David’s Drinks Diaries No. 35

One of the things I enjoy most about writing Drinks Diaries is that there really are no boundaries to what might end up in my glass. This time we travel from the vineyards of West Sussex to the shores of Lake Geneva, through Tuscany, Austria, Portugal, and the far south of Italy, before heading north to Islay and Skye. There are familiar grapes in unfamiliar places, including a Tuscan white from a region better known for Sangiovese, alongside Chasselas from Switzerland, a country whose wines we rarely get the opportunity to drink in the UK. Portugal reminds us just how exciting its native white grapes can be, while Sicily takes one of its most celebrated red varieties and turns it into sparkling rosé.

There is experimentation in the spirits too. On Islay, an island synonymous with whisky, its first dedicated rum distillery is producing a spirit shaped by both Caribbean traditions and its Hebridean surroundings. On Skye, Torabhaig has gone in a refreshing direction, giving individual distillers control over everything from the malt and yeast to fermentation and maturation, asking them what they would make if the choices were entirely their own. 

Wine

Roebuck Estates Blanc de Blancs 2019 - £38 from Roebuck

Roebuck Estates has added its first Blanc de Blancs to its Classic Collection. The 2019 Blanc de Blancs is 100% Chardonnay from Roebuck and Little Brockhurst, two of the estate’s vineyards close to Petworth. It comes from a vintage that enjoyed a warm start to the season followed by a cooler September and October, allowing the fruit to retain vital acidity while developing slowly towards harvest.

Whole bunch pressing was followed by a combination of fermentation in stainless steel and old Burgundian barrels, with around 6% of the blend spending seven months in oak. Malolactic fermentation was used selectively rather than across the entire wine, with approximately 62% undergoing MLF according to the character and acidity of each parcel. Most importantly, the wine was given time. Bottled in June 2020 and disgorged in August 2025, it spent more than five years developing on its lees before release, bringing the autolytic complexity that has become central to Roebuck’s house style. A low dosage of just 4g/l keeps the finished wine firmly on the drier side, allowing the purity of the Chardonnay to shine.

Head of Viticulture Jake Wicks notes that ageing was not dictated by a rigid formula: the team tasted the wine annually and released it only when they believed it had reached peak harmony. At £50, it joins the estate’s 2018 Blanc de Noirs as a companion vintage bottling, reserved exclusively for exceptional years.

Domaine de Chantegrive Chasselas Blanc 2025 - £18.99 from Laithwaites

Domaine de Chantegrive Chasselas Blanc 2025 is something we simply do not see enough of in Britain. Switzerland produces remarkably little wine by international standards and drinks the vast majority itself, which explains why the few bottles that reach our shores can be costly. This comes from Domaine de Chantegrive in Vaud’s La Côte AOC, where the estate has 15 hectares spread between Aubonne and Gilly on the slopes above Lake Geneva.

Chasselas is the defining white grape of French speaking Switzerland, and they bottle several individual Chasselas wines from different terroirs. The Rolaz family has run the estate since 1993, with the next generation actively involved as Julien Rolaz joined in 2019 to oversee marketing and exports. This 2025 is a lovely introduction to a grape and region that remain surprisingly unfamiliar in Britain, particularly at £13.99 when bought as part of a mixed case.

Salt Bay 2024 - £12.99 from Laithwaites

Salt Bay 2024 takes us to Portugal’s Atlantic coast and Nazaré, a town far better known for colossal surf than viticulture. The underwater Nazaré Canyon helps generate some of the largest waves in the world, but this maritime stretch also provides a cool setting for a white wine built around freshness. It unites two renowned winemakers, Anselmo Mendes and Diogo Lopes, using native varieties Viosinho, Alvarinho, and Arinto alongside a small splash of Sauvignon Blanc.

It is a clever combination: Alvarinho brings aromatic citrus and acidity, Arinto provides freshness, and Viosinho contributes to wines perfume and body. Time on the lees adds roundness without subduing the wine’s cirtus, sea spray character. At £12.99, this is exactly the style of Portuguese white I love. Portugal possesses an extraordinary treasury of indigenous grapes, and wines like this demonstrate just how much there is to discover beyond the famous reds.

