This is the wine package for Saturdays when you do not want to compromise. We have brought together six bottles that can carry an entire evening: something festive and precise to start with, then freshness and minerality for the opening dishes, followed by a serious gastronomic white, two reds with depth and presence, and finally a sweet finish that lets the evening land exactly where it should. It is a package built on quality, personality and a clear sense of origin – wines that feel selected, not simply assembled.
Why we selected these
We chose these wines because they create a Saturday with both rhythm and range. Champagne Mandois sets the tone with elegance and energy, Le Cotelin brings freshness and structure, Hamilton Russell delivers serious terroir-driven Chardonnay, Viginti and AALTO take over with power and depth, and Coffele ties it all together with sweetness, acidity and length. What all six wines share is that they come from producers with a strong identity, clear craftsmanship and real respect for terroir.
Champagne Mandois Blanc de Blancs 1. Cru
This is a champagne that opens the evening in style. The palate is dry, vibrant and elegant, with notes of jasmine, grapefruit and pomelo, followed by saline minerality and a gently appetising bitterness on the finish. It is a champagne built on energy and precision, making it ideal as an aperitif, but also excellent with oysters, shellfish and refined seafood bites.
It is made from 100% Chardonnay. Seventy percent is vinified and matured in stainless steel, 20% in oak and 10% in concrete, and the wine spends more than four years ageing on the lees, which gives it both fine mousse and added depth. Mandois is also a family-owned Champagne house in Pierry with roots going back to 1735.
Domaine du Pré Semelé – Sancerre Blanc “Le Cotelin”
Le Cotelin is a Sancerre with more depth and volume than the leanest, greenest style. Here, you get a rich and complex Sauvignon Blanc with juicy fruit, expressive structure and a fresh lemon-driven lift in the finish. It is a superb match for ceviche, risotto, fish in cream sauce and other dishes where freshness and texture need to work together.
The wine is made without added enzymes or sulphites. Fermentation takes place with indigenous yeasts in casks and 600-litre barrels, and the wine is aged for a total of 18 months, including 12 months in wood followed by 6 months in tank. It is bottled without fining or filtration, helping preserve both character and terroir expression.
Hamilton Russell Vineyards – Chardonnay
This is a white wine for Saturdays when you want to open something with genuine class. The wine is cool, mineral and long, with citrus fruit, white stone fruit, green herbs and a vivid freshness that gives both tension and length. It is a Chardonnay with finesse and depth, and it works beautifully with butter-fried fish, lobster, mushroom dishes and creamy, elegant plates.
Hamilton Russell is a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir specialist in the cool maritime Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and was one of the pioneers of the area. The Chardonnay is 100% barrel-fermented in 300-litre French oak barrels and is made exclusively from estate fruit, which is key to its dense structure and strong sense of place.
Schola Sarmenti – Viginti Negroamaro
Viginti is the most generous and dramatic wine of the evening. It offers intense notes of pickled plums, juicy blackberries and dried figs, while the palate is dense, concentrated and very long. It is a dark, powerful and commanding wine that pairs perfectly with braised dishes, grilled meat, game and aged cheeses.
The wine is made from 100% Negroamaro from vines around 60 years old, trained in the traditional Alberello Pugliese system. The grapes are hand-harvested and dried in airy crates for around 40 days before the wine spends 30 months in French tonneaux and a further 8 months in bottle. In other words, this is a wine built for depth, concentration and big Saturday-night energy.
AALTO Bodegas Aalto
AALTO is the package’s most classically powerful red and a bottle that immediately signals ambition. It shows an intense aromatic profile of red fruit and spice, while the palate is full-bodied, fresh and silky, with a long finish. That makes it an excellent choice for entrecôte, lamb, ibérico pork, rich meat dishes and aged hard cheeses.
It is made from 100% Tinto Fino, or Tempranillo, primarily from very old vines aged 40 to 80 years across nine different villages in Burgos and Valladolid. The grapes are harvested by hand in small boxes and sorted bunch by bunch before the wine is aged for 17 months in French and American oak barrels. AALTO also farms old plots across Ribera del Duero without herbicides or chemical fertilisers, with quality as the constant focus.
Coffele Le Sponde Recioto di Soave Classico DOCG
Finally comes the sweet finish. Le Sponde is rich, sensual and generous, with aromas of persimmon, dried fig, apricot, papaya, candied citrus, caramel and freshly ground coffee. The palate is sweet and soft, but lifted by lively acidity and a very long finish, making the wine feel just as elegant as it is luscious. It is a beautiful match for cakes, especially those with dried fruit or apricot, but also for blue cheese with a little honey on the side.
The wine is made from 100% Garganega grown on hillside vineyards in Castelcerino, in the heart of Soave Classico. The grapes are hand-harvested in several passes and then hung to dry in a fruttaio until at least the end of March. After this long appassimento, the grapes are pressed very gently and the must ferments and matures for 10 to 12 months in small oak barrels before further bottle ageing.
