Leon Stolarski Fine Wines Sparkling and Sweet wines

At not much more than half the price of decent, entry-level Champagne, the sparkling wines of Limoux represent excellent value for money and are perfect for any occasion, with or without food. We also list a wide range of sweet wines from South-West France, Roussillon, Languedoc and the Loire Valley. And these wines are not just for desserts - many of them pair remarkably well with savoury foods such as cheeses, patés, terrines and foie gras. And, of course, Banyuls and Maury are amongst the (very) few wine styles that can stand up to being matched with chocolate - and Christmas cakes and puddings. Enjoy!

Domaine Rosier Brut Blanquette de Limoux
Domaine Rosier Brut Table

Vintage	N/V
Region	Limoux, south-west of Carcassone
Colour/Style	Sparkling white, Brut
Grapes	Mauzac and Chardonnay
Alcohol (a.b.v)	11.5%
Food	As an aperitif, but can also be drunk with food
Next day	Best drunk within hours of opening, to retain the mousse
Drink	Lovely to drink now, but will age nicely for a few years
Bright, pale gold colour with green tinges. The mousse is very fine, lively and long-lived, whilst the nose is considerably complex for a young, recently-disgorged sparkler, offering aromas of lemon and lime, apple, spring flowers, freshly baked brioche and a suggestion of mixed spice. The palate is essentially bone dry, with mouth-watering, lemony acidity, but also a touch of fruity richness and impressive intensity of flavour - and an equally impressive length on the finish. Forget your dodgy deals on cheap, mass-produced supermarket Champagne with disingenuous discounts - this wine offers much better quality - and value for money. Tasting note by The Wine Gang - April 2010 "A blend of the local sparkling speciality grape Mauzac and Chardonnay, this has a bold lemony colour and a nose of lemon and apple, with a tiny leafy note. On the palate the mousse is delicate and so is the wine, with refined citrus flavours and a hint of sweetness swept up in crisp acidity. Not complex, but delicious and stylish. 87/100"

Price: £11.30 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Chateau Rives-Blanques Blanquette de Limoux 2008
Chateau Rives-Blanques Blanquette de Limoux 2008 table

Vintage	2008
Region	From the hills surrounding Limoux
Colour/Style	Sparkling white, brut
Grapes	90% Mauzac, plus Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc
Alcohol (a.b.v)	12.5%
Food	As an aperitif, or with all kinds of food
Next day	Drink on the same night
Drink	Over the next 3 to 5 years
For a relatively low dosage (4 or 5 g/l) and recently-disgorged Blanquette, this may well fool you into thinking it has some decent bottle age. Then again, it is kept for a minimum of 15 months on its lees, making for a toasty, rich, slightly yeasty wine, but full of rich, apple fruit and real mineral depth. A really cracking sparkler, and a match for many a Champagne. Full tasting note to follow.

Price: £12.95 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Chateau Rives-Blanques Vintage Rose 2008 Crémant de Limoux

Vintage	2008
Region	From the hills surrounding Limoux
Colour/Style	Sparkling rosé, brut
Grapes	Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Pinot Noir
Alcohol (a.b.v)	12.5%
Food	As an aperitif, or with all kinds of food
Next day	Drink on the same night
Drink	Over the next 3 to 5 years
Made from Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Pinot Noir, this is a really expressive sparkling wine. A very pale rose/salmon colour, with aromas and flavours of strawberry and raspberry and a hint of sweet apple. The mousse is tremendously lively and fine, whilst the palate is quite rich and dense, deeply fruity and spicy. It is already quite soft and very approachable, but will also benefit from another year or so in bottle. A lovely wine. Full tasting note to follow.

