Champagne Devaux ‘Cuvée D’ NV

12%
€59.99

A very fine floral nose; elegant lightly honeyed toasty peach fruits on the palate, and very good length. Delicious wine.

I posted a blog on a Vin Clair tasting held by Devaux last week. Devaux market two entirely different ranges of Champagne, the ‘D’ being the higher quality. I came away with a new respect for their wines; there were some seriously good Champagnes, the Cuvée D and the Ultra D extra-brut in particular. All of this range are aged for a minimum of five years before release. The Cuvée D has a low dose, around 7 g/l, of residual sugar.

Available from Thewineshop.ie; WineOnLine.ie; Clontarf Wines, Dublin 3; Donnybrook Fair, Dublin 4;Thomas’s of Foxrock, Dublin 18; Grape & Grain at The Leopardstown Inn, Stillorgan; Green Man Wines, Terenure, Dublin 6

Ata Rangi Pinot Noir 2012, Martinborough

13.5%
€59.99

A beautifully elegant wine with delicate savoury black cherry fruits, good balancing refreshing acidity and a nice finish.

Ata Rangi is one of the pioneering estates of Martinborough in New Zealand. Run by Clive Paton, his wife Phyll and sister Ali with winemaking by Helen Masters, this is one of the best producers of Pinot in the country. They also make a stunning Chardonnay – check out the Craighall 2013 if you get the opportunity. 2012 was a cool vintage so this is not the biggest Ata Rangi I have tasted, but I really liked the refined cool fruits.

Available from The Corkscrew, Dublin 2; O’Briens; On the Grapevine, Dalkey; Thewineshop.ie.

La Malkerida 2012, Utiel-Requena

12.5%
€15.95

This is an engaging wine with delicious plump ripe soft red fruits and light tannins. A great all-purpose wine to sup with nibbles and very fairly priced.

This wine featured in an article I wrote for the Irish Times about Bobal a few months ago. I had come across the excellent Clos Lojen (64wine) from Manchuela a few years ago, but in the space of two months I came across several other excellent wines made from Bobal, all at very reasonable prices. I met Spanish sommelier Bruno Murciano at a tasting by Quintessential Wines. He presented two Bobals from the same producer in Utiel-Requena; the La Malkerida above and the altogether more serious El Sueno de Bruno, a wonderful structured wine with great intensity.

Stockists: Black Pig, Donnybrook; Michael’s, Mount Merrion; Green Man Wines, Terenure; Power, Lucan; O’Learys, Cootehill; Quintessential, Drogheda www.quintessentialwines.ie

Greywacke Wild Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Marlborough, New Zealand

13%
€32.99

I have always liked this wine but didn’t realise just how good it was until I took part in a tasting of all five vintages earlier this week – see my blog for details. Kevin Judd, the man behind Greywacke (and Cloudy Bay before that) is a thoughtful and I suspect meticulous winemaker and it shows. All of the wines were very good and several great. This wine falls into the great category and I can see it improving further. But if you want to see how good Marlborough Sauvignon can be, treat yourself to a bottle.

Available from Jus de Vine, Portmarnock; Redmond’s, Ranelagh; Clontarf Wines; The Corkscrew, Chatham St.; 64wine, Glasthule; Blackrock Cellar; Greenacres, Wexford.

Ovilos 2012, Ktima Biblia Chora IGP Pangeon, Greece

14%

€23.99

Tomás Clancy, my colleague in the Sunday Business Post presented this wine in the discussion on Emerging Wine Regions at Ballymaloe Litfest 2015 (see my recent post on this event). I agree with his selection of both wine and area; Greece is a fascinating wine producing country, and this is a great wine – I featured it in my book Wilson On Wine 2016. Made from a blend of Semillon and Assyrtiko, a fascinating indigenous variety, this is made by two of Greece’s leading winemakers. I suspect they have toned down the oak in recent vintages. Certainly earlier years seemed to have more richness and toast, which, for once, I enjoyed. Either way, the wine is very good and worth the price.

This is a beautifully creamy textured wine with fresh crisp lime and peach fruits, and a very subtle toastiness. Drink with scallops or lobster.

Available from Wines on the Green, Dawson Street; Baggot St. Wines; Redmond’s, Ranelagh; Donnybrook Fair; Cases, Galway; Gibney’s, Malahide; Holland’s, Bray; Jus de Vine, Portmarnock.

La Penetencia 2013 Ribera Sacra

13.5%

€50

Elegant dark cherry and blueberry fruits on nose and palate. Piquant, elegant and precise with fine tannins on a wonderful lingering finish. Drink with pork dishes or duck and game, or hard cheeses.

I presented this wine in the Emerging Wine Regions discussion at the Ballymaloe Litfest 2015 (see my blog), as a representative of all the exciting things that are taking place in northwest Spain and northern Portugal as well. I like Rías Baixas but there is so much more to this region, including the Alvarinhos of northern Portugal and the wines of Ribeiro, Valdeorras and Monterrei. However, on my last visit, I fell in love with the region of Ribeira Sacra (I have always like the wines). Running along the Sil valley are these almost vertical ancient terraces, with vines, and all sorts of green vegetation. It is hauntingly beautiful, a bit like the Douro but greener. La Pentencia is made by the region’s most famous winemaker, Raúl Pérez. It is from a single vineyard. The soils are slate, the vines (mainly Mencía, with Alicante Bouchet, Bastardo and Caiño) are over a hundred years old. The wine is expensive but enchanting.

Available from 64wine, Glasthule.

Sijnn White 2012

Sijnn White 2012

84% Chenin Blanc, 16% Viognier

€25

An incredibly seductive wine with creamy rich ripe peach fruits and custard, subtle toasted nuts and a good finish. There is a good clean mineral acidity to keep it from straying into lush territory. A delicious and complex wine.

Available from Kinnegarwines.com

Sijnn Red 2010

Sijnn Red 2010

(41% Syrah, 27% Tourgia Nacional, 18% Mourvèdre, 10% Trincadeira, 4% Cabernet.

14.5%

€25-30

Wild dark fruits on nose and palate; perfectly ripe with a strong mineral element. Refreshing smooth and powerful with very good dry length. A very impressive wine that evolves in the glass.

Available from Kinnegarwines.com

One of my favourite Malbecs

Amalaya Malbec 2013, Calchaquí, Argentina

14%

€17.99

A great wine at a very reasonable price; brooding dark fruits balanced very nicely by a refreshing acidity and good tannins on the finish. One to try with a well-hung steak, or other grilled red meats.

Amalaya is the little brother of Colomé, a bodega alleged to have the highest in the world, at altitudes of up to 3,100 metres; Amalaya is down in the valley of Calchaquí, but still at around 1,700 metres altitude. To put that in context, Carrauntoohil, the highest mountain in Ireland, clocks in at a mere 1,038 metres. The climate is very dry, with huge swings in temperature between day and night, and very high levels of luminosity. This gives a unique combination of very bright ripe fruit with excellent acidity. Colomé is worth looking out for, but will set you back €25+. The Amalaya, made from 75% Malbec, with 10% each of Cabernet and Syrah plus a little Tannat, is cheaper and very, very good.

Available from; Mitchell & Son, chq, Sandycove & Avoca Kilmacanogue; Grenn Man Wines, Terenure; World Wide Wines, Waterford.