(By Jancis Robinson – JancisRobinson.com, October 2024)
This year’s wallow in some of the UK’s best independent merchants’ wines.
“I came away from this year’s Bunch tasting at Fidelio Café in Clerkenwell, London, elated by the general level of quality at this annual showing of 10 wines chosen by each of the seven members of this group of independent wine merchants. You can read some of the background to the group in my account of the 2022 Bunch tasting.
The selections are still dominated by Europe. As in 2022, there were only 10 non-European wines, from South Africa, Argentina and a couple from Australia. Last time there were quite a few English wines; in 2024 only one, a still Pinot Noir from Suffolk shown by Corney & Barrow who actually notched up more non-European wines than any other merchant, thanks to the hard work of buyer Rebecca Palmer.
Most years a popular theme emerges and at the end of this year’s tasting I had the impression that I’d tasted more examples of excellent cru beaujolais than the four on show. Still, for 60% of the merchants to have made that choice must tell us something. They were two Moulin-à-Vents, a Morgon and a Côte de Brouilly, at different stages of evolution but every one well priced – especially in view of burgundy prices. See Matthew Hayes’ recent detailed report on Beaujolais and all the exciting things going on there.
Talking of Burgundy, Greater Burgundy (from Chablis to the Mâconnais) still featured far more often than Bordeaux by the ratio of six to three. There were also six candidates from the Rhône and seven from the Loire, including a couple of good reds.
The two Barolos and one Barbera d’Alba also made a generally favourable impression on me, with Haynes Hanson & Clark’s Barbera being a fraction of the price of the Barolos of course.
Some of the most exciting wines were those furthest off-piste such as Tanners’ Greek red and Corneys’ Argentine Sémillon.
One of the draws for members of The Bunch, I get the impression, is the ability to get together, share some special bottles and discuss issues of the day with those in the same boat. At dinner at Ten Cases the evening before the tasting topics apparently included the sky-high charges being levied on imported organic wines by the UK’s Soil Association, the charges being levied by the UK government on packaging waste – and influencers. How effective are they compared with those of us members of the old media guard?”