Beychevelle 1981, excellent value aged Saint-Julien

Not rated by critics, but that's their loss

A common refrain among those who know wine, or at least, know a lot more than I do, is "buy the years next to the 'great' years if you want exceptional value".

The philosophy is that the great years (say 1982, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005 etc) are often over priced.

Pick the right Chateau the year before or after, for example, and you could discover a real gem.

I heard this again recently in Bordeaux from someone whose family have been in the wine industry for more than half a century and own a first growth Chateau.

And so it was with the Beychevelle 1981, pictured left.

It's not rated by the critics. Wine Spectator gave it an 81, Robert Parker an 83. I'd give it an 89 personally.

It's not easy to find great 1981 vintages, from what I understand. On that basis, this is a gem as drinking it is a fairly rare experience not easily repeated.

This Beychevelle 1982 had lots of fruit left, a surprising amount I thought, and had clearly been well cared for in London's Planet of the Grapes wine store, and wherever else it has been. That's obviously so important for a 31 year old wine. It drank beautifully. Our host at Planet of the Grapes who tasted a glass with us, very much agreed that it was quite a special experience.

According to this site, there are some other good examples from Saint-Julien in that year for fans of aged value left bank Bordeaux.

Price-wise, it's about £50-60, which is outstanding value. More on stockists, here.

Marquis de Pez 2008: A decent drop at under ten Euros

I picked up a bottle of Marquis de Pez 2008 at Carrefour in Bordeaux recently. This was along with quite a few other wines, most of them in the 20-30 Euro a bottle range. I'll be reviewing them in the next few months as they are drunk.

Amusingly, we came straight from visiting visiting Chateau Le Pin (where we tasted the 2012 harvest from the vat) to filling up the car at Carrefour. How mighty are the fallen.

Marquis de Pez 2008, at around ten Euros a bottle, is among the cheapest I bought. I assumed it was the second wine of Le Pez or Les Ormes De Pez but that appears not to be right.

In fact, it's very hard indeed on Google to find out any thing about it at all. How odd.

The excellent book "Bordeaux St Estephe" by David Copp has nothing about it, and there seems to be little on the web.

I found one place it can be purchased, at ten Euros a bottle, here.

I assume it's close to Le Pez and Ormes de Pez. Berry Brothers seem to like Ormes de Pez 2008, as you might expect. Read more about it here.

So how is the 2008 Marquis to drink? That surely is the most important question.

Bright fruit, with that typical Saint-Estephe dry middle and a finish where you note the tannins, but not unpleasantly.

Let it breathe and you pick up that classic slightly muddy, mineral characteristic of the region.

I can't tell you it's got much more than that about it, but at the price, it's a very decent drop, if of course, far too young. 

Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2008

They say Grenache is the most under-rated grape. Along with Carmenere, I'd have to agree.

This little beauty, Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2008, is very highly rated on various wine sites.

I can see why. I tried it this week and it's superb. A real surprise to me. It had an almost Pauillac elegance, power and smoothness, with a subtlety I usually taste more in Bordeaux wines. (Yes, the left bank mainly, I am thinking St Julien)

Berry Brothers, not known for being particularly verbose in comparison with some wine retailers, are very keen, saying it is the "Most Exciting Wine of The Vintage".

They go on to say:

"Warm, ripe, sweet red and black fruit with sun dried herbs on the nose… intoxicating and hedonistic on the palate… this really is very close to the mighty 2007 but in some ways it is more yielding, and will be ready to be quaff as the 2007 lies dormant. It’s like a Provençale perfume: a beguiling essence of where it was grown. This is an estate on the up. (Simon Staples, Fine Wine Director)

The 2008 is made up of 46% Grenache, 34% Syrah, 14% Mourvèdre, 5% Cinsualt and 1% intriguingly described as ‘divers’. The wine has a floral perfume and an elegant and beautifully balanced palate, with notes of hedgerow and gentle spice to the fore and attractive velvety tannins providing eloquent support.
(Simon Field MW, Rhône Buyer)"

I can't do the detail they can, but I can recommend it as an unusual (to me) CNP.

Chris Kissack, AKA the Wine Doctor, has a useful and readable profile of the Chateau, as usual, on his site.

He notes that they are a careful bunch, and it shows in the 2008 that I tasted:

"The fruit is harvested by hand, with careful attention to ensure each variety is picked at the appropriate time; with so many different varieties in the typical Châteauneuf vineyard, the temptation to save time, money and effort by picking all together is not inconsiderable."

It's not cheap, at somewhere between £30 and £40 a bottle, depending on duty etc. But it is a real gem.

Beau-Site 2005 Saint-Estephe: A decent mid-range drop

One of the many great things about living in London is the vastly improved restaurant scene.

A particular favourite of mine is the Hawksmoor steak restaurant in Spitalfields, near Liverpool Street Station.

