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

BEYCHEVELLE
St. Julien

RP - Beychevelle is on the rebound as evidenced by what they have accomplished over recent years. A good example of this chateau, the elegant, finesse-styled 2004 exhibits black cherry and cassis fruit interwoven with loamy soil, dried herb, and spicy oak notes. Medium-bodied, elegant, finely tuned, and finesse-styled, it is not short on flavour or depth.

BIN END PRICE

BRANAIRE-DUCRU
St. Julien
RP - A stunning success for the vintage, this enticing St.-Julien reveals notes of lead pencil shavings, sweet raspberries and black currants and a subtle touch of oak. Elegant, restrained yet authoritative and impressively intense, it is a medium to full-bodied, lightly tannic effort will be even better with 1-2 years of bottle age and will keep for 15-20 years.

CLOS DU MARQUIS
St Julien

2nd Wine of Chateau Leoville Las Cases
The top wine currently sells for approx. £260.00 a bottle!, so this represents very good value.

RP - The 2009 Clos du Marquis (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) came in at 13.75% alcohol. It exhibits a deep ruby/purple hue along with sweet notes of crème de cassis, great purity, a full-bodied mouthfeel, and terrific texture as well as length. It should evolve for 20-25 years.

CLOS DU MARQUIS
St Julien

2nd Wine of Chateau Leoville Las Cases
The top wine currently sells for approx. £158.00 a bottle!, so this represents very good value.
RP - A pretty wine and a classic Bordeaux, this 2008 has attractive notes of minerals intermixed with fruitcake and sweet currant fruit. Medium-bodied and pure, with a dense ruby/purple color, it should drink nicely for 10 years at the very minimum.

CLOS DU MARQUIS
St Julien

2nd Wine of Chateau Leoville Las Cases
The top wine currently sells for approx. £100.00 a bottle!, so this represents very good value.
RP - A classic Medoc with a dark ruby/purple-tinged colour, sweet black cherries, cassis, and wood smoke aromas, medium body, and a ripe, generous style, this 2007 is drinking exceptionally well already, and should continue to do so for a decade or more.

CLOS DU MARQUIS
St Julien

2nd Wine of Chateau Leoville Las Cases
The top wine currently sells for approx. £105.00 a bottle!, so this represents very good value.
RP - The 2006 Clos du Marquis, exhibits a character similar to the grand vin, but it is a more fruit-forward effort with sweeter tannins, and a more precocious, evolved personality. With super intense black cherry and cedary notes intermixed with hints of liquorice and barrique, this deep, medium to full-bodied, velvety-textured wine is ideal for consumption over the next 15+ years.

CLOS DU MARQUIS
St Julien

2nd Wine of Chateau Leoville Las Cases
The top wine currently sells for approx. £235 a bottle!, so surely this wine must be to 'good to be true'!
RP - The superb second wine, the 2005 Clos du Marquis, reflects the utter brilliance of the 2005 grand vin. It boasts an inky/ruby/purple colour along with a sweet perfume of lead pencil, ripe cherries and black currants, and hints of earth and vanillin. Dense, chewy, fleshy, and full-bodied, this beauty will be drinkable in 3-4 years, and should keep for 15-20.

BIN END PRICE

CROIX de BEAUCAILLOU
St. Julien

2nd Wine of Ducru Beaucaillou
The top wine currently sells for approx. £185 a bottle! So this represents real value.

RP - Ducru’s second wine, the 2009 Croix de Beaucaillou, is a thrill to taste. Made from a single vineyard, it exhibits a dense purple color along with a creamy texture and loads of crème de cassis fruit intertwined with notions of charcoal, incense, and spice. Round, generous, and opulent, it can be drunk now or cellared for 15+ years.

Great Value!

CROIX de BEAUCAILLOU
St. Julien

2nd Wine of Ducru Beaucaillou
The top wine currently sells for approx. £126 a bottle! So this represents real value.