Collezione di Paolo Bianco Vergine 2025 - £12.99 from Laithwaites

Collezione di Paolo Bianco Vergine 2025 is a reminder that Tuscany is not entirely about red wines. White varieties have always held a quiet place here, even if Sangiovese and Chianti have long dominated what we see in the UK. Paolo Masi makes this wine from fruit grown in the Valdichiana, the broad valley running through eastern Tuscany towards Umbria.

Trebbiano Toscano provides the backbone, crisp acidity, and delicate herbal lift, Chardonnay brings subtle weight and stone fruit, while Malvasia contributes orchard blossom and perfume. It is an unpretentious blend, revealing a lighter dimension to a region we instinctively associate with rich reds. At £9.99 in a mixed case, it shows that exploring the quieter corners of famous regions can still turn up superb value.

Winzer Krems Classic Blauer Zweigelt 2024 - £15 from Laithwaites

Winzer Krems Classic Blauer Zweigelt 2024 takes us to Austria and a variety that deserves a much bigger audience. Zweigelt, now also officially recognised as Rotburger, is Austria’s most planted red, created in 1922 by crossing St Laurent with Blaufränkisch.

This comes from Winzer Krems, the historic winegrowers cooperative based at Sandgrube 13 in Krems. The Danube and the surrounding hills form an important convergence between warm continental currents and cooler northern air, allowing the region to yield reds with juicy fruit while preserving bright freshness. Winzer Krems describes this as dry, velvety, and supple, with ripe red cherry fruit and surprising structure. Served slightly chilled at 14 to 16°C, it is an ideal companion for anyone who usually reaches for Pinot Noir when looking for a lighter red.

Ombra Antica 2025 - £17 from Laithwaites

Ombra Antica 2025 comes from a very different part of Italy, around Galatina in Salento, deep in the sunbaked heel of Puglia. Galatina has possessed its own DOC since the 1990s, yet remains almost invisible compared with more famous southern Italian appellations. Negroamaro is central to its heritage: DOC regulations require Galatina Negroamaro to contain at least 85% of the variety. Ombra Antica goes all the way, delivering 100% Negroamaro through a collaboration between Laithwaites buyer Leo Bassano and local growers.

Bassano calls it a "lost red", and the character speaks for itself. Negroamaro has thrived in Puglia for centuries, perfectly suited to the arid conditions of Salento, where the everpresent sunshine ensures ripeness while Adriatic and Ionian breezes temper the heat. It is hearty, robust, and local, capturing the charm of a region whose limited production has largely slipped past international marketing.

W/O Nerello Mascalese Rosato Spumante 2025 - £14 from Laithwaites

Sicily offers an unexpected surprise with W/O Nerello Mascalese Rosato Spumante 2025. Nerello Mascalese is best celebrated as the noble red grape of Etna, where ancient vines on high altitude volcanic soils yield some of Italy's most refined still wines. Yet its naturally pale hue, vibrant acidity, and wild strawberry fruit make you wonder why it is not used for sparkling rosé far more often.

Winemaker Dino Taschetta secured a small parcel of organically farmed fruit for this addition to the W/O range, crafting a dry, pale pink fizz at just 10.7% ABV, brimming with red berries, citrus, and mineral snap. The packaging concept is equally thoughtful: the wine is bottled in 100% post consumer recycled Wild Glass, where natural shade variations and slight cosmetic imperfections are celebrated rather than hidden. At £12.99 as part of a mixed case (£15.99 single bottle), it provides a refreshing alternative to standard pink fizz.

Whisky

Torabhaig: The Distillers’ Series

The Isle of Skye’s Torabhaig distillery has introduced a concept that merits genuine attention. With The Distillers’ Series, the distillery has handed full creative control of production over to individual members of the stillhouse crew, allowing them to shape everything from the grist to the cask profile. Torabhaig began distilling in 2017, becoming the first new distillery on Skye in nearly two centuries, and its distillers were largely trained on site from scratch. Rather than asking them solely to maintain a standard house profile, this series allows them to test what else the copper stills can do.

