Bordeaux

Château Arnauton enjoys a unique and remarkable terroir, located on the southern slopes of the mound of the Château which dominates the entire Fronsac appellation. Benefitting from a unique clay and limestone soil, the wines of Chateau Arnauton are full bodied, elegant and have a subtle complexity achieved through ageing in French oak barrels for 12 months.  

This wine is mature and elegant with velvety, dark plum aromas and flavours with a hint of coffee and dark chocolate. The palate is smooth with soft tannins and good length. Good acidity and fine balance. It has the subtle complexity and elegance that is appropriate for a mature wine. Pairs well with soft cheeses (eg Camembert, Brie etc), game and red meats (beef, lamb, veal).

We like this because it is rare to find such a good quality Bordeaux at this price point which is also mature and ready to drink.

Attractive bouquet of red and black fruit, lovely and fresh, clear cut and complex. Dense and round on the palate, it is powerful yet elegant and has a very creamy texture.

Whilst we make every effort to ensure our information is up-to-date where the current vintage is not available this will be replaced by the next available vintage. We will of course endeavour to contact you where this is the case before dispatch

Chateau Camensac are one of the less well-known Classified Growths. It is a Fifth Growth in Haut Medoc, just north-east of St-Julien and, in the past, Michel Rolland consulted there. They only have plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with the average vine age being 35 years old. They ferment in stainless steel vats, then age the wine in a mixture of new and old oak barrels for 17-20 months. Medium bodied with a round mouth feel and gentle tannins. There are flavours of black fruit, earthy characteristics and slightly agricultural notes. A wine to enjoy now with roast meats.

This wine is a very deep red colour, almost black, but is bright and shiny. The aromas are of black cherries, blackcurrant and fresh plum. There is also a hint of pepper and old rose. The use of wood in this wine is well judged making the flavours prolonged. There is a fullness to the wine which is well balanced by tannins. The finish has a spicy yet plummy note. This wine will drink well between 2013 – 2025.

The call of faraway lands. As mysterious and intriguing as a lone adventurer returning from a solitary sail, Cos d’Estournel is slow to reveal itself. Little by little, it evokes stories of distant places, market stalls brimming with unfamiliar fruits, spices and wares, village festivities warmed by the joy of revelers and the setting sun, and sumptuous visions of ladies and their voluptuous curves. A myriad of scents, colors and tastes appeals to the senses. The Grand Vin of Cos d’Estournel is both demure and deliberately sensuous, a fascinating and elegant nectar.

Cos d’Estournel is ideally situated at the heart of an undulating landscape in the northern Médoc. The estate’s rolling contours served as inspiration for its name; ”cos” is derived from the word for “hill of pebbles” in the old Gascon dialect. Keeping the oldest vine plants alive is crucial to perpetuating Cos d’Estournel’s rich heritage. Despite their low yield and the special care they require, these plants produce the grapes that shape the core identity of the estate’s wines.

The low yield of the vines promoted the ripening of the Cabernet Sauvignon, with stunning precision. It naturally blends with the roundness of the Merlot, to deliver a wine of classic style and elegant finesse. Cos d’Estournel 2008 has beautiful freshness and the powerful notes soften to allow the fruit flavours to appear.

"Ripe and generous with all the flavours quite open and accessible now even in its youth. This is a solid vintage for Cos but one that is an early drinking style. Tannins are firm and supple with the dark fruits and spices already at the fore. Enjoy now and over the next 8 years." Jeannie Cho Lee

A deep colour with shades of violet. A bouquet of spices and burnt wood with hints of orange peel and black-currant leaves. A gentle attack in the mouth with a close-knit, very unctuous background. A straightforward wine, superbly balanced, elegant and full bodied.

Grand-Puy Ducasse 2006 has an intense, deep garnet colour, with a pure nose of ripe fruits and blond tobacco. The palate, juicy and delicious, is dominated by a vibrant fruit, mixed with notes of soft spices and of licorice. The wine is medium-bodied with integrated and silky tannins, and has a long length. It is a Pauillac to keep in the cellar and that has started to show a part of its charms.

Chateau L’Eglise Clinet has a long history in the Pomerol appellation of Bordeaux. It dates all the way back to 1803, when Jean Rouchut purchased some of the vineyard land that later became L’Eglise Clinet. Before Denis Durantou, the current owner and wine maker took over Chateau L’Eglise Clinet, his great-grandfather managed the Pomerol winery. The elder Durantou spent all his time as a shopkeeper. Wine was not his work. He did not live at the small chateau. He preferred to spend his time on his dairy farm, located in Coutras. With the high price Bordeaux wine sells for today, it might sound strange, but back then, the family made more money from farming than they did from the winery! 

