Dbm Wines

Last visit was to Krug, starting at the Clos du Mesnil vineyard and ending with dinner with Olivier Krug and the most amazing champagne I’ve ever had: Clos d’Ambonnay.

A long-awaited visit to Salon today. Fabulous harmony to the 2007 and 1997.

Amazing pictures from Hubert Lamy of the anti-frost measures in Burgundy this week.

We had a lovely little visit from our favourite wine writer today, Fiona Beckett Matching Food & Wine.
Find out which was her favourite by reading her most recent post;
https://www.matchingfoodandwine.com/…/c hateau-curton-la-pe…/

We love our claret and enjoy finding wonderful parcels at attractive prices.
Chateau Curton la Perriere, Bordeaux 2015 Just £59.94 per 6-Bottle Wooden Box Case
... A delicious 2015 Vintage Claret at a great price...
Call us on 0117 370 9930, order online at https://www.dbmwines.co.uk/ or pop in to our shop in Clifton Village, Bristol.
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You know that Spring has arrived when the Rose arrives!
New '18 vintage in of the stunning Moulin de Gassac. A steal at £9.75 per bottle
... Pop in to our lovely little shop on King's Road, Clifton to stock up for the season.
Order through our website. https://www.dbmwines.co.uk/search?words=g uilhem
Or call the office on 01173709930 we're always happy to help.
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Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley is over $1000 a bottle (if you can get it). I’d never tasted it before and have to admit I was anticipating a heavy blockbuster Cabernet. But no! It was perfumed, lifted, elegant and very long and fine. We tasted the 2016 and some of the component blocks of Cabernet and Merlot. A very cool site and a great winemaker too.

West Sonoma Coast is THE place for racy, elegant, fresh Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. We visited Hirsch Vineyard in Fort Ross Seaview AVA - a stunning spot. Yields are minute, the wines are uneconomic but utterly delicious.

50 Masters of Wine doing a ‘truly blind’ Tasting! Really makes you think about aroma and texture.

Yesterday evening was very special. We drove up the steep, windy road to the top of Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz mountains south of San Francisco. At 2000 feet there is an amazing view of Silicon Valley below. Paul Draper took us on a tour of the winery and talked us through a vertical tasting of Monte Bello 2015, 2005 (so concentrated), 1995, 1985, 1975 and 1965. Wines of remarkable power and concentration, they age superbly. We also had Geyserville 2013 and 1995 and Lytton Springs 2013 and 1999 (a contender for my favourite wine of the evening).
The altitude gives great acidity to the Monte Bello wines. Although the winemaking regime is very hands off, there is huge attention to detail with high tech lab equipment to measure the progress and stability of every barrel. Deservedly iconic.

The MW trip to California started by flying into LA and we are working our way north up to Napa and Sonoma. So we started with Santa Barbara County and the sub AVAs of Santa Rita hills, Ballard Canyon, Santa Maria Valley.
Despite being further south these areas are actually quite cool, “refrigerated sunshine” they call it. This is due to the geology of this big block of land which got snagged 40 million years ago as the Pacific plate and the North American plate rubbed up ag...ainst eachother at the San Andreas fault. The land rotated 90 degrees and the mountain ranges formed in an east-west direction (as opposed to north-south everywhere else). This is important because the winds from the cold Pacific ocean (where the current comes down from Alaska) funnel straight into the valleys and moderate the hot days, cool down the nights and create cooling morning fogs. By the coast where it is coolest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are grown in the Santa Rita hills. As you go inland the temperature rises one degree Fahrenheit with every mile so when you get to Ballard Canyon it’s more suited to Rhone varietals such as Syrah. There’s a whole jigsaw of slopes, elevations, aspects, soils, foglines creating microsites and a real opportunity to make vineyard specific, terroir-driven wines.
Producers to look out for: Santa Rita Hills - Domaine de la Cote, Mount Carmel, Sanford & Benedict (we stock one of their Chardonnays) Ballard Canyon - Stolpman, Potek Santa Maria Valley - Au Bon Climat, Clendenen, Qupe
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Just arrived in California for a Masters of Wine trip. Here’s the itinerary. I think I’m going to be busy. 600 wines to taste...🍷

On a Master of Wine trip to Austria and we are at Domäne Wachau whose Gruner Veltliner features on our list. We were taken round by Roman Horvath MW who is Technical Director. A beautiful place, incredibly well run and pristine, we watched grapes coming into their newly designed reception facility. We had a great tasting too with a 1973 Gruner Veltliner, followed by a BBQ enjoyed in their hospitality small Schloss.