Wine of the week: Melonix 2014

One of the best ways to make new wine discoveries is to experiment with wines by the glass. And that is how I found Melonix, a fabulous wine from biodynamic Loire producer Domaines Jo Landron at the newly opened Frenchie in Covent Garden yesterday.

Because it mentions the grape on the bottle it can’t be labelled muscadet (for heaven’s sake!) so it’s classified as vin de France

According to Doug Wregg of importer Les Caves de Pyrène* “grapes are harvested by hand (unusual in the region), fermentation with wild yeasts (very unusual), no chaptalisation, no SO2 added, it undergoes a natural malolactic (very unusual) and no sulphur is added even at bottling. It breaks all the rules.” In Landron’s own words he sees it as ‘a rustic wine, untamed and free.”

It sailed effortlessly through a rich dish of hot smoked trout with whey and was so delicious I treated myself to a second glass, despite resolving to have only one at lunchtime. (Well, it is only 12%!) I can imagine it being great with sashimi and other raw fish dishes as well as the obvious suspects of oysters and mussels.

Apparently it benefits from opening ahead as many natural wines do. The bottle I tried - which incidentally was on the full list not the wines by the glass selection (it’s always worth taking a look at the longer list) - already had a glass taken out of it so could have been open since the previous day but was still wonderfully pure and intense. Natural wine sceptics take note!

*Who sell it for £14.20

Cape Point Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc

As those of you who read my column in the Guardian will know I’m not a huge fan of Sauvignon Blanc but this is a wine I’m more than happy to make an exception for.

Made by Duncan Savage at Cape Point Vineyards on the coast at Noordhoek just outside Cape Town the fruit comes from highm exposed vineyards that get blasted by the wind until the leaves shrivel and brown. But the fruit is pure and stellar - more citrus than gooseberry and - most impressive of all - it ages. Under cork.

We tasted a 2000 - one of only 4 that were left (so thanks, Duncan, for generously sharing one of them) - that was still showing quite magnificently: completely fresh and fruity with just an added roundness and fullness indicating its age. There’s generally no oak, just an added dash of semillon which varies from vintage to vintage

We polished off the remainder of the bottle at Harbour House on the Waterfront in Cape Town where it went brilliantly with a plate of oysters.

The 2012 was showing well too. In the UK Swig has the current vintage for £14.50 while the 2014 is widely available for around £12.50-£15. SA Wines Online has it for £12.89 and Butlers Wine Cellar for £13.50. Buy some, drink some and lay some down as I plan to do. And that for a sauvignon sceptic is saying something.