By Charles Lea on 11/05/2016
Today's releases all have firm advocates. We think du Tertre looks the best buy - from the village in the Médoc which many think has produced the vintage's most consistent success. 2015 CHÂTEAU DU TERTRE , as Neal Martin says, giving it 91-93, 'Alexandre Van Beek might have produced his best du Tertre to date'.
By Charles Lea on 10/05/2016
‘…the best value you will find across entire Bordeaux’. Neal Martin in The Wine Advocate – erobertparker,com.
On the market this afternoon are the first two wines from the Denis Durantou ‘Église Clinet’ stable.
By Charles Lea on 10/05/2016
Yesterday and this morning have seen a few of the more serious crus classés being released - the primeur season is getting into gear. 2015 CHÂTEAU PAPE CLEMENT (£625) is a big wine with a mass of rich dark concentration. For us it seems a little forced, but Neal Martin (95-97) and James Suckling (96-97) clearly loved it.
By Charles Lea on 10/05/2016
There is a wealth of choice of critical reporting on Bordeaux 2015. Maybe too much for any one voice to be heard. Perhaps the merchant's view is becoming more important again in the absence of the absolute arbiter that has been Robert Parker - but in the end it is your casting vote - 'is it worth a punt?' - that matters.
By Charles Lea on 03/05/2016
Releases continue to trickle out in Bordeaux, rather slowly given that, according to one rumour coming out from the Bordeaux trade, the majority of the big names intend to be out before Vinexpo Hong Kong, which runs from the 24th to the 26th May, and that's a lot of wines to release in a month with more French holidays than you'd think possible in a country that only works 35 hours a week anyway.
By Charles Lea on 03/05/2016
Harry Eyres was very taken by our Stapleton & Springer Pinot Noirs at our spring press tasting. and mentions as such in last week's edition of Country Life magazine: 'Delightful surprises are perhaps the best aspect of of the wine-writer's profession.
By Charles Lea on 01/05/2016
The L&S team are so used to me going on about how the fun of wine is in the complexity and nuance, the origins, the whys and wherefores of how the flavours get into a glass of wine, that they might wonder if I had inspired this weekend's article by Victoria Moore in the Telegraph, which, coming rather late to the party, I read over breakfast this morning.
By Charles Lea on 29/04/2016
Today is the day when we expect Neal Martin's verdict on the 2015 vintage. Many critics have already given their opinions, with a rave review (six hundred pointers and lots of 'best-evers') from James Suckling (jamessuckling.com), enthusiastic set of notes from Roger Voss of the Wine Enthusiast (wineenthusiast.
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 Charles Lea on 27/04/2016
'This is simply a magical bottle. That's all there is to it' "Le Piane's 2011 Boca is simply dazzling. Rich, translucent and remarkably vivid, the 2011 encapsulates all the reasons the wines from Alto Piemonte are so compelling.
By Charles Lea on 21/04/2016
There are various people in Bordeaux (or rather in the vineyards around Bordeaux) who are prepared to be intelligently honest in their appraisals of vintages, and that can really help sort out what one's thoughts about a vintage are.
By Charles Lea on 21/04/2016
The Left bank of the Gironde - the Médoc, encompassing the villages of Margaux, Saint Julien, Pauillac and Saint Estèphe as well as the actual Médoc and Haut Médoc appellations, mostly had a very different experience of the 2015 vintage to the Right bank.