Editors’ picks: Bonus tips on wines to watch – March 2026

Pérez & Badenhorst: a shamanic encounter

Ines Salpico

There are individuals who inspire simply by being themselves.

If they happen to be winemakers and their charisma, magic and seductiveness (call it what you may) are joined by an equal amount of talent, they’re bound to produce wines that transcend categories and origin.

All this could be said of the undoubtedly charismatic Raúl Pérez and Adi Badenhorst.

The Spanish and South African living legends were in the same room at UK importer Liberty Wines’ latest portfolio tasting; you could feel the molecules in the room rearranging themselves as the two hugged and teased each other.

Most importantly, they were both pouring a comprehensive selection of their latest releases – distillations of their alchemic bonhomie and no-nonsense approach to winemaking.

Standouts included Pérez’s Las Gundiñas, Bierzo 2023 (£25.88 Vinatis), yet another superb vintage of this ‘grand cru’ Mencía with its filigree tannins, alluring perfume and refreshing juiciness; and Badenhorst’s Kalmoesfontein Red Blend 2022 (£34.75 Noel Youngs), a dynamic weaving of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Tinta Barroca that dances on the palate with equal complexity and energy.

Were we all in a trance? Maybe. I’ll definitely go back for further enlightenment from these two shamans.

Château Latour-Martillac, Grapecap 1884

Georgie Hindle

I couldn’t resist an invitation to visit Château Latour-Martillac in Pessac-Léognan to taste one of Bordeaux’s newest and rarest white wines: Grapecap 1884, made with fruit from vines planted in 1884 – just after phylloxera.

The 0.65ha plot has survived thanks to a rare balance of quality and viable yields. Labelled as a Vin de France, the field blend includes 96% Semillon, 3% Muscadelle and 1% rare varieties including Chasselas, Folle Blanche, Ugni Blanc and Melon B.

Only the best barrels from great vintages (beginning in 2021, then 2023) are selected. Winemaking is precise yet experimental: whole-bunch pressing and 15 months on lees, including 10 in a mix of second-use barrels, ultra-premium Seguin Moreau barrels and Wineglobe vats).

The 2021 (£180 Millésima) is racy and pure, with oyster shell minerality, while the 2023 (on sale this year) is more voluptuous yet still fresh – tropical, with a salty undertone, a mouthwatering core and a crystalline, flinty finish. Up to 1,000 bottles are made: a collector’s gem

When Champagne met Marlborough…

Julie Sheppard

Emilien Boutillat first encountered Kevin Judd at the 25th anniversary celebrations of importer Liberty Wines in 2022.

The former is chief winemaker at Champagne house Piper-Heidsieck; the latter a New Zealand legend – founder of Cloudy Bay and now winemaker at Greywacke in Marlborough.

The meeting sparked an idea to create a wine together and four years later, Piper-Heidsieck, Hors-Série White Pinot Noir 2023 has arrived in the UK.

This intriguing still wine was made from Marlborough Pinot Noir, with Boutillat working alongside Judd during the 2023 harvest. I caught up with them at its launch.

‘Working together was easy; we’re both good at listening,’ noted Judd, while Boutillat explained that the collaboration aimed to mix New Zealand’s terroir with Champagne’s winemaking techniques.

This involved fine-tuning the harvest date, selecting specific vineyard blocks and using a Champagne pressing program to extract the first juice.

The wine features 75% malolactic fermentation in old oak barrels and 25% stainless steel fermentation.

Richly aromatic – with yellow plum, Indian spices, lime marmalade, apricot, brioche and flinty smokiness – it’s generous and textured. The plush mouthfeel is balanced by vibrant acidity; saline, pithy and mineral.

Only 6,500 bottles of this fascinating experiment exist; seek one out to discover what Judd describes as ‘a unique combination of philosophy and experience… combining the winemaking expertise of the “young” guy from the Old World with the “old” guy from the New World’

A rare opportunity

James Button

What a treat – a very exclusive tasting to celebrate Cantina Terlano’s Rarity Pinot Bianco, one of Italy’s most praiseworthy white wines, at Tom Sellers’ Michelin two-star Restaurant Story in London.

We enjoyed 10 vintages from the Alto Adige-based winery, ranging from 1979 (the first vintage) to 2013 (the latest release).

The formula is deceptively simple, yet extremely effective: the finest fruit – a significant proportion of which is sourced from the steep, old-vine Vorberg vineyard – given extended lees ageing in stainless steel. To give an idea, the 1979 was only bottled in 1991. In fact, one tank of the ’79 still remains on its lees.

Klaus Gasser, today the co-op’s sales director but originally the oenotechnician, explains that ‘the idea can be a little bit like Champagne’.

The end result is totally different to the French fizz, but equally magical. My note on the ’79 sums it up: ‘Holy f***!’

South American winemaking genius

Amy Wislocki

What’s the collective noun for a gathering of South American winemaking legends?

With four big names in Chilean and Argentinian fine wine sitting at one dinner table in London’s Mayfair, it felt as though a special term was called for.

Undurraga’s Rafael Urrejola, Riccitelli’s Matías Riccitelli, Juampi Michelini from Zorzal and Derek Mossman Knapp from Garage Wine Co all presented wines from their current range, including one bottle each that they feel sums up them and their winemaking project.

From Argentina came Zorzal’s Gran Terroir Malbec 2024 (£17.90 Vinvm), from high-elevation vineyards in Uco Valley, the antithesis of the bold, extracted Malbec stereotype; and Riccitelli’s translucent, perfumed Old Vines from Patagonia Bastardo 2024 (£51.75 Strictly Wine).

From the Chileans, Undurraga’s Trama 2022, a ‘less-is-more’, ocean-influenced Pinot Noir from San Antonio, and the Garage Wine Co’s Sauzal Vineyard The Ploughmen 2019, a delicious field blend of old-vine, dry-farmed Garnacha, Cariñena and Monastrell from Maule, aromatic and bursting with plump black fruits, but so fresh.

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