Just back from a few days in Bordeaux where, every two years in June, it is home to the drinks industry’s Olympic equivalent, VINEXPO.  Around 50,000 visitors from around the world descend for five days to meet 2,500 exhibitors. Products range from spirits to liquors and alcohopops but the main emphasis is on wines from […]

And so the En Primeur Season draws to a close and what a strange and bizarre campaign it all was. Who would have thought Latour would open proceedings?   Who’d have thought we’d sell the luckiest number in China’s worth of Ch. d’Angludet….888 cases! Still a damned fine case at £150 if you haven’t bought […]

Another interesting and variable day.  The late sunshine of 2008 clearly did much good for the Cabernet of the Medoc, but what about the Merlot of the Right Bank and Graves? There is more variation here but still some lovely wines.  In Graves the sheer class and breeding of Haut-Brion pips La Mission for me […]

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 […]