By Charles Lea on 06/07/2023
Neal Martin's latest article on the Vinous website is timely and, in a most measured and reasonable way, lays out how an apparently well-motivated individual is capable of making all the right noises about quality of wine and how to achieve it, so that the back story sounds plausible, while marketing it entirely on price.
By Charles Lea on 27/04/2017
Two of our favourite en primeur value buys are now out, one from each side of the river. Many of our customers have followed these for years and the proof of the pudding is those who bought the early vintages and have drunk them are coming back for more. Both have excelled again with the 2016 vintage.
By Charles Lea on 29/04/2016
Almost our last visit of primeurs week in Bordeaux was back to see Stéphane Dief up in the northern Médoc at Saint Christoly. Stéphane has made his usual success of his two wines, Clos Manou and Petit Manou. The Clos Manou has, unsurprisingly, the majority of the Cabernet, (69%) while the second wine is 88% Merlot.
By David Porter on 24/04/2015
Another slow week in Bordeaux has contained little of any excitement with a couple of exceptions and then came today’s three releases from the Lafite stable.We were pleased to see the release of two wines that we have been following keenly for the last few vintages.
By Charles Lea on 10/11/2014
A recent article by Victoria Moore in the Telegraph spoke of the ancient vines belonging to Stéphane Dief of Clos Manou – and pointed to his 2009 CLOS MANOU Médoc as a top value ‘under the radar’ wine.
By David Porter on 29/04/2014
We really really liked Clos du Marquis this year, and Léoville Las Cases was pretty stunning but not really looking a great primeur buy at this level. Beauregard, which showed really well, seems to us a better Pomerol buy than Nénin.
By Charles Lea on 02/06/2013
The 2012 Bordeaux campaign will go down as one with a lot of sound and (especially) fury, signifying very little. The shame is that it obscures the real hard work being done all over this vast region which still makes a lot of the best value wines in the world.
By Charles Lea on 02/06/2013
Up in the northern Médoc, around the village of Saint Christoly, it was normal, right up to the 1970s, for farmers to have some maize, some cows, a few pigs – and 4 hectares or so of vines. Part of what is now Clos Manou was a 4 hectare ‘Cru Bourgeois’ called Château Cantegrive.
By Charles Lea on 16/04/2012
Bordeaux 2011 - around a £tenner, and one a bit more Below is a short list of wines selected from those so far on the market which seem to me to offer the 'no-brainer' bit of this (and any other) vintage.
By Charles Lea on 27/04/2011
Pierre Taïx’s ‘La Mauriane’ comes strongly recommended if you are looking for Cru Classé level drinking at a very modest price.
By Charles Lea on 20/04/2011
Well, we are off! The first runners in what promises to be the marathon of the 2010 Bordeaux Primeur campaign have been released, so that we are under way, even if, with Vinexpo this year, there’s the threat that the Firsts and maybe some others will delay releasing their wines until mid-June or later.