96 Points - Wine Enthusiast. La Mission Haut Brion produced a typically brilliant wine in 2008. While the vintage as a whole has been somewhat overshadowed by the 2009 and 2010, the 2008s are often exceptional and offer great value for money by comparison. Robert Parker awarded this classic blend of 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc 95 points praising its ‘Medium to full-bodied and concentrated with good acidity, freshness and delineation.’ Neal Martin gave the 2008 96 po

Even in the context of Pomerol, Clos l’Eglise is a tiny property. In an average year, its 5.98-hectare vineyard (which isn’t a walled ‘clos’) yields only 2,800 cases of wine, and given its rising popularity, stocks are quickly exhausted. The secret to its success – alongside the huge investment by its owners the billionaire Garcan-Cathiard family – is its sandy-gravel topsoil, hard-pan subsoil and climate which is drier in the summer and winter than further west in the Medoc. Critics have raved

95 Points - Decanter. The Chateau Cantenac Brown 2016 is another fantastic wine from this esteemed property. Composed of a blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon and 32% Merlot, it’s a sensational wine that bears all the hallmarks of this great vintage. The years of hard work and investment that have flowed into this estate have paid significant dividends and Cantenac Brown is now back where it belongs amongst the finest wines in Bordeaux. Compared to its neighbours Chateau Palmer and Chateau Margaux,

91 Points - Wine Enthusiast. Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste produced an outstanding 2013. Writing in the Wine Advocate, Neal Martin described it as ‘one of the finest Pauillac wines of the vintage.’ A cool, wet spring, baking hot July, and a harvest carried out in fits and starts, this was a vintage that tested the winemakers’ skills to the limit. Grand-Puy-Lacoste’s Xavier and Emeline Borie were more than up to the challenge though and produced a wine that warrants its status as a Grand Cru Classé.

95 Points - Wine Enthusiast. Haut Bages Liberal produced one of its finest wines in 2019. James Suckling awarded it 96-100 describing it as, ‘Full and racy with wonderful length and purity.’ The 2019 Bordeaux vintage was simply stunning. Having tasted 270 wines at a recent tasting, Jancis Robinson MW declared it to be ‘perhaps the best I have ever tasted at this stage.’ A challenging spring was followed by a glorious summer and early autumn that gifted producers a crop of exceptional grapes. Tha

Lynch Moussas 2008 produced an impressive wine in the underrated 2008 vintage. Robert Parker awarded it 88-89 while Wine Enthusiast gave it 89 and described it as being ‘intensely spicy wine, full of exotic flavours, dried prunes, figs and a powerful layer of cinnamon.’ Created from a classic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, Lynch Moussas has always made a traditional style of Pauillac and is renowned for its longevity and complexity. Vivino Rating: 4.1 (Jun 2024) Taste Medium-red with ga

95 Points - Decanter. Like many leading properties in Saint Emilion, Château Fleur Cardinale produced an outstanding wine in 2019. A severe frost in May saw the loss of over 1.5 hectares of grapes, and the heat that followed further reduced yields leaving a small, exceptionally concentrated crop. Being a blend of 71% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet it will drink well young, but has the structure and abundant fruit to age and develop over the next two decades. Decanter awarded the Châ

93 Points - Wine Enthusiast. Château Fonroque produced an excellent wine in 2017. The 2017 vintage was unusual and not without its challenges. A hard (-6°C) frost on the 28th of April reduced the potential crop significantly as did a lack of rain in the spring. Happily a dry summer and sunny autumn allowed Fonroque to bring in a relatively small, but healthy harvest. The grand vin is a blend of 93% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc, a mix that played to the vintage’s strengths. Typically powerful and

90 Points - Jeff Leve. Château Vrai Canon Bouché hails from Canon Fronsac and since 2005 it has become one of this commune’s leading wines. Its single vineyard is planted with a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc and is hand-tended like it was a garden. The owners have steadily reduced the use of chemicals and have deployed natural methods to restore the soil’s vitality. 2017 was a particularly successful year for the property. Writing in the Wine Insider, Jeff Leve awarded it 90 points

93 Points - Decanter. Chateau Meyney 2020 is probably the best wine this impressive property has produced since its acquisition by Crédit Agricole Grands Crus in 2004. 2020 was an exceptional year in Bordeaux and the conditions seem to have agreed with Chateau Meyney’s well-placed vines. Scoring 93 from Falstaff Magazine and Jeff Leve who described it as, ‘Rich, ripe, supple and lush, the wine is polished, fresh and offers layers of fruit-filled pleasure with every sip’, this is a seriously good

Blason d’Issan 2017 is the second wine of the illustrious Margaux Grand Cru Classe, Chateau d’Issan. Composed of a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon mainly from the estate’s younger vines, in 2017 it produced a wonderfully stylish, elegant wine that is typical of this famed commune’s greatest wines. The Blason d’Issan is designed to drink well young but has the capacity to develop over several years. It is widely regarded as one of Bordeaux’s best-value second wines. Vivino Rating:

92 Points - Wine Enthusiast. Chateau Petit Bocq made the most of its scattered Saint Estèphe plots and selected only the finest fruit for its Grand Vin in 2017. This Cru Bourgeois Supérieur is made up of 50% Merlot, 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2% Petit Verdot from vineyards that border the likes of Cos d’Estournel and Montrose.  Known as one of the best value wines in all of Saint Estèphe, it’s been described as a ‘…seriously structured wine. It also has density and solid black fruits that are r

Clos-La-Gaffelière is the second wine of Château La Gaffelière, one of the oldest family-owned estates in Saint Emilion. It is also one of the most prestigious having been ranked as a Premier Grand Cru Classe in the original 1955 Saint Emilion Classification. It lies to the south of the town of Saint Emilion on the Saint Emilion plateau neighbouring Chateau Ausone and Chateau Pavie. The vineyards are predominantly Merlot with a little Cabernet Franc. There’s a noticeable elegance to it, though i

92 Points - Andreas Larsson. Château Tour des Termes is one Saint Estephe’s finest Cru Bourgeois Superieur. The 2014 is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot from vineyards that border the Grand Cru Classé estates of Chateau Calon Ségur and Chateau Montrose. 2014 was a lovely year, one that’s been unfairly overshadowed by 2015 and 2016. The upside to this has been that the wines remain competitively priced and now offer exceptional drinking at affo