The wine of L’Eglise Clinet is concentrated, full bodied, opulent and rich. Everything is in harmony and balance. This special Bordeaux wine offers a purity of fruit, exotic spice components, freshness and sensuous textures not found in most wines. It is aged in between 50% to 80% new, French oak barrels for between 15 to 18 months. The wines are racked every 3 to 5 months.

"Unquestionably the Pomerol of the vintage, the dense purple-coloured 2007 l’Eglise-Clinet offers an astonishing display of rich, liquorice and caramel-infused kirsch, black raspberry, and cassis fruit. Rich, full-bodied, and pure, with low acidity and ripe tannin, it is already offering delicious drinking, and should continue to do so for 15-20 years. Kudos to proprietor Denis Durantou." 94 points, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

When this wine was tasted in 2017 The Wine Cellar Insider described it as follows:

"Medium bodied, with an earthy, truffle and cherry core of fruits, the wine is fully mature at this stage. Soft and round in texture, the truffles and cherries carry through in the finish." 93 points - Tasted Jul 2, 2017

Awarded 88 points and Recommended status by Decanter (www.decanter.com) in their April 2018 edition review of the St-Emilion satellite appellations 2015 vintage (see blue link below).

Château La Fleur Grands-Landes Montagne St. Emilion 2015 - April 2018 Decanter review

The Durand family has owned the seven hectare estate in the Montagne district since the 18th century. In 1969, M. Carrère, Mme Durand's husband took over the estate, shaping it to its current form. Since 1997, his daughter Isabelle Carrère, oenologist from Michel Rolland's team, has been running the estate having taught viticulture and oenology for 10 years.

Generous flowering took place followed by a hot, dry early summer. August was slightly cooler and damper, followed by good weather in September enabling the grapes to reach full maturity. Generally the harvest took place earlier than the previous year. 2015 has been cited as a great modern Bordeaux vintage of excellent quality.

The vines are grown on slopes in clay soils. The vineyards are carefully managed throughout the year, with debudding, manual removal of the vine-shoots, leafthinning and green harvesting all being carefully performed. Chemical fertilisers are not used; instead vegetal based compost is added moderately to the soil having monitored its equilibrium. A manual harvest takes place when the grapes are slightly overripe to get a better phenolic maturity of the skins and the pips.

The grapes were carefully sorted by hand after a total destemming on the sorting table. 20% of the wine was bled off. A cold maceration took place prior to fermentation, which lasted three to four days. The fermentation was carried out in temperature controlled stainless steel vats, with daily pump-overs and lasted for three weeks. The wine was then matured, with 80% aged in vats and 20% in oak barrels.

A medium bodied Bordeaux , with spicy, dark fruits and herbal notes combined with earthy hints. A beautifully balanced wine with silky tannins and a light finish. A lovely match for beef wellington or barbequed chicken.

This wine is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

The deep ruby/purple-colored 2001 l’Evangile is a beauty. Revealing notes of beef blood, black fruits, and white flowers, it is medium-bodied and lush with sweet tannin, a pliant, opulent texture, and a long, rich finish revealing hints of forest floor, truffles, and licorice.

Thick coatings of plums and red fruits, with liquorice notes.

Chateau Poujeaux is situated in Moulis en Medoc which is in the heart of the vineyards of the Haut-Médoc, 3 miles from the two great appellation of Margaux and St-Julien. The vineyards are planted on the finest outcrops of günz gravel, which is the ideal soil for the Great Classified Growths of the region.

The vat room where this wine is made houses wooden vats, epoxy-resin lined concrete vats and stainless steel vats. They are all thermo-regulated to control the vinfication temperature. The Chjateau Poujeaux 2007 underwent 12 months of barrel-ageing. Half of the barrels are renewed every year. The wine was clarified by racking from barrel to barrel, and fining with egg whites. Château Poujeaux is not filtered or chilled, enabling the wine to keep all its richness.

Decanter gave this wine the following review and a score of 90 points in February 2017:

This is a rather lovely Médoc, if a touch more restrained that some others here. There is richness to the fruit, but it is tighter, with layers of bilberry and cassis and cedary oak, with attractive menthol notes on the finish. Ready to drink. - Jane Anson