Bigger Bottles of Bordeaux

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. Rich, powerful, and inky with concentration of blackberry, raspberry, pepper, and dark chocolate flavours. Spicy, clove notes from 50% new oak. There’s a real lift and elegance to this to carry that generosity, possibly from some careful use of whole bunch fermentation. It finishes long, with saline flavours balancing the richness of this seriously impressive Moulis.

Tasted April 2022. One of our favourite Pomerol this year, the second wine of Gazin is full of soft red fruits, bramble and black plum. The fruit is juicy and concentrated on the palate. There's a slightly smoky, earthy note, and some mouth-filling tannins creating a fantastic texture. The slightly saline, mineral crunch makes for a really appetising finish. Delicious.

Tasted April 2022. Giscours is a real success in this vintage. A lovely silky, charming style with rose petals, graphite, lavender and tobacco framing a core of bramble, black cherry fruit. Fine tannins and a long minerally finish.

Tasted April 2022. Marsau seem to keep getting better and better. 2021 is full of creamy red fruits and a lovely saline, mineral, cooling freshness on the palate. The tannins are silky and provide just enough grip. The wine is soft and full on the mid-palate and finishes long and fresh thanks to some refreshing acidity.

Tasted April 2022. Marsau seem to keep getting better and better. 2021 is full of creamy red fruits and a lovely saline, mineral, cooling freshness on the palate. The tannins are silky and provide just enough grip. The wine is soft and full on the mid-palate and finishes long and fresh thanks to some refreshing acidity.

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. 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. One of our favourite second wines this vintage, this is medium-bodied and appetising, with mineral notes, spicy cedar, and grippy tannins. The fruit character is restrained but ripe and mostly of dark berry fruits. Refined and savoury, this is a lovely wine.