Exopto’s principal vineyards are ploughed by Miguel Angel Mato, a seasoned grower based in San Vicente. Mato owns a number of old vineyards high on the slopes of the Sierra Cantabria, and, under the Exopto label, Puyaubert has been making and releasing a series of small-batch single-vineyard wines sourced off Mato’s familial plots. The grower carries out all the farming duties under Puyaubert’s guidance while Puyaubert makes and sells the wine.
Wine Producers
The region of Bierzo missed much of the industrialisation that Europe went through post- WW2. The extreme landscape was too difficult to mechanise, and there was simply no interest in this remote area until a clutch of winemakers realised the remarkable potential of the high altitudes, old vines and quartz- and slate-rich soils.
Since arriving on the Burgundy scene in 2000, the limestone-sculpted wines of the brothers Jean-Philippe and Jean-Guillaume Bret (La Soufrandière) have amassed the kind of critical acclaim that one normally associates with the finest growers of the Cote-d'Or. The Domaine receives a two-star rating by France’s most respected wine guide, La Revue du vin de France’s Le Guide des meilleurs vins de France. This feat puts them equal second in the Mâcon pecking order behind Guffens-Heynen (three stars) and in the same quality category as many of the Côte de Beaune’s most sought-after addresses. London’s bastion of good taste, Berry Bros. & Rudd, looks after the wines in the UK. Leaders in the Macon, the brothers are considered rising stars of Burgundy.
One of the French pioneers of biodynamic viticulture—this tiny, artisanal Domaine was the first in Châteauneuf to convert to biodynamics some 30 years ago. Since this time (and especially since 1996 when the Armenier sisters took full control), Domaine de Marcoux has been on a steady path to becoming one of the true greats of the region. Despite this, it remains small, only producing between two to four thousand cases for the world (roughly half the production of DRC and a tenth of Beaucastel to put things in perspective). So, for many, Marcoux remains a hidden treasure.
Domaine la Réméjeanne takes some tracking down. Yet it’s one of those places that is “worth a special journey”, as the Michelin Guide would put it. We made the pilgrimage to Sabran a couple of years ago to revisit this wonderful producer, one that we had worked with in the distant past. We won’t bore you with the tales of wrong turns and rural misadventures. Suffice to say, the north western hills of the Côtes du Rhône appellation is striking country – the Rhône valley in your rear-view mirror and the foothills of the Cevennes ahead.
Much like the man himself, the engaging Muscadets of Jo Landron brim with life and personality. These finely-etched soil-specific wines represent the antithesis of the bland, neutral, overcropped produce that has sadly become the regional norm. Jo Landron, who learnt to farm the land from his father, took control of the family domaine 1990. His philosophy, driven by the conviction that the essence of great Muscadet is expressed through the minerality of its terroir, has raised the regional bar so high that only the granite-infused bottling from the great Guy Bossard rivals these Muscadets for sheer intensity of flavour and distinctive, electric energy.
The Equipo Navazos project founders are: one of Spain’s leading experts and writers on Sherry, Jesús Barquín; and one of Jerez’s leading tasters and blenders, Eduardo Ojeda (technical director for the Estévez group, owners of Valdespino and La Guita Manzanilla). One day in late 2005, Ojeda and Barquín were tasting through some 400 casks of Manzanilla at the bodega of Sánchez Ayala in Sanlucar. As Andrew Jefford recounts in the story to the right, one particular wine sparked the project we love so much today.
The steep, south facing, limestone slopes that tower over the tiny hamlet of Chavignol offer one of the world’s more remarkable terroirs. In short, Chavignol (within the Sancerre AOC) does for Sauvignon what the greatest vineyards of Piemonte do for Nebbiolo. They offer us a perfect symbiosis; a perfect match of soil, aspect, climate and grape variety. And like Piemonte, the local foods have evolved to match the wines produced. For example, the goat cheese Crottin de Chavignol, is simply one of the greatest matches for Sancerre (and Chavignol in particular).
"Maxime Graillot no longer stands in the shadow of his celebrated father. Today he has the senior winemaking role at Domaine Alain Graillot and is carving out his own place in the history of the Northern Rhône. Naturally he is best known for the outstanding wines that bear his name and it is those that we offer here. The latest releases from Maxime’s own vineyards compare very favourably with those from his father’s, ignoring obvious stylistic differences. Displaying an intensity and minerality as though they were a birthright, the leitmotif in Maxime’s wines is juiciness, freshness and poise. It’s a quality that is setting them well on the way to becoming regional benchmarks, if they are not already.