Price: £14.29 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Domaine d'Archimbaud Vendanges d'Automne 2007 Vin de Table de France
Domaine d'Archimbaud Vendanges d'Automne 2007 table

Vintage	2007
Region	Saint-Saturnin de Lucian, Terrasses du Larzac
Colour/Style	Sweet white dessert - full bodied. Late harvested.
Grapes	100% Bourboulenc
Alcohol (a.b.v)	14.0%
Food	Sweet puddings, fruit, soft cheese, foie gras
Next day	How about next month?! Lasts for weeks in the fridge
Drink	Great now, but will improve and evolve for 5 to 10 years
The label says "Mout de raisins partiellement fermenté - Issue de raisins passerillés". Which basically means a wine from grapes harvested very late in the season (and therefore partially raisined on the vine). There is no AOC for such wines in Languedoc, hence the simple Vin de Table denomination. No vintage is allowed on the label, but this is from the 2007 vintage. It is fashioned from 100% Bourboulenc, a grape also occasionally known as Malvoisie. This wine is a rich, shiny 24-carat gold colour with orange tinges. The nose is sublime, offering captivating aromas of bonfire toffee, candied orange peel, marzipan, fig, honeysuckle and rose, whilst the palate is simply bursting with flavours of autumn fruits, preserved citrus, root ginger and toffee. It caresses the tongue with intensely concentrated fruit, before unleashing a rasp of limey acidity that makes the tongue tingle. The finish is immense, lasting for literally minutes, whilst revealing hitherto unnoticed flavours of toffee apple, lemon sorbet, clove and cinnamon, not to mention just about every exotic fruit nuance you could care to mention. Although this wine is really lovely when first opened, it gets better and better after literally a week or two, as the underlying acidity begins to eat away at, and integrate with, the inherent sweetness. So don't judge it on first impression - take as long as you possibly can to finish the bottle - if you can resist - and you will be richly rewarded. A lovely, lovely wine.

Price: £14.95 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Les Vignes de l'Arque Saveur d'Automne 2009 IGP Pays d'Oc
Les Vignes de l'Arque Saveur d'Automne 2009

Vintage	2009
Region	Near to Uzès, in the Gard
Colour/Style	Sweet white dessert - full bodied. Late harvest, oak aged
Grapes	100% Viognier
Alcohol (a.b.v)	16.0%
Food	Sweet puddings, fruit, soft cheese, foie gras
Next day	How about next week? Lasts for ages in the fridge
Drink	Great now, but will probably age and evolve for 5 years
Clear, pale straw colour, with orange glints. A delightfully intense nose, with complex aromas including apricot, orange, fresh grapes, honey and root ginger, with the perfume heightened even more by a strong floral/rose element, akin to turkish delight. Ageing in oak barrels for 9 months has also imbued it with a subtle note of oak vanillin. The flavours are moelleux, rather than full-on sweet, with the inherent richness countered by really good acidity and a touch of grape tannin. There is a core of rich, ripe, densely concentrated fruit and a touch of spicy, alcoholic warmth, whilst the finish offers a final flourish of tropical fruit and candied citrus. The oak is beautifully judged and integrates seamlessly with the fruit, making for a wine of considerable complexity. In fact, a little goes a long way, but fortunately this wine is perfectly capable of sitting in the fridge for a good many days after opening, during which it just gets better and better. Yet another on our growing list of lovely Languedoc stickies!

Price: £16.50 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Domaine Treloar MO2 N/V Vin de France (50cl)
Treloar MO2 2009

