Saint Julien

Mature now, like a lot of 2007s this is quite soft to begin, a nose of hedgerow fruit and loamy 'sous-bois', a gentle and broad entry, velvety dry feel, then it seems to pick up speed as the frui...(read more)

84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot. From the Cuvelier family who own Chateau Leoville Poyferre, this wine delivers a similarly elegant and profound perfume of...(read more)

Plush and rounded, lively and winning with a good mid-palate feel and the quite evident oak is attractive rather than overpowering.

83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot. A very different grape mix to its stablemate Gloria, and immediately a much more imposing and authoritative style. Ruby to black at the centre, rich velvety fe...(read more)

85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 90% new wood. The oak does show, but not at all excessively. Finely tannic rich feel in the mouth. Velvety thickness remains fresh. Dusty tannins and plummy, r...(read more)

From very low yields (what were they doing here? It is way below their neighbours) 14.5% Merlot, 13.9% Cabernet Franc, 66.7% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot, and even at these yields, only 43...(read more)

I normally recommend Fiefs de Lagrange as a solid banker of a second wine in Saint Julien, but found that this year it was rather trounced by the supple juicy ripeness of Connétable. This, like t...(read more)

I tasted this well - really very well. It stood out amongst its peers with a glossy dark colour, ripe fruit nose and supple, succulent palate. Very much in the Talbot idiom, a Cabernet flavour wh...(read more)

The initial impression is of a very strong sweet oakiness - rather new world in style. But the volume is there underneath and the dense fruit character of the wine shrugs off this coating and pow...(read more)

By a surprising contrast to the Clos du Marquis, the 2006 Las Cases is much more approachable. The malos were quick this year so it was in barrel earlier than usual (by the 15th of December, and...(read more)