lots of mature vineyards in the Portalegre subregion of Alentejo, aged in 500 litre French oak barrels.
Honeysuckle, saline notes, quince and apricots, toasted brioche, sauce Anglaise, hints of honey, balanced with perfect acidity. Not much was produced – just 2,000 bottles and 80 magnums. With age these wines will reach an even higher level of quality. RRP £39.00
Pequeno Dilema 2021
45% Viosinho, 30% Arinto, 15% Gouveio, 5% Alvarinho, 5% Verdelho
Sourced from Symington’s finest high altitude vineyards in the Douro. Flinty with crisp apple notes, textured with Peach Melba notes, vibrant, glowing and exciting. RRP £24.99
Altano DOC Douro White 2022
Fresh clean notes of early summer wild flowers and green herbs, lovely hints of lemon and lime with crisp apple. Great value – serve chilled with plenty of shellfish. RRP £11.99
One up from this is the Altano Reserve DOC Douro White 2021 which is more tropical on the nose with pineapple and lychees, textured, layered and although youthful now will evolve well with a year or so of age. RRP £16.99
Prats & Symington Chryseia 2020
55% Touriga Franca, 45% Touriga Nacional
I cannot walk past the Symington stand without having a drop of this absolutely fabulous red. This is a wine to age, and if you want to try over a dozen old vintages at retail prices pop over to Restaurant O Gaveto in Porto where a 2003 vintage Chryseia will set you back €90. RRP £75.00
Hard to limit the amount of wines that I want to include from this estate, but with Fells highlighting the great Grenache wines from Torbreck and Yangarra from Australia I thought it would be good to look at Spain’s Garnacha.
Torres Purgatori 2021
Cariena, Garnacha
Fresh, clean and linear with clean cut, juicy fruit, cranberries for freshness, blueberries and cherries for fruitiness, some dried fruit, figs, dates, silky finish, very much ‘New World style’ for me. Sweet, lingering, seductive finish. RRP £22.99
Torres Salmos 2019
Cariena, Garnacha
More Burgundian in style, silky and pure, bright glowing berries, fresh and focused. Great value Priorat. RRP £29.99
Torres Perpetual 2018
Cariena, Garnacha
This is dark and seductive, mesmerising, seamless, pure, silky smooth. Sourced from 80 and 100 year old vines. Will continue to age well. RRP £49.99
Torres Gran Muralles 2018
Garnacha, Carienena, Queroll, Monastrell & Garro
A couple of so-called ‘extinct’ grape varieties in this gem (Garro & Queroll). This project to recover ancestral Catalan varieties was started in the 1980s, and the Gran Muralles is the first example of the project. RRP £129.00
Perfumed nose of rose buds leads you into this hedonistic wine full of ‘ancestral history’. Vanilla, cedar, toasty, chocolate, spice, blue and dark berries, then sloe berry and wild floral notes. As it evolves in the glass the full complexity starts to open – a wine to age and enjoy gracefully.
Marc Hochar was on hand to guide us through his full repertoire
Great to taste the full range from Chateau Musar. The Chateau Musar Jeune white, rosé and red retailing at £18.00 were all fresh vibrant with clean cut flavours. The white was zesty, with pear notes, nutty, clean and focused, the rosé fresh textured and more savoury than fruity, with the red a highlight with the Cinsault bringing class and a shine to the wine.
Chateau Musar Hochar Pere et Fils 2020
Musar’s ‘second wine’ and well worth it, great balance of dark sweet fruit with clean spices, then on the mid-palate the savoury notes come through more, and leaves a fresh purity. RRP £25.49
Chateau Musar White 2018
Obaideh, Merwah
A blend of two ancient indigenous grapes said to be related to Chasselas, Chardonnay & Semillon. Textured, citrus, lemon wax, lanolin, beeswax, reminds me of white Bordeaux. Would love to see this with age. This 2018 is well balanced between richness and citrus and is pretty perfect, try it with meat dishes, you will be impressed. RRP £42.00
Chateau Musar Red 2018
Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan & Cinsault
At its best Chateau Musar is unbeatable and this 2018 showcases the brilliance of this wine, the region continues to be hit by adversity but the wines keep coming. Inky, full flavoured, the intensity on this is stunning, big but long and lingering with plenty of depth and structure to allow it to age for a long time. RRP £45.00
Paul Holmes à Court
It was great to see the big boss Paul Holmes à Court standing and pouring behind the Vasse Felix table, Paul represents the second generation of the family that has owned Vasse Felix since 1987. Paul took over the general management of the estate in 2005 and became sole owner of Vasse Felix and its parent company, The Heytesbury Group in 2008.
Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay 2021
Flinty notes highlighting the Gin Gin clone, super style wine, just stunning, these wines age gracefully over many years. I always suggest to new recruits of Vasse Felix to try the very best first then try the rest of the stable, this is especially true with the Chardonnay and both the Filius Chardonnay and Premier Chardonnay pack great value and quality. RRP £55.00
Good to see the sparkling project now in full swing with a dedicated winemaker and winery. Under the counter besides the Idee Fixe Brut Blanc de Blancs and Rosé was the outstanding and prestigious KA-D 2009 Blanc de Blancs, the bottle I sampled was from bottle number 3 of 400 made. This bottle was disgorged in October 2023 and one of the most complete and delicious Blanc de Blancs that I have had, a world class sparkling.
There were plenty more Australian wineries on show including; Yangarra, Torbreck, Tyrrell’s, Hill Smith and Yalumba, but no space this year to highlight.
With New Zealand sadly getting a reputation of mass-producing poor quality Sauvignon Blanc it is good to see wineries like Seifried challenging the norm.
Nelson is at the top of South Island and a wonderful place to visit, the direct distance from Marlborough to Nelson is 48km, the road distance (well worth the journey) is 114 km.
Seifried Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2023
Sourced from its own Brightwater and Queen Victoria Vineyards this is a classy Sauvignon that has a creamy texture, hints of elderflower, passion fruit, ripe fresh peeled white nectarines, with a fresh, clean pure finish. £17.99
Seifried Aotea Sauvignon Blanc 2022
Sourced from the best parcels and aged an extra year, notes of quince and gentle, white stone fruit, clean citrus notes, textured and length, serious wine to enjoy with fine food. RRP £21.99
Seifried Nelson Pinot Gris 2022
New Zealand knows how to showcase Pinot Gris, and this is no exception, this is fresh and focused – a great balance between Chardonnay and Sauvignon, giving the best of both worlds. RRP £18.49
Seifried Nelson Gewürztraminer 2023
Sourced from a very stony area of its Brightwater vineyard, the vines are up to 30 years old giving a luxurious classy Gewürztraminer that just brings a smile to your face.
Perfumed notes of an Istanbul market, Fry’s Turkish Delight bars, rosehip, luscious but a backbone of minerality keeping it on the straight and narrow. No granny’s perfume on this! RRP £18.49
Seifried Nelson Pinot Noir 2020
Loved the fact that a portion of the grapes are sourced from Seifred’s Rabbit Island, yes I did check it out and it does exist.
Aged in one and two-year-old French barriques, this is a clean- cut, focused Pinot Noir that shows great elegance and restrained fruit balanced by savoury but clean, earthy notes, pretty seamless. RRP £21.49
A brief note on South Africa
Mike Ratcliffe
Capensis was showcasing three Chardonnays, from the great value Capensis Silene to the rare sought-after Capensis ‘Fijnbosch’ 2019 RRP £172.00, this is a luxurious Chardonnay that is aiming for the top – it still needs time but this flinty, lemon posset, peachy wine has those extra nuances, from crushed oyster shells to a purity that stays on the palate for an age.
The two Chenin Blancs from Dalkeith are new on the scene and worth looking at, whilst Vilafonte continues to showcase what South Africa can do with Cabernet.
I have followed and bought these wines from the very first vintage and it so gratifying to see the quality and effort continue, under the guidance of Mike Ratcliffe.
Seriously Old Dirt by Vilafonte 2021 in magnum £58.00
Is there a better value Cabernet in magnum that is drinking so well now? of course this will age but it is pretty damn good now. Liquorice, cassis, tobacco, plummy, dark cherries, minerality, it has it all. It seems that they have made a list of the best attributes to a Cabernet blend and ticked all the boxes.
Vilafonte Series C 2021 RRP £95.99
Where the Old Dirt is ready this is a sumptuous wine that is evolving gradually, violets and plummy notes, pencil notes, cedar, cigar leaves. It is velvety with an incredible note of subtle spices in the background. Come back in a decade to enjoy fully. I shall pop into my cellar and try the 2003.
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