Adelaide Hills is buzzing with change and innovation and Murdoch Hill is a producer that is now at the forefront of this action. It’s worth pointing out that Murdoch Hills is not a new player in the Australian wine scene - the Estate vineyards were planted by the Downer family in 1998. But it has been the return of the family’s youngest member, Michael Downer, to take over the winemaking duties in 2012, that has created the excitement here. Pumped from stages at Vietti (Piedmont), Best's Great Western and Shaw+Smith, Downer has wasted little time in applying his experience and passion to his family vineyard practices and winemaking.
In just twenty years Dominik Huber has created something unique in Priorat and, arguably, in Spain as a whole. While these Catalan hills south of Barcelona are no stranger to critically feted wine, Huber’s transparent, pared-back examples are both striking and radical in the Priorat context. His is a style of Priorat that has seen critics and other wine people scrambling to offer plaudits and comparisons. Put simply, Huber’s wines have redefined what we all once thought was possible from the vineyards of Catalonia.
The ‘spine of Figuera’ is 100% Garnacha from three old, high-altitude plots planted in the village of La Figuera—near the old slate-mining villages of El Lloar and El Molar. La Figuera is technically in the comarca (or county) of Priorat, although wines made from La Figuera’s Garnacha grapes fall under the DO Montsant, not the DOQ Priorat. Go figuera. On the slopes of the Montsant mountain range, these vineyards are amongst the highest in the region, sitting at 700-800 metres, and the soils are red clay-limestone with layers of gypsum.
Thibaud Boudignon is one of the new young stars of the Loire Valley based in Savennieres. He also owns two small vineyards across the river on the south side of the Loire in the Anjou. Having worked with Philippe Charlopin in Gevrey Chambertin, Chateau Lafite Rothschild in Bordeaux (amongst others), and also in Australia then the Loire, Thibaud has built up a wealth of experience without having been born into a wine-producing family.
The rendering of Thierry Germain by renowned French wine artist Michel Tolmer that appears on most of Thierry’s labels is the perfect image to capture the essence of his accomplishment. A tall and imposing presence, physically and intellectually, Thierry casts a long shadow. His vines, old, wise, and vibrantly healthy thanks to biodynamic viticulture, cast an imposing shadow themselves. They meet in a symbolic embrace of perfect connection, each feeding off the other’s energy.
Toro Albalá should need little introduction as the most significant producer of Pedro Ximénez in the world today. Under the (some would say eccentric) guidance of Antonio Sanchez Romero, in 1970, Toro Albalá was the first Montilla producer to commercialise bottled, dessert-styled Pedro Ximénez. We believe the bodega also remains the world’s only specialist in 100% vintage P.X. Toro Albalá works with the finest vineyard holdings in Montilla and today houses the oldest and most legendary stocks in the region.
At a dinner in Melbourne (circa 2012), Jesús Barquín, renowned Spanish wine writer and founder of the Equipo Navazos project, had a very clear message. He said this: “If you asked me to name just one producer from Rioja that you should buy, it would be Valenciso.”
From humble beginnings, Valenciso has risen to become a leading light among Rioja’s small yet growing band of terroir focused producers. The story began in the late 1990s when wine industry veterans Luis Valentín (Valen…) and Carmen Enciso (…ciso) left behind outstanding careers at Bodegas Palacio and rented a small warehouse with barely enough space to produce their first vintage of 2,000 cases.
Andre Bondar has a post-graduate degree in wine making as well vintage gigs in Oregon, California, Tyrell's in the Hunter and Tintara, Padthaway & Mitolo in McLaren Vale. From 2006 he was at Nepenthe and when he finished in 2012 he was the head wine maker. He credits a vintage spent with the great Alain Graillot in Northern Rhone as highly influential. Bondar is redefining what is possible producing wines that focus on balance, freshness & texture whilst retaining a uniquely Australian sense of place.
Today we offer Moreau-Naudet’s 2018s, from the Vieilles Vignes up to the Grand Cru release. Across the board, 2018 was clearly a fleshier year than 2017, yet these wines remain true to Chablis. Moreau’s 2018s are deep and layered, with juicy freshness and excellent tension through the spine. Importantly—and not a given in 2018—the personality of each vineyard is finely etched throughout the wine. In sum, these 2018s are absolutely delicious—terrific, artisanal white Burgundy for a very fair price.
