Chateau Picque Caillou 2005 (Pessac-Leognan)

This Chateau Picque Caillou 2005 from the UK's Wine Society is a decent buy at £18 per bottle if you are a Society member.

It's from a region of the Medoc, Pessac-Leognan, that I'm just starting to explore.

Pessac-Leognan seems to combine a spiciness with a smoothness that's quite surprising as a combination.

The 2005 is still of course, very young. I can see it aging very well.

It has a very compelling, rich and long finish that makes it go well with the oyster mushrooms with garlic and chilli I just cooked as an accompaniment. At £18 a bottle, it's worth a punt.

Chateau de Chantegrive 2000: A lovely bargain from the Graves

Back in 2003 Parker said of this wine: "The excellent 2000 displays aromas of scorched earth, ripe black cherry and currant fruit, tobacco, and cigar smoke. Ripe, medium-bodied, soft, and attractive, it will be drinkable young and last until 2012."

He gave it an 88. I'd give it an 86 personally. But what do I know?

It's certainly still going strong. A friend of mine had this bottle direct from the Chateau and had it well stored for a number of years.

It saw light of day this week, and whilst I didn't get the scorched earth part, the black cherry and hint of smoke, with a certain softness, means it is well worth a try.

It's not so easy to get though, according to wine-searcher.

However, if you can pick it up for less than £20-25, it qualifies as a bit of gem. It has aged well so far.

An evening to remember at Le Lion D'or, Margaux, 30 September 2011

I would point out that there were five of us...

Château Picard 2005, Saint-Estèphe: A genuine value gem

At £14.95 you'll find it hard to beat Château Picard, 2005, Saint-Estèphe from the UK's Wine Society, for sheer value.

Yes it's still very young, but it is undoubtedly developing wonderfully.

Spicy, with dark berry character and classic Saint-Estèphe minerality, it's also deliciously fruity with a long finish.

The Wine Society describes it thus:

"Still young and spicy on the nose, with marked freshness from majority cabernet, this is broachable now if decanted but will probably start to show at its best after another two or three years in bottle. 2010–2022."

It's clearly exceptional value, given the quality of the year. Highly recomended. 

A guide to good value 2009 Bordeaux

 2009 was a year for high quality Saint-Estèphe wines, due, as usual, to the combination favourable weather conditions and geographical location of that region of the left bank of Bordeaux.

That's according to this article by Panos Kakaviatos, who says that these are the good value 2009 Cru Bourgeois to keep an eye out for:

Recommended Crus Bourgeois:
In its own class: Château Sociando-Mallet (Haut-Médoc)

Other excellent wines:

Château Bernadotte (Haut-Médoc)
Château Le Boscq (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Chasse-Spleen (Moulis)
Château Clauzet (Saint-Estèphe)
Château de Gironville (Haut-Médoc)
Château Haut-Bages Monpelou (Pauillac)
Château Haut-Marbuzet (Saint-Estèphe)
Château La Haye (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Le Crock (Saint-Estèphe)
Château de Pez (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Lilian Ladouys (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Pibran (Pauillac)
Château Pontac-Lynch (Margaux)
Château Poujeaux (Moulis)
Château Phélan Ségur (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Preuillac (Médoc)

Top three in a blind tasting were apparently: "Château La Haye (about $30 retail) in first place, Château Clauzet ($20 retail) in second and Château Haut-Marbuzet ($45) third."

Cantemerle 2000: A good buy, but only at the right price

I tried the 2000 for I think, the first time last night with a friend.

We overpaid for it, in London's Planet of the Grapes wine bar (fair enough in a way; they have to make a living).

They charge £60 for it. Wine websites have it for around £40.

Fine and Rare has it for £32, before tax.

At the price we paid, I was a little disappointed.

The aged fruit taste was wonderful, and there was a hint of minerality and some lovely complexity, but it just didn't stick to the palate as I would have liked.

If you can get this for £30-40 a bottle, and can let it breathe (which may have been our problem, as it only got 30 minutes of breathing before we drank half of it), then I'd say it's worth it.

I'll keep an eye out for a bargain case of this. But at the plus £50 price range, when you can get a 2003 Gloria St Julien at less than £50, I'd say one could do a little better in terms of value elsewhere.

Berberana Reserva Rioja 2007: Amazing value

Great value under £7, decent at £13

I picked up a bottle of this at Tesco at less than £7. I believe it's usually about £12-13.

At that price it's a real bargain. Having tasted it, I'd just about pay full price for another, at a pinch.

It's a really light colour for a Rioja. A friend of mine who know his wines struggled to place it as such, which might be why I like it so much. So often I find Rioja wines big in predictable full bodied Tempranillo flavour, one dimensional and gone off the palate in less than ten seconds.

This Berberana Reserva is really quite unusual, a little more complex and subtle, with a reasonable length attached. My wine buff friend who I tasted it with, says it has a "tannic backbone". For something different from Rioja, it's well worth a try, if you can stomach buying wine from Tesco.

Chateau Gloria St Julien 2003: Gem of 2012

 Gloria St Julien 2003 really has it all. The hot summer of that years means the fruit really comes to the fore.

I love a good St Julien wine but it's not my favourite part of the left bank. Often I find the wines a little, well, less bold than I like. "Very elegant, but no hips", as a friend of mine put it.

My favourite is where St Estephe borders Pauillac. So Cos D'Estournel for example, where I once drank the 1990, which was sublime.

But this St Julien 1993 Gloria is one of the best wines you can get for under £50. That's not cheap, but this wine is a stunner. It combines the big flavours of the 1993 vintage with the traditional subtlety of Chateau Gloria and the St Julien region.

The complexity is a wonder, and the finish well over a minute in length. It also has a slight minerality usually found further north, which surprised me.

Truly a gem to savour. For £50 you can also buy Smith Haut Lafite 2005 from the Graves, which is a beauty, but this Gloria definitely wins out in my book. Superb.

Puligny-Montrachet Vielles Vignes 2009: No bargain but what a beauty

How would you describe this fine white from the Loire?

It's smooth to the first taste, growing very quickly to rich, big honey flavours and a strong acid finish.

I'm not a big drinker of white wine, although I must confess a weakness for Bret Brothers Pouilly Fuisse 2009

That's a very different kettle of fish to this Puligny-Montrachet (left) from Remigny, Saone et Loire.

This wine, at £29.99, is a lot more than I would usually pay for white.

Usually I limit myself to £15-20 for a half decent Sancerre or if I can find it, a white Bordeaux from the left bank (Cos D'estournel makes an excellent one, but it's not cheap)

This wine was a gift, however, but it makes it onto the blog purely due to its unusual character. Not what I expected, but nonetheless very tasty indeed. If you want to spend £30 on a big rich fine white, this Puligny-Montrachet is a good place to start.

My gift was from Sainsbury's, but I'm sure you can find this elsewhere too.

Septimo Dia Malbec Mendoza 2009 - Great price, great wine

I've not been a huge fan of a lot of Malbec wine I have tasted in recent years.

People go on about it to me, and I often struggle to see what all the fuss is about.

Yes, the Catena's make some good ones.

But so often a Malbec is very one-dimensional.

Masses of fruit, high alcohol, they overwhelm the palate and then are gone in less than thirty seconds.

Clearly I've not been drinking the right stuff.

This Septimo Dia Malbec Mendoza 2009 I tried recently definitely bucks that trend.

Much longer-lasting than the usual, its has a finesse and complexity I was very pleasantly surprised at.

This UK wine site has it at less than £11, which for that price is amazing value.