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 […]

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 […]