Poor old Graves – it’s not a Médoc, it’s not a Right Bank, it feels like a bit of an orphan, unloved and forgotten. Even with the stylish new Pessac-Léognan name its top estates have been able to use since 1987, the region – with the honourable exception of Haut Brion – has never really […]

As we rambled through St Emilion and Pomerol today we found it increasingly difficult to visit a château without bumping into one of the members of the Thienpont clan. It must be quite galling to own one of the greatest estates in the world and not even produce the best wine in your own family. […]

Cutting right to the chase (not one of my strong points), no, 2007 is not a Right Bank vintage. It is a vintage where those who worked with the cards that nature dealt them rather than trying to make a silky fruit bomb purse (or Perse, perhaps) out of a pig’s ear, made good wines. […]

  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 […]