Always variable in years like these, Margaux is probably the most difficult of the left bank appellations to taste.   Margaux itself delicate and fresh, Palmer all correct and easier to gauge at this stage than in most years.  Brane-Cantenac soft and supple.  Giscours both structured and supple and du Tertre, our base for the […]

The locals like to say that “The Wind on Palm Sunday will be the Wind for the Year”, by which they mean that whatever the wind is when you come out of church in the late morning of Palm Sunday, is likely to be the defining wind across the summer and especially during the all […]

A busy day.  Not quite the consistency of St Julien, though pleasing all in all.  First mention must go to Cos for both a brilliantly made 2008 and the astonishing cuverie (see above).  Jean-Guillaume Prats is a man with vision and this is the future.  Simply astonishing, and it clearly works.  In Pauillac, Latour and Mouton […]

Another interesting and variable day.  The late sunshine of 2008 clearly did much good for the Cabernet of the Medoc, but what about the Merlot of the Right Bank and Graves? There is more variation here but still some lovely wines.  In Graves the sheer class and breeding of Haut-Brion pips La Mission for me […]