Adventures In Wine David Chandler

In this episode, Jason and David must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all they ask is a flight of fine wines and a corkscrew to open them by…

With ABV’s on the increase and the prospect of even warmer weather to come, Jason has gone coastal and lined up a half dozen wines that reflect the benign influence of the sea and upon which, you can rely for years to come, even if your hair catches fire.

1) A zingy, sharp as a razor clam, Muscadet de Sevre et Maine from Jean-François Baron.
2) Napier vineyard's Klein Luis Darling Sauvignon Blanc, irresistible as the call of the siren.
3) A beautifully balanced, mother-of-pearl pink Côtes de Provence Rosé from Clos St Magdeleine
4) An exemplary St Emilion from Château Milonblanc, as approachable and eager to please as a youthful midshipman.
5) A weighty, Bandol Mas de le Rouvière from family Bunan, leathery and spicy as the bosun after ten years at sea.
6) And a golden-tressed, Corsican, vin doux naturelle from Domaine Pieretti, honey-sweet as a mermaid and not to be taken on the rocks.

In an absolute first for this podcast, our wine-loving friends spend several minutes drinking something that isn’t actually wine. This deviation from tradition, though unthinkable under normal circumstances, is rendered unavoidable by the fact that Jason has decided to answer a question that David wasn’t even aware needed to be asked - unless in a past life, his name had been Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie (i.e. Napoleon Bonaparte’s wife) and the question that bothered his pretty, little head had been, “Whatever would mon petit chou like to drink, ce soir?”
Having almost drowned ‘in a sea of ignorance’ when studying Napoleon’s life as a schoolboy, Jason positively redeems himself by expertly surfing onto the shore of knowledge on a giant wave of erudition and libatory learning about the great man’s drinking habits, from the sparkling wine that he drank as a young cadet to the sweet wine he resorted to after exile and poor digestion had taken their toll. In the intervening years, there would have been bottles of heavenly Coulée de Serrant, a single varietal from a seven hectare plot in the Loire and an equally singular and velvety Gevrey Chambertin from Burgundy. To cap it all, Courvoisier from the Charente, naturellement. Not wine, of course, but grapes were involved.

Saint-Péray: Domaine Rémy Nodin 'Cuvee Ernest' Mousseux Brut (non vintage)
Clos de la Coulée de Serrant: Coulée de Serrant 2021
Gevrey-Chambertin: Domaine Henri Richard 'Aux Corvées' 2019
Vin de Constance: Klein Constantia 2016
Courvoisier VS Cognac

Jason's well-known for keeping a tight ship, but like the egalitarian oenophile we know him to be, he's not averse to granting other mariners of the wine dark sea an opportunity to take the helm and plot a course through the beneficent waters of the bacchanal either. In this instalment, no fewer than six of the U.K's finest sommeliers opine on wine that they would be more than happy to recommend at their own restaurants. There's nothing fancy about their choices either. Here are six, scintillating suggestions that are as affordable and approachable as they are quaffable:
Alsace: Léon Beyer Crémant d'Alsace Brut
Côtes du Rhône Villages Sablet: Domaine Saint Gayan 'L'Oratory' 2022
Vouvray: Jean-Claude & Didier Aubert Demi-Sec 2019
Vin de Pays de Vaucluse: Le Petit Caboche 2021
Saint-Pourçain: 'La Ficelle' Rouge 2022
IGP Méditerranée: Domaine Richeaume 'Cuvée Tradition' Rouge 2020

The Bordeaux region may be home to some of the most famous and long-lived wines in the world and play host to any number of celebrated appellations, but, says Jason, you can do it on a budget...

But would you really you want to?

With six sedulously selected bottles to work through, Jason and David hop from one bank of the Garonne to the other sampling everything from the humble to the most high without even getting their feet wet. After a spicy start with a pocket-friendly 2018 Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux, Chateau La Brande, they segue onto a silky Graves Pessac 2016, that requires a little more attention and twice as much of your wallet. Yes, when it comes to Bordeaux, you absolutely can believe the hype, as long as your credit is good. All credit then, to a text book Saint-Émilion Grand Cru 2018 from Château Alverne, which does all the fruit and new oak spice the right way about. Meanwhile, Château Gombaude-Guillot’s perfectly poised, petal-scented Pomerol of 2014 is a garnet-coloured gem of a wine. By the time the Pauillac: Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2016 is plashing into his Riedel and running black cherry ripples over his taste buds, David hardly knows his left bank from his right and Jason must be walking on water, surely? But there’s more to come in the divine form of a 2009 Chateau Leoville Poyferré, which scored a legendary 100 out of 100 with Robert Parker, but only because 110 doesn’t make any sense. With wines of this order, it can be only too easy to run out of money, but you’ll run out superlatives even faster.

In this episode, Jason and David sample a sextet of wines devoted entirely to one ‘grately’ underrated grape, prized by none other than Cardinal Richelieu, (l’Eminence Rouge of France) and Jason Yapp, (l’Eminence Rouge ou Blanc of Frome).

They begin with a perfectly balanced, rose hip and mint, Chinon Rosé 2022 from Domaine Jean-Maurice Raffault, follow it with a peppery, yet gently fruity 2021 Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil from Domaine Taluau and a firm Fred Filliatreau favourite from Domaine Château Fouquet 2020. Then from just across the road, Fred's earthy, exemplary Saumur Champigny: Domaine Filliatreau 'Vieilles Vignes' 2018 and lastly another Domaine Jean-Maurice Raffault from a one hectare vineyard of old vines, ’Clos de L'Hospice' Rouge 2019 - a class act of cassis and sloes with a long finish.
Great with food or good to simply sip these are six, shining examples of what Chinon and its environs are capable of. Unsurpassable, under-the-radar rosés and reds from small, independent producers from the Loire valley. You really don’t have to travel any further south or dig any deeper into your pocket.

Welcome to another edition of the podcast where Jason and David drink wine so you don’t have to!
Time was when rosé, was like the viola of the wine world; a faintly embarrassing, Barbie-pink hybrid, neither red enough nor white enough to be taken seriously, and rarely music to anyone's ears. But times have changed along with the climate and what might once have been a lunchtime indiscretion on a hot day, has become a main feature on restaurant wine lists and supermarket shelves all year round. Prepare yourself for a breathtaking, tongue-tingling, rosé-run through Jason Yapp’s selection of barely-pink ballet pump, summer wines courtesy of Château Roubaud, Domaine des Oullières, Château La Canorgue, Bandol and Domaine Pieretti; zingy zesty wines from Provence, Corsica and the Rhône delta as well as Yapp’s strawberry and citrus-scented, own-label from the Ardèche.