The Edit - Robin's picks for this month - a three bottle box set

The Edit is our monthly selection of what's exciting and drinking well, chosen by Robin, founder of Iron & Rose and still a wine obsessive. The three bottles selected change each month to reflect the season, the food we're enjoying, and often to introduce new arrivals. 

Offered at a discounted price, it is three banging bottles to introduce you to our world of natural wine, to encourage you to delve deeper, or for a treat to yourself or as a gift.

Subscribe for regular deliveries and save even further. Although the price of The Edit will vary according to the wines chosen each month, it will always be between £60 and £90 and by subscribing you'l save an additional £3.50 off each box set - enough to buy yourself a V60 pour-over coffee from PetitGlou to enjoy while you scan the shelves in Iron & Rose or relax after some intensive market shopping.

For March, celebrating International Women's Day, Robin has chosen three wines made by women wine makers who are leading the way. 

This box set contains three bottles, one of each of the following wines, made by inspirational producers, the kind of wines which inspired Robin to start Iron & Rose back in 2016 - 

Arianna Occhipinti, SP68 Bianco, 2021, Terre Siciliane, Italy - You’ll know about our slight obsession with Sicily at Iron and Rose, and the amazing wines and food that come from that beautiful island.

You may not know about my secret, slightly obsessive, fandom of Stanley Tucci. (Not so secret now I guess!) Mix those two together into the recent TV series, Searching for Italy, and frankly it was an hour of bliss.

To top it off Stanley went to interview Arianna Occhipinti whose wines I fell head over heals with back when I first tasted them on a visit to Sicily in 2016. We’ve been selling and drinking them (when we can get hold of them) ever since. 

Arianna Occhipinti got involved in wine at the young age of sixteen, working with her uncle Giusto at COS, in Sicily, but stands in no-one's shadow now making wine which in her words, "in its harmonies and roughness, talks about the land where it comes from and also about me. "

SP68 Blanco is a blend of Zibibbo (aka Muscat d'Alexandria) and Albanello fermented on skins. It is tropically aromatic and light and very low in sulphates. Grown in the unique soils and climate of Ragusa.

Want to know more? Do yourself a favour, get on iPlayer, find Stanley and immerse yourself in an hour of virtual travel, preferably with a glass of this to hand.

Producer - Arianna Occhipinti
Country - Italy
Region - Sicily
Appellation - Ragusa
Variety / Blend - Zibibbo, Albanello
Wine style - Orange
Farming - Organic
Vegan

Roc des Anges, Segna de Cor, Côtes de Roussillon, France, 2020 - Roc des Anges is a domaine run and owned by Marjorie Gallet just a stones throw from the Spanish border. Segna de Cor is made using grapes from the domaine's younger vines growing in Schist soil from the north side of the Force Real mountains. Here the climate is strongly Mediterranean, well suited to the traditional varieties Marjorie grows and to making wines full of southern sun but with a slightly, appealingly wild edge. This is a blend of Grenache Noir, Carignan and Syrah and has blueberry and plum flavours and a certain very pleasing earthiness.   

Enjoy this wine with food - charcuterie, cheeses, slow cooked daube or some pasta with a rich vegetable sauce would be great. Open a little while before drinking or decant and keep for a couple of years or longer if you wish.

Producer         - Roc des Anges
Country           - France
Region             - Roussillon
Appellation     - Côtes des Roussillon
Variety / Blend - Carignan, Syrah, Grenache      
Wine Style        - Red Wine
Farming            - Organic
Vegan
 
Ashleigh Barrowman, High Priestess, Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand, 2021 - “Queen of Swords” Chardonnay and “High Priestess” Pinot Noir are tiny production wines made using organically grown fruit from Marlborough’s Wrekin vineyard* by Ashley Barrowman who gained wide experience working with some of our favourite producers around the world; Vino di Anna in Sicily, Patrick Sullivan in Australia, Domaine Labet, Jean-Jacques Morel et al.

With beautiful balance, fine texture, and amazing complexity they are great examples of what can be produced from New Zealand’s unique soils and climate.

This Pinot is made using biodynamically grown fruit, hand picked, destemmed and then wild fermented in stainless steel with daily, gentle pump-overs to keep the cap submerged for a gentle extraction. The finished wine is matured in oak puncheon until bottling with just a a touch of sulphur. 

* we couldn't resist looking at these wines when we saw the local connection, the Wrekin being Shropshire’s most recognised hill. Happily we weren’t disappointed!

Producer          - Ashleigh Barrowman
Country            - New Zealand
Region              - Marlborough
Variety / Blend - Pinot Noir
Wine Style       - Red Wine
Farming            - Organic / Biodynamic
Vegan
The wines in this box set are available in limited quantities, so we may need to offer alternatives but these will be of similar price and equal value!