The 2017 Pouilly-Fuissé Vers Cras bursts with aromas of fresh peaches, golden orchard fruits, Meyer lemon and nutmeg. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, ample and enveloping, with a textural attack, a fleshy core and an expansive finish. This is a generous, elegantly textural Vers Cras that is already drinking well.

This is a very interesting wine. On first nose, the 2018 Langhe Nascetta del Comune di Novello Anas-Cëtta offers a touch of smoke and bacon fat that comes as a bit of a surprise. You might expect a lean and inconsequential white, but this expression of the delicate and somewhat uncommon Nascetta grape (that this estate has championed over the years) delivers much more intensity and momentum than you might initially expect. That bacon fat is followed by campfire ash and ripe fruit. This is a great one for connoisseurs of lesser-known Italian varieties.

Plump, ripe fruit and cherry-covered chocolate overflow from this generous 2017 Barbera d'Alba Bricco dei Merli. This is a beautiful and fruit-forward expression with delicious fruit intensity and lots of succulent ripeness. Enjoy it with a decadently cheesy penne alla Norma.”

Even at a relatively spritely age, the 2016 Barbaresco Bordini is showing some carefully evolved notes and a subdued style. The wine feels well contoured and shaped with softened layers of bramble and wild berry. There is bright elegance and grace here. Pair it with some mild goat or sheep milk cheeses, such as robiola.

Lightly mouthwatering, with citrus peel acidity and a tang of salinity, layered with flavors of toasted nut, crunchy pear, ground coffee and preserved lemon. Rich and finely meshed, offering a lacy texture and an airy and refreshing feel on the palate. Lasting finish. Drink now through 2027. 144 cases imported.

Crisp and minerally up front, this is finely meshed and mouthwatering, lightly chalky in texture and offering flavors of ripe black currant, lemon pith and pastry dough. Floral and spice notes play on the lasting finish. Drink now through 2029. 216 cases imported.

Gosset's 2006 Grand Millésime Brut is still on the market, and the wine is very open and expressive by the house's standards, bursting from the glass with notes of crisp but sun-kissed yellow orchard fruit, pear, clear honey and warm biscuits. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, broad and creamy, with a fleshy, generous profile that's balanced by brisk acids and enlivened by a delicate pinpoint mousse, concluding with a subtly chalky finish.

As dark at the core as the Héloïse 2012 but with more brick in the colour and at the rim. A little more smudgy. This seems sweeter fruited and a little further down the path of tertiary aromas, though I still find a hint of wild scrub and lavender that is clearly more vineyard than grape variety. The fruit sweetness – including some dried red fruits – is more penetrating on the nose compared with the Héloïse, the developed character is more leathery than black olive, with just a hint of mocha...

This late release shows maturity, featuring enticing truffle and cedar aromas that lead the way for mulled currant and plum fruit flavors. Tobacco, savory and lavender notes curl through the finish, where sweet fruit still lingers. Fully mature, with sneaky depth, this is still providing pleasure. Grenache and Syrah. Drink now through 2022. 1,000 cases made, 200 cases imported.

Full-bodied, backward and tannic, the 2011 IGP Vaucluse Abelard deserves a couple of years in the cellar. It offers hints of asphalt and cola on the nose, followed by flavors of black cherries and plums, marked by a roasted, caramelized sense of sucrosity. This Grenache-dominated blend is full-bodied and amply concentrated, with a long finish.

Deepest crimson, very youthful in appearance. On the nose, riper and sweeter than the Héloïse, even a hint of red fruits as well as the peppery bramble notes and an attractive slight leafiness – even though I sometimes find Chêne Bleu's Grenache is almost more like Syrah in its dry elegance. Smooth yet still a little chewy (without food) with the sweetness of Grenache and a start of its leathery development. Not as elegant as the Héloïse in this vintage but generous and chewy with a long way to go, and a more savoury side starting to show in a meaty, black-olive flavour on the finish...

Lastly, the 2011 Ventoux Abelard is, as always, more Provençal in style and always reminds me of a top Gigondas. Based largely on Grenache, it boasts rocking notes of blackberries, black cherries, licorice, and black olives. This full-bodied 2011 has a ripe, sexy style, no hard edges, and perfect balance. Drink it any time over the coming decade.

Even though this has more Grenache, it smells darker than the Héloïse. Thicker texture, a little more chewy and savoury, but satisfying and all in harmony and with good freshness on the finish. Needs longer to come round fully.

Vivid ruby. Assertively perfumed blackberry and cherry liqueur aromas are accented by hints of vanilla and star anise. Broad and rich, but shows very good energy and nerve to the black and blue fruit and spicecake flavors. Finishes supple, sweet and very long, offering fine-grained tannins and a hint of candied lavender.

When tasting the 2010 Abelard alongside the Heloise, the derivation of the names becomes obvious. Abelard is the bigger, richer wine—the more "masculine," to deploy a somewhat dated/sexist stereotype. This full-bodied Grenache-dominated (85%) wine is packed with black cherries, star anise and other ground spices, and features a wonderfully long silky finish. Despite the size and concentration, the wine is complex and elegant, not an easy feat. It should drink well over the next 10-15 years.

Mid gold. Inviting mature, golden and lightly honeyed aroma. But still so fresh even with the breadth of flavour that seems to be from bottle age. The palate is rich, golden and complex, honeyed and a little toasty, like still champagne, and just a touch of the cedary character of a mature oak-aged white – reminds me a little of traditional white rioja even though the oxidative character is much more restrained. Also showing a slight note of bitter orange and pear eau-de-vie (without the alcohol). Excellent freshness...

Very deep garnet with ruby rim. Enticing and complex aroma that is dark fruited, part herbal-edged cassis part blackberry, with a little bite that is tangy red fruit – still so much fruit – and a touch savoury/smoky and something like crushed rocks even with all this fruit. Still has a light sweetness of oak, now so well integrated that it is one with the peppery black fruit that is so Syrah. There’s also a northern Rhône scented (peony?) purity to the aroma, even though we are in the southern Rhône, thanks to the elevation of the vineyard, I imagine...

Also brilliant stuff, the 2011 IGP Vaucluse Heloise (70% Syrah, 20-25% Grenache and the rest Viognier) offers lots of blackberry fruits, peppery herbs and smoked earth aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied, nicely concentrated, yet with an incredible sense of elegance and finesse, no doubt imparted by the limestone soils and higher elevation vineyards, this beautiful Syrah will continue drinking beautifully for another decade or more.

Deep crimson with very little sign of age in the colour. On the nose this is seductive like the northern Rhône in its complex peppery, smoky sophistication but with an added smoky bacon sweetness. On the palate, riper than the northern Rhône and more generous, still with lovely peppery Syrah flavour, plus a slight spicy meatiness and just a hint of leathery complexity and oak's sweet spice. The tannins are à point – ie you could drink this now, with food, as it was intended, or you could certainly cellar it for at least another decade...

Starting with the 2011 IGP Vaucluse Heloise, the Viognier component has been replaced by Roussanne, so the 2011 is 61% Syrah, 35% Grenache and 4% Roussanne. It offers hints of smoked black olives on the nose, followed by a wine that's full-bodied and sturdy on the palate, with some rustic, meaty notes that linger on the finish. Give it a couple of years in the cellar, then drink it over the next decade.