Niepoort The Senior Tawny, Portugal

Brilliantly pitched port from Niepoort. In-between a tawny and ruby in colour - it’s going slightly rusty around the edges but still vibrantly red at heart. The nose is alive with juicy raisins soaked in good spirit (I’ve written calvados here, and I was definitely picking up a little apple), spicy agen prunes, pine resin and green peppercorn, all wrapped in a nutty light muscovado sweetness. The palate is quite open and sweet at first, then some grip and acidity builds and savoury nutty grip cuts through the pruney sweetness. That caramel flavour of brown sugar lingers with some bright, wild damson acidity. Complex stuff - an marriage of classic tawny flavours and fresher, more ruby-like fun.

Tarlant tasting at Bottle Apostle, Hackney

So we were down "the local" again last night to taste through the portfolio of this excellent medium-sized producer from Oeuilly in the Marne valley. I was pretty amazed that the little room wasn't filled up, as I really love doing single-producer tastings. It's another 'constant' that allows you to really focus on the differences in grape variety/production etc across a range of wines. It was also a first for me in being able to taste two base wines - the 2012, just weeks old, and the 2011, which has spent approximately 6 months in old oak and will become a reserve wine. Benoit Tarlant, the current winemaker, spoke of his philosophy of "no makeup" - his heart is in the zero-dosage or extra-brut style, and there wasn't a wine on show with more than 6 g/l residual sugar (by comparison Moet currently has 9 g/l and Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2003 has 12 g/l...but higher acidity...). I'm a convert, at least in the hands of this house, whose long lees-ageing certainly helps to keep the wines in balance without the flattery of sugar.

2012 Base wine - L'Enclume VineyardThis still has the pear-like sweetness of a brand-new wine, which will dissipate soon. Ripe red apple and clementine are lurking, with an attractive floral note. It's vinous and, as expected, bracingly acidic on the palate. Not giving away much, but a fascinating taste.

2011 Vin ReserveThe first thing that struck me in this was the wood influence - suddenly there's a layer of creamy vanilla sweetness that took me by surprise a bit. There's a touch of apricot here as well as the same appley vinosity that was in the 2012. I can compare it to tasting a curry at the start of cooking - one spice is maybe dominating, but after time it will subside and become integrated with the other flavours.

Zero Brut NatureEqual blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The house's most widely-available wine, this spends 3 years on lees on average. Bags of character, with the sweet smells of bakers yeast and malt drawing you in at first, before the freshness of juicy whitecurrants, candied lemon, whiffs of mint and vanilla take over. It's like a cold shower on the palate, with the natural acidity cleansing out your mouth and filling it with a surprising depth of texture. The Brut Reserve is the same wine but with 6 g/l residual sugar made as an 'alternative' - Benoit made it clear which was closer to his heart.

Rose Zero Brut NatureThis caused a bit of a stir, with the room fighting over who got to take home the one bottle that was available! Benoit spoke of his many different trials with rose wines, and how, for his non-vintage, he settled on a blend of 85% Chardonnay with 15% still Pinot. This one is based on the 2007 vintage, so has a bit less time on lees and in the bottle than the standard champagnes to retain the freshness of the fruit. I picked up cranberries, rosehip and chalk on the nose here, with lovely red apple on the palate, which is fiercly dry and elegant. Not one to swill with your Quality Street on Valentines day, this - a steely, invigorating wine and one of the real hits of the evening.

Brut TraditionThis is almost a blanc de noirs, with just 6% Chardonnay making an appearance alongside a dosage of 6 g/l. Whitecurrant, peach skin and freshly baked patisserie here, though I can still recognise some of that deep, vinous apple fruit from the other wines. As expected, acidity dominates on the palate, with none of the fatness that can pop up in heavily pinot-dominated wines. Only made when the pinot are of excellent quality. A Tarlant take on this style of champagne.

