2006 Six Vineyards Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, Lemelson Vineyards, Oregon, US
The Wine Society, £18 Lemelson’s fancy Oregon pinot noirs have popped up in the Top 100 before. Even the estate’s second label wine, this Six Vineyards blend, a mix, as its name suggests, of six different plots around the town of Charlton, gives burgundy a run for its money. Oregon’s cool climate and, in the 2006 vintage’s case, a damp, grey September that evolved into a vintage-saving Indian summer, has produced a cracking, characterful soft, fruity, rose scented and damson-charged, 14.4 per cent alcohol, part new-oak-aged pinot noir.
2008 Seresin Leah Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand
Armit, £18.99 The film-maker Michael Seresin makes a wonderful run, as he puts it, of “hand-grown, hand-picked and hand-made” Kiwi pinot noirs, all at Marlborough on the northern tip of the south island. Seresin is plainly as good a winemaker as he is film-maker, as each of the slightly differently sourced and vinified pinot noirs are a triumph. Leah comes from a blend of pinot noir grown in three Seresin vineyards, Raupo Creek, Tatou and Home vineyard, before being rounded off in part new oak French barriques for almost a year. The result is an irresistible sweet, velvety, spicy, gamey pinot noir.
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2007 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Tradition, Domaine Giraud, France
Lea & Sandeman, £23.95 for Times readers until July 30 Châteauneuf-du-Pape has its place on the summer table, even the biggest, boldest 15 per cent alcohol versions such as this magnificent 2007, a much-fancied southern Rhône vintage. Aged in tank and in old barrels to impart less oaky flavour, Tradition is a two-thirds grenache blend topped up with syrah and just a 5 per cent dollop of the brutish mourvèdre that needs very hot years to shine. Together the trio have combined to make a fine, herby, weighty châteauneuf with lots of beefy, chocolatey spice. Great with a juicy T-bone steak or barbecued red meats.
2008 Domaine Gramenon, La Sagesse, Côtes du Rhône, Aubery-Laurent, France
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Caves de Pyrène, £21.99 Domaine Gramenon and its classy red rhônes are finding increasing favour. Situated at the northern end of the southern Rhône, Gramenon is an oddity in that it makes tasty top-drawer reds from humble Côtes du Rhône appellation wines. Judge for yourself by tasting this complex, concentrated, 14 per cent alcohol red made exclusively from very ripe grenache grapes and oozing with wonderful, herby, sandalwood, cinnamon and black pepper fruit. Almost the star in this section.
2006 Santenay Premier Cru Les Gravières, Jean-Marc Vincent, France
The Wine Society, £22 Santenay is way down south in the Côte de Beaune, almost as far south as you can go in the Côte d’Or, and home to good-quality, keenly priced red burgundy and produces some white burgundy. Home to 12 different premiers crus, Santenay is really an extension of Chassagne-Montrachet, with quality to match. The Vincents have lived and worked here since the 13th century, but Jean-Marc, currently in charge, did not take control of his vines until 1997. Quality is rising every year and in 2006 Jean-Marc has made a beefy, truffley, gamey red burgundy with lively, leafy, smoky spice on the finish. Best over £12
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2005 Côte Rôtie La Viallière, Champet, France
Yapp Bros, £24.95 Côte Rôtie, literally the roasted slope, is another hefty rhône red, this time from the steep, granite slopes of the west bank of the northern Rhône, whose black-as-night syrah fruit is lightened and perfumed with a dollop of peachy viognier. Father Joël and son Romain are traditionalists and their single vineyard, La Viallière, situated on the clay soil of the Côte Brune, delivers big, bold reds softened by 18 months of ageing without those contemporary fixes of fining or filtration. 2005 was another fine northern Rhône vintage and this joyous beefy, tannic, oaky, perfumed syrah is a delight.
2005 Auxey-Duresses, Thierry et Pascale Matrot, Meursault, France
Private Cellar, £20.48 for Times readers until July 30 The Matrot estate, one of the largest and most important properties in Meursault, now run by Thierry and his wife Pascale, is one of the oldest domaine bottlers in Burgundy, with grandfather Joseph Matrot insisting on this quality-enhancing regime since l908. Size is not everything but Matrot’s mature vines, averaging 30 years of age, and their low yields produce some wonderful wines. Enjoy this majestic red burgundy with its fine, ripe, velvety, gamey strawberry fruit with roast lamb.
