Bordeaux 2021

Tasted April 2022. Montaiguillon’s 2021 is another example of what incredible value this property represents. Situated in an elevated spot right on the border of St Emilion, the terroir is exceptional. This year the wine has concentrated blackberry, cassis and spiced plum fruit, but a distinct fresh red fruit character as well, giving amazing freshness. There are developing savoury, graphite, earthy notes beneath which will develop and integrate with age. This is a fantastic, balanced, classic Bordeaux for every occasion.

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%.

G de Guiraud from Château Guiraud is one of our favourite dry whites from Bordeaux and it is made exclusively from organically farmed vineyards. Fresh and fine on the nose with delicate wild flowers and citrus. Zesty on the palate with fresh lemon, a lovely richness and a long finish.

Tasted April 2022. Chateau de Ferrand used more Cabernet Franc than ever before in 2021, and the result is a lively aromatic wine with black and blueberry fruit along with leafy complexity and a limestone-y, mineral finish. The wine is fresh and balanced and there is already a silkiness to the texture of the tannins. This is a property on the rise.

Tasted April 2022. Full of fresh, crunchy blackberry, cranberry and blueberry fruit with medium body and fresh raspberry acidity. This vintage from Château Robin is balanced and approachable, with savoury tannins and a lovely salinity on the finish making it even more appetising.

Tasted April 2022. Very intense black fruits, with a slight aromatic lift and savoury spice. The acidity is fantastically fresh, but balances so well with the pure, ripe fruit. There's complexity of crushed rock, mint and clove. This has density and concentration, but is perfectly poised. The tannins are ripe and there is a lovely saline, appetising quality to the finish, thanks to a higher than usual proportion of Cabernet Franc.

Made entirely from Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc this vintage, the 2021 Larrivet Haut-Brion is an absolute joy. Plums and blackberries mingle on the palate with delicate spicy notes and a distinct mineral finish. Cabernet Franc delivers its characteristic salinity here with an aromatic lift. Definitely a property to watch.

Tasted April 2022. This is an excellent vintage for white wines, and La Garde Blanc is full to the brim with ripe, pure, bright pineapple, grapefruit, and juicy lemon. There's a broadness and lip-smacking quality on the palate from the time on lees. The acidity is incredibly fine, persistent and electric. Ripe and juicy but with great tension and freshness.

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.

Brilliant from Alexandre and Guillaume Thienpont this year. This wine is full of tension and freshness but has seriously persistent aromatics as well. There's fragrant black fruits, some floral notes and a slightly crunchy black fruit element on the palate. There are very fine tannins and dense savoury flavours, with just a hint of truffle developing. The acidity is fresh and clean but in no way obtrusive. Generous, refined and delicious.

Tasted April 2022. Rich, ripe, heady and mouth-coating, with pure cassis fruit and black plum. The tannins are incredibly fine and silky, but dense now, and the spicy, complex flavours are broad across the palate. Hints of hazlenut and vanilla in the background but overwhelmingly driven by ripe fruit and the silky texture of the wine.

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.

Rich and opulent with concentrated flavours of marmalade and candied peel. This is really unctuous but remains fresh thanks to very bright acidity cutting through the richness of the palate.

Tasted April 2022. Precise red and black berry fruit, overlaid with notes of truffle, dried mint, woody herbs, and petals. Fine grained tannins and fresh acidity. There's a tightness and delicacy to the palate now but tons of complexity waiting to unfurl.

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. Frederic and the team at Figeac have created an incredible wine this year. Bold and perfectly ripe black fruits, there's a brooding quality to the fruit. Very fine and elegant, with all structural elements in good proportion. There's a lovely spiciness building and the tannins are firm now but tightly packed and ripe. Plenty of savoury and mineral notes on the long, textural finish.

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. Soft, ripe fruit with raspberry, blackberry, and blueberry. Slightly crunchier blueberry and raspberry on the finish. The tannins are silky and ripe, and the acidity is crisp but well balanced with the other elements of the wine.

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. Seamless and ethereal, the excellent terroir at Chateau Canon really shines in 2021. There's a fresh crushed rock, salty sensation running through the wine making it incredibly appetising, and precise, aromatic berry fruit in the core. A slow and steady fermentation this year has left the wine incredibly deep and complex, but weightless and elegant at the same time. 13.5%

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.

Beautifully aromatic with crystalline purity. This elegant white is full of ripe apple, crisp lemon, light herbal notes and jasmine. Clean, bright acidity cuts through the palate and carries the wine to a incredible finish with considerable finesse. A complete bargain.

