Btls

Avail.

Btl

Size

Wine
Where available, tasting scores and notes are by Robert Parker (RP) and taken from his website www.erobertparker.com  or Stephen Tanzer (ST) from www.wineaccess.com

Year

Price per
Bottle
including
VAT

Tasting
Score/Notes
Best Drinking

CHATEAU BELLE VUE
Haut Medoc

RP - This over-achieving cru bourgeois in Haut-Medoc has turned in its finest wine to date, an unfined cuvee made from 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 20% Petit Verdot, created by the late proprietor Vincent Mulliez, who died suddenly last year. Sadly, this was his best effort. Notes of blackberries, black currants, licorice and a hint of toasty oak jump from the glass of this is a  medium to full-bodied, well-endowed, impressively pure and textured wine.  

BRANE-CANTENAC
Margaux

RP - A spectacular effort from this estate rivaling their 2005, but more flashy/flamboyant, this dark ruby/purple wine has a strikingly intense nose of liquorice, flowers, plums and dark berries. Medium to full-bodied, very approachable and silky, this suave, very sexy wine can be drunk early on as well as aged for 20+ years.

BRANE-CANTENAC
Margaux

RP - This stunning, evolved, dark plum/ruby-hued 2008 reveals aromas of forest floor, sweet black and red currants, licorice and roasted herbs. Classic, elegant and medium to full-bodied, it provides a sexy, complex, intellectual as well as hedonistic turn-on.

CANTENAC-BROWN
Margaux

RP - The 2012 Cantenac Brown, one of the most impressive Margaux I tasted, is the complete package – from the initial attack to the layered, rich finish. Dense ruby/purple-hued with notes of liquorice, mulberries, black currants, asphalt and spring flowers, this medium to full-bodied, concentrated, rich effort does not reveal an excess of rusticity or astringency.

CANTENAC-BROWN
Margaux

RP - The greatest Cantenac Brown I have ever tasted, this monumental effort possesses enormous concentration, with loads of black and blue fruits intermixed with damp earth and forest floor. I have never seen a Cantenac Brown so seamless, so powerful, yet at the same time, so elegant and densely complex. They have certainly done something here that has not been accomplished over the last three decades I have been tasting this estate’s wines. Opaque purple in color and full-bodied, this big-time sleeper of the vintage merits serious attention for the first time in my professional career.

CHATEAU CLARKE
Edmond de Rothschild
Listrac

Wine Spectator - Sweet tobacco and blueberry aromas follow through to a full body, with a dense palate of ripe fruit and velvety tannins. Concentrated for the appellation. Well done.

CHATEAU CLARKE
Edmond de Rothschild
Listrac

Wine Spectator - Offers cool mineral and dark berry fruit, with hints of mint. Full-bodied, showing silky tannins and a solid core of fruit. Slightly lean, but balanced in the finish. Nicely crafted for the vintage.

BLASON D'ISSAN
Margaux

2nd Wine of Chateau D'Issan
The top wine currently sells for approx. £32 a bottle! So this represents excellent value.

RP - A gorgeous second wine, the 2012 Blason d'Issan is beautifully sexy, soft, and creamy textured, with a dense purple color and attractive blueberry and blackberry fruit intermixed with some licorice and camphor.
It is stunning, lush, sexy and very, very forward, an ideal second wine that reflects its appellation of origin but delivers gorgeous, even luxurious fruit levels.

BLASON D'ISSAN
Margaux

2nd Wine of Chateau D'Issan
The top wine currently sells for approx. £58 a bottle! So this represents excellent value.

Wine Spectator - A floral, perfumy style, with a range of red fruit—currant, cherry and raspberry—laced with pretty spice notes on the finish.

D'ISSAN
Margaux

RP - The 2012 Château d’Issan, builds on the richness of the second wine and adds more body, structure and density. It has an inky purple colour and a stunning nose of spring flowers, blueberry and blackberry fruit as well as touches of incense and graphite. Medium to full-bodied and stunningly concentrated, this 2012 is a great success in the vintage, one of the superstars. Moreover, its precociousness suggests it could be drunk in the next 4-5 years or cellared through 2025.

