The Bordelais are constantly coming up with weird and wonderful new ways to seduce the senses while you taste the wines at their châteaux. You have the wine writer graffiti wall at Léoville Poyferré (right) and the incredibly modern and stylish tasting room at Latour where you look out over the vineyards while a large […]

  Well, halfway through the En Primeur tasting week and unlike last year when the tannins and acidity were far more brutal, we still have our spirits and teeth enamel. We also find ourselves in the position of agreeing with Robert Parker’s initial, and rather more upbeat than expected, view of the 2007s that he […]

The three most important factors in this year’s Bordeaux 2007 campaign will be, in order of importance, prices, prices and prices. Patrick Maroteau at Ch. Branaire Ducru made the point that price and quality are two separate issues. Having made a pretty exceptional wine in 2007 (17/20 BBR score) he is probably right to feel […]

Today saw us visit two of the behemoths of Pauillac: Ch. Mouton-Rothschild and Ch. Lafite-Rothschild. Originating from the traditional French (Lafite) and flamboyant English (Mouton) branches of the Rothschild family, there has always been a bit of needle between these two great First Growths. The 2006 vintage was the first year in a very long […]