Your Sommelier

Your Sommelier is a monthly wine subscription box.

Every month you will receive 3 bottles of French wine selected by our Sommeliers with matching tasting cards including food pairing, information about wine, regions and appellations. You’ll also get our welcome binder to regroup all of your cards.

There are two options:

Discovery Box – A perfect introduction. Discover and learn. £36/Month

Expert Box – The finest French wines for Connoisseurs. £60/Month.

The box arrives by courier, and is extremely well packed. Just as well, as those bottles are precious!

This month’s box is focused on the South West region of France, and contains one white and two reds. There is an information card about the wines of this region, as well as individual cards for each bottle. The cards can be kept in a binder that was provided with the first box (you can see it in the main picture). Very convenient.

I’m afraid the pictures are taken at night (as I’m not a daytime drinker!) so the lighting in my kitchen leaves something to be desired!

First of all, a red. The weather is cold at the moment, and red wine is definitely a winter favourite for me!

Château de Caillau 2014

This was a seriously full bodied wine. It was relatively dry and tannic but with a rounded flavour. It was quite cold when I opened it, but after sitting near the stove for an hour lots of fruit came through. It was definitely rich! I actually found I enjoyed it even more after it had been opened for a day, as more the fruity flavours came through. It also had rather a heavy sediment.

Another red.

Château Saint Benazit 2012

This was a similarly rich flavour with a fair amount of tannin. The smell really was remarkably earthy. The fruit came through much more in the drinking, which stopped it from becoming overly dry on the palate.

Finally, the white.

UBY Colombard Ugni Blanc 2015

This was remarkable. Apart from an initial struggle with the cork (plastic) this ended up being my favorite wine, despite the cold weather.

This smelled incredibly fruity, and the taste was a combination of almost sweet and sharp. It had very full citrussy overtones, which made it taste very fresh and lively, a surprisingly complex flavour. I really, really loved this one.

I was really impressed with this box. Usually I gravitate towards Italian and Spanish red wine in the winter, but these bottles were very satisfying. Although they were modeately rich and heavy, the fruitiness made them very easy to drink!

As for the white, yum. One of the nicest I’ve ever had, and I’m certainly going to be looking out for it again!

The information cards are very useful, which just the right amount of information without being overwhelming. The little space for making notes is particularly handy!

All these wines come directly from France, and I’ve not been able to find them on any UK site. I found the white on a British wine shop based in Calais, though no shipping to the UK, you have to head to France to pick it up!

Prices on each bottle are generally a little over £10 per bottle, though that’s usually with a case discount. Singly they would be more, and of course, even the places that offer shipping are charging serious extras. I think the price is great value for three good bottles that you’re certainly not going to find in your local supermarket, plus a whole lot of extra information.

This is a lovely way to try and really think about wine, especially if you’re less than familiar with the individual natures of French wine. It would also make a lovely gift, or perhaps an evening in with friends!