Full of zesty citrus fruit, light floral notes and confit lemon. There's real drive and persistence here, with a seam of fresh acidity that leads on to a very long finish.

The 2021 Doisy-Daëne L'Extravagant is phenomenal. Full of complex fruits, fresh and candied. Grilled pineapple, marmalade, citrus peel and gingery spice are just some of the flavours developing on the palate. There is freshness on the finsih to balance what is a seriously concentrated, intense, unctuous wine. Seriously good.

The 2021 from Sigalas-Rabaud manages to be incredibly rich and dense, but electrically fresh and vibrant at the same time. The incredible acidity really marks this out as something capable of long ageing, and the flavours of bright citrus, rounder stone fruit and gingery spice are tightly coiled at this early stage in their development.

Tasted April 2022. The 2021 from Coutet shows plenty of the property's characteristic exotic fruit on the nose with gingerbread complexity as the wine opens up on the palate. Honeyed and rich, it remains vivacious and crisp thanks to a seam of very fresh acidity. Well balanced with good tension at this early stage.

Tasted April 2022. The team at Margaux consider this to be the best Pavillon they've made, better even than the incredible 2017. It has incredible length and persistence, with a very pure citrus, both sharp and juicy, with a more tropical edge as the wine develops in the glass. There's a bit of a grip on the palate and a lip-smacking sensation from careful handling of the lees in barrel. There's a long, salty, pineapple finish.

Tasted April 2022. Potentially the white wine of the vintage, and certainly one of the finest Bordeaux whites we've ever tasting. This is electric, full of energy, exuberant and full of bright and ripe citrus, mango, pineapple. It manages to be broad and rich, but full of tension at the same time. Truly world class.

A delicious sweet wine, full of tension and focus at this early stage. On the palate there's orange, citrus, passionfruit, honey and light floral notes. There's a seam of fresh acid running through the wine, preventing it from ever becoming cloying.

Tasted April 2022. Absolutely electric this year, one of our favourite wine this vintage. Intense and concentrated, and incredibly pure citrus and stone fruit flavours. Juicy and full in in texture, but with incredible zingy freshness cutting through like a knife. Taut and delicious, this will age beautifully.

The 2021 Lune d’Argent from the Bernard family of Domaine de Chevalier is a refreshing, mineral wine driven by fresh citrus, pineapple and subtle floral notes. An absolute bargain.

Tasted April 2022. Meticulous sorting during harvest and Carmes' unique position close to the warmth of Bordeaux city centre have resulted in a textural, soft-fruited wine in 2021. The team used slightly less of their characteristic whole-bunch fermentation technique this year but the wine is still full of beautiful lifted perfume, aromatic plums, hedgerow fruits and gentle spice. The dominant cabernet franc really comes into its own in this vintage, adding a silky coolness to the palate. It has a very mineral, almost chalky note, and a bright, crisp finish. 13.5%.

Tasted April 2022. Fresh black and red berries are framed by elegant tannins and there's a classic, savoury note on the palate. The acidity is fresh and clean. Tightly wound now, this will age beautifully.

Tasted April 2022: Only tiny yields were selected to make the 2021 at this excellent Graves property, and the result is a pure wine full of blackcurrant and spicy dark plums, with considerable finesse. There are plenty of grippy tannins and a nice appetising seam of sappiness that carries through on the finish.

Tasted April 2022. Peymouton in 2021 shows a good level of ripeness with fresh, sappy red berries and some darker, more brooding fruit underneath. The structure is firm at this early stage, with lots of fine tannins and fresh acidity. The whole palate is tightly wound, ready to age gracefully in bottle.

Tasted April 2022. Rich and spicy black fruits on the nose with some truffle developing in the background. Pindfleurs in 2021 has a creamy texture and fine tannins. The fresh acidity and sappier red fruits on the palate cut through the richness and lead to a long, fine finish.

Tasted April 2022. Delicate but very precise, pure black fruit aromas and tight structure. There's lots of freshness on the palate and restrained black fruit flavours, along with delicate licquorice, woody herbs, graphite and a hint of iodine. This is very classic, medium-bodied, refreshing and elegant.

Tasted April 2022. Full of fresh red fruits and gentle floral aromas. The palate has a lot of structure thanks to some firm, linear tannins but remains elegant and fresh. The finish is refreshing thanks to the crisp acidity, in balance with the concentration of fruit.