Michele Reverdito Barbera d'Alba Butti 2008

Barbera is a grape I just keep coming back to. It can be a great way to try wines from top producers in Piedmont without forking out for Barolos and Barbarescos, and there's something so food-friendly about its flavour profile and snappy acidity. It is subject to a lot of differing interpretations, and this wine wasn't perhaps what I was expecting.
The brightness is in there, with some red cherry fruit, aromatic orange peel and mint aromas. However, it's overtaken by savoury aromas that dominate the nose - to be more specific, leather and clove. Brett is an element here, with a definite whiff of the stable which puts it over the 'complexity' threshhold into 'slightly off-putting'. The palate is punchy and chewy with forthright acidity and a lingering, gamy finish. It's good, but I would love to trade in some of those dry, old-school flavours for an ounce more charm and generosity. That's what Barbera is good at, right?

Some recent grower champagnes from Waris-Larmandier and Paul Lebrun

We went for a quick booze cruise à velo around the villages of the Côtes des Blancs early last summer, dropping in on small growers Waris-Larmandier in Avize (above) and Paul Lebrun in Cramant (where we toured the cellars with a motorbike club on a slightly more high-octane trip). Waris-Larmandier are imported by a company called French Bubbles, and you can buy them at The Sampler in London. I'm not sure about Lebrun - it doesn't look like you can find them in the UK at the moment. I particularly liked the 2002.



Waris-Larmandier Cuvée Tradition Grand Cru
100% Chardonnay from Grand Cru vineyards in Avize. The wines we tried from this house were all about elegance and lightness of touch. There is fresh apple fruit here, with classic young blanc de blancs macaroon and honeysuckle aromas, and a good cut and thrust of citrussy acidity on the palate. It's going for bright and breezy style rather than complex/developed flavours, though these might come with some bottle age.

Paul Lebrun 2002

100% Chardonnay in a slightly riper style, with almost pineappley fruit, icing sugar and bitter almond on the nose. It has quite a generous, forward personality this wine, with lots of lovely stone fruit and a rush of fine acidity on the finish. I really like this, although it is a little unusual.

Paul Lebrun Grande Réserve
100% Chardonnay, here in a more classic blanc de blancs style than the 2002 vintage. Harmonious on the nose with peaches and cream, honeysuckle and caramel biscuits. It has a really attractive flinty coolness too (just a hint of reduction here perhaps). On the palate I find the dosage a little high - there isn't really the concentration of vinous flavour to hold it, so it becomes pithy grapefruit acidity and a lingering floral sweetness. Some may like this more than me though.

Emlio Valerio Laderas de Montejurra 2010, Navarra, Spain

This is a cracking wine for around £10. Big nose of crushed blackberries and blueberries - it's savoury and meaty too, and just seems very alive (this is certainly well along the 'natural' spectrum, with biodynamic viticulture and minimal SO2 usage). The berry fruit is really buzzing on the palate too, but it's far from sweet or OTT; the combination of savoury, almost beefy flavours and keen acidity right through the finish really balance the fruit out, all three dimensions of flavour working together. Moreish. Drink it young.