James Bercovici - The Big Red Wine Company

Super critic Jeb Dunnuck (the new Parker?) has tasted the current range from Chateau Juvenal - he likes them! For now, we only have the 'everyday' range of Ventoux wines called 'Ribes de Vallat'. Here's what he has to say about them: Ribes de vallat 2021 Blanc 'I loved the two whites from Juvenal. Based largely on Clairette, the 2021 Ventoux Les Ribes Du Vallat Blanc has pretty pear, crushed citrus, and honeyed flower notes in a medium-bodied, fresh, mineral-laced package perfect for near- term drinking.' 2023-2026 (91/100) Ribes de Vallat 2019 Rouge 'Moving to the reds, the entry level 2021 Ventoux Les Ribes Du Vallat is well worth seeking out. Juicy darker berries, raspberries, peppery garrigue, and floral notes define the aromatics, and this medium-bodied, round, supple, delicious Grenache is best drunk over the coming 3-5 years. ' 2023-2028 (89/100) He's right! These are  consistently enjoyable and immensely good value too. Enjoy!

 Two vintages of Fabrizio Battaglino ' s Nebbiolo d'Alba 'Para'di' (OK, so that doesn't translate as 'Paradise' but allow me some licence), both very good years - 2019 and (on paper, even better) 2020. Young but this is his first port of call for Nebbiolo so it's meant to be drunk young (albeit not necessarily this young). Are they drinking well now and what, if anything, distinguishes them from each other? In time honoured fashion, 2020 first, just because it's younger. It's got quite big fruit for a Nebbiolo grown in the Roero hills but, then, you only have to try Giacosa's Valmaggiore from the hill next door to see that's not uncommon or a bad thing. There's power here. It seems to deserve a higher appellation status - think of this as the Piedmontese equivalent of a Côtes du Rhône; this is far more interesting than all but a handful of wines from that area. 2020 was a superb vintage though and this isn't bucking the trend.

Tasting young wines can be tricky but, perhaps, the hardest to assess are red Burgundies. One grape (Pinot Noir, of course) and subtly but importantly different terroirs  yielding surprisingly different wines, even when from the same clones of more or less the same age. Enter Domaine Joblot's 2020s. Givry is at the southernmost point of the Côte Chalonnaise, about half an hour south of Beaune. It is not one of the prettiest villages in the region but it is widely regarded as producing the finest reds in this (relatively) good value sector of Burgundy. Domaine Joblot is 'a leader in Givry' (Jasper Morris MW, Inside Burgundy) or, simply, 'Givry's best estate' (Clive Coates MW, The Wines of Burgundy). It lies on the D981 with most if the vineyards (and all the premier cru wines) on the west side of the road. In Domaine Joblot's portfolio, only the village (ie. non-premier cru)  'Pied de Chaume ' is on the east side of the road, north of the village itse

 In advance of a Decanter tasting of 2009 and 2019 Châteauneuf, I thought it was time for me to try a mini-vertical tasting of the wine from Raymond Usseglio et Fils . The 2019 is 80% Grenache, 20% Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault and Counoise and weighs in at 14.5%. It was a hot year in the region, especially the summer. It has a very youthful but very pure nose and the Grenache is certainly the dominant feature here as it is on the palate . The other grapes are there in the background but definitely in support (try the 'Part des Anges' cuvée, on the other hand, for a completely different story). It is medium-to-full bodied, a nice weight to complement the palate, and has slightly chalky tannins at present but these give a little more flesh to the wine. Presumably they emanate from the barrels which are subtly present (more so texturally than in flavour). A good finish - it persists for quite a while and in a very pleasing way. Stef recommends decanting this in its youth. I didn

 A quick perusal shows that Fabrizio Battaglino has some well-deserved awards in the 2022 edition including for his 2019 Nebbiolo d'Alba 'Paradi', a wine which is coming into its own well now ( Due Bicchieri ) and the 2020 Roero Arneis 'Bastia', a lovely Arneis with a little more richness than the younger vine 'San Michele' (both also Due Bicchieri,  the latter in the 2019 edition).  Lots of entries too for I Campi, our Veneto superstar estate. This year it has yet another  Tre Bicchieri  but, for the first time (I think) for the regular Valpolicella Superiore in a vintage I have yet to try. If Covid restrictions are eased in time, it will be on my list of addresses to visit while stocks last! Only (a maximum of) one Tre Bicchieri is awarded per estate each year so the red Due Bicchieri  for the Soave Classico "Vulcano' should be regarded as every bit as worthy of the top prize.  Elsewhere, in Decanter last month, Matt Walls' focus on "othe

In the country in July but, thanks to a processing error, Justin Girardin's wines - the first we have imported since he went solo (earlier vintages were bottled under his father Jacques' name) - have only just become available to us. Obviously we tasted them months ago but, equally obviously, we wanted to taste them again. They're good. Earlier in the year, the 2019 'Terrasses de Bievaux' Santenay Blanc was slightly masked by oak but this has dissipated now to reveal a gorgeously fresh with citrus and tropical fruits abounding. The 2018 Premier Cru reds have fleshed out nicely and can be enjoyed already; the 2017 is more focussed. Why wait? However, the big event took place over the last 48 hours: tasting four red Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru wines from the excellent 2019 vintage. Most people understandably think of white wines when Chassagne is mentioned but, in fact, the terroir  is best suited to red wines which can be very good indeed. The 2019 Clos St Jean

 It's been a while since my last post. Red tape has consumed me over the last few months but now I see light at the end of a very long tunnel and, all being well, wines which have been held up (even though they have been sitting in the warehouse for many months) should be available soon. In the meantime... Beaucastel 2020 Yesterday, I visited the château to taste the new vintage. Before I got out of the car, I was struck by the immense noise coming from workmen who, since September, have been busy with some fairly major renovations to the buildings. Beaucastel has plans to become completely carbon neutral when the work is complete. There will be an underground water source for cooling, gravity will play a major role in the winemaking process and, in the meantime, everyone who works at the château is constantly moving offices to find a bit of quiet. It hasn't affected the wines though.  2020 was a classic vintage without a heatwave as such but with a long, drawn out summer and r