Domaine Laffitte, Sauvignon blanc and Gros Manseng, 2023 - 16/20

Smells like Cape gooseberries and tastes like a bowl of both English and Cape gooseberries – ripe and sharp, green and gold. Mango and passion fruit. More 'fruity' than 'sweet' – the residual sugar is really well-balanced by full, firm acidity. It's not complex, but it's balanced and would be an excellent wine for sweet-sour dishes like pathia or dhansak curries.

Domaine Laffitte, Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng, 2023 - 16.5/20

Creamier and smoother than their Le Petit Gascoûn moelleux. It also tastes sweeter – mangoes and honey, a slow syrupy density. Baked pears. But dancing over the top is sibilant freshness of frangipani flowers, dried sage ground to a fragrant powder, white pepper. The perfect wine for mango fool and a rather attractive foil to Shropshire Blue cheese.

Domaine Laffitte, Colombard and Sauvignon blanc, 2023 - 16.5/20

Lemon verbena fills the glass and breathes soft green-haze fragrance over honey-brushed corners and ripe lemon and pomelo fruit. Fresh and as bracing and clean as a shock of cold water in the early morning. A little unsophisticated in the best kind of way: everything is robust, honest, generous, balanced. A wine you want to drink.

Domaine Laffitte, Malbec and Merlot, 2023 - 16/20

A plentitude of fruit. Drippingly juicy and sweet peach, mango, cantaloupe melon, but the acidity holds well, lime-and-chalk, and the wine finishes clean and dry. Like it's Petit Gascoûn sibling, immensely gluggable. I could see bottles of this evaporating in a pub garden on warm days.

Le Petit Gascoûn, Merlot and Marselan, 2023 - 16/20

Coppery pink with a nose that reminds me a little of Aperol. But it happens to be a playful, rosy-cherub-cheeked little wine packed with blood orange, strawberry and ripe papaya fruit, chalky acidity and a little bit of spice on the finish. There might be a touch of residual sugar, only detectable at the start, but the middle and end are dry. I could imagine this being very gulpable drunk al fresco with a ham and tomato baguette on a summer day.

Le Petit Gascoûn, Marselan, 2023 - 16.5/20

One of the prettiest noses I've come across in a Marselan. Dark-red roses, peonies, plum. As you would (should) expect from varietal Marselan, the acidity is high, it's lean and juicily fruit, the tannins are fine and sinewy. Cherries and cassis with a light seam of tree-bark bitterness running the length. Plenty of character, great balance and mouth-watering – and excellent with biltong! It's likely to be good with any charcuterie. All-round delightful.

Le Petit Gascoûn, Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng, 2023 - 16/20

Although it's obviously a sweet wine, it doesn't come across as sweet as 'moelleux' would imply because the weight of sweetness is cut and lifted so easily by sharp, perfectly integrated acidity and the mouth-watering freshness of the fruit. A plethora of pineapple, bergamot, grapefruit, green mango and sweet lime spiked with cinnamon and a teaspoon of toffee. Apple-mint and sage-fresh finish. I'd love to try this with my Goan chef friend's green coconut chutney.

Domaine Laffitte, Malbec, 2023 - 16/20

Quite pale (relatively) for a Malbec. Very fruity, slightly 'wild' fruit with a tinge of cooked strawberry and iced tea. I wonder if there has been some carbonic maceration here? The tannins are light and lightly astringent. Noticeable acidity which makes it taste even more juicy and jazzy. Unconventional, but like their Marselan, this would be fabulous with fatty charcuterie or a rare beef burger.

Le Petit Gascoûn, Colombard and Sauvignon, 2023 - 15.5/20

Fresh and green-pineapple fruity and sassy. A really charming blend of chutzpah and demeanour.