Merlot

Dark ruby, our merlot blend is seductive and graceful. Gathering together ripe black plum, liquorice, and cherry, underpinned with a current of Turkish delight, graphite, and sandalwood. Balanced acidity and silky tannins confer structure, and the extending ageing in French oak shows a soft, ample mid-palate. The myriad of flavours lead the senses, creating a revealing bouquet and a long sustained finish. Cellaring Potential: 10 years

A powerful, deep and well-structured wine, round and elegant, with excellent ageing potential.

Chateau Laffitte Carcasset is a classic Saint-Estephe red wine. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, it is crafted from the best plots in the vineyard. Since 2016, oenologist Hubert de Bouard and his team provide consulting on the winemaking process.

The wine is aged for 12 months in oak barrels, 45% of which are new. It is a powerful, deep and well-structured wine, round and elegant, with excellent ageing potential (an average of 15-20 years). Made primarily from Cabernet Sauvignon, the blend also includes a large percentage of Merlot, making it enjoyable to drink in its youth.

Ambrosius by name and by nature, this beautiful expression of Saint Emilion Grand Cru is a dry, impressive blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc. Grapes were grown on sandy soil and sandstone on one vineyard and this wine represents exceptional value for money, both for drinking now and for cellaring. Expect a commanding southern French red now; expect great complexity within four or five years of bottle age. 

Commanding Bordeaux made from Merlot and Petit Verdot from one of the estates owned by the Borie family of Ducru-Beaucaillou in Saint-Julien. This is a second tier wine from a great estate. 

Ch?teau Lynch-Bages is one of the great Bordeaux red wine producers and is a robust, staunchly structured red with great agreeability and also a smoothness, suggesting a drink-me-now-or-soon appeal, so long as this wine is decanted and served in your best large glassware. 

The winery has been owned by the Cazes family since 1939.

"Tasted at the Mouton-Rothschild vertical in London, the 2010 Mouton-Rothschild is a modern-day benchmark for the First Growth and here, side-by-side with the 2009, it certainly has its nose in front. It is in possession of quite breathtaking delineation and precision, a crystalline bouquet with black fruit laced with minerals, potent pencil shaving notes, a touch of cold slate. It is totally entrancing. The palate has beguiling symmetry, but for me what really distinguishes this Mouton is its effortlessness. Like watching Usain Bolt in his prime sprinting to another world record, this wine is almost self-effacing in terms of its brilliance. Will Philippe Dhalluin ever better this Mouton-Rothschild? Keep it in the cellar for 15 years, if you know what's good for you." Tasted May 2016.

Rating 99

Savoury, structured and classically beautiful Bordeaux which drinks beautifully with complex black olive, dried herb and fragrant dark fruit flavours now; made from 48% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Cabernet Franc. 

Chateau Magnol has 31 hectares of grapes in the Haut-M?doc, west of the city of Bordeaux and has gravel as well as sandy soils in its vineyards. It has gained the classification of Cru Bourgeois, which this commandingly impressive wine more than lives up to.