By Jack Chapman on 17/04/2025
If I had to summarise the 2024 Bordeaux wines in two words, it would be ‘Old School’. First and foremost because it is a vintage which almost entirely re-enforced the Bordeaux status quo. We all know the weather was challenging, and the only ways to combat it were via enormous amounts of labour in the vineyards, as well as rigorous sorting in the winery.
By Jack Chapman on 05/12/2024
Having returned last week, after tasting 200+ wines, I have been both trying to catch up on emails and find time to pen my thoughts on a vintage about which we were all… holding our breath. From what we saw in the cellars whilst tasting the 2022s, and discussions we had with producers, 2023 was big.
By Jack Chapman on 16/10/2024
After a recent fishing trip in the Highlands, it became entirely clear to me that I had failed to manage my Champagne stocks. We were a party of 12 and consumed 24 bottles over the week – a figure which may initially seem hedonistic, but in real terms, was just three glasses a day (with the odd bottle to celebrate catching a big salmon, a stash which predictably went untouched!).
By Jack Chapman on 24/04/2024
We are currently out there to truly get to grips with what the vintage has in store, but prior to that, I’d like to report the information (or indeed the rumours!) we have heard. 2023 had the potential to be a large vintage.
By Jack Chapman on 23/04/2024
I am currently sitting, slightly jaded from a full week of claret tasting, wearing a Pichon Baron polo shirt (paid for with my own money – we are totally incorruptible at L&S…) and thinking about what I can pen to give you the greatest insight possible into the 2023 vintage.
By Jack Chapman on 01/09/2023
I have been fortunate enough this year to visit America twice – once North, once South, to visit some of the most iconic wineries both have to offer. A hardship undertaken in order to bring the most up to date insights on the so called ‘September Series’.
By Jack Chapman on 17/08/2023
Sometimes, my friends like to talk about football. We’re sat in the pub, at a restaurant or at a party – usually when there are a few blokes who don’t know each other especially well - and it’s one of the first conversations to crop up.
By Angus Barcroft on 27/04/2023
Angus Barcroft from our private clients team gives us an insight into day four of Bordeaux en primeur tastings: Day 4 Today we had another early start that saw us heading up the D2 road for a day of tasting along the left bank in Saint-Julien, Pauillac & Saint-Estèphe.
By Tom Lorimer on 26/04/2023
Tom Lorimer from our private clients team takes us through the third day on the road in Bordeaux: Day 3 A fairly straightforward itinerary for the team today: work out how to open boot the on our over-designed hire car, mop-up the rest of the right bank, and then head north to start tackling the vast expanse of the left bank.
By Jack Chapman on 25/04/2023
And we’re off, scouting Châteaux for the best of Bordeaux 2022. Our head of Private Clients, Jack Chapman is sending us his notes and impressions, giving us a verbal tour of some of the finest wines of Bordeaux’s right bank, and the team’s take on the mystifying 2022 vintage.
By Jack Chapman on 14/04/2023
I am going out on a limb with this blog entry, to say that you probably don’t need me to tell you that Lafite, Mouton, Margaux and Haut-Brion will probably be exceptional in the 2022 releases. It is, by now, far from a secret that we’ve got an outstanding vintage on our hands.
By Jack Chapman on 11/05/2022
I feel like these blogs have become something of a confession of late, so here’s another one. As much as, when we visit Bordeaux, I’m acting in a professional capacity (something many of you will know I’m just about capable of…) to taste, evaluate and communicate a vintage to you, I’m also secretly really just figuring out what I want to buy.