A London buying trip – September 2025

A London buying trip – September 2025

 

Nick Holmes

 

 

Guy and I arrived at St Mary's Church in Bryanston Square with just over an hour to go before the tasting was due to start.  We’d taken a leisurely stroll from Victoria, via Belgravia and Eaton Square, and through Hyde Park, which was abuzz with furious fitness-chasers, seemingly affronted by our lack of urgency, contrasted by the odd fop on a bike, casually meandering their way through a non-committal social calendar.

 

 I felt this summed up our day in many ways – We had caught a 5:30 am flight from Aberdeen, so arrived with a few hours to spare before a 10:30 start for the tasting. We were in work-mode, on the hunt for anything new for the shop, and for me, the opportunity to familiarise myself with more of our existing range.  It was going to be a long day, and there was a lot to get through, but equally, wine shouldn’t be rushed, nor should the opportunity to speak directly with vintners and, in many cases, family members of multi-generational producers.

 

As we were working our way through the whites, we came across some verjus (or verjuice) from Barbara Őhlzelt.  Translated as “green juice”, verjus is made by pressing unripe grapes (or any other fruit), it has a long history of being used in sauces or dressings across Europe and the Middle East and was even used in Persian medicine.  Verjus provides a gentle acidity and some herbaceous notes, making it a milder alternative to vinegar, or a non-alcoholic alternative to wine, both in cooking, or as a drink.  At the tasting, they were offering it as a spritz,z which was both refreshing and sufficiently complex to make it a worthy contender to de-alcoholised wine.

We also enjoyed the Tatié from Tabali, who have been working with the experts at Champagne house Thiénot for over a decade to produce a sparkling wine that delivers the level of quality one expects from the legendary Champagne region with the character of the Limarí Vally terroir.  It reminded me of an old favourite – Janz from Tasmania – which was my go-to punting wine when I was living in Cambridge.  Fresh and dry with a pleasing fruity hit from the Pinot Noir, just a shame they didn’t call the rose “Neeps”.

Amongst the familiar bottles was one standout white – an Alvarinho (aka Albariño) from the Languedoc in France.  This was planted as an experiment - the variety is traditionally grown in Portugal and Spain, but since the average temperature is steadily rising, Famille Fabre is getting ahead of the curve, along with plantings of this old favourite along Tempranillo, another classic from the hotter side of the Pyrenees.  The vineyard is located in a dried-up marsh, the clay and limestone (marl) terroir provides a wonderful minerality to the wine, there is ripeness from the good sun exposure, lees stirring provides some weight, whilst freshness is retained by a cool breeze from the sea, along with it being harvested at night.  Very happy to add this one to our shelves.

Off to the Duke of Wellington pub for lunch, we both had hanger steak and chips, which hit all the right notes by being robust enough to soak up the morning’s wines whilst not completely knocking me ou,t which I think a ribeye might have done.

On to the reds.. I had some catching up to do as I needed to try many of the wines we already stock.  The Chiantis and Brunello we have from Uggiano were all delicious as expected, well-structured and fruity enough without being ambitious in their abv. Perfect with food, particularly a roast or winter stew, and the reserva chianti is also available in magnums for when there are a few guests at the table. 

I was very glad “Le Riche” (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Cinsault, Petit Verdot, and Merlot) lived up to my high expectations for blends of traditional French grape varieties grown in South Africa.  Cab Franc and Petit Verdot seem to do extremely well in warmer climates.  The South Africans are quite traditional in their approach and like to age in oak barrels, making these wines something of a turbo-claret with loads of toasty cassis on the palate, coupled with leather and cigar-box on the nose.  

On the subject of new world Cabernet Franc, I was particularly taken with Franc by Pyren, which, somewhat eponymously is a Cabernet Franc from the Pyrenees region of Australia.  The brevity of the name does not reflect the style, which is bold, generous and complex.  A big hitter with enough of an acidic backbone to keep this obsidian monolith upright.

 

I’m very pleased to add more wines from the legendary Peter Lehmann stable to our lineup.  The story of Peter Lehmann is one of a well-intentioned chap taking a massive gamble and putting his neck on the line to honour a promise, and in so doing, he saved several producers from almost certain bankruptcy.  The gamble paid off, and he became one of the most loved figures in the Barossa.  He shed this mortal coil a decade ago, but his legacy lives on in the winery that carries his name and works the vines he planted.

 

We previously managed to get hold of some of the 2004 Stonewell Shiraz, which now sits fondly beside its 2018 sibling.  Stonewell was in Peter’s view, a definitive expression of what he most admired in Barossa Shiraz.  Having been lucky enough to have sampled much older expressions of Barossa Shiraz from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, I can attest to these wines aging with enviable grace.  The 2018 is ready to drink today, but would happily last another 25+ years in the cellar.  Following a steady run of enquiries for sparkling Shiraz in store, we also picked up The Black Queen from Lehmann.  For those who know sparkling shiraz, this is everything you’re looking for; for those who are yet to experience it, it sounds curious but just works.  Served chilled, this is a low-tannin, fruity but dry expression of Shiraz that uses the traditional Champagne method to make it sparkle.  In my experience, inductees to sparkling Shiraz approach with curiosity and some trepidation, but furrowed brows invariably unfurl to the sound of ‘oo’s, ‘mm’s, and a swift follow-up sip to double check.

 

We were back in Aberdeen by 11ish, somewhat sleepy, but armed with a list of new discoveries with which to adorn our shelves.  All of those are now available in the current shop and will soon be close at hand for our patient friends in Ballater once we can finally open our doors there.