2025 Papillon

Pretty and aromatic – bright red currant, raspberry, red rose petal and dried spice perfume. Light, fresh palate – spiced red cherry and tart red plums fruit flavours lead dried spice and delicate dried herb and spice notes on a finish kept nervy and fresh with plum skin like acids and fine, light tannin.

Download tasting notes here.

I just love this wine. The word ‘smashable’ shines with overuse, but the Papillon consistently offers such an ease of drinking that it is just a no-brainer every year. Spacious, airy and mid-weighted, this year sees a blend of grenache 75% and cinsault 25%, and it’s a raspberry and citrus blossom-flecked beauty with hints of exotic spice, tendrils of twiggy nuance (hello, 100% whole clusters), cranberry, charcuterie, dried citrus rinds and distant flowering herbs. A brisk mineral cadence and a sweetly balanced, chalky tannin array. It is just bright, joyous drinking. Bonkers value here, too. – 95 Points, Dave Brookes