England: Flint Vineyards - Bacchus Fumé 2024, Waveney Valley (Norfolk) & Crouch Valley (Essex)

Read Alex's Producer Profile on Flint

Grape variety: 100% Bacchus sourced from vineyards in the Waveney Valley (Norfolk) and the Crouch Valley (Essex). 11% alcohol. 

Leave out of the fridge for around 30 minutes before opening. No harm in decanting either, but not obligatory! 

Fumé here refers to this wine having spent time in oak barrels, giving it a certain smokiness. In this wine though, it's a very subtle smokiness.

In wine terms, the word is usually associated with oak-aged and/or particularly mineral, flinty Sauvignon Blanc. As the very expressive hedgerow and elderflower-scented Bacchus variety is stylistically similar to Sauvignon Blanc, both sharing a certain herbaceous, 'grassy' quality, this is Flint winemaker Ben Witchell's take on the style. 

And what a successful take on the style this wine has proved to be, with this wine gaining rave reviews.

While, like Sauvignon Blanc, Bacchus is incredibly expressive and sometimes a little too attacking for some, in Flint's hands it is more rounded, textured and refined.

While it's still true-to-style - being intensely aromatic and zingy - I feel it is at its best when not served immediately at fridge temperature and after it's had a bit of "airtime" to reveal its texture and mouthfeel. 

The texture and complexity here is achieved through extended skin contact and careful use of oak, with fermentation and six months of ageing taking place in large oak casks, as well as in concrete tanks. These impart no oaky character but as these vessels have some porosity, the wine benefits from gentle exposure to oxygen (known as 'micro-oxygenation') which helps develop texture and softens the palate.

I'd recommend it as a food wine; it can handle a fair bit of spice. Try it with pungent goat's cheese too - match made in heaven!

You may notice it’s missing a foil - a conscious decision as foils are incredibly wasteful things.

Food Pairing:

Asian cuisine e.g. Thai green curry (it will handle a fair bit of spice), wonderful with seafood (e.g. scallops), goat's cheese salads, risottos, any herb-driven dishes, spring vegetables (asparagus), chicken salads with citrus or herbs. Asparagus is a tricky one for many white wines, but it works with this.

This wine's minerality and acidity means it can live with and will enhance any dishes with green, herbal, slightly bitter flavours, as well as enhancing itself! 

What the critics say:

"Crisp, fresh, invigorating. Once again, one of the best Bacchus on the market" - John Mobbs

91 points: "Lively, zesty, Riesling-like focus on lime and lemon, with good acidity. The oak adds no flavour, but pushes the wine away from its more exotic fruit into a more citrus-led, structured spectrum. Really lovely" - Dr Jamie Goode, Wine Scientist, Wine Anorak.com