Vintage	Strictly speaking, non-vintage, but made from grapes from the 2009 harvest
Region	Trouillas, west of Perpignan
Colour/Style	White, almost dry, lightly fortified
Grapes	100% Muscat à Petit Grains
Alcohol (a.b.v)	15.0%
Food	Aperitif, foie gras, patés, cheeses
Next day	Stays fresh for many days after opening
Drink	Anytime over the next 5 to 50 years!
Described by winemaker Jon Hesford as "fermented in the presence of oxygen until dry, fortified with grape spirit and aged in a 2 year-old oak barrel with headspace, out in the sun". Basically, it was a batch of Muscat that "went wrong" (i.e. oxidised - hence the name) due to a technical fault with a grape press. Instead of sending the resulting juice to be distilled, Jon decided to experiment. The result is a wine that to all intents and purposes looks and smells like a slightly nutty (in both senses of the word) Muscat de Rivesaltes, a deep-ish orange/gold colour with orange marmalade and solera/flor-like notes, classic Muscat grapiness, a touch of honey, perhaps even a hint of digestive biscuit and a subtle herbiness. And whilst your nose prepares you for a sweet wine, the palate is very definitely almost dry, with only the fortifying grape spirit contributing a perception of "off-dryness". Conversely, the texture is quite rich and unctious, coating the mouth with delicious grapey, marmaladey, buttery/biscuity and nutty flavours, yet remaining steadfastly refreshing and distinctly tangy. This really is a wine for contemplation ,and the length, by the way, is immense - unlike Parker, I'm not one to put the stopwatch on, but we're talking minutes, rather than seconds. I could try and categorise it, but that would be unfair to a wine that is - albeit by accident, rather than design - pretty unique. In short, it is completely and utterly lovely.

Price: £16.25 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Domaine Treloar Muscat de Rivesaltes 2009 (50cl)

Vintage	2009
Region	Rivesaltes, near Perpignan
Colour/Style	White, vin doux naturel
Grapes	100% Muscat à Petit Grains
Alcohol (a.b.v)	15.0%
Food	Aperitif, fruit, desserts, paté, soft cheeses
Next day	Improves and retains its freshness for weeks
Drink	Anytime over the next 5 years
Oh my, this is lovely! It has an intense nose of jasmine, mandarin and apricot with hints of fennel, star anise and white chocolate. The flavours are once again rich and complex, but the inherent freshness on the palate is a joy to behold. There is of course a degree of richness, but it tastes grapey in the extreme, with subtle notes of cinnamon, clove, mandarin and lemon oil. And at just 15% abv, the added grape spirit goes almost unnoticed. Instead, what you get is a delightfully refreshing, intensely fruity, sweet, but relatively light fortified wine, with mouth-watering acidity that dances over the tongue and keeps you coming back for more. The 2006 was good (none was made in 2007 or 2008) but this 2009 represents a huge leap in quality. Achieving balance and elegance in a fortified wine requires very skilful winemaking - and this is yet another style that Jon Hesford has mastered very quickly. An outstanding wine!

Price: £10.50 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Domaine Pietri-Geraud Cuvée Méditerranée 2005 Banyuls
Pietri-Geraud Banyuls 2005

Vintage	2005
Region	Banyuls - by the Mediterranean, near the Spanish border
Colour/Style	Full-bodied fortified red, aged in oak barrels
Grapes	90% Grenache, 10% Carignan - 40 to 100 years old
Alcohol (a.b.v)	16.0%
Food	Strong cheeses, patés, rich fruit cakes and puddings (including chocolate), dried fruits - versatile!
Next day	Lasts for weeks, once opened
Drink	Excellent now, or will age for 20+ years
It is difficult to compare and contrast this particular vintage with the 2003, because they are quite similar in so many ways. Then again, 2003 was such an unusual vintage, due to the (in)famous heatwave, that the full-on richness inherent in such a vintage would be hard to replicate. Having said that, the fact that this wine is matured for no less than 4 years in old barrels, outside and exposed to the elements of all four seasons, means that there really isn't that much difference. And make no mistake, this is another delicious Banyuls. Bonfire toffee, Christmas cake, roasted mocha, prunes in eau de vie, Seville oranges, marmalade and polished old wood are just a few of the aromas which greet the senses on the first sniff, along with a definite hint of damp earth/forest floor. And whilst the flavours are a shade less dense than the 2003, there's a degree of subtlety and elegance in their place, with the aforementioned toffee and fruitcake qualities accompanied on the palate by flavours of crystallised red and black fruits and almost fresh orange acidity, whilst whatever tannin remains is tempered by a level of sweetness that is comforting, rather than cloying. There's a warming touch of eau de vie on the finish, but you almost don't notice it, because it gets buried beneath those fruit flavours, which go on and on for an age - and at just 16% abv, this is a fortified wine which majors on fruit, not alcohol. In fact, as I write this note, I'm tempted to say that I actually prefer this vintage to the 2003 (I have a bottle open, by way of comparison). It really is a quite wonderful wine.

