Wine Club 29 October

We’re not due a Wine Club offering in the magazine until next week, but so good were the wines that I tasted recently with-FromVineyardsDirect
.com that we just had to include them so that readers might join in the fun. It’s an entirely French line-up, ideal for autumn. And despite the plunging pound and the fact that the wines were very decently priced in the first place, we even squeezed a bit of a discount out of Esme Johnstone and his gang, for which we’re very grateful.

The 2014 Clotilde Davenne Sauvignon de Saint Bris (1) is a delightful curiosity, a Sauvignon Blanc from Burgundy in what is really Chardonnay country. Clotilde Davenne does indeed make a delicious white Burgundy but this, produced in the tiny Appellation Contrôlée area of Saint Bris on the very edges of Chablis, is 100 per cent Sauvignon Blanc, cold-fermented and with no hint of oak. It’s crisp, clean and refreshing, with a strong herbal character, a touch of gooseberry and a keen acidity.