D'ISSAN
Margaux

RP - A complete, medium to full-bodied, exquisite Margaux from this medieval, moat-encircled, compellingly beautiful estate in the southern Medoc, D’Issan’s 2010 is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. The deep, gravelly soils mixed with clay have provided extraordinary aromatics. The yields were ridiculously low (22 hectoliters per hectare) and the wine tips the scaled at 13.7% natural alcohol. Production was small after the selection for the grand vin, and the result is a dense, purple-coloured wine with beautiful aromatics of spring flowers, blueberries and black raspberries as well as hints of cassis, tar and charcoal. The wine is gorgeously pure, well-balanced, and soft enough to be approached in 4-5 years or cellared for 25-30.

D'ISSAN
Margaux

RP - A strong effort from proprietor Emmanuel Cruse, d’Issan’s 2009 was fashioned from minuscule yields of 18 hectoliters per hectare, and its 13.7% natural alcohol set a record at this estate. Composed of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon and 38% Merlot, it exhibits a classic Margaux fragrance of acacia flowers/violets, blueberries, cassis, licorice and camphor. Opulent and full-bodied with silky tannins as well as a rich, dense style.

GISCOURS
Margaux

RP -  The plump, rich and densely purple-coloured 2012 Giscours, has turned out very well in this vintage, offering loads of fruit. A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it has a moderate finish, and is medium to full-bodied, with excellent liquorice and crème de cassis notes, and a broad, round, juicy mouthfeel.

GISCOURS
Margaux

RP -  A beautiful wine, stunningly opulent, accessible and almost atypically forward, it is plump and delicious already, and in that sense, it is almost reminiscent of the 2009. Deep ruby/plum/purple, with juicy black raspberry and black currant fruit as well as hints of cedar, licorice, forest floor and underbrush, the 2010 is medium to full-bodied, layered, round and impossible to resist already.

GISCOURS
Margaux

RP - The finest Giscours in my professional career (I said the same thing from barrel), this dense purple wine has a stunning nose of burning embers, charcoal, crème de cassis, new saddle leather and damp, forest floor notes. It is full-bodied, with exceptionally sweet, well-integrated tannins and a multi-dimensional, almost skyscraper-like mid-palate and finish. With its low acidity and remarkable substance and depth, this gorgeous wine should age beautifully for 20-30 years.

GISCOURS
Margaux

RP - Dark plum/garnet, this elegant, medium to full-bodied, beguiling, seductive 2008 is a sleeper of the vintage. Round and silky-smooth with lovely black cherry and black currant fruit imbued with touches of smoke, herbs and earth.

GISCOURS
Margaux

RP - A big, smoky, tapenade, plum, black currant, and spring flower-scented nose is followed by a medium to full-bodied, textured, layered wine with sweet tannin, low acidity, and impressive concentration as well as depth. This is a gorgeous, hedonistic yet complex Margaux to drink now and over the next 12-14 years

GISCOURS
Margaux

RP - The deep plum/purple-coloured 2001 exhibits notes of melted liquorice, barbecue spices, violets, black currants, and a hint of blackberries. Medium-bodied and fleshy, with a cunning style that sneaks up on the palate, building in increments, this pure, rich, concentrated yet elegant, charming effort provides further evidence of this chateau’s strong rebound.

BIN END PRICE

GISCOURS
Margaux

RP - Probably the finest Giscours made since the 1975, this black/purple-coloured 2000 offers up terrific notes of camphor, creosote, blackberry, and cassis jam intermixed with notions of smoke and earth. Spicy, with low acidity, a big, rich, fleshy, full-bodied palate, outstanding texture, and a long, pure finish, it is, to reiterate, one of the best Giscours produced over the last 25 years. A sleeper of the vintage, it is still available for a realistic price.

HALF-BOTTLES

MALESCOT-ST-EXUPERY
Margaux

RP - Another great wine in this vintage, the 2012 Malescot offers up tremendous level of black fruits, charcoal and intense, a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel, sensational purity, low acidity and ripe tannins. It is full-bodied, stunning, multidimensional, and a compelling example of this vintage.

ALTER EGO PALMER
Margaux

2nd Wine of Chateau Palmer
The top wine currently sells for approx. £160 a bottle! So this represents excellent value.

RP- Another brilliant example from administrator Thomas Duroux and his team, the intense second wine, Palmer’s 2012 Alter Ego (51% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Petit Verdot), offers up plenty of blackberry and crème de cassis notes along with some spring flowers, liquorice and subtle background oak. Opulently textured, full-bodied and stunning, this is an outrageously successful second wine to drink over the next 12-15 years.

