James Bercovici - The Big Red Wine Company

Oz Clarke's 250 Best Wines 2009 contains the usual emphasis on wines available from the big players and the multiples (fair enough really: that's where most people buy wines). A quick count suggests around 100 of the recommendations are wines not available in the supermarkets or from Oddbins and The Wine Society so we are feeling rather proud to have three of these available exclusively from BRW. Domaine des Anges ' "L'Archange" 2004 Rouge and Xavier Vignon 's Rouge and Blanc were the three wines selected (click on the wines to see Oz's notes). Oz also wrote this about BRW: "Intelligently chosen, reliably individualistic wines from estates in France, Italy and Spain. A list worth reading, full of information and provocative opinion – and they’re not overcharging." Oz Clarke's 250 Best Wines Wine Buying Guide 2009

The Guide Hachette des Vins 2009 recommends Domaine de Mourchon 's Côtes du Rhône Villages Séguret Tradition 2006 also highlighted in the forthcoming editions of Le Grand Guide des Vins de France (Bettane & Desseauve), Guide des Vins (Gilbert & Gaillard - also recommends the 2005 Grande Reserve) and the Wine Spectator 's September edition.

Dulwich Wine Society tasting. Ten wines from the Southern Rhône, eight red and two white. For me, the stand out wines include the extremely pure and fruity Côtes du Rhône from Domaine de la Charité , Domaine de Mourchon 's mature and mellow 1999 Séguret and the Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2007 Blanc from Domaine de Cristia which came as a refreshing, fruity finale after all the rich reds.

The Revue du Vin de France has named Domaine de Mourchon's Côtes du Rhône Villages Séguret Tradition 2005 as bargain of the month.

Back to Cahors again for our summer holiday, having discovered the delights of the region over just a couple of days last year. It really is a charming area with lots of oak trees and beautiful countryside and it's not overrun with tourists. The wines are rather pricey though in some cases (we tasted at one estate where the wines started at 19€; the more prestigious cuvée was 48€ and, after we had made appropriately appreciative noises about that wine we were permitted to taste the 84€ top cuvée - they seemed a little surprised when we declined to buy any of that one). Visits to Lamartine and Cedre were both good though with the former producing some really good wines at sensible prices. Cedre is a little pricier but the wines are astonishingly good so worth it. On to Madiran briefly - not an area to explore so much, except for the wines. A visit to see Didier Barre at Berthoumieu was very worthwhile. His "Charles de Batz" is my sort of wine - strong, robust, fruity - ...

Joanna Simon recommends Domaine de Mourchon 's "ripe and spicy" Côtes du Rhône Villages Séguret Tradition 2006 in the Sunday Times.

Impatient to get stuck into the new arrivals from South-West France, I notice that Montauriol 's "Mons Aureolus" is 2005, not 2004 as expected. Obviously this needs to be investigated. The wine is a fruit bomb, literally exploding in the mouth with the highly perfumed Négrette taking centre stage as expected. Nicely oaked too. The wine really needs a little time - it was much more mellow the following day.# 28/02/08 After the Montauriol was polished off, another cork was pulled, this time from a bottle of Lamartine 's "Cuvée Particulière", a mere toddler from the 2004 vintage.As the bottle progressed it grew up though going from slightly awkward to deep and interesting. It didn't last long enough to get really profound though. Next time, perhaps (or just leave it to the Expression). 01/03/08 First tasting since its arrival of Lacassagne 's 2004 Madiran - a little more reserved than earlier tastings but with a bit of breathing the fruit starts to shin...

"Intelligently chosen, reliably individualistic wines from well-established growers in France. A list worth reading, full of information and provocative opinion – and they’re not overcharging." Oz Clarke's 250 Best Wines Wine Buying Guide 2008