 We've had the opportunity this year, with a little help from our friends, to have a ferret about among the byways and less fashionable quarters of Bordeaux. The region's top names were once described by Hugh Johnson as wine made by millionaires for millionaires, which is all very jolly if that is your fortunate position in life and good luck to you but, sadly, it is a situation that eludes us and, we somewhat impertinently suspect, the majority of our customers. Besides, given the capital it is actually quite easy