ALTER EGO PALMER
Margaux

2nd Wine of Chateau Palmer
The top wine currently sells for approx. £240 a bottle! So this represents excellent value.

RP- A second wine that has improved dramatically is the Alter Ego de Palmer. The 2009, a blend of equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, exhibits aromas of blackberries, cassis, chocolate, roasted espresso and a smoky/foresty note. This hedonistic, juicy, succulent Margaux is meant to be consumed in its first 10-15 years of life.

SEGLA
Margaux

2nd Wine of Rauzan-Segla
The top wine currently sells for approx. £112 for a 75cl bottle! So this represents real value.

Wine Spectator - Solid, with a note of baker's chocolate melding quickly into a core of warm plum and blackberry confiture.
Firms up nicely on the finish, with tobacco and warm stone notes. Direct and well-built.

HALF-BOTTLES

Great Value!

CHATEAU RAUZAN-SEGLA
Margaux

RP - The 2012 Rauzan-Ségla (54.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot and 1.5% Petit Verdot) is a classic Rauzan-Ségla, still relatively backward and tannic, but concentrated and extremely promising. Dense blueberry, blackberry and cassis fruit along with some liquorice, vanilla, foresty notes and spice are all present in this full-bodied yet structured and big, beefy style of Rauzan-Ségla . It may turn out to be somewhat atypical for this château in its size and masculine structure, but this is impressive wine, and one of the great successes of the vintage.

CHATEAU RAUZAN-SEGLA
Margaux

RP - To reiterate, the 2010 Rauzan Segla is like a super-duper version of the 1986. Displaying fabulous density, an inky purple color and a superb nose of forest floor with a hint of menthol as well as loads of crème de cassis, mocha and touches of chocolate and subtle oak, this full-bodied, deep, concentrated wine represents only 45% of the estate’s production. It is certainly not for those who can’t wait a few years for it to round into shape, as I suspect it needs at least 5-8 years of bottle-age, but it should last for half a century or more.

CHATEAU RAUZAN-SEGLA
Margaux

RP - This wine has become more structured and backward since I tasted it last year. Only 48% of the production made it into the final blend (55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, and 6% Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc). Revealing loads of muscle along with floral-infused sweet black currant fruit, superb density, high tannin, and an austere, but impressively pure and textured mouthfeel.

CHATEAU SOCIANDO-MALLET
Haut Medoc

RP - Once again proprietor Jean Gautreau has hit pay dirt with a beautiful blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Wonderfully sweet, ripe tannins seem to be a rule of thumb from this great terroir just to the north of St.-Estèphe’s Château Montrose.
A beautiful deep ruby/purple colour, decent acidity, medium to full-bodied mouthfeel and stunning fruit put this wine right in the midst of the best classified crus from the Médoc, yet it has never been classified. Go figure.

TOUR CARNET
Haut Medoc

RP - This dense purple wine displays notes of charcoal, subtle toast and white chocolate as well as blueberry and blackberry liqueur intermixed with hints of graphite and licorice. Dense, full-bodied, unctuously textured, and quite long and thick, this concentrated, impressively endowed wine is silky-textured and already accessible. However, I suspect its best days are at least 5-7 years ahead of it.

The Winemakers Collection No.1
by Michel Rolland
Haut Medoc

RP - This is the first release of a special project of Jeremy Renard and the proprietor of Chateau d’Arsac in Margaux. Under Renard’s guidance, each year a single vineyard parcel from Chateau d’Arsac is completely controlled by a single, world-renowned winemaker. Michel Rolland launched the project, and he has been followed by other luminaries in the wine world. Rolland had the good fortune to benefit from an excellent vintage, and the result is a 5,000-case lot of sensational wine. It offers a dense ruby/purple hue along with a smoky perfume of sweet cherries, blackberries, roasted coffee, and a hint of tobacco leaf. There is a seamless integration of acidity, tannin, and wood in this complete, full-bodied wine.

The Winemakers Collection No.4
by Stephane Derenoncourt
Haut Medoc

RP - Stephane Derenoncourt’s Cuvee Numero 4 is a more forward style with velvety tannins, and sweet black currant and black cherry fruit intermixed with subtle smoke and licorice. This well-made, medium to full-bodied effort should drink gorgeously well young, yet evolve for 10-15 years.