I've been enjoying a claret or three lately and realised that not only do I rarely write about the region but that when others do, they generally focus on wines under a tenner and to be honest that's dicing with your taste buds. Bordeaux is a luxury wine and it shouldn't be ashamed of that but sadly it’s often acted as if it is, pumping out bottles galore with little if no flavour so here’s to a fantasy week! Personally, Id re name all the crap and keep the Bordeaux appellations for the seriously dreamy stuff but then I'm an unapologetic snob when it comes to the region. I've been enjoying many of the second wines of the great estates recently and they offer incredible value when you consider that some of them are made in the same style and by the same winemaker just utilising vines that are considered too young and fresh for the main vintage. One of two of them such as Les Fort de La Tour have priced themselves out of normality but there are some cracking ‘bargains’ for mere mortals like us. Overall though, my preference is generally for the dark brooding wines of the Pauillac appellation, the king of wines and a region that has never let me down. It is of course the home to the majority of the 1st Growths but the region excels right across the price spectrum providing that spectrum starts around £25! One thing for certain however is that you will never see Pauillac and the words three for a tenner on a shelf sticker.
Ch Duhart Milon 2011 5eme Pauillac
Yeah, I know it's outrageously expensive for us mortals but but this is the only supermodel most of us can dream of affording. It's a cassis dominated silky stunner with hints of old cigar boxes on the finish and crikey, what a finish.
Waitrose £90.00
L’Hospitalet de Gazin, Pomerol
Dark cherries and stewed black fruits on the nose with a mass of soft juicy plummy flavours and soft rounded tannins on the palate. It almost seems criminal to share this one.
Corney & Barrow £43.95
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