(2021) A blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc aged in barrel for a year, this has a lovely nose: very appealing and alluring with cedar and tobacco, and quite a ripe, creamy black and blue fruit character. In the mouth there is lovely fruit here, this 2015 just softening slightly though tannins still firm and black cherry acid still keen, but the flesh of the fruit and the lightly charry and creamy barrel component adds layered complexity. Drinking well with some cellaring potential - 8 to 10 years.
(2020) A blend of 5% Cabernet Franc and 65% Merlot, some of the Merlot vines planted in 1957, in a tiny 0.35ha plot. The vinification is the same as Block One, with ageing in second- and third-year 225l barriques for 11 months. Deep aromas of plum and cocoa, but there are highlights of more floral and cherry scents, a warming touch of fudge or vanilla in the background. In the mouth this is substantial and chewy, with ripe but grippy tannins and a nice line of acidity to cut through the supple, weighty black and red fruits. Finishes with a nice sour cherry tang.
(2020) From a 0.45ha vineyard of 25-year-old Cabernet Franc on clay-based soils, certified organic in 2016. Aged in 225-litre barrels, typically second and third year use, for just under a year. Quite a vibrant purple/crimson colour, and lots of brightness to the aromas: soaring cherry and spices, a touch of cedary briar and a cool, ashy quality, there's a lighter feel to this than Block Two. In the mouth the fruit is cool and smooth, with very good ripeness and fruit sweetness, quite slick black cherry and compote spices touching on cinammon and clove. Creamy, silky tannins and good juicy acidity balances into a long and impressive finish.
(2020) Tasted once before in 2019, the 18 months extra time in bottle for this Bordeaux Merlot hasn't changed the crimson colour too much, and the nose is similar too: cocoa-dusted dark fruits, warm and plummy with a little fudge-like richness. In the mouth the fruit is really quite fresh - a crispness to the acid helps, the brisk tannins too, but the fruit is supple and savoury, edged with pepper and spice in a wine that does defy its 14.5% alcohol. Yes you feel it in the finish, but it is a bold and juicy style.
(2020) Youthful, inky and vibrant purple in colour, this Merlot made without added sulphur has a certain meatiness on the nose, dark savoury fruit and a lightly balsamic quality. In the mouth it is easy-drinking and smooth, quite concentrated too, the creamy tannins, spicy character and fruit intensity giving it texture and richness.
(2020) Fronsac is an unheralded but usually reliably good Bordeaux appellation on the Right Bank, where Merlot is the principal grape planted from Bordeaux's famous five. This is 60% Merlot with equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. It's proper old-fashione claret in a way, with a streak of bloodiness and game on the nose, solid and sweet black fruit, but also a little ash and earthy sense of austerity. In the mouth it has lovely balance, walking the same line between solid fruitiness and that backbone of tannin, spice, cedar and savoury acidity, with really quite a long, gastronomic finish. Mixed six price is £18.99. Watch the video for more information and food-matching.
(2020) From the Bordeaux Right Bank appellation Côtes de Castillon, this is 95% Merlot with the balance Cabernet Franc. From an obviously ripe and rich year, it's a big bear-hug of a wine, 14.5% alcohol a testament to the ripeness and glorious sweetness of fruit here, yet it is not a wine that feels over-extracted or clumsy. Aromas are the essence of cassis and plum, some pencil-shaving finess in the background. Mouthfilling, creamy and voluptuous black fruit floods the palate, with creamy-soft tannins and a nice stripe of sour plum acidity to give freshness. It's plushness might not suit lovers of more austere, traditional 'claret', but I loved this personality-packed wine.
(2018) Blaye is an appellation of Bordeaux's 'right bank', and typically this is predominantly Merlot, with 5% each of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon too. Reduced to £13.49 at time of review. It's a plummy and silky expression of Bordeaux, a little coffee and cream, dense fleshy plum and a light pencil-shaving note too. In the mouth the creaminess of the fruit, plush tannin and texture add up to a fairly straightforward, but nevertheless delicious and balanced glass of quality claret drinking well now.
(2017) Made for C&B by the illustrious J-P Moueix of Pomerol, intriguingly the suggestion is that this is the perfect match for Murgh Tikka Makhani - a choice that surprised me, though I can see the logic in a wine with power and a bit of real grip that might well take on curry. Mostly Merlot, pencil-shaving notes over plum fruit, before a firm palate, the dark-toned fruit has a bit of bittersweetness, and the acidity gives the cut rather than the tannins which are sandy but not dominant.
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