Delicious drinking Clarets...

94+ Points - Stuart McCloskey

Mature colour; delicate, rich and attractive bouquet. Soft with beautiful balance. On the palate; velvety, towering yet delicate, rich yet dry. A marvellous wine.

Robert Parker

96 Points - Robert Parker

Dense purple, with classic notes of cedar and lead pencil shavings as well as gobs of black currants and licorice, the wine has a full-bodied mouthfeel with fabulous precision and density. It also possesses a long, silky finish with moderately high tannins, but they are ripe and well-integrated. The wood is clearly pushed to the background in this dense, full-bodied Pauillac, which should drink beautifully for 30+ years.

Many years have passed since we teamed up with Hubert de Bouärd; co-owner of Château Angelus, and the famed Kentish artist Graham Clarke to create our first own-labelled Bordeaux wine. Individually sourced, using carefully selected grapes, resulting in a fabulous table Claret. How does it taste after a decade? We put our own wine to the acid test this week…

Stuart McCloskey tasted 27.11.2019 “A lovely nose of redberries, mulberry, liquorice, clove and a whiff of new oak and graphite unfurl in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied and surprisingly seductive. Merlot is in the driving seat with a lovely spicy and sweet fruit entry. Mid-palate offers more savoury / earthy notes. I detect a Burgundian forest floor intermixed with dried herbs, cedar and sandalwood. The tannins are fine and polished beautifully. A touch of dryness on the finish indicating this should be consumed over the next 2-3 years. Overall, this is a cracking Claret (serve it blind as I am sure most would consider this a £20 / £25 bottle). Decanted for 1-2 hours and served in Zalto’s Bordeaux glassware

94 Points - Decanter "The generosity of the 2009 vintage comes through here and, as with the 2015, I love how it suits this terroir, providing a wonderful counterpoint to the natural austerity of soils with gravel over limestone. Liquorice, dark chocolate, tobacco leaf and grilled sarments are all wrapped up with fresh blackberries. It has a lovely generosity, but with freshness and sophistication."

94 Points - Neal Martin "The Malartic-Lagraviere ‘09 is evolving into one of the finest wines that the estate has ever produced. It has a more introverted bouquet with dark berry fruit, undergrowth and iodine. With rigorous swirling it still refuses to unfurl. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins. It builds nicely towards a lovely black olive and spice tinged finish that exudes finesse. Superb."

91 Points - Stuart McCloskey

Well-structured and concentrated with layers of fruit and an inner-core of minerality. Perhaps lacking the definition of the '99 but a delicious wine nonetheless. Drinking now.

94 Points - Lisa Perrotti Brown MW

The 2006 Clos de Sarpe is medium to deep garnet in color and scented of crème de cassis, blackberry pie and mulberries with touches of underbrush, sandalwood, pencil shavings and tobacco. Medium-bodied with a rock-solid frame of grainy tannins and wonderful freshness, it has a great core of ripe, savory/sweet fruit and a very long finish.

94+ Points - Stuart McCloskey "This is quintessential Pauillac and the best Pedesclaux I have sampled from the estate in over 10 years. The palate is full-bodied with copious sweet ripe black fruit, marked by soft tannins and wonderful harmony and tension. This is undoubtedly an outstanding Pedesclaux which could get better?"

92 Points - Stuart McCloskey

Clearly, lacking the extravagance of the Grand Vin however, it’s difficult not to be impressed. Silky / supple tannins work harmoniously with the high quality fruit. Cabernet flavours dominate with blackberry leaf, cassis with a touch of cocoa coming through as the wine starts to reach its tenth birthday. Really delicious but does require 2-3 hours in a decanter.

92 Points - James Suckling

Love the aromas of toasted oak, lemon pie and cream. Full body, with intense tropical and citrus fruit flavors and a long, lightly oily and creamy finish. Fieuzal white may be coming back to its glory days from the 1980s? Best after 2013.