Bordeaux 2021

Tasted April 2022. Incredibly concentrated and tightly coiled, with pure fruit character and classic Bordeaux structure. Tannins are very fine, no doubt down to the careful use of large oak foudres to soften and integrate, and there's plenty of crisp refreshing acidity. The fruit flavours are bright and fresh with red berries, some deeper, dark berry fruit, and some herbal notes. There are already beautiful cedar, graphite, smoky flavours developing. 13%.

A real Lay & Wheeler favourite, the 2021 from Caronne Ste Gemme is everything we want from everyday claret, and in this cooler vintage it's especially refreshing and appetising. Just down the road from St-Julien, it's full of fresh blackcurrant, bramble, gentle spice, and refined tannins.

Tasted April 2022. Linear and precise with restrained blackberry, black cherry and graphite aromas. Medium bodied with a long, saline finish, this has a really mouth-watering, sapid quality. Crushed rock, petals and mint aromas create plenty of complexity but this is approachable and elegant first and foremost.

Tasted April 2022. Another great performance from this St Estephe property on the rise. Full of precise, concentrated red berries on the nose, there’s some floral lift too. Baking spice, cedar, mint and saline notes build complexity and make for a lovely, long, fresh finish sending you back for another sip.

Tasted April 2022. Full of perfume, energy and juicy black fruits. Velvety texture and plenty of ethereal, cooling, savoury Cabernet Franc character sending you back for another sip. The acidity is fresh and clean and the finish is seriously long. 13.1%.

The Castéja family, at the helm at Château Batailley, have produced a delicious wine in 2021. The characteristic freshness of the vintage shines through and makes this a very appetising wine. As always with Batailley, there is a classic Pauillac structure, with plenty of fine tannins and concentrated black fruit and savoury flavours.

Tasted April 2022. Ethereal and elegant, 2021 Rauzan-Ségla is full of precise blackberry and blackcurrant fruit with incredible poise and bright acidity. There's complexity developing with exotic tea leaves, petals and savoury cedar.

Tasted April 2022. Soft black plum and cassis, with aromatic blueberry. Juicy and open on the palate with additional complexity of light spice, tobacco, rose petal, cedar and woody herbs. Tannins are fine and approachable and there's fresh acidity.

Tasted April 2022. Full of classic Pauillac character with firm structure, herbal lift, graphite complexity and a core of savoury dark fruit. This isn't overly opulent, but has lots of power, complex licquorice and leather notes, and a mineral-tinged finish. 13%.

Tasted April 2022. Very precise Cabernet nose with blackcurrant and bramble, with graphite and cedar. There's a lovely brightness to this wine, and rhubarb-like acidity. The core of the wine is ripe and deep, with a silkiness to the texture. There's a long mineral-laden finish. This is a class act, with concentration and freshness in harmony.

Tasted April 2022. One of our favourite wines tasted from Haut-Médoc this year. Smooth, ripe fruit with freshness on the finish. Really well balanced and good depth of flavour. There's a lovely soft texture but brilliant concentration.

Tasted April 2022. Intense and aromatic, with pure, soft black fruits, and exotic spice, wild herbs and mineral notes adding complexity. The tannins are firm and structured ready for long ageing in bottle, and the finish is fresh and mineral.

Tasted April 2022. Full of dense blackcurrant and brighter bramble and raspberry, with a deep, savoury, almost soy complexity. This is medium-bodied and charming, very fruit-forward and juicy but there's fresh acid and silky tannins providing structure and contributing to the appetising nature of this wine. Definitely one to watch.

Tasted April 2022. Potensac in 2021 has its largest proportion of Cabernet Franc ever. The rain in the Summer and heat towards the very end of the season helped to build Franc's aromatic elegance, fine tannins and salinity. The wine has a delicious lifted floral note, and an ethereal quality, with a moreish fresh finish.

Tasted April 2022. Full of ripe blackcurrant fruit at the core with lifted, minty, herbal notes and some spiciness on the finish. 2021 Lagrange is medium-bodied and easy-going, with fine tannins, fresh acidity and good balance.

Tasted April 2022. This seriously impressed with its pure Cabernet fruit, perfectly ripe blackcurrants, delicate spice and cedar. There's a herbal crunchy finish and wonderful elegance and finesse. Very pure and appetising, this is a fantastic buy in 2021. 13.1%.

Tasted April 2022. Branaire-Ducru remains a Lay & Wheeler favourite in 2021. Delicate savoury spice notes frame a core of dark berry fruit, and moderate acidity creates a beautiful fresh finish. Tannins are fine and ripe and add to the moreish, savoury style.

Tasted April 2022. St-Julien performed very well in 2021 and none more so than Léoville-Las-Cases. This wine has a pure, ripe core of brambly, black fruit and the tannins are very fine and ripe too. The acidity is very bright and refreshing and there's a lovely juiciness to the fruit. The finish is long and has a cooling herbal quality.

Tasted April 2022. This vintage is the smallest there has ever been, but the wine is fantastic, full of tension and pure Cabernet character, with more Cabernet Sauvignon than ever in the blend. There's purity and a density to the wine, without the fruit character being overly ripe. There's great freshness here with minty notes on the mid-palate and a cranberry crunch on the finish.

Tasted April 2022. Tightly coiled with a core of powerful fruit and some gravelly tannins framing the wine. This shows a lot of Cabernet character with bold blackcurrant, graphite and some light tobacco notes. Complex and ageworthy, there's some nice crunchy black fruit on the finish.

Tasted April 2022. A massive 98% Cabernet Sauvignon this year. Full of musky, plump black fruits with raspberry, floral notes and dark chocolate. Densely-packed linear, silky tannins and a rich, creamy mid-palate with vanilla spice and cedar. The acidity is fresh and there's a long, saline finish.

Tasted April 2022. More Cabernet was included this year than ever before, with 85% of the blend, with the only other years getting close being 2010 and 2019. This is refreshing and classic, it feels like the vintage really suits the style at Grand-Puy-Lacoste. There's a savoury, licquorice element, a core of dark berry fruit and a mineral-driven finish. 13%.

Tasted April 2022. Dark fruits on the nose with crunchier red fruits like cranberry and raspberry on the palate making this bright and fresh. There's some aromatic spice like clove and vanilla on the nose, and more savoury notes on the palate with graphite and a slight floral lift. Tannins are broad and firm at the moment, but in good balance and will soften well with age. Yet again Brane-Cantenac shows fantastic promise.

Tasted April 2022. From small yields, the 2021 from Lafite is full of a heady perfume of bramble and blackcurrant, petals, licquorice, white pepper and clove. Then there's incredible freshness with an appetising salinity and stony, graphite quality on the finish. This is a truly aristocratic wine, elegant, enveloping and full of tension. Impressive persistence, concentration and balance given the moderate 12.5% alcohol.