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In the middle of last month I went to Provence. I wanted a last look at the sun before we all went into bleak hibernation. I feel especially glad now, after yesterday’s grim lockdown

announcement. I was aware that my holiday would cost me two weeks of house arrest, but I didn’t think the price was too high to pay. My destination was a wine estate that I know well, and I

arrived in time to see the last days of picking. There were clear blue skies, the barometer topped 37C, I read, I swam, I explored the local markets and I went to restaurants. Most

importantly, I spoke to both the owner and the winemaker. As far as the latter was concerned, it was another fabulous vintage. He kicked himself for picking one vat of Grenache with a

potential alcohol perhaps half a degree too high, but otherwise it had gone like a dream. It was going to be a great year, maybe like 2019 or 2018. There is seldom a shortage of sun down

there, let’s face it. On the other hand, the boss had another story. With those surviving restaurants and bars operating at perhaps 45 per cent capacity, sales were puny. He had the 2018

reds left to sell, and the 2019 whites and rosés. A small, low-quality harvest in 2020 might have been easier to bear, but another good and plentiful vintage was unwelcome, especially as a

great many of his fellow estate-owners had decided to sell their entire crop off for industrial alcohol and thereby brought down the price. It might have been different if his wine were

present in retail outlets, but like most small-to-medium-sized domaines he could not afford the endless squeezing and forced discounts applied to anyone who wants to sell to the supermarkets

or the few remaining high-street shops. At the cheaper end, most people selling to the “off-trade” would expect to make a loss. But… with Covid, sales of wine for home consumption have gone

up! And for all the obvious reasons: boredom, frustration and worry. I have seen no figures but I would assume that the crisis has turned many people into alcoholics. The endless tales of

domestic violence would seem to confirm the frustrations felt at this time. People will be pulling corks earlier and earlier and drinking far more than they did before. It ill befits a wine

writer to play the moralist, and I shall not do so. I shall limit myself to a few recommendations for things that are worth drinking. If you buy good wine, at least, you are helping small

businesses to survive the crisis and not bulk producers who are in a better position to ride the storm. Organic wine might be kinder to your head and liver. So we’ll start with a sparkler.

Its provenance might surprise you, but it shouldn’t — the 2016 Montfaucon Pétillant comes from the right bank of the Gironde and is made from the usual grapes associated with white wine

there: Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle. Bordeaux has actually been making decent sparkling wine since the Belle Époque. The wine is pleasantly citrusy, with some power, which

indicates a region considerably further south than Champagne. It is an excellent aperitif. Like all the wines recommended this week, it is organic or practises sustainable viticulture. It is

made by Dawn Jones Cooper, a Mayfair hairdresser who learned her winemaking art at Plumpton Agricultural College in Essex. The 2018 Château Puyanché (£13.99 from Avery’s) in the Francs

Côtes de Bordeaux uses no insecticides and is sparing with sulphates. It is a tremendous wine. A major shareholding in Sauvignon Blanc is responsible for the grapefruit aroma, but it has

plenty of body from the Sémillon too. It just got better and better as I drank it. I was hugely enthusiastic about 2016 ‘G’ from Château Guiraud too. Guiraud is one of the luscious sweet

wines of Sauternes, but like many other estates in that region, it makes dry white wines as well that have something of the opulence of the sweet wine only without the sugar. It is a bit

catty (Sauvignon Blanc) and spicy, but on the palate is overwhelmingly reminiscent of tropical fruits like passion fruit and guavas. The 2018 Château Mérigot comes from the Côte de Bourg on

the right bank of the Gironde where Jacques Chardat is converting the domaine to organic viticulture. The wines are chiefly Merlot (there is some Malbec) and have an identifiable strawberry

jam character. This wine is also a bit smoky, with a little smell of ash and finishes with a hint of marzipan. It is nicely chunky, and packs a punch at 14.5 ABV. Lastly there is a mature

and fully organic 2014 Château Franc Baudron in Montagne St Emilion. The Merlot is topped up with Cabernet Franc. This has fine, deep garnet colour and is less rustic than the Mérigot and

rather suave with plenty of evidence of its maturation in oak. The tannins are fine and it is cooling and refreshing on the plate — a fine wine _à consommer avec modération_, as they say

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