Price: £18.79 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Domaine Mas de Lavail Expression 2008 Maury
Domaine Mas de Lavail Maury Expression 2008 table

Vintage	2008
Region	Maury, west of Perpignan
Colour/Style	Red, vin doux naturel - similar to Port, only better!
Grapes	100% old vine Grenache
Alcohol (a.b.v)	16.0%
Food	Duck with cherries, rich puddings, fruit cake, cheese, raspberry sorbet - or to enjoy on its own
Next day	How about weeks? Develops for ages!
Drink	Excellent now, or age for 10 years or more
Made from 100% old vine Grenache, harvested at the peak of maturity. The grapes are given a long maceration, followed by "mutage" (the addition of a small amount of grape brandy) which halts fermentation and retains some of the grape sugars. The colour is densely purple and opaque, with a tiny, vivid pink rim. The nose is all about dark fruits of both the fresh and dried varieties. Bramble and blackcurrants, cherries and prunes steeped in eau de vie mingle with dark chocolate, forest floor and cedar wood. The palate is a riot of intensely sweet, concentrated fruit, combining tangy black cherries, stewed brambles, cassis and prunes, with a hint of Seville orange marmalade. Notes of molasses and dark chocolate add an intense richness, like liquid Christmas cake. And through it all runs an enticing, refreshing streak of acidity. I guess there are some healthy tannins in there somewhere, but the balance and the richness render them almost unnoticeable. This wine is so delicious and so more-ish that it is hard to fault. And although it is so lovely now, it will surely age and evolve beautifully for at least a decade, perhaps a lot longer. Vintage Maury is one of the world's best and most underrated sweet red wine styles - and this is a truly exceptional example .

Price: £15.25 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Domaine Mas de Lavail Muscat de Rivesaltes 2008
Domaine Mas de Lavail Muscat de Rivesaltes 2008 table

Vintage	2008
Region	Maury, west of Perpignan
Colour/Style	White, vin doux naturel
Grapes	100% old vine Muscat a Petits Grains
Alcohol (a.b.v)	16.0%
Food	As an aperitif or with blue cheese, fois gras or fresh fruit
Next day	Keeps well for weeks
Drink	Excellent now, or age for 3 to 5 years
If you have ever been lucky enough to enjoy eating fresh muscat grapes (they are often available in French markets and supermarkets in late August) then you won't need me to tell you how delicious they are. And wines don't come much more "grapey" than a fine Muscat de Rivesaltes - and they don't come any better than this little cracker. The nose offers a riot of (you guessed it) grapey aromas, with notes of lime marmalade and clementines. The palate is both mouth-filling and super-fresh, like munching on a handful of grapes, but with an ethereal, marmalade-y richness. The inherent natural acidity and slight pithiness of the Muscat grape are complemented perfectly by just the right amount of fortifying grape spirit. To be honest, I have rarely tasted a bad Muscat de Rivesaltes (with such wonderful raw material, that would be difficult) but some cheaper examples can be a bit too hot for their own good. Not this one, though. - it manages to be both rich and mouth-watering at the same time, whilst the grape spirit adds a refreshing tanginess, rather than heat. Young Muscat de Rivesaltes is never profound, although I've heard tell that if you are brave enough to age it for 10 or 15 years, it can be. But why wait, when it tastes this good at less than 2 years old? It is utterly lovely - and very long, too. In all my years, I've yet to taste a better one. Yummy!

