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Bordeaux 2018 - The Wine Advocate scores are in

Bordeaux 2018 - The Wine Advocate scores are in

Wednesday 24th April 2019
by Tom Jenkins

Many will remember waiting enthusiastically for the Wine Advocate to drop through the letterbox, or for a poor resolution scan to be emailed from the States, via Bordeaux. The age of the internet has made distribution more equitable and efficient, but maybe some of the romance and thrill has ebbed away. 

Anyway, enough nostalgia, the scores are in and it’s fair to say that Lisa Perrotti-Brown is a big fan. Her report echoes our thoughts on this magical vintage – extreme peaks and a bit of mediocrity. It’s a fascinating read. For those who do not subscribe, we have quoted some of the most salient bits below. We have also listed the 12 potential 100 point wines.

‘In this vintage of extremes, a producer undaunted by flirting with disaster and with a bit of luck on his/her side could well have sailed over the finish line to glory with all the flair and panache of Alain Prost. Or they could have cartwheeled down the track, combusting into a ball of flames. 2018 offers us the thrill of victory for a number of wineries, the agony of defeat for a few and a whole lot of also-rans…

Bordeaux 2017: The Wine Advocate’s scores are in

Bordeaux 2017: The Wine Advocate’s scores are in

Monday 30th April 2018
by Tom Jenkins

We thoroughly enjoyed our week tasting 2017s from barrel. We loved the style, the aromatics, the precision and the freshness of the best wines. 

We thought it would be a vintage that would appeal to those who like restraint and charm, dare we say it, something for a European palate (we are still European for the time being…). Lisa Perrotti-Brown, the new Bordeaux correspondence for the influential Wine Advocate is also smitten, awarding three wines 97-100 points and numerous scores into the high nineties. Please find an overview of her thoughts below.

Vintage report from Chateau Angélus

Friday 25th January 2013
by Tom Jenkins

Hubert de Bouard is celebrating the erection of his new bell tower (right). We are looking forward to visiting the estate in April, but in the mean time, the chateau have kindly provided a vintage report and their first impressions of their vat tastings.

'This new vintage experienced some difficulties at the outset: weather in springtime was chaotic, with chilly, wet conditions, causing the flowering period to be particularly spread out over time. This was followed by a cool start to summer without much sunshine… all these factors suggested a late vintage. However, the months of August and September were extraordinary and any inconsistency due to bad weather at the beginning of spring was erased. These months even enabled a very healthy and ideally ripe crop to be gathered. The harvests were done in October, from the 8th for Merlot grapes, whereas the last Cabernets were picked on 18th October.

First impressions

Angélus 2012 is marked by exceptional pureness of fruit, structure is perceptible but soft,
both for the Merlots and for the Cabernets. It is a great vintage which will have required tremendous vigilance, a great deal of work in the vineyard, and for which the summer was a decisive moment.
A great vintage, most certainly easier to express on earlier-ripening terroirs such as those of Château Angélus.'
Tasting Bordeaux 2012 at Southwold

Tasting Bordeaux 2012 at Southwold

Tuesday 24th January 2012
by Tom Jenkins

The great and the good of the wine trade (and yours truly) recently descended upon the little Suffolk seaside town of Southwold for yet another epic blind tasting.

This year was the turn of the 2008s. Initially tasted in the spring of 2009 in the wake of Lehman Brothers’ collapse and the first credit crunch, some merchants boycotted the tastings altogether. J&B made the annual pilgrimage, and with certain caveats, we liked what we saw. It was evident that the estates with the best terroir and the deepest pockets fared best. Some lesser properties displayed green notes - not unsurprising given the cool growing season.

Angelus released before Easter and the First Growths released soon after at very attractive prices. This gave the campaign some impetus, but it was when Robert Parker raved about the wines that the campaign really took off. In retrospect, Big Bob was a little over zealous; the two subsequent vintages, which can both stake claims to being potential vintages of the century, rather overshadowed the 2008s, so the downgrades came as no surprise.
Bordeaux 2009 – More scores (the right bank)

Bordeaux 2009 – More scores (the right bank)

Tuesday 20th April 2010
by Tom Jenkins

Time for more of our results. We asked our eight strong team to list their top ten wines from the right bank, excluding Lafleur, Le Pin, Ausone and Cheval Blanc. 

This proved even more chaotic than the left bank with 21 properties receiving votes. The results are in and after a little number crunching and it would seem that the Justerinis team have a taste for Pomerol... Gold, silver and bronze were taken by Evangile, Vieux Chateau Certan and Conseillante. Evangile edged out VCC by a nose, but interestingly only received three maximums to VCC’s four. The only other wine to take the coveted `ten points` was Denis Duarantou’s Eglise Clinet. The remaining seven spots in the top ten were contested between Tertre Roteboeuf, Angelus, Eglise Clinet and four wines from the Moueix stable: Providence, Certan de May, Hosanna and Belair-Monange.
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