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)

75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot. Big and dark, compact and smooth but then rather burly, but not all that expressive for now. All there, but a bit if a sleepy bear for now, gr...(read more)

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)

53% Cabernet sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot. As seems to have become the norm, it takes a massively concentrated year for Beychevelle to pull out something medium-bodied. This is very nic...(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)

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)

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)