Balthus 2007, world class 'garagistes' wine for £30 ish a bottle

Of course most of us don't drink £30 bottles on a regular basis.

I don't. My stock wine at the moment is Domaine de Sarabande 2010/11 at just over a tenner a bottle.

Alternatively the UK Wine Society has superb Rhone wines at as little as £7 each. Paul Jaboulet is one name to try, well known in the region.

But now and again you want to try something a bit special. Something a little rare or unknown.

Balthus is one of those wines. It's not super cheap, but it's a wine that has apparently beaten first growth wines at ten times the price in blind tastings.

Fine and Rare have it at £200 for six. A bit punchy on price? Maybe. But for what you get it's worth it.

It's from a tiny vineyard where they work really hard to only use the best of the best grapes, with lots of pruning early on to make the vines work really hard in producing the best grapes possible.

Then they use a slightly different process in production. Read all about it here. And the "garagistes" movement/style here.

The result is a really concentrated, 100% merlot wine that's quite different from anything else I've had. It needs a lot of time in the decanter. I would suggest four hours, then saving half for the following day.

Wine can't breathe enough (within reason) in my view. I had 1967 Bordeaux the other day that my friend finished the following day and said it was much better.

The Balthus is quite acid to start, but when it opens, really silky, smooth and rich. The tannins fall away and the concentrated dark fruit lingers wonderfully.

Highly recommended as a wine to show off to friends over dinner, given the tiny production and approach taken by the makers. Always nice to drink something wonderful with an unusual story behind it. Particularly when you know some people have paid 10 times the price for similar wines voted not as good as this by the experts.

More on how it scores is here.

Here's a fun video of the taste test where it beat so many top wines.

Bargain 2005 St Emilion: Croque Michotte, an organic gem

Good honest right bank quaffing

Sometimes you just want a hearty well-drinking rich Bordeaux.

I had this a couple of months back, when the weather was much colder. It went wonderfully with a rich beef and bean stew.

Perhaps not so much a summer red, given its power but the ripe fruit and low acidity (OK that's from the Wine Society blurb, my notes are not that good) might mean you could drink it before winter.

This wine is about £16 a bottle from the non-profit UK Wine Society. Decent value at that price, I'd say.

The 2005's are just starting to come into their own for me. Just beginning to drink well. 

What a year it will turn out to be. They say 2010 is going to be the best year in history for Bordeaux (better than 1870, 1945, 1961 or 1982). While we wait, the 2005's will do very nicely.

A visit to Petrus, and a taste of the 2012 and 1983

Rebuilding work under way

 Last month I was privileged enough to pay a visit to Petrus, that most renowned of Chateaus.

Their hospitality was superb, and the tour comprehensive.

Our host was charming, detailed and great fun. 

There's considerable rebuilding work going on, but the few images below should give you an idea of how the place looks.

The vines themselves

Beautifully manicured

 We tried the 1983 over lunch after this visit and it was staggeringly good. Probably the best wine I have had.

It's up there with my best wine experiences alongside Cos D'estournel 1990, Montrose 1982 and Latour 1976.

The Merlot that makes up around 95% of their grape output is not my favourite grape.

But Petrus's position on a 'cap' of blue clay, similar apparently to that at Meyney on the left bank, makes it a really different kettle of fish.

I tried the Gazin 1982 from the vineyard just next door, and the difference is stark. The terroir of Petrus really does seem completely unique.

Just after the harvest

 As a rank wine amateur visiting Petrus was a really superb experience. It really feels more like a working vineyard than some of the museum-like chateaus of the left bank, in say Pauillac. (with the exception of Latour)

But it's also, as you would expect, beautifully manicured. A really unique place and I was humbled by the experience.

If you are going to be a wasp, this is where you want to be

We arrived a few weeks or so after the harvest, in mid-October, just when the weather was turning towards the properly autumnal and towards winter.

The 2012 harvest was a few weeks, perhaps a month in the vats and we were allowed a secret sip of a few samples.

One could certainly taste the differences between the differet parcels. I could get a sense of how those with taste buds far superior to mine begin to decide how the final blend of parcels will go into barrel.

But of course at that stage the wine is so different from how it will taste in six, twelve or 18 months and beyond, it was hard to comment other than to say "wow" and keep quiet and listen.

Petrus are trying a new grape cooling machine, pictured below, which is apparently unique. Its job is to lower the temperature from the fields for pressing. 

2012 seems to have been a pretty reasonable year, from what I gathered. Not of course like 2009 and 2010, but by no means a bad harvest, from what I remember.

Of course one would jump at the chance to go back again sometime.

If I don't, I'll always remember our charming welcome and wonderful tour. Needless to say, if you get the chance to see it, it's a really very special place.

Where the magic happens

I won't go into prices. It's not a wine I'll be able to buy myself, unless I do much better in business one day than I currently do, but I'm delighted to have tried a couple of years of Petrus. Doing so is really one of life's special moments, particularly having seen the vineyard and heard the history first hand.

A memory to treasure. I can still taste every drop.

Beautiful concrete

Cooling harvest grapes

Yum

The 2012 harvest, a few weeks in

Sampled over lunch. Heaven.

Chateau Du Gaby 2003: a rare gem

Gaby 2003 really is a rare gem.

I picked up a case from the Chateau recently, via a friend of a friend. One of the last cases available, so I hear.

It's a stunning wine that's made me eat some humble pie.

I'd been arguing that for someone of my limited means, who can't access the really stunning right bank wines, the left bank offers way better value.

But Gaby 2003 at around £20 a bottle has shut me up. What a wine.

Big, husky, and plum coloured, it drinks like a wine ten years older.

Who says Merlot dominated wines at around £20 a bottle can't match up to the Medoc and St Estephe? Not I, any longer.

Château la Rivière: An worthy experiment under £20

Château la Rivière is a corker of a drinking merlot. It's not my favoured grape, but sometimes it can be really quite good, as long as one does not over pay.

Adnams, a UK retailers with impressive ethical credentials to boot, has some excellent offers on Château la Rivière right now.

At £18 a bottle, it's not the bargain of the year, but if you are looking to experiment with a fine drinking merlot at under £20, it's worth trying a bottle for sure.

Claret Les Sources Fronsac 2005: An £8 gem of a wine

I'm not sure where you find this wine online, but Claret Les Sources Fronsac 2005 is worth noting.

Here's the 'closest' web link.

At just £8 a bottle in the UK it's a delicious, powerful tangy right bank bargain.

Being right bank merlot is clearly dominant.

At the price it's clearly a gem. The long, nearly-tannic-but-not finish follows a deceptively mellow and aromatic nose and some big smooth raspberry fruit in the middle.

I tried what you might call the big brother of this wine on Monday, Château la Rivière. I'll post separately on that.