Welcome to The Field Wine Club, a mixed case handpicked by The Field and provided by Private Cellar. It makes the perfect fit for festivities and our offer includes detailed tasting notes, free delivery and the choice to buy by the mixed or unmixed dozen for £199.95, down from £219.

Discover more about The Field Wine Club, and purchase your mixed case by visiting Private Cellar’s website.

FROM THE EDITOR

It is with great pleasure, and a glass held out in anticipation, that I introduce you to The Field Wine Club, and our first mixed case offering to make the festive onslaught run with elegant simplicity.

Rest assured, this is not the sort of wine you often find on offer elsewhere, and certainly not on supermarket shelves. Our expert and long-standing wine columnist Johnny Ray, alongside leading independent wine merchant Private Cellar, has handpicked four very decent wines (three bottles of each) to see The Field reader through from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day and beyond.

There is a fine champagne, a white burgundy, a Bordeaux Supérieur made just yards outside Margaux and a Côtes du Rhône that rubs shoulders with the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation. And all offered at the sort of generous discount that will give you a warm glow. In short, the perfect Field festive treat, for yourself, or to send as a present.

With the most seasonal of festive greetings,

Alexandra Henton
Editor

The Field Wine Club offer comes with detailed tasting notes, free delivery and buy by the mixed or unmixed dozen.

FROM THE FIELD’S WINE COLUMNIST

These are dark days indeed and I can’t think of a finer way of putting a spring into our collective step than by uncorking one or more of these cracking wines, sourced especially for us by leading independent wine merchant Private Cellar and offered here to readers at a generous discount.

Nicola Arcedeckne-Butler, Private Cellar’s buyer, is one of just 409 Masters of Wine in the world. She’s nothing less than a vinous bloodhound and manages to rootle out hidden treasures, handmade by true artisans, that you simply won’t find anywhere else, least of all on the supermarket shelves.

Arcedeckne-Butler suggested a number of wines and, selfless soul that I am, I tasted my way through them all on your behalf, narrowing the selection down to these four belters, chosen especially with The Field readers’ Christmas in mind. I’m thinking champagne, white burgundy and bordeaux for the 25th, and the Côtes du Rhône as a Boxing Day follow up – although no need to keep to these strictures to enjoy them.

Jonathan Ray
Field Wine Columnist

TASTING NOTES

We start with the 2019 Domaine Talmard Mâcon-Uchizy, a white Burgundy of impeccable style. Made from 100% Chardonnay, it has glorious, sweet fruit in the mouth, fine acidity and a long, succulent, slightly creamy yet dry finish. Burgundy as fine as this and as well priced as this is rare indeed and I’ve made sure to nab a case of this for myself: £13.25 down from £14.85.

The 2016 Ch Tayet Cuvée Prestige is a Bordeaux Supérieur produced mere yards outside Margaux. As a vintage, 2016 was 10/10 and this elegant, Merlot-rich beauty is gloriously approachable. Sloshed into a decanter it would pass for something far, far pricier: £13.95 down from £14.95.

The 2016 Ch Beauchêne Premier Terroir is Ch Tayet’s Côtes du Rhône equivalent, made just inches outside the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation. I’ve enjoyed its rich, spicy, savoury notes many times and love watching smiles spread slowly across friends’ chops as they encounter it for the first time and realise just how fine it is: £13.95 down from £14.70.

The NV Henri Chauvet Brut Blanc de Noirs Champagne is, quite simply, one of the finest champagnes I’ve ever had the pleasure to knock back. Produced in tiny quantities in the premier cru village of Rilly-la-Montagne near Reims, it’s a blend of 90% Pinot Noir and 10% Pinot Meunier. Crisp, clean and fresh with hints of toasty biscuit on the finish, it knocks spots off most better-known fizzes: £27.50 down from £28.50.

I can’t recommend these wines highly enough. Buy them by the unmixed dozen or as a Christmas-appropriate mixed case containing three bottles of each wine. Delivery is free throughout mainland UK.

Finally, for lovers of those-in-the-know vino, a small parcel of truly toothsome claret in original wooden boxes: the 2017 Ch Clos Fontaine. Made in the Côtes des Francs by Florian and Jan Thienpont (you know, the family behind mighty Vieux Château Certan and Le Pin), it’s 100% Merlot and soft, supple, mellow and full of rich, ripe plummy fruit: an absolute steal at £107.40 per six bottles.

The equally fine 2016 Ch Clos Fontaine is available, too, at £39 per magnum (in original wooden box) as part of another order or, singly, for £54.

I trust you’ll enjoy these wines and find them as cheering and uplifting as I do.

For queries about this month’s Field Wine Club offer, contact Laura Taylor of Private Cellar orders@privatecellar.co.uk or visit Private Cellar’s website.