Price: £11.95 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Domaine de Montesquiou Grappe d'Or 2008 Jurancon
Domaine de Montesquiou Grappe d'Or 2008 table

Vintage	2008
Region	Jurançon - south-west of Pau, in deepest SW France
Colour/Style	Sweet white, aged in oak barrels for 11 months
Grapes	100% Petit Manseng
Alcohol (a.b.v)	13.0%
Food	Blue cheese, foie gras, smoked salmon, tarte tatin, lemon layer or Sussex pond pudding, or simply as an aperitif
Next day	Indestructible - lasts for weeks in the fridge
Drink	Now, or over the next 10-plus years
A vivid 24 carat gold colourwith orange glints. The nose has complex aromas of honey and woodsmoke, with hints of toasted brioche, cinnamon, clove and a touch of oak vanillin. And that is before I even mention the fruits - as ever, this wine is complex in the extreme, with notes of apricot, apple, mango, orange and lime oil. And the palate sure matches the nose, with all of the above coming into play, along with subtle spice and toffee notes. It has a beautifully rich, oily texture in the mouth, and the flavours coat the palate and linger for an age. And then, of course, there is that wonderful, searing lemon and lime acidity and minerality, the like of which (in my opinion) is unrivalled by any other sweet wine style in the world, and balances the richness so perfectly - a more finely poised sweet wine is hard to imagine. Although the grapes for this wine are not harvested until deep into November (and occasionally December) botrytis is not necessarily a classic Jurançon trait, since the region is only occasionally visited by the autumn mists necessary for the growth of this particularly (sweet wine-friendly) fungus. And yet this particular vintage displays many of the hallmarks of a somewhat botrytised harvest, with its intense honey and apricot notes. When I first opened a bottle, I considered it to be almost as good as the outstanding 2004 and 2007 vintages. But now, a full 6 days after opening, it is so spectacularly good that I have no doubt whatsoever that it is the finest vintage I have tasted - it is utterly, utterly brilliant. And you get a full 75cl bottle, for the price of a half-bottle of middling Sauternes. The choice is yours...........

Price: £17.35 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Domaine de Montesquiou Grappe d'Or 2009 Jurançon
Domaine de Montesquiou Grappe d'Or 2009

Vintage	2009
Region	Jurançon - south-west of Pau, in deepest SW France
Colour/Style	Sweet white, aged in oak barrels for 11 months
Grapes	100% Petit Manseng
Alcohol (a.b.v)	13.0%
Food	Blue cheese, foie gras, smoked salmon, tarte tatin, lemon layer or Sussex pond pudding, or simply as an aperitif
Next day	Indestructible - lasts for weeks in the fridge
Drink	Now, or over the next 10-plus years
The colour of this vintage is a medium orange/gold, whilst the texture is obvious to the eye, with heavy tears clinging to the sides of the glass. As always, the nose has complex aromas of apricot, toasted brioche, clove and a touch of oak vanillin, although this particular vintage has more in the way of orange (rather than lime) as its citrus element on the nose, together with more than a hint of honey and botrytis. It is pretty serious stuff, and the palate is perhaps richer and more concentrated than any other vintage I have known, with uber-intense flavours of lime oil, marmalade, molasses and toffee, with background notes of root ginger and mixed spice. The texture is immensely rich and glycerous - so much so that it is almost (but not quite) a match for the even more immense core of limey acidity and slatey minerality. The grapes for this wine are harvested deep into November and December, by which time the grapes have begun to dry on the vine, but this vintage (as with the 2008) shows more than a little botrytis, both on the nose and palate. But whilst the 2008 is very much in the moelleux style, and perfect to drink now, this one is very definitely a full-on sweet wine, with serious ageing potential - and not for the faint of heart!

Price: £17.50 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Domaine Huet Le Mont Moelleux 2002 Vouvray
Domaine Huet Le Mont Moelleux 2002

Vintage	2002
Region	Vouvray, Touraine, central Loire Valley
Colour/Style	Sweet (or moelleux) white
Grapes	100% Chenin Blanc
Alcohol (a.b.v)	13.0%
Food	Aperitif, foie gras, blue cheeses
Next day	Even better
Drink	Great now, but will last for decades
New - tasting note to follow. Meanwhile, here's a note from Richard Kelley MW; "Polished. Mid-depth yellow, with youthful green hints. The nose shows classic old-fashioned Vouvray wet-wool characteristics. Linear, very fine and focused on entry. The acidity races through the wine. This is still very closed but shows great potential. There is obvious sweetness on entry, but balanced by the thread of malic acid. This is concentrated and powerful but exhibits great freshness and a lightness of touch. It needs another decade at least to show its true potential."

