How En Primeur works

En Primeur is not without its controversies: here we explain how the system of selling wine before it was bottled began, and how the system works in Bordeaux It is important to stress that in Bordeaux, the En Primeur concept has only ever really applied to the very best addresses: around 30 estates, with another […]

The meaning of value

What is a good value wine? We ask Wine Director, Mark Pardoe MW, for his thoughts on what “value” really means Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. There cannot be a universal definition of value as the concept must always be a subjective one. A sense of value is arrived at […]

Burgundy 2016: the stem of it

Following on from yesterday’s examination of mildew, today our Wine Director Mark Pardoe MW reflects on the fashion for whole-bunch When it came to harvest time in 2016, I wonder how many producers in Burgundy pushed their hats back on their heads and shook their heads in weary disbelief. After the litany of the year’s […]

Burgundy 2016: battling mildew

As January’s en primeur offering approaches, our team is back on British soil. Here, our Wine Director Mark Pardoe MW offers insight on one of the key factors affecting Burgundy 2016 It is an unvarying truth that, when assessing a new vintage in a series of intensive in situ tastings, one or two themes emerge […]