Wine Region: Bordeaux

(2025) From Bordeaux's Right Bank, a Merlot dominated red wine coming from a vintage that many are claiming to be a great one. The estate has been owned by the English Johnson-Hill family for almost 50 years and has seen considerable investment under current proprietors, Mark and Sadra Johnson-Hill. The nose is spicy, dark and fruit-cakey, with plum, currants and a hint of cedar. In the mouth this has fine medium weight, and that dark berry fruit is nicely smooth and ripe through the mid-palate, running into a balanced finish showing soft but supportive tannins and elegant acidity. A good choice for Christmas perhaps, drinking well already. Watch the video for more information.

(2025) A family-owned estate in one of Saint-Emilion's 'satellite' appellations, this is 65% Merlot, plus 20% Cabernet Franc and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. Classic nose, cedar and a touch of game over ripe and rich plum and blackcurrant, a hint of something slightly green is lovely in the overall picture. On the palate this is savoury with spice and tannins, medium-bodied with the fruit melding into the savoury, quite meaty profile. Good acidity to freshen and, with its fruit and bit of structure, this should cellar for a few years.

(2025) This traditional method blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot offers really good value for money at just £10. A pale salmon pink to peach colour, the nose is sherbetty and bright, with raspberry and a hint of pulpy strawberry. In the mouth the fruit is sweet, but the wine is racy, with plenty of zippy citrus and a fleet-footed style to make a very attractive aperitif, or maybe to match with some summer strawberries. Watch the video for more information.

(2025) From a family property now in the hands of the fourth generation, this is 85% Merlot plus Cabernet Franc and comes from vineyards on sand, clay, limestone and gravel. Dark, meaty, plummy and spicy, it's a warming and wintery red, the fruitcake richness of the aromas leading through to the palate, where bold tannins and a grip of acidity are just softened by both its age at eight years old, and presumably some time in barrels. It's not hugely long, but it is authentic and tasty for sure.

(2025) It's always fascinating to taste a great wine over many years, my first tasting note on this dating from 2001, and here we are with a bottled cellared by me for over 25 years, and my last from half a case. Cork is firm, and the wine threw some sediment in the final centimetre. It is immediately aromatic and heady on the nose, wonderful game, tobacco and cedar with a rich mulberry fruitiness, hints of dried blood and some undergrowth coming through. In the mouth it is firm and still juicy, the black fruit is taut, with cedar and smoke swirling around it, a curranty, dried fruit edge of intensity. Tannins are very fine and now in the background, but the balance is perfect, with acidity of bitter orange and plum skin. Would guess this is on a plateau with a few years still to go.

(2024) The Sichel family are synonymous with Bordeaux, and especially with Margaux where they own various properties at classed growth and cru bourgeois level. The source of this declassified wine is not revealed, but the blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot is said to come from one of the appellations most famous addresses. Beautiful nose, touched by violet and black cherry, but more about cedar and plush blackcurrant. The palate has a silky texture, the fruit supple and composed, but filling the mouth. Tannins are quite powerful and spicy here, as is the plum-skin edge of acidity, suggesting this should cellar for a few years too.

(2024) Tasted earlier in the year I wrote: "A crowd-pleasing, easy-drinking and thoroughly pleasant blend," and having tasted it again, that sums up this approachable blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Semillon. The maximum dosage for Brut of 12g/l means it verges on being perceptibly sweet, but sharper apple and lemon to the fruit and acid balance peachy and lightly toasty note. The rolling mousse keeping everything fresh enough in a stylish fizz for a lowly £10.

(2024) A well-regarded Cru Bourgeois located between St Julien and Margaux, Beaumont's 2016 is more or less equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with 9% Petit Verdot. Youthful in appearance, notes of blackcurrant, plum, game and cedar are classically framed, spice and tapenade/herbal notes too. In the mouth the fruit is surprisngly ripe, sweet and fleshy, rippling blackcurrant moving into a spicy finish with a bit of dark cocoa and a pert cherry skin bite to the acidity. Watch my video review for more information.

(2024) This Cabernet Sauvignon dominated 3ème Cru Classé from Margaux has a good depth of colour and opens with attractive fragrance: earthy, ripe and plummy aromas, plenty of cedar and notes of tapenade. The palate is firm, arguably even a touch unyielding, certainly plenty of tannin making its presence felt. There is some juiciness there too, the mid-palate showing ripeness. Good length, acid well-judged. A little more about density and power than perfume or finesse.

(2024) The Rosé is a new addition to the Mouton-Cadet line-up, from a vineyard of organically farmed Merlot in Bordeaux. It's a crunchy and aromatic wine, very dry and gastronomic, with a burst of Seville orange to the fruit. The palate has some intense small red berry savouriness and very good acidity. This 2021 drinking very nicely.