By Jack Chapman on 25/04/2023
And we’re off, scouting Châteaux for the best of Bordeaux 2022. Our head of Private Clients, Jack Chapman is sending us his notes and impressions, giving us a verbal tour of some of the finest wines of Bordeaux’s right bank, and the team’s take on the mystifying 2022 vintage.
By Jack Chapman on 14/04/2023
I am going out on a limb with this blog entry, to say that you probably don’t need me to tell you that Lafite, Mouton, Margaux and Haut-Brion will probably be exceptional in the 2022 releases. It is, by now, far from a secret that we’ve got an outstanding vintage on our hands.
By Jack Chapman on 28/11/2022
It’s interesting, the little avenues that life takes you down. I’ve been at Lea & Sandeman for nearly three years now, and I’ve enjoyed each one more than the last, but, despite working exceptionally hard at the ‘research’ part of the job, I still haven’t tasted every wine we have.
By Jack Chapman on 11/05/2022
I feel like these blogs have become something of a confession of late, so here’s another one. As much as, when we visit Bordeaux, I’m acting in a professional capacity (something many of you will know I’m just about capable of…) to taste, evaluate and communicate a vintage to you, I’m also secretly really just figuring out what I want to buy.
By Jack Chapman on 11/05/2022
Great old, grand old Pauillac. The most revered appellation in the Médoc felt more like it had gone back in time than perhaps any other area. The wines were generally very lean and precise – Merlot, again, suffered a fair bit up here and, with the wines usually Cabernet focussed anyway, it meant that these high percentages were pushed even higher.
By Jack Chapman on 09/05/2022
I have a soft spot for Margaux. I thought it was worth prefacing everything you’re going to read with this – The feelings I have for Margaux are along the lines of the ones I have for great Burgundy.
By Jack Chapman on 09/05/2022
Our tour de Saint-Julien started on a lovely sunny morning, with both of us slightly the worse for wear from the night before, having briefly gone our separate ways (David for a dinner at Château Lafite, myself for a far more oikish, if exceptionally fun do in Bordeaux Town Hall).
By Jack Chapman on 08/05/2022
Pessac-Leognan is a slightly peculiar place. You start in the city – Carmes Haut Brion, it’s fair to say, is quite literally an ‘urban winery’, such is its proximity to the hustle and bustle of Bordeaux. Slowly you start to drift out, Haut-Brion & La Mission, two absolutely stunning Châteaux, appear almost out of nowhere, cutting through the tower blocks and urban sprawl.
By Jack Chapman on 07/05/2022
Did Merlot suffer in Saint Émilion? Yes, is the short answer, but it was quite terroir dependent and also seemed less impacted than their left bank cousins.
By Jack Chapman on 06/05/2022
How on earth to summarise a vintage by appellation, which more or totally defied homogeneity? I’m going to try my best, almost solely using our own meandering experience and stack of tasting notes. Luckily Pomerol, which is where we began, makes is rather easier than most.
By Jack Chapman on 17/02/2022
Have you ever found, upon opening a bottle of Brunello, that you’ve tasted it and thought ‘I like this, but it’s just a little too austere for me – where is the pure pleasure?’. If that’s crossed your mind and stopped you from getting really excited about the wines, then the 2017 releases are for you.
By Jack Chapman on 30/12/2021
You know what I can’t stand. When you try and look up something very simple like ‘how to change a light bulb’ and a website insists on running you through the history of the lightbulb, every other lightbulb on the market and what might replace the lightbulb in the future before just telling you what you need to know – all in order to up their content-based hits.