Ormiale, James, Vin de France, Bordeaux, 2018

A slight orange tint to the salmon-pink colour. This is savoury on the nose, combining roasted hazelnuts with dried orange peel and rose petals. Textural with a weighty mouthfeel, there's an energetic grapefruit and ripe cranberry note. The fizz is very subtle and gentle, coating the tongue in little fizzy kisses. There's real intrigue here, with cooked peaches and plums and an almond complexity. A truly gastronomic wine. Unexpected but characterful. The blend of varieties varies every year, and this iteration is Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, direct pressed. It's technically a pétillant naturel wine in production method, as it goes through one fermentation - bottled before the first ferment finishes. But unlike most 'pét nat' it's stayed on it's lees for four years and is then disgorged.