It's the original of a fast expanding chain of five, and does excellent steaks.

Importantly, the folks who run it offer £5 corkage on a Monday evening.

And so I've spent a fair few Mondays enjoying great food and wine, at a much lower cost than usual, thanks to them.

Last night, for the first Monday night in a while, we sampled Beau-Site 2005, a Chateau I must admit I had not heard of.

As you can see from Wine-Searcher.com prices vary. We paid about £35 for our bottle, which is about the top end of what it's worth, I'd say.

If you sample some, it needs serious decanting. We had it open for half an hour but on first taste it was bitter and overly mineral. I almost declared it undrinkable. After another thirty minutes or so it opened up beautifully and went well with rare streak, as dry reds always do.

For most who sample it, it rates in the 80's and I'd say that's fair. It's still too young to drink really, but of course, the problem with storing lower/mid range wines like this are cost and space.

It's not amazing value at over £30. But if you paid under £30, you'd feel you'd done well.

Berry Brothers say the estate is good value and drinks well early. The 2010 looks like it will be worth sampling.

Harlan Estate 1994 and Bond Estate Melbury 2002

 I've often wondered, if I was genuinely rich, or even just wealthy, how much I'd pay for a bottle of wine.

I can't of course answer that. I'm not rich, or wealthy, and cost is subjective depending on what proportion of your holdings that cost represents.

Wine, like art I suppose, plays with money in unusual ways. Zeros can be added that don't make much difference to some people.

The value is as much in buying the rarity as it is in how it tastes and the institutions, individuals or organisations you support by paying whatever it costs.

I was lucky enough to try both the wines on the left recently, over a dinner with some folks from Harlan Estate and Bond Estate.

They were charming company, and it was fascinating hearing how both Harlan and Bond Estate got started.

There's a great mini-history-and-personal-essay from the Harlan proprietor on this page. Well worth a read.

And the wine? I tried a whole variety of wines from the estates over the course of the evening.

It was my first experience of the high-end Napa wines.

My favourites were the two eldest, in keeping with my love for aged left bank Bordeaux wines of course.

The 1994 Harlan was the stand-out of the two. It's hard to get and I'm not even going to mention the cost. I will say that for the same money I could buy an entire case of superb aged Bordeaux.

Does that mean this wine is not worth what it costs to drink? No, not at all. Great wine like this, with an amazing story behind it, in great company, is worth whatever you want it to be.

Would I buy this wine myself, being who I am and with my tastes? Right now, no.

But if I was a wealthy fan of California reds, I'd feel it would be my duty to support the immense effort and artistry that goes into making great wines such as Harlan and Bond.

Plus, it drinks beautifully. Taking the financials out of it, I can now see what all the fuss is about with regard to the top Napa reds.

Chateau Lilian Ladouys 1995, great value vintage drinking

Of all the wines I've tried recently, I think this one represents the best bang for my buck.

The Chateau doesn't get great reviews on the web.

The Wine Doctor, aka Chris Kissack, says he expects great things in the future from them.

Perhaps I got lucky with this bottle of 1995. At £28 from The Sampler in Islington, London, I thought it was the pick of the bunch that I've bought recently.

They don't appear to have it any more. I can see why it sold out so fast. This site says they have it for £25 a bottle.

It's classic aged, top value Saint-Estephe. Big, minerally, but perfectly aged. The bottle I had was at its peak.

Saint-Estephe wines are not for the faint-hearted, though this one is not as bold and mineral as a Pez, for example.

But if you like your Bordeaux with some character, this is a steal if you can find it.

Pichon-Longueville 2001: Superb 'affordable' second growth

A king among wines

I was lucky enough to visit this Chateau just over a year ago for a tasting. We tried the 1996, the 1998 and the 2000.

All were incredible. As you'd expect.

Pichon Baron, as it is sometimes known, (not Comtesse, just across the road) is one of my favourite wines.

It's owned by French company AXA. Whatever you think about corporate ownership of top wine producers, you have to admit they have done an amazing job.

The Chateau itself, completely re-done in recent years is stunning. One of the best looking I've seen. It has an almost magical look to it. Here's a pic.

It's not cheap drinking of course, as a second growth.

The 2001, pictured left, is somewhere between £50 and £70 a bottle, according to Wine-searcher.

Of all, the 1998 has been my favourite so far. But this 2001, which I had recently in Shanghai, of all places, is a superb example.

It's still far too young, but still a big smooth elegant, powerful Pauillac. I've run out of words now. Just drink some when you can. It's just a true masterpiece at the price.

Bel Air Lagrave 1989: Bargain vintage drinking

I picked up an end of line bottle of this, the 1989 Bel Air Lagrave, back in April in Vienna.

I paid about 20-30 Euros for it. No more.

For the money it's really excellent value if you like aged Bordeaux wines from the Graves.