RP - An outstanding wine and a great sleeper of the vintage, this second wine exhibits a denser purple color along with a sweet kiss of crème de cassis, licorice, incense and graphite. Fruity and medium to full-bodied , with an impressive texture and supple tannins, this wine should drink well for 10-15 years.

Great Value!

CROIX de BEAUCAILLOU
St. Julien

2nd Wine of Ducru Beaucaillou
The top wine currently sells for approx. £130 a bottle! So this represents real value.

RP - The second wine, the sensational 2005 Croix de Beaucaillou, is the finest example of this cuvee I have ever tasted. Sweet black raspberry and black cherry fruit aromas soar from the glass of this open-knit seductress. A dense ruby/purple colour, beautiful full-bodied, lush, expansive flavours, low acidity, and sweet tannin suggest this lovely cuvee should be drunk over the next 12-13 years. It is an amazing sleeper of the vintage!

Great Value!

GLORIA
St. Julien

RP - A stunning sleeper of the vintage, this beautiful, already irresistible, plum/garnet-coloured 2008 is a wine to purchase by the case. It possesses a dense plum/purple color, a glorious perfume of Christmas fruitcake, cedarwood, black currants, jammy cherries and licorice, medium to full body and a silky personality.

SARGET DE GRUAUD LAROSE
St Julien

2nd Wine of Chateau Gruaud Larose
The top wine currently sells for approx. £60.00 a bottle!, so this represents great value.

Not reviewed yet; but here are our comments: Nose of red and black fruit, vanilla. Fruity, silky tannins, medium length and very close in style to the top wine - a lovely drinker!

GRUAUD LAROSE
St. Julien

Wine Spectator - Wonderful aromas of ripe berries, plum and spices follow through to a full body, with round, velvety tannins and a long finish. All there for the vintage.

GRUAUD LAROSE
St. Julien

Wine Spectator - Shows plum and raspberry aromas, with hints of flowers. Full-bodied, with super well-integrated tannins and pretty fruit on the middle palate. All there in balance and finesse.

GRUAUD LAROSE
St. Julien
Wine Spectator -  Aromas of blackberry, meat and earth follow through to a full body, with velvety tannins and a rich finish. Decadent, balanced and very approachable already.

GRUAUD LAROSE
St. Julien

Wine Spectator - Aromas of blackberry, toasted oak, sweet tobacco and espresso. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins and a long, fruity finish. I like the texture.

GRUAUD LAROSE
St. Julien

RP - This saturated bluish-black/purple-coloured wine seems at first closed and broodingly backward. In the mouth, it is dense, textured, full-bodied, pure, yet, at the same time, closed. This wine is large-sized, with high tannin but equally high extract and richness. The wine will require patience, and seems to me to be the best effort Gruaud Larose has put forth since their sumptuous 1990.

LAGRANGE
St. Julien

RP - Sweet, toasty, oaky notes interwoven with hints of black olives, blackberries, cassis, and spice box are found in this densely saturated ruby/purple-hued 2005. While rich, with impressive concentration and purity, it is also tannic, full-bodied, and painfully backward and foreboding. This is another long-term prospect that will require patience.

LA RESERVE de LEOVILLE BARTON
St Julien

2nd Wine of Chateau Leoville Barton
Their top wine currently sells for £86 a bottle!, so this says something for the potential of this wine.
Wine Searcher - Liquorice, tar and ripe berry aromas. Pretty and full-bodied, with velvety tannins, a solid core of fruit and a long finish. Beautiful. The second wine of Leoville-Barton.

LEOVILLE BARTON
St. Julien

RP - This is an impressively endowed vin de garde that should age effortlessly for 20-30 years. How Anthony Barton continues to fashion uncompromisingly primordial Bordeaux that are always among the biggest and densest of all the St.-Juliens is beyond me, but he does it year in and year out. Moreover, when it’s time to set the price, he appears to have the consumer foremost in his mind. The 2004 is a classic Leoville-Barton meant for long aging. Concentrated, with loads of smoke, crème de cassis, forest floor, and earthy notes emerge from this impressive, but oh, so backward wine.

