Our Wine Director Mark Pardoe MW explains how we came to buy unfinished wine, and examines the mechanics, myths and future of wine futures The first Bordeaux vintage I bought en primeur as a wine merchant was 1982. I only bought two wines – 25 cases each of Chx Batailley and Haut-Batailley – and I […]

With just a month to go before the Bordelais unveil their 2016 wines, Buying Director and Bordeaux Buyer Max Lalondrelle shares his first impressions of the vintage Every year, long before the en primeur tastings in early April, I visit Bordeaux to check on the quality of the vintage. These visits, the first during the […]

Philip Moulin reports on an annual tasting of the newly bottled Bordeaux vintage, this year focused on 2013; a hard vintage, for both producers and consumers For the last three years I have been privileged to have taken part in what is arguably the most comprehensive annual tasting of fine wine in the UK – […]

The 2015 vintage has been praised far and wide – producing remarkable wines from Germany to Burgundy, but what has made it a good year? What makes any vintage better than another? In an extract from our introductory book, Exploring & Tasting Wine, Mark Pardoe MW explains Sometimes Bordeaux is even busier than usual for […]