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2007 Gevrey-Chambertin, Côte d’Or, Dupont-Tisserandot, France
Christopher Piper, £23.26 Gevrey-Chambertin at the northern end of the Côtes de Nuits is a great source of fancy red burgundy, with more grands crus produced here than anywhere else. Even the village wines such as this one make superior drinking. Didier Chevillon is the man in charge at this 22ha estate, having taken over from his father-in-law a decade ago and is now slowly increasing domaine bottling here instead of selling the wine on to famous burgundy merchants such as Faiveley and Jadot. What you get is oodles of very fine, leafy, gamey, truffley pinot noir fruit with some fine, smoky, oak-derived coffee bean scents on the finish.
2004 La Réserve de Léoville Barton, St Julien, Bordeaux, France
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Majestic Wine, £25; Wine Society, £20; Armit, £19.99 Behind this simple, unassuming boar’s head label lies one of Bordeaux’s best bargains, the offcuts from leading St Julien properties Chêteaux Langoa & Léoville Barton, still in the Barton family’s hands after two centuries. I have loved every single vintage of this Réserve that has come my way and while the grand and bumper 2004 Bordeaux vintage has not made wines as great as 2005, this is still a classy bargain St Julien claret. Enjoy its fat, fragrant, cedary, spice with rare roast beef and the like.
2008 Fleurie La Roilette Vieiles Vignes, Domaine Metrat & Fils, France
Berry Bros & Rudd 0800 280 2440 £15.85 Raeburn Fine Wines £12.99, Ledbury Wine Cellar £12.50
2009 is the great beaujolais vintage in recent years, some say in half a century, but in Top 100 tastings, I have been suprised by how delicious the 2008 vintage’s superior crus, or village, beaujolais have tasted. Anyone sipping this seductive fleurie from Bernard Metrat made from sixty year old gamay vines grown on the celebrated granite soil of the crus and from La Roilette, an area famed throughout Fleurie will agree. I loved its elegant, fragrant, ripe, cherry and plum fruit together with an unusually fine gamey, truffley finish.
2008 Menetou-Salon Rouge, Domaine Jean Teiller, France
Yapp Bros £12.50 Menetou-Salon is one of those satellite Loire appellations situated south west of Sancerre whose light, perfumed red wines made from the pinot noir grape tend to be overlooked in the sauvignon stampede. A pity as ten times more wine is made in Sancerre but Menetou’s whites and reds are much better value for money. Three generations of Teillers have grown grapes and made wine at this small family-run estate, grandfather Rene, followed by Jean and now Jean-Jacques is the proud producer of this delicious, scented, fleshy, currant and plum-layered red.
2005 Chateau Fourcas-Dumont Listrac-Medoc, Bordeaux, France
Tesco £14.99, T.Peatling £16.99, Balls Bros £19.05
2005 was a great Bordeaux vintage and even at the humble Listrac-Medoc level, a commune that lies behind the big guns of Margaux and St Julien that overlook the Gironde river, the clarets impress. From an estate created only in 1992 by the merger of two of Listrac’s oldest properties, Clos du Fourcas and Moulin du Bourg, this claret is almost fifty-fifty merlot and cabernet sauvignon topped up with a ten per cent dollop of petit verdot. In this company and at this price, this chunky14% alcohol claret oozing mature, beefy, cedary spice is a bargain.
2005 Noster Inicial, Priorat, Spain
Oddbins £12.99 At 15.5% alcohol this grenache, topped up with carinena and a drop of cabernet sauvignon is no shrinking violet but if any of you are on the look out for the biggest, blackest, boldest red capable of partnering burnt blackened barbecued meats with the hottest piri piri sauces, Noster Inicial has your name on it. Priorat, south west of Barcelona, this red’s home, is one of the greatest wine regions of Spain but now that all the world and his wife have started making wine here, quality is not all that it should be. I loved this stunning rich, ripe, velvety, Spanish red with concentrated prune, plum, creosote and moscatel raisin flavours.