BIN END PRICE

LEOVILLE Las CASES
St. Julien

RP - Among the more tannic and backward wines of the vintage, the 2007 is another outstanding effort from this estate. Already somewhat closed, it is a candidate for one of the longest lived wines of the vintage. Beautifully pure black currant and black cherry fruit interwoven with notions of cedar and wood are found in this medium to full-bodied, structured, masculine-styled St.-Julien. The attack reveals sweetness and softness, but then the wine shuts down.

BIN END PRICE

LEOVILLE Las CASES
St. Julien

RP - The 1999 Leoville Las Cases possesses a dense purple colour as well as classic aromas of vanilla, black cherries, and currants mixed with subtle toasty oak. The wine is medium-bodied with sweet tannin, yet it remains young, backward, and unevolved (unusual for a 1999). Its extraordinary purity and overall harmony give it a character all its own.

BIN END PRICE

LEOVILLE POYFERRE
St. Julien

RP - One of the finest over-achieving efforts in this vintage as well as a “best buy” for a top-flight St.-Julien, this 2008 is an irresistible success. It reveals an opaque ruby/purple color, lots of unctuosity and a boatload of sweet cassis and black cherry fruit intertwined with notions of licorice, smoke and oak. Full-bodied, remarkably concentrated and stunningly pure and textured, this sensational wine is already drinking well, and will be even better with 2-3 years of cellaring. It should last for 20-25 years. Bravo!

LEOVILLE POYFERRE
St. Julien

RP - While perhaps not up to the standards of the extraordinary 2003, the 2005 is still a strong effort from an estate that has been doing everything right over the last two decades. Sweet toasty oak intermixed with jammy black currant, plum, and liquorice aromas jump from the glass of this dense purple-hued wine. In the mouth, there is great fruit, tannin, body, structure, and delineation. This impressively endowed, well made St.-Julien.

LEOVILLE POYFERRE
St. Julien

RP - Compared to the blockbuster 2003, the 2004 is a more streamlined, elegant effort without the power, glycerine, and thickness of its older sibling. Nevertheless, it is an impressive St.-Julien offering a deep ruby/purple colour as well as a sweet bouquet of smoky cassis and cherries, medium body, and admirable concentration, purity, nobleness, and elegance.

LEOVILLE POYFERRE
St. Julien

RP - I have had this wine three times out of bottle, rating it 97 once and 98 twice. It is a colossal success and a potential legend in the making. Its saturated, dense inky/blue/purple colour offers up notes of crushed rocks, acacia flowers, blueberries, black raspberries, and crème de cassis. A synthesis of power and elegance, this multi-layered wine has spectacular concentration, sweet but high tannin, and low acidity A stunning effort that showcases this legendary terroir, it is a brilliant, brilliant success.

LEOVILLE POYFERRE
St. Julien

AS ABOVE BUT
HALF-BOTTLES

LEOVILLE POYFERRE
St. Julien

RP - The plushest, most ostentatious and dramatic of all the Leovilles in 2000, this wine is already sumptuous, displaying some nuances in its huge nose of vanilla bean, black chocolate, jammy black cherries, cassis, and graphite in a flamboyant style. Opulent, savoury, rich, and full-bodied, it is a head-turning, prodigious wine and a complete contrast to the extracted behemoth of Leoville Barton and the backward, classic Leoville Las Cases. The Poyferre’s low acidity, sweet tannin and an already gorgeous mouthfeel make it a wine to drink now as well as over the next 25 or more years.

SAINT-PIERRE
St. Julien

RP - As I predicted from barrel, this stunning effort is a wine to buy by the case. Its opaque ruby/purple color is followed by aromas of graphite, barbecue smoke, blackberries and black currants. The full-bodied, textured 2008 Saint-Pierre reveals a skyscraper-like mouthfeel along with tremendous viscosity and unctuosity. One of the richest and potentially longest-lived 2008s, it is a fabulous sleeper of the vintage