Each month, Decanter’s editorial team samples more wines than can be featured in print. These picks highlight bottles and producers that stood out, from Devon and Oregon to Tenerife, Leeds and France’s Luberon.
English wines at Lympstone Manor
Chef Michael Caines’s Lympstone Manor in Exmouth, Devon, combines a luxury hotel and Michelin-starred restaurant with an estate vineyard. In 2018, Caines partnered with Steve Edwards and Clem Yates MW of Lyme Bay Winery to plant eight hectares of vines on the manor’s south-facing grounds. His goal was to make food-friendly English wines that are enjoyable young.
The estate’s first vintage included the award-winning Triassic Pinot Noir 2020, with dark berry aromas, eucalyptus, mineral notes and dark spice. The upcoming 2025 vintage offers wild berry and rose-petal flavours, with a saline, elegant finish.
The whole-bunch-pressed Edwards Chardonnay 2025 is savoury and textured, with fruit that should integrate further as the oak settles. Among the sparkling wines, a new demi-sec rosé, combining red cherry, cassis and spice with lively freshness, looks set to appeal to diners.
Oregon wines beyond Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
Willamette Valley’s Björnson Vineyard, established with the 2009 vintage, has recently begun distribution in New York through Banville Wine Merchants.
Its 2023 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir (US$29, The Cellar d’Or) offers Bing cherry, fresh acidity, red fruit, vanilla, cola spice and fine tannins. The winery also explores less familiar varieties, including Gouais Blanc, a parent of Chardonnay and Gamay.
In the Van Duzer Corridor AVA, Mark and Pattie Björnson work with alternative grapes suited to crisp, fresh wines. Alongside Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, the 2024 Pamar Vineyard Aligoté (US$32, The Cellar d’Or) has spiced pear, citrus acidity and fresh herbal notes.
The wines are bottled in reusable Revino bottles. The company collects empties, removes their labels and capsules, then washes and inspects the bottles for reuse.
Tenerife’s volcanic vineyards
Tenerife’s greener north feels far removed from the island’s heavily developed southern coast. In La Guancha, Juan Jesús Méndez’s Viñátigo is known for its demanding vineyard work on the Canary Islands.
The winery visit begins among 120-year-old, ungrafted Listán Negro vines before descending 12 metres down a spiral staircase into a winery built into the rock.
The Ensamblaje Blanco 2024 (£34.95, NY Wines) offers an introduction to the island’s volcanic character, blending local grapes including Gual, Marmajuelo, Vijariego Blanco and Malvasía Aromática. The amphora-aged, single-vineyard Camino de La Peña 2023 has a striking hydrocarbon note, intense lemon acidity and a hint of struck match. The skin-contact Elaboraciones Ancestrales Blanco 2023 provides another taste of Tenerife’s distinctive wines.
Independent producers at Barrique Fine Wines
Edd Simpson launched Barrique Fine Wines in 2020, despite the challenges of the period, and opened NoNo Wine Bar in Leeds in 2025. The businesses draw on a portfolio of distinctive wines from small producers.
Standouts include Mesquida Mora’s Acrollam Blanc 2025 (£26.95), which evokes Mallorca; Jordi Miró’s Textura 4 Naturalment Brisat 2024 (£25.50), an elegant orange wine; and Jorge Piernas’ Soldados de Cuera 2024 (£37.95), a compelling expression of Macabeo. Together, the bottles reflect the skill of their makers and Simpson’s commitment to introducing characterful wines to drinkers.
Ridley Scott’s Luberon wines
British filmmaker Ridley Scott bought a French holiday home in 1992. Today, he owns a modern winery surrounded by 35 hectares of vines in the Luberon: Mas des Infermières.
Its range runs from easy-drinking wines named after Scott’s dogs, including Lulu Blanc and Jojo Rouge, through the Source wines to the more structured Chevalier range. The light, fruity Source Blanc, made from Rolle, Roussanne and Clairette, impressed, as did the spicy Chevalier Rouge, a blend of Carignan, Syrah and Grenache.
At lunch, the fuller-bodied Chevalier Blanc, made from the same grapes as Source Blanc, proved a particularly good match for fish. Scott draws the wines’ playful labels himself, and the bottles reflect his preference for fresh, lower-alcohol wines suited to a range of occasions.