Christmas Bordeaux

The 2019 Prairie comes from a distinct vineyard on the Marsau estate, and has been made with no oak ageing and as little sulphur as possible. The resulting wine is as pure and focussed a merlot as we’ve come across. Notes of fresh victoria plum, blood orange, and wild flowers, with silky tannins, and a long, mineral, savoury finish. It’s a stunning wine: one you simply want to try over and over again. Bravo Anne-Laurence.

Made by the team at Domaines Comte de Malet Roquefort, who are one of the Right Bank’s most respected winemaking families, and own estates including La Gaffelière and Puy-Blanquet. Predominantly Merlot, with a dash of Cabernet Franc, and made in an unoaked style, this is a fruit-forward, precise red Bordeaux. The 2020 is a particular success with real brightness and energy, supple tannin, and a lingering finish that makes this a brilliant claret for just about any occasion.

A Lay & Wheeler favourite for years, what's not to love about this St-Emilion, part of the Durantou family of wines. Silky and fine, with loads of savoury tannins, and long and pure finish. Buy this in bottles, and magnums, and make sure you've always got both to hand over the years to come.

Tasted April 2022. Delicious and aromatic, this 2021 is full of soft red and black berry fruits, kirsch, mulberry and damson. Cashmere texture, fine, ripe tannins and bright acidity. There's great concentration here and a savoury, mineral finish. Fantastic value as ever. 13.5%.

Tasted April 2022. The vineyards at Montlandrie are all on south facing slopes, with plenty of ventilation to protect the vines. The 2021 is full of ripe black fruit flavours, with a lovely gravelly texture and mineral freshness. There's some nice, earthy, savoury spice underneath and a seam of fresh acidity. It finishes long and mineral, seriously appetising.14%.

Tasted April 2023. This is an ambitious project in Castillon, and Jan Thienpont has made a delicious wine in 2022. 14% abv. It's got fantastic balance with ripe black plum and bramble, plus some fresher red berry fruit. Tannins are ripe and fine, creating a rich mouthfeel. Savoury notes create a gourmand finish. A bargain of the right bank. All natural yeast and no filtration. Only old barrels are used, which come from Vieux Chateau Certan, and they help to build a beautiful frame around a core of fragrant fruit.

From the wonderful limestone terroir of Castillon this was Denis Durantou’s final creation now ably run by sisters Constance and Noemi. Today this is one of the most exciting properties on the right bank. The 2020 delivers outstanding energy and purity. Aromatically so enticing this offers notes of cracked black pepper, liquorice and fresh plums. On the palate this is silky and fine-grained with a sense of tension at its core. Supple red and black summer fruits, with notes of wild herbs, and violets on the finish. Extremely impressive this vintage.

Tasted April 2023. 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Carmenere. Creamy mid palate of soft red plum and cherry, with brighter redcurrant towards the finish with some mineral freshness. Linear tannins provide plenty of structure, and aromatic spice flavours add complexity.

Montaiguillon’s 2020 is another resounding success, continuing a string of excellent vintages at the estate. It is a deep ruby colour with notes of spiced plums, cassis and blackberries on the nose. There’s a savoury, graphite note woven through the juicy, sumptuous palate. Its rounded tannins are already integrated with the plump fruit, and the finish has a fresh, balanced length, the likes of which you’d expect from wines with much bigger price tags.

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.

In a vintage where La Gaffelière is one of the wines of the vintage, a hidden gem might just be the second wine, Clos de la Gaffelière. It shows the same purity of Merlot fruit that we've come to love with its bigger brother, with beautiful fragrance and a liquorice-toned finish. Really rather lovely.

Château Capbern is a real gem of our Bordeaux range. From St-Estèphe, and made by the same team as high-achiever Calon-Ségur, this is a wine that will thrill with its energy and complexity, and with its price. It’s a wine that comes very highly recommended: stock up at En Primeur prices, while you have the chance.

Plenty of blue fruit on the nose, with an iodine, mineral character. Nice tannins - silky, and good acidity - there's a crunchiness to the fruit here. This is one to watch.

Tasted April 2023. Fragrant on the nose with blackcurrant, bramble and violet. Rich on the palate with structured, ripe tannins and smoky, earthy hints.

Tasted April 2023. 88% Merlot, 12 % Cabernet Franc. Black plum, cherry and bramble dominate on the nose, and on the palate there are some fresh berry flavours, and a mineral hint to the finish. Medium-weight, juicy and fragrant.

Tasted April 2024. One of the best Haut Medoc wines we tasted this vintage, with fragrant perfume and tension. There's dark plum, cherry, amaro herbs on the nose and palate, with fine tannins and a dense feel on the palate suggesting it will age well. Fresh with mineral complexity on the finish. Basile Tesseron is taking this humble estate to new heights.

The 2020 Branas Grand Poujeaux is an impressive wine, from an estate in a hidden corner of the Médoc that’s worthy of your attention. It’s deep and pure on the nose, with notes of iron oxide and lots of dark cabernet fruit. The palate is finely judged, with refined tannins and very long, savoury finish. This looks like a wine of a far higher price. A top addition to your cellar.