James Bercovici - The Big Red Wine Company

In the Spécial Millésime 2012 issue, with the caption "Notre Coup de Coeur" and a smiling picture of Jonathan: Beautifully crafted wines. Today in charge of 10ha of vines on the calcareous clay soils of Les Aspres, Jonathan Hesford used to have a different life in New York and worked in data processing until the events of 9/11 encouraged him to exorcise his passion. After training and experience in New Zealand, he started his estate in 2006 with his partner Rachel Treloar. Nowadays he makes nearly 10 cuvées, a beautiful dry Muscat One Block, a tasty white blend of Grenache gris and Macabeu, and several excellent red cuvées blending Syrah, Grenache and Carignan. His Mourvèdre Motus is full and well balanced and his Syrah Le Secret fresh and expressive. This is a address to watch for its beautifully crafted wines. Congratulations Jon!

Having let them know that I still have not mastered Italian, we were met at Cascina Saria (another estate recommended by my Danish friend Birger) a couple of weeks ago by Maura, the owners' daughter. Actually, Maura is in charge of sales whilst her brothers look after the vines and the winemaking, a fairly common set-up. We were brought into the tasting room which has some of the best views across Piedmont and the southern Alps I have seen and which we stood in awe of whilst Maura prepared the wines for tasting. I knew from Birger that this estate produced a very good Barbaresco and he had particularly recommended the Barbera wines but first, a Langhe Arneis from the Barbaresco commune of Neive. Actually two: the 2011 and the 2012, both sharing the crisp floral fruitiness of the variety I have come to know at Fabrizio Battaglino's Roero winery a few miles away. Whilst the 2011 was very good (and excellent value), the 2012 seemed to have just a little more flesh, a quali...