France

A single 1.4-hectare parcel at Gervans, some of it planted in 1945, farmed organically and kept as a biodiversity refuge.

Provence sells so much rosé that its reds go unnoticed, which is why this one is good value.

White Saint-Joseph is a small fraction of the appellation and rarely leaves France in quantity.

Château de Berne is one of the best-known addresses in Provence, and Inspiration is its Côtes de Provence rosé proper rather than the wid...

Rouanne et Les Crottes is the parcel Louis Barruol singles out as showing the estate at its best whatever the year, and it has been under...

Sancerre rosé is a fraction of the appellation's output and rarely leaves France, which makes a good one worth seeking out.

The earlier-drinking of Solitude's two Châteauneuf reds, raised almost entirely in concrete so the fruit stays bright.

Graeme and Julie Bott built a ten-hectare northern Rhône domaine from nothing, starting in a neighbour's garage.

A step up from the estate's regular Gigondas: one named plot, Grenache planted in 1948, and the concentration that comes with it.

Provence is overwhelmingly rosé country, and reds of this seriousness rarely leave it.

One of only 18 Provence estates still holding Cru Classé status, and the cuvée it is best known for.

Vinsobres is the coolest and least known of the southern Rhône crus, and this is a single lieu-dit off its best slope rather than an estate blend.

Gigondas sits alongside Châteauneuf-du-Pape at the warm southern end of the Rhône and gives much of the same weight and spice.

Mule Blanche is Jaboulet's white Crozes-Hermitage, from old vines in the Conflans sector planted between 1956 and 1974.

Saint Cosme is a Gigondas estate, but Louis Barruol's northern Rhône cuvées are among the most characterful Crozes-Hermitage made.

Chinon is Cabernet Franc's home ground, and this one is built for drinking rather than keeping — a year in barrel and a year in bottle be...

Silex is the flint soil that gives Sancerre its smoky edge, and this cuvée is drawn only from the Reverdy family's old vines on the clay-...

Savennières is Chenin Blanc's most serious dry expression, and Le Moulin du Gué is one of the original plots this family farms.

Dry Vouvray is Chenin Blanc without a safety net — no oak, no sugar, just apple, stone and acidity.

Three generations at Thauvenay, working eleven hectares of south-east facing vines that average thirty-five years old across all three Sa...

Most Sancerre at this price is built on one soil type; this blends all three, so it has the freshness of Caillottes, the weight of Terres...

Demi-Sec Vouvray is the most misunderstood wine in the Loire: off-dry rather than sweet, and one of the few whites that can take chilli o...

Pouilly-Fumé sits on the right bank opposite Sancerre and gives Sauvignon Blanc a gunflint smokiness you will not find across the river.

Touraine Sauvignon does what Sancerre does a few miles upriver, with the same flinty clay under the vines.