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 - Haut couture becomes a wine! This dense purple wine has the tell-tale notes of flowers and pencil shavings, and its broad aromatics are intense and totally captivating. Powerful, rich, and full, but less tannic than the 2005 and more opulent, this is a dazzling Branaire.

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.

CROIX de BEAUCAILLOU
St. Julien

2nd Wine of Ducru Beaucaillou
The top wine currently sells for approx. £220 a bottle! So this represents real value.

RP - The grand vin is the result of an increasingly strict selection process, with approximately 50% of the production going into the final wine and the balance used in the Croix de Beaucaillou. The 2009 may be the finest example of this cuvee I have yet tasted. Up-front, precocious and generous, it possesses a dense purple color, a big, broad, unctuous texture and abundant notes of crème de cassis and black cherry fruit intertwined with hints of wood smoke, vanillin and earth.

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!

20

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 - Gloria has long been one of the most popular wines in America, but I do not believe they have ever made better wines than they have over the last decade, and the 2009 is one of their finest. While this estate is not a classified growth, it certainly performs like one in 2009. A dense ruby/purple color is accompanied by an expressive, flamboyant bouquet of black fruits, Christmas spices, licorice and roasted Provencal herbs. Fuller-bodied, more concentrated and extracted than most vintages with soft tannins, its low acidity and a sumptuous, plump style remind me of a modern day version of the 1982 (which is fully mature but still in great shape). The 2009 Gloria is a very smart purchase for those looking to maximize their buying power. In fact, this may be the value of the vintage.

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. £49.00 a bottle!, so this represents great value.

ST - Inky-purple. Bright, floral, cabernet sauvignon-dominated nose offers red berry and mineral aromas. Then more red berries on the palate, with a saline nuance on the persistent, fleshy finish. Bright acidity really extends the flavours of red berries and underbrush. A smooth and very successful Sarget.

SARGET DE GRUAUD LAROSE
St Julien

2nd Wine of Chateau Gruaud Larose
The top wine currently sells for approx. £67.00 a bottle!, so this represents great value.

Wine Spectator - This has a nice beefy edge, offering roasted fig, plum and warm tobacco leaf notes, with bittersweet cocoa inlaid on the slightly gutsy finish. On the rustic side, but solid and winey.

GRUAUD LAROSE
St. Julien

RP - Dark garnet/plum/purple, with loads of spice, earth, underbrush, red and black currants, licorice, and even a hint of Provencal garrigue, this full-bodied, tannic, masculine style of St.-Julien needs 5-6 years of cellaring, but is full, beefy, rich and impressively endowed. There are plenty of firm tannins in the background of this blockbuster wine, which has been built for the long haul.

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 -  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

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 £70 per bottle!, so this says something for the potential of this wine.

Wine Spectator - This is plush and inviting, with warm fig sauce, plum cake and blackberry cobbler notes laced with charcoal and sweet spice. The long finish is filled with tar and tobacco, but the mouth-watering acidity makes this inviting now.

LA RESERVE de LEOVILLE BARTON
St Julien

2nd Wine of Chateau Leoville Barton
Their top wine currently sells for £94 per 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.

CLOS DU MARQUIS
St Julien

2nd Wine of Chateau Leoville Las Cases
The top wine currently sells for approx. £240.00 per bottle!, so this represents very good value.

RP -Now positioned as a totally separate vineyard and a real clos (enclosed walled vineyard), this blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot from Jean-Hubert Delon is a beauty. Crème de cassis notes intermixed with some vanillin, crushed rock and spring flowers jump from the glass. Full-bodied and powerful (nearly 14% natural alcohol), this is a generously endowed, rich wine that was first made in 1902.

CLOS DU MARQUIS
St Julien

2nd Wine of Chateau Leoville Las Cases
The top wine currently sells for approx. £158.00 per 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. £105.00 per 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.

LEOVILLE Las CASES
St. Julien

RP - The 2009 Leoville Las Cases may be the most open-knit and forward Las Cases I have tasted to date. Analytically, it is high in tannin and the alcohol is 13.8%, nearly a record at this estate. This blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc was showing brilliantly at the 2009 tasting I did in Hong Kong and at a later tasting. It boasts an inky/purple color, monumental concentration and lots of sweet, jammy black currant, black cherry and kirsch fruit intermixed with crushed rock and mineral notes. As always, proprietor Jean-Hubert Delon has built a massive wine with exceptional precision, unbelievable purity and aging potential of 40-50 years. I was surprised by the lusciousness of this cuvee on several occasions, and how much more forward it is given the fact that Las Cases can often be forebodingly backward and in need of 10-15 years of cellaring.

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

MOULIN RICHE
St. Julien

2nd Wine of Leoville Poyferre
The top wine currently sells for approx. £110 a bottle! So this represents real value.

Wine Spectator - This is inviting, with warm cocoa, steeped blueberry and blackberry fruit notes, featuring a juicy bolt of fig pâté de fruit and a long, dark, charcoal-filled finish that is nearly accessible now. Best from 2014 through 2024.

Great Value!

MOULIN RICHE
St. Julien

2nd Wine of Leoville Poyferre
The top wine currently sells for approx. £165 a bottle! So this represents real value.

Wine Spectator - On the plump, almost jammy side, with friendly plum cake, fig sauce and ganache notes backed by more modest grip on the tar-tinged finish.

Great Value!

PAVILLON de LEOVILLE POYFERRE
St. Julien


The top wine currently sells for approx. £165 a bottle! So this represents real value.
From the fruit of Leoville-Poyferre’s younger vines, and reflecting  the style of the grand vin. The palate is opulent with plenty of fruit and a fine integrated tannic structure.

 

Great Value!

LEOVILLE POYFERRE
St. Julien

RP - The wine out distances both Leoville Las Cases and Leoville Barton, but all three of them are compelling efforts. Full-bodied, dense purple in color, with floral notes intermixed with blackberries, cassis, graphite and spring flowers, this full-bodied, legendary effort is long and opulent, with wonderfully abundant yet sweet tannin, a skyscraper-like mid-palate and a thrilling, nearly one-minute finish. This spectacular effort from Poyferre that should drink well for 30+ years.

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

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