Extra Brut Prestige 2000Benoit discussed his approach to making vintage wines, which is a very open-minded one - all winemaking decisions come as a result of the grapes that he gets. In 2000 Chardonnay managed to beat the storms and hails the most effectively, so this wine is 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir. 9 years on the lees here, being disgorged in 2011. There's a fineness and subtlety to this wine that reveals itself quite slowly - beyond the baked apple fruit and lemon peel there are touches of fennel seed and turmeric, and a real sense of savoury presence on the palate, which finishes long with delicate vanilla. Tasting this makes me realise how much some of the flavours and aromas I associate with 'aged' champagne are really bottle-age aromas - the 9 years on lees here are all about depth of texture and gentle aromatic complexity. I'd love this even more after a few more years in bottle.

La Vigne d'Or, Blanc de Meuniers 2003A first for me - 100% Pinot Meunier from the very warm 2003 vintage. This is quite a special wine for Tarlant, from 62 year old vines from a single site in Oeuilly. 3 g/l residual sugar. The consice fruit definition of the other wines doesn't make an appearance here - there's a kind of ethereal richness of nougat and dried pineapple beyond the toasty weight of the nose, with a particularly sparky mousse characterising the palate. It's very attractive and individual, though it feels a little stubborn and two-dimensional compared to some of the other wines.

Cuvee Loius Extra Brut50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir. Blend of 96/97/98 vintages. This is also a single vineyard wine - the proximity of the Marne river regulates the growth of the vines here, insulating them against weather extremes and promoting the sort of slow, even growth that produces the finest flavours. The sweet fresh yeast aromas reach you from your glass 2 feet away, becoming finer as you dive in with icing sugar, juicy whitecurrants, candied peel, apricot and caramelised brioche, just going towards touches of wild mushroom savouriness. There's a real presence of quince and tropical fruit on the palate, which is nevertheless driving and fresh (as you would expect), finishing with a floral touch and real length. 12yrs on lees and 3g/l dosage make this the most opulent wine in the portfolio, but it's very keenly priced for a wine of this age and quality. Worth keeping for a few years too - it certainly has another decade in it.

Breaky Bottom Brut 2008, Sussex, England

100% sparkling Seyval Blanc from one of Sussex's oldest vineyards. Breaky Bottom have been growing this stalwart grape for over 30 years, and although more modern vineyards growing the champagne varietals have stolen the limelight over the last 10 years, I always sense a real soft spot for Breaky Bottom amongst English wine fans. It has been quite fashionable to knock Seyval recently, and it tends not to do too well in blind tastings next to the pinots and chardonnay (in this year's annual tasting of over 90 English wines organised by Stephen Skelton MW, Breaky Bottom's 2006 came in a respectable 21st as the highest-placed non-champagne varietal wine). My feeling about Seyval as a base wine is that it is never going to reach the heights that the champagne varietals can in a top vineyard and a good year, but it can be approachable younger and more reliable in poor vintages. Perhaps most importantly, I like it - it's not blowsy or pungent, it tastes of apples and herbs, and it doesn't tend to have the searing acidity that a young English chardonnay can have in a year like 2008. I hope that a few hardy souls will keep making Seyval wines.
This pours a very pale, green-tinted straw. It reminds me of a fine Blanc de Blancs at first with its lovely sense of icing sugar and macaroon, but moves on to reveal quite deep and vinous bramley apple and as well as hints of white pepper, vanilla and thyme, all under a gentle whiff of apple blossom. Very elegant style on the palate, as the patisserie flavours surround the core of tangy, clean ripe apple and fine acidity. It's not the most persistent in flavour or aroma, and in fact the effervescence was not the longest lasting in this bottle, but it is very attractive and certainly up there with the Camel Valley Brut (although made in a much more vinous, Loire-like style). 2008 was a pretty tricky vintage in the UK and this is much readier to drink than a raft of 2008s from Chardonnay in particular, even if they end up overtaking it in a few years.