With Yasmina Asseily from Biac and Alexander Jeffries of Sacred

Two producers, both alike in dignity in fair EC2, where we lay our tasting. But no blood spilt we hope. Both Biac and Sacred are close to our heart and both count as local to us. Sacred because it comes from Highgate and has three bus routes from us to them. Chateau Biac because of our long relationship with the family and their property and wines and their wonderful gites where we like to stay on our visits to Bordeaux. In fact, both enterprises are family run, are small scale in comparison to their peers and are sturdily independent.

Chateau Biac is a small, completely self-contained, walled amphitheatre of a vineyard overlooking a bend in the river Garonne. It has steep slopes with good drainage and a range of soils, which have been analysed and planted with the most appropriate Bordeaux grape varieties. The estate is run on very sustainable lines, preferring sexual confusion to pesticides, for instance. The winery has been completely rebuilt to make all operations gravity fed and the resulting wines are pure, complex and very special.

Sacred gin is vacuum distilled and beautifully flavoured with a range of classic and distinctive botanicals including their signature frankincense and in one case, homemade Christmas pudding! Very popular last year. They are also celebrated for a range of very special vermouths and we show the 'English Aperol/Campari'. /CW