The first two expressions come from Iona Macphie and Niall Culbertson, and their approaches could not be further apart:

• Iona Macphie (60.9% ABV): Iona joined Torabhaig at 21 and was only 23 when she ran the spirit for her release. Her foundation was chocolate malt, a grain far more common in craft brewing than single malt distilling. Ten per cent of the grist is chocolate malt alongside Concerto barley, fermented slowly for 90 to 120 hours without peat. She adapted the spirit cut on the fly after identifying rich cocoa notes emerging remarkably early from the still. The resulting dram offers cocoa butter, dark chocolate, caramel, and stewed raisins, balanced by ginger, clove, and a cool touch of peppermint. Limited to 5,250 bottles globally from Torabhaig
  
   
• Niall Culbertson (59.3% ABV): Niall took inspiration from childhood boat trips across the bay, aiming for a maritime profile. His recipe uses 5% brown malt and 5% dark crystal malt alongside lightly peated Concerto (12 to 15ppm spirit phenols). Partial maturation in ex rum casks brings forward guava, pineapple, and candied pear. The classic Torabhaig smoke is present, but it sits harmoniously beside sea brine, orange peel, and tropical fruit rather than taking over. This too is limited to 5,250 bottles from Torabhaig
   

What sets this series apart is transparency. Whisky marketing often centres exclusively on blenders and brand ambassadors while the team actually managing the mash tuns and spirit safes remain unseen. Torabhaig has put the distillers and their choices right on the front label. Both releases retail at £75, and are without chill filtration or added colour.

Rum

The Islay Rum Distillery

Islay is legendary for smoky single malt, yet the village of Port Ellen now hosts a venture shifting regional tradition on its head. The Islay Rum Distillery began operation in 2022 inside the restored Old Lemonade Factory, an Art Deco gem that once supplied roughly 15,000 gallons of soft drinks annually across Islay, Jura, and Colonsay. 

Founder and distiller Ben Inglis bypassed standard off the shelf column setups, opting instead to design a bespoke copper pot still paired with twin retorts. This configuration mirrors the historic distillation techniques of Jamaica and Barbados, effectively delivering the concentration of triple distillation in a single continuous process. By stripping out water vapour while circulating heavier aromatics, the setup captures intense, ester rich congeners that would otherwise be lost.

The spirit benefits from extended fermentation periods, letting selected yeasts unlock bold tropical precursors prior to distillation. Spring water piped directly from the Islay hills dilutes the distillate, grounding the Caribbean style wash in distinct local terroir. Each expression reflects a deliberate balance between Caribbean weight and coastal Scottish climate.

Geal White Rum (45% ABV)

The nose opens with crisp vegetal aromas, raw cane grass, and green plantain, backed by bruised pineapple and a faint mist of coastal sea spray. On the palate, it delivers an unctuous, coating mouthfeel packed with green capsicum, fresh lime zest, and tropical papaya, all underpinned by the mellow sweetness of unrefined demerara sugar. The finish is clean and dry, lingering with cracked pepper, authentic cane funk, and subtle wild herbs.

The Original Barrel Aged (46% ABV)

Aromas of toasted oak, dried mango slices, and split vanilla pods rise first, swiftly met by damp maritime peat and caramelised orange peel. The palate introduces layers of sticky toffee pudding, tropical fruit, and smoked sea salt, underpinned by a gentle, savoury smoke that reflects its time in peated Islay single malt casks. The finish is warming, with dying embers, rich dark treacle, and coastal brine.

Peat Spiced Rum (40% ABV)

The initial impression on the nose is dominated by pungent bonfire peat, alongside roasted cumin, whole cloves, bitter citrus rind, and pickled savoury herbs. Taking a sip reveals green bell pepper and fresh root ginger, laced with allspice and dense, oily peat reek that balances neatly against the underlying cane sugar sweetness. It concludes with a vibrant, extended finish marked by earthy peat smoke, cracked black peppercorns, and spice.

All are available from The Islay Rum Distillery