I thought it was drinking perfectly. Plenty of spicy black fruit left, (typical Graves in that regard) but with that forest floor / mushroom ageing thing, that adds so much to aged Bordeaux wines.

The Telegraph website here in the UK has it for £34 a bottle.

I'm not sure you can get a 23 year old Bordeaux wine that's drinking so well at a better price, even in the inflated UK market.

If there is, I'd love to hear about it. I just bought a magnum of Cantelys 1999 for about £45. That might qualify but it's so much younger the comparison wouldn't be fair I suppose. I will report back on the Cantelys in due course.

It's hard to keep up with who is still in, or out of, the Cru Bourgeois classification these days/each year. But this is a little gem that deserves to be there if the other years are anything like this one.

Two more great value quaffing wines: Clos d'Alzan 2010 and Jean-Paul Dubost Beaujolais Villages Tracot 2011

£58 plus VAT/Duty from: FromVineyardsDirect

Here's a couple of good value quaffing cases, as mentioned in the previous post.

First up: Clos d'Alzan 2010. From terroir very very close to Châteauneuf-du-Pape, so I am told, it's bargain drinking.

My case was around £80-90 all in, from those excellent chaps and chapesses at FromVineyardsDirect.com, my favourite online retailer.

Now it's a bit more (mine was fortunately En Primeur, bought on the spur of the moment some time ago) but it's still worth it.

At £120 a case, here's where you can get it. 

That's pretty good value at under a tenner. 

I can't see how you could do better in a supermarket or via Laithwaites etc. 

As far as I can tell, the only UK outfit that competes with FromVineyardsDirect.com for value wines is the Wine Society. 

But given they are non-profit, I'm not sure how fair the comparison is.

Anyhow, here's a bit more about the Clos. It's typically big, rich, broad and full of beans. Not literally. 

It's hard to drink without food, but it's an excellent accompaniment. As are most decent wines of course.

Here below is a shot of the Tracot I also bought recently, which you could drink with just a snack.

To be exact, it's Domaine Jean-Paul Dubost Beaujolais Villages Tracot 2011.

I picked up a case, on a whim, from Berry Brothers in London recently for around £110.

Here's a review of it from the BBR website:

"Fresh, natural, mineral and quite serious with a lively spiciness under the sapid black cherry fruit. Fresh acidity and a serious mineral component help to make this an alive wine. Just delicious, and one of the best sub-£10 reds I’ve ever had. 92/100
(Jamie Goode, The Wine Anorak, 21 November 2011)"

£110 a case from BBR

I wouldn't go as far as Jamie Goode does, but it's a lovely drop, and at the price, you can't go wrong.

I drank a glass, then drew the air out of the bottle over night and then let it breathe again the next day for 30 mins.

It really opened up the second time around.

What I like about the Northern Beaujolais wines I have tried is the finish on them. I find wine that disappears in taste/length as soon as you swallow, well, just annoying.

This Jean-Paul Dubost Beaujolais Villages Tracot really lingers considering it's a Pinot Noir grape. 

I've yet to discover much of Burgundy, so I'm sure it's not alone in nearby regions. For the price, it's definitely a gem.

Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon 2011: A real find

This is my first post for a while.

I've been away, in Brazil, Turkey, China, Germany, Malta, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, France and Singapore. Phew. It's nice to be back in Blighty for a bit.

Of those, only Turkey, China and Germany have half-decent wines :)

France of course, was amazing. More on my recent Bordeaux trip in another post. 

More also on Turkish and Chinese wine later.

I would not recommend Brazilian wines.

They say the sparkling white and Cabernet reds from the south are drinkable.

They are wrong. In Brazil, drink Chilean reds. Or Argentinian of course. Uruguay has some wine too, but one hears it's not up to much.

In particular in Brazil I'd suggest Carmenere, which I found very passable in many restaurants on the North East coast of the country. More on that, again later.

Meanwhile, here's a true gem of a wine: Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon 2011.

I've tasted, and posted on, the 2007, a while back, which is superb at the price.

I was dubious about the 2011. So young, how could it compete?

But it does. It has similar characteristics to the 2007: The richness, the excellent acid balance, the supple smoothness and the spine. Overall I'd rather drink the 2007, as it has aged just a tad, and so had broadened out a little. The 2011 is still quite tight, if you know what I mean.

But what a wine at the price!

I bought this bottle above in Dusseldorf airport for around 10 Euros. A total bargain.

It's what you'd expect from Lafite Rothschilds, but it's a whole heap better than anything else in that price range.

In the UK of course, rip off central, you pay a bit more. £10 or £11 a bottle. But well worth it.

It's to be my next quaffing case for sure. Once I have got through my case of Clos d'Alzan 2010 (bought en primeur at £7 a bottle and amazing, I am pleased to say) and a case of Tracot Beaujolais Recolte 2011 (ideal for Christmas chugging, from Berry Brothers). More on those, later.