By Charles Lea on 14/04/2014
Cos d'Estournel (£900) and it's stable (Pagodes £290, Cos Blanc £480) are released today but the pricing of Cos is not really conducive to primeur purchasing. If anyone is determined to complete a vertical we will be delighted to supply this but in the meantime there we have single bottles of the excellent 2007 (Neal Martin 92) in the warehouse that is yours for £88.
By Charles Lea on 11/04/2014
The second week of releases from the 2013 primeur campaign is over, and Lynch Bages has emerged as the first wine to ‘work’ in any real sense. The Château has released 65% less wine than last year, and has dropped its price a little.
By Charles Lea on 07/04/2014
In recent vintages the Bordeaux primeurs campaign has been an unruly affair, stretching out until the beginning of the summer holidays with no one wanting to be the first to jump. This year it seems to be the opposite..
By Ed H-B on 02/04/2014
“I arrived in Bordeaux on Sunday to taste the 2013 wines which are being shown en primeur. I think we knew all the way through last year, right from the beginning, that it was going to be a difficult vintage. “Making wine in 2013 was like sailing through a storm,”
By Charles Lea on 26/09/2013
Apparently we were waiting all this time for the great Bobness’ final pronouncement – as if that really changes anything about a wine already praised fulsomely by every other critic on the planet, including Neal Martin on the great Master’s own website.
By Charles Lea on 24/07/2013
International Wine Challenge (IWC) Merchant Awards Strictly Come Wine Tasting? On the 18th of July, at the 30th anniversary of the IWC awards, Lea & Sandeman was awarded 'En Primeur Merchant of the Year', All the L&S team are absolutely delighted to have been given this award by such a high-calibre panel, (Tim Atkin MW, Oz Clarke, Sam Harrop MW, Peter McCombie MW, Charles Metcalfe and Derek Smedley MW) and judged against such formidable competition.
By Charles Lea on 02/06/2013
The 2012 Bordeaux campaign will go down as one with a lot of sound and (especially) fury, signifying very little. The shame is that it obscures the real hard work being done all over this vast region which still makes a lot of the best value wines in the world.
By Charles Lea on 02/06/2013
You will have seen our earlier push on Denis Durantou's 'little wines', not to mention the little video about the 2012 vintage. Of course 'little wines' is a misnomer since they are far from little and offer some of the best value in Bordeaux - just at a more accessible price than his 'big wine' l'Église Clinet.
By Charles Lea on 02/06/2013
Up in the northern Médoc, around the village of Saint Christoly, it was normal, right up to the 1970s, for farmers to have some maize, some cows, a few pigs – and 4 hectares or so of vines. Part of what is now Clos Manou was a 4 hectare ‘Cru Bourgeois’ called Château Cantegrive.
By Charles Lea on 02/06/2013
Regular Primeur buyers from L&S will know that we have been banging the drum for Pierre Taïx's 'La Mauriane' since 2001, and this tiny property in Puisseguin Saint Emilion continues to produce wines of remarkable value, with Pierre continuing to tweak the way the vineyards and managed and the wine is made and aged.
By Charles Lea on 23/05/2013
2012 Bordeaux - Denis Durantou's 'Haiku of the vintage' & Las Cases, Saint Pierre, Vieux Chateau Certan, and yes.
