Discover the Icons of Bordeaux – A Rare Opportunity to Save

Our Good Ordinary Claret is an early-drinking style of red Bordeaux – one that is versatile and reliably delicious. The 2020 vintage is predominantly Merlot, supported by Cabernet Sauvignon and a dash of Cabernet Franc. On the nose, ripe hedgerow fruits mingle alongside warming aromas of cedar and allspice. 

The palate is plump and moreish, laden with black cherries, blackberries and myrtle berries. Meanwhile, a backbone of smooth, velvety tannins brings structure and complexity. This is a great wine to please a crowd, perfect with a Sunday roast or a winter vegetable stew.

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Georgina Haacke, Bordeaux Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd

The 2005 Pontet-Canet is a heady, exotic wine. Inky dark fruit, mocha, chocolate, liquorice, spice and tobacco are front and centre. Readers will find an unabashedly opulent, full-throttle 2005 with quite a bit more oak influence and overall extraction than is the norm these days. Even so, the 2005 is a young, young wine with a bright future. This is one sexy Pauillac, that's for sure.

Drink 2025 - 2045

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (April 2021)

Wow! A profound, precise Pauillac at a price to please even the most price conscious (I hope!). Raspberries and strawberries are dominant on nose and palate, with a very natural weight and comely seductive charm that just makes you want to quaff it. This really is a terrific and something new to boot.
Simon Staples, Asia Wine Director

Blackberry and licorice aromas, with full body, very fine tannins and a long finish. Very silky. So much for jammy wines in 2003. Very fresh and refined. - James Suckling

This is a stunning wine, epitomising St Julien's breed and elegance but with an extra dash of generosity. A fabulous rich nose leads to a structured palate with a lovely weight of ripe, creamy raspberry and loganberry fruit with liquorice and toast hints. The fruit quality is outstanding, with real energy and freshness, topped off by a long, pure finish. The harvest was very late here so the Cabernet Sauvignon (60%) and Merlot (30%) were able to really blossom. Given their reasonable pricing policy this is one of the wines of the vintage for value as well as quality.

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Blackish crimson. Very fresh and crisp. Zesty. Very direct. Lots of fine tannins. Seems to have more volume and fruit than the 2005! 

Drink 2018 - 2035

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com 

Tasted blind. Some polish, charm and rigour too. Just what I want of a St-Julien! Very vibrant. Dry finish but I think it will all come right as there is just so much going on there. Wonderfully long. Intense.

Drink 2025 - 2045

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com

One vintage missing from my extensive vertical earlier this year was the 2001 Léoville Las Cases, and when curiosity got the better of me, I opened a bottle from my cellar. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of cassis, cigar wrapper, pencil shavings and classy new oak, it’s medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a layered core of vibrant fruit, ripe structuring tannins and a long, penetrating finish. Youthful and aloof, it’s a classic Las Cases that is just at the beginning of a long drinking window. It would be fascinating to compare the 2001 directly with the much-lauded 2000, as the two are very close in quality to my palate.

Drink 2025 - 2065

William Kelley, Wine Advocate (December 2023)

Château Beychevelle’s 2009 has a beautiful nose of ripe bramble fruit, dark cassis, and a smooth but highly concentrated palate of red and black fruits. The Merlot content (44%) is surprisingly well-balanced here, considering the turbo-charged nature of some of the Right Bank wines. Beychevelle have blended it perfectly with their 46% Cabernet Sauvignon and a touch of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot to make a truly harmonious wine.

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Ripe and succulent with the lovely perfume of great Margaux, this is concentrated but fresh, supple but structured, and very, very harmonious. Beautifully balanced and with great poise, this wears its 60% new oak like a glove. Henri Lurton mentioned that in 2009, the grape juice before fermentation was so fragrant that the vat room was already full of the smell of blackberries and raspberries. This certainly translates into the wine; it is a very fine achievement.

Berry Bros. & Rudd