The Gathering Storm

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9 July 2026

The Gathering Storm was my top value wine from the Majestic Autumn Winter tasting and I wanted to take a deeper look.

First, I previously, and wrongly, reported that it was non-vintage. It does have a vintage, and this is 2024. It is a 12% ABV blend of Verdejo, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. It is produced by the large Félix Solís Avantis group, well known for Viña Albali, Mucho Más, Castillo de Albai Reserva and The Guv’nor.

The Gathering Storm takes its name from the idea that this wine challenges the norms. The front label has some incredible artwork. The back label talks about Spanish wine being deeply rooted in tradition, and how this wine pushes against that, opening up a new way to unlock Spanish wine.

Although it is a lower-end wine wine, it is still bottled in Spain rather than in the UK, which is unusual for wines at this level.

As before, tropical and citrus aromas lead into flavours of apricot, melon, apple and vanilla. It is smooth, off-dry, very slightly sweet, and full of flavour. This time round, I picked up even more mouth feel and even more flavour. This wine does not feel Spanish. In fact, it tastes more like a French Côtes de Gascogne. Neverthless, The Majestic website says 100% of people would buy it again.

This begs the question, do people want, or even need, an atypical, very inexpensive, great wine with no real provenance? I would argue that most people do not care, and that this is exactly what they will buy. But the wine establishment will disagree, because it is a challenge to wine needing provenance, the craft of winemaking and the more premium status quo. Hence the contentiousness and the ‘gathering storm’.

Only £7 on a Mix Six from Majestic. A great basket filler and conversation piece, to make up a mix six.

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