Lea & Sandeman Wine Merchants

At the time of the infamous 1985 “antifreeze” scandal a story did the rounds that the Japanese government had briefly and erroneously banned the importation of Australian wine, comedically confusing Australian with Austrian. It was, almost certainly, an urban myth but one does wonder what the fabled and lexicographically challenged Japanese civil servant would have made of Bert Salomon.

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UPDATE: The latest vintage of this cracking wine can be found on our website HERE for only £9.

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Pioneering a new vanguard of Chinon wines exemplifying purity and extraction, this is a splendid example of pure Cabernet Franc made by a seasoned expert. Rich, sumptuous, dark ruby in colour, yet with clean and precisely extracted fruit, Bernard Baudry's 2010 Domaine Chinon is a treat to drink now or will happily cellar over the next five years.

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Yes I know it's Wimbledon week, but it is still with great surprise that I find we still have a few places available for this exceptional wine dinner on Thursday.

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This is a wonderful organic Verdicchio from the territory of Apiro in the Macerata Province of Le Marche in central Italy, without a shadow of doubt the jewel of the region. The wine: Very pale, clean, bright and minerally, good fruit in the mid-palate and a shapely, refreshing clarity of purpose - lovely summer white for those summer lunches with starched linen tablecloths.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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“…these are truly wonderful Vintage Ports that will reward extended cellaring. Declarations are, more often than not, promises that are kept…” Neil Martin, www.

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The release of Sassicaia 2010 gives an opportunity to have a look at a few of the other wines from the west Tuscan coast, the ‘Maremma’.

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2009 Château du Maine - AOC Graves, Langon, Bordeaux Bordeaux has something like five thousand different Châteaux all making wine – and inevitably you get the full gamut made, in terms of quality. There is a lot to avoid, but also some real gems too thankfully.

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AUSTRIAN Whites and AUSTRALIAN Reds – a story of one wine-maker, two countries and a host of excellent wines

Wine of the Week: 2012 CASA DA SENRA VINHO VERDE LOUREIRO Lima Quinta dos Abrigueiros

Wine of the Week: 2010 ‘Domaine’ Domaine Bernard Baudry – Chinon

Thursday 27th June: Wine Dinner at Lutyens with Castello del Terriccio & Cantine Dei

Wine of the Week: 2012 Verdicchio Classico Superiore – Andrea Felici

2012 Bordeaux – a last honk of the horn – real value buys

2012 Value Bordeaux for the cellar: Denis Durantou’s Château Montlandrie

2012 Value Bordeaux for the cellar: Stéphane Dief’s ‘Clos Manou’

2012 Value Bordeaux for the cellar: Pierre Taïx’s ‘La Mauriane’

2011 Primeur Port: ‘Noval declares, late, but certainly worth the wait’.

Maremma Magic – Sassicaia 2010 and other jewels of the Tuscan coast

Wine of the Week: 2009 Château du Maine – AOC Graves, Langon, Bordeaux

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