Price: £25.75 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Bacalhôa Moscatel de Setúbal Colheita 2005
Bacalhoa Moscatel de Setubal 2005

Vintage	2005
Region	Setubal, south of Lisbon
Colour/Style	Sweet white, aged 3 years in oak barrels
Grapes	100% Moscatel de Setúbal
Alcohol (a.b.v)	17.5%
Food	Cheese, paté, cured meats, fruit, puddings
Next day	Brilliant - lasts for weeks, once opened
Drink	Now, or over the next 10 or more years
A limpid amber/gold colour with a definite pink rose tinge. The nose offers an absolute riot of aromas, including (but by no means limited to) orange marmalade, lime zest, roses, tea, toffee apple, apricot and a sprinkling of herbs. The palate is rich and honeyed and coats the mouth with complex, multi-layered flavours of marmalade, ginger, toffee, citrus and all manner of preserved white fruits, making for a distinctly tangy, almost sweet and sour quality. It is so beautifully balanced that everything comes together in a wine that is hard to fault, with plenty of acidity to match the luscious sweetness. The result is a relatively rich but remarkably refreshing wine, which is devilishly drinkable. Moscatel de Setúbal is one of the world's most underrated and under-valued sweet wines, and this is an absolute steal. Each bottle comes in a stylish presentation box.

Price: £12.95 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Six of the Best - Sensational Sweet Wines - Save £10
Six of the Best Sweet Wines

We have a small but perfectly-formed list of sweet wines of which we are very proud. There isn't a wine amongst them that won't give immense pleasure, whether it be with food or simply on its own. We have put together an offer of six of our very best sweet wines, with a saving of £10. The wines in this selection normally retail separately for £107.55. This 6-bottle case is offered at the special price of £97.55 (a saving of £10) and comprises the following wines;

1 x Les Vignes de l'Arque Saveur d'Automne 2009 IGP Pays d'Oc
1 x Domaine d'Archimbaud Vendange d'Automne 2007 Vin de Table de France (50cl)
1 x Domaine de Montesquiou Grappe d’Or 2008 - Jurançon
1 x Mas de Lavail Expression 2008 - Maury
1 x Domaine Pietri-Geraud Cuvée Méditerrannée 2003 Banyuls
1 x Domaine Huet Le Mont Moelleux 2002 Vouvray

Price: £97.55 (Including: VAT at 20%)

Quantity:

Mailing list

Our list is constantly evolving, so if you would like to receive our occasional e-mail newsletter (around 8 times per year) click the logo >>>>

Page footer - delivery information and under 18 warning

Minimum order value, delivery charges, times and restrictions

We deliver only to UK and Northern Ireland addresses. The minimum order value is £75 (plus the delivery charge). You may of course choose a mix of any wines in our range. Orders between £75 and £200: delivery charge is £7.50. Orders over £200: delivery is free! (If your order is over £200, please remember to change the delivery charge in checkout to £0.00). Please note: Delivery to non-mainland addresses (Scottish Highlands and Islands, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, etc.) is usually possible, but may not be on a next-working-day basis. It is also more expensive than delivery to mainland addresses, so will be charged at cost (for orders under £200) but with a small discount for orders over £200 - please call us for a quote.

Warning - you must be aged 18 or over

It is an offence to purchase or attempt to purchase alcohol if you are under the age of 18. (Section 149 Licensing Act 2003).We reserve the right to seek proof of age. Leon Stolarski says "drink less, but drink better!" Please consume alcohol in moderation.