Jonathan Ray

We had a fine Spectator Winemaker Lunch with Olivier Humbrecht of leading Alsace producer Domaine Zind Humbrecht the other day. Olivier is generally agreed to be among the most gifted winemakers of his generation. Not just in Alsace but anywhere. He is also one of the humblest and most charmingly self-deprecating. He showed us half a dozen wines over lunch. All were organic/biodynamic (Alsace accounts for 15 per cent of the world’s biodynamic vineyards, quite something for such a small region) and all were stunning. We started with a bone dry but gloriously, grapily aromatic 2014 Zind-Humbrecht Muscat Goldert Grand Cru before moving onto a pair of Rieslings: the 2014 Zind-Humbrecht Roche Calcaire and the 2014 Zind-Humbrecht Roche Volcanique.

Much has been written about the tip-top quality of the 2015 clarets, the en primeur campaign of which is in full swing, and there are indeed some absolute belters to be had, but at a price. And while a fine vintage in one region rarely guarantees a fine vintage in another, 2015 was a glorious exception with spectacular wines made across France not only in Bordeaux but also in Burgundy, the Rhône, Alsace, the Languedoc and beyond, in red, white and rosé. This selection from Yapp Bros offers an excellent opportunity to discover just how good 2015 was throughout France. Indeed, so chuffed with the wines is Jason Yapp, and so keen that readers try them, that he has generously snipped a quid off every bottle.

The Languedoc is home to some cracking wines at the moment. And really great value ones too, especially compared to the all-too-often-overpriced wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône. Domaine de la Jasse is one of the region’s leading estates and when we offered some 2012 Domaine de la Jasse ‘Black Label’ Tête de Cuvée Rouge last year it fair flew out the door, so tasty and – importantly – so tastily priced was it. This time we’ve gone one better, well, actually two better, with not only the most recent vintage of the Tête de Cuvée Rouge but the current white and rosé too.

The following wines from Private Cellar are all about summer, chosen with long lunches on the lawn, picnics by the river and crafty evening drinks in mind. I reckon they hit just the right note. And because I’m so wretchedly indecisive I’ve snuck a seventh wine in too. First, the 2015 Finca Salazar Sauvignon Blanc (1) from the family-owned Bodegas Pinuaga in Castilla La Mancha, Spain. Aged over the lees for several months, it’s fresh, vibrant and juicy with tropical melon, papaya and citrus. And it’s organic to boot. Only 1,600 cases were produced and Private Cellar snapped up as much as they could with The Spectator especially in mind. Indeed, these pages are currently the only place in the UK where you can buy it (and its sister red below). £7.

Last week’s Spectator Winemaker’s Lunch with Sami Ghosn of Massaya was an instant a sell-out. For some reason it was also our first ever all-male lunch; more fool the girls, for Sami is nothing if not a charmer and his wines are outstanding. Almost everyone has heard of Chateau Musar, which famously blazed the Lebanese wine trail, and very fine its wines are too. My late, greatly lamented predecessor, Simon Hoggart, was a huge fan and we ran a very successful Musar offer only the other week. Massaya (meaning twilight) might not boast Musar’s history, being a relatively new kid on the block, but it has been a true game changer and has done much to bring Lebanese wines to a wider audience. Where Musar led, Massaya followed in dramatic style.

I reckon Robert Boutflower of Tanners has the measure of The Spectator. He knows exactly what tickles our fancy. He put up a dozen wines for our tasting, any one of which I’d be delighted to recommend to readers. Price was ultimately the deciding factor, though, and — hooray! — we nailed the mixed case for a cheering, knockdown £108. Yes, yes, I know there’s no longer an R in the month and we’re not to eat oysters until September, but I’m still jolly well going to recommend the 2014 Domaine Fief de la Brie Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie (1).

I have a particular fondness for the Chapel Down Winery near Tenterden, Kent. I was brought up just down the road in Rolvenden, although in those days it was of course all hop gardens and orchards rather than vineyards. The landscape of southern England is certainly changing. Chapel Down is the UK’s largest producer of wines and, with a massive expansion underway, will soon overtake Denbies in Surrey in terms of vineyard acreage too. And, gosh, the wines they make are good. I led a heavily oversubscribed Spectator visit to Chapel Down on St. George’s Day and we had a hoot (one couple even came specially from Brussels).

Mark Pardoe MW, the wine-buying director of Berry Bros. & Rudd, has a touching fondness for The Spectator. Either that or his maths is terrible. He shows me some excellent wines, all of which I love. I narrow them down to six and ask whether he might see his way to knocking a few quid off. I suggest a figure and he quadruples it — the discount, that is, not the price. I’m not a great haggler but I thought the way it worked was for the customer to ask for the world and the merchant to give away peanuts, not the other way around. Anyway, the result is that all the wines have socking great discounts. Mark insisted that each bottle should have the same price (£9.95), meaning that he then had to lop a full seven quid off one wine, six quid off another and so on.

Chateau Musar is an extraordinary wine boasting an almost fanatical following. It’s made in the most unlikely of places – Lebanon’s sun-baked, war-torn Bekaa Valley – and my much-missed predecessor, the great Simon Hoggart, adored it, his enthusiasm doing much to bring it to a wider audience. We at the Spectator Wine Club are fortunate that one of our partners – The Wine Company is one of Musar’s partners and the first to offer the most recent vintage, exclusively through these pages and at the best possible price. Ah, me, there’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned threesome where everyone goes home happy with a smile on their face. The 2012 Musar Jeune (1) is from the new range of young, unoaked, easy-going wines designed for immediate drinking.