Peter Schell is not only making some of the most exciting wines in the Barossa, he is also transforming our assumptions about this region. His choice of site and his intuitive, hands-off work in the winery continues to yield dramatic and certainly anti-formulaic results. While Schell’s wines remain quite unlike the traditional Barossa norm they remain saturated with what we often call ‘sense of place’. As such, they offer the textural openness and generosity that is the mark of the region, its climate and ancient soils, yet not at the expense of definition, tannic freshness and line.
Anyone with even a passing interest in cool-climate Australia will already know that Garagiste is one of the Mornington Peninsula’s brightest rising stars. Barnaby Flanders created the Garagiste label following his amicable split with Allies co-founder David Chapman (who continues with the Allies label). ‘Barney’ now focuses on a snug range of small-batch wines from fruit sourced from the highly prized Merricks Grove vineyard, the
Voyager Estate, nestled in the Stevens Valley within the greater Wallcliffe sub-region of the Margaret River, was founded by the visionary Michael Wright in 1991. The oldest vines were planted in 1978, the gravel soils (free draining with a high mineral content), aspect and maritime influence make up the foundations of Voyager’s elegant wines. Wright was a soil fanatic and spent years profiling neighbouring properties to ascertain the right soil composition to bear grapes that would produce world class wines. To this day Voyager’s vineyards remain based on this original profiling, resulting in a beautiful natural balance with moderate vigour and yields.
The Rheingau was historically Germany’s most revered vineyard region and once produced the world’s most expensive wines. You only need to glance at a wine map of Germany to see why. The Rheingau is a series of sheer, south facing, rocky slopes that maximise exposure to the sun and protect the vines from the bitter northern winds. It is this confluence of natural elements that enables Riesling to perfectly ripen at this very marginal, northern climate.
Ricky Evans, Tasmanian born, studied Oenology at the University of Adelaide before working in the Barossa and the Napa Valley. He always wanted to make wine in Tasmania so in 2010 he secured a position as winemaker at Bay of Fires Winery under Edd Carr. In 2013 a vintage of kind yields, Ricky secured 2 tonne of pinot grapes from a Rosevears Vineyard, hence forth the name Two Tonne. With the slogan ‘Small parcels, Big love’ Ricky Evans has epitomized what we want from the hands on grower; exciting and hard to get small batch wines.
François Chidaine is one of France’s most exciting white wine makers. It’s not hype – the wines are terrific and the winemaking approach is impeccable. Great vineyards managed biodynamically, ultra low yields and hands-off élevage are the order of the day here. Chidaine has achieved with Chenin what Didier Dagueneau achieved with Sauvignon: wines of staggering texture and complexity. (It might provide an idea of Chidaine’s standing in the Loire, that when Benjamin Dagueneau wanted to gain experience as a younger man, he went to work with Chidaine).
Domaine du Salvard has been a standard-bearer in Cheverny – the Loire Valley appellation which snakes along the left bank of the Loire from Sologne to the outskirts of Orleans – ever since Maurice Delaille bought this property in 1890, replanting the vineyards and renovating the estate. It has subsequently passed through five generations of the Delaille family. Today, 42 hectares of vineyards are farmed by brothers Emmanuel and Thierry who have carried on the traditions established by their ancestors, producing authentic, handcrafted Cheverny of the highest order.
Stuart Hooper was a successful businessman with a passion for everything about wine. He envisioned creating a vineyard that would produce Australian wine of a quality to emulate the great regions of France.
In the early 1970's Stuart selected a plot of land in the Moorabool Valley near the township of Bannockburn. A promising site with the desirable soil composition consistent with quality viticulture and a rich history of premium wine grape production dating back to the 1870's. The initial plantings were shiraz vines. Before long, more land was acquired, more vines and varieties planted - the story had begun.
Although Stuart has since passed, Bannockburn Vineyards remains in the Hooper family, with his daughters as custodians to ensure his philosophy is preserved, providing the cornerstone of all that we do at Bannockburn today.
If there was a Guild of Master Northern Rhône Wine Craftsmen, Pierre Gaillard would probably be the president. Be it a St Joseph, a Côte Rôtie or Condrieu, every time you open a bottle with his name on it you know you are going to get a thrilling, bristling expression of the site from where it came. That’s his thing. There is no dead weight in the Gaillard cellar and each wine offers precision and purity of fruit. This is not to suggest Gaillard is a technocrat. Far from it. He has great vineyards, infectious passion, makes good decisions and possesses a dirt under the fingernails grit which means that most of the hard work has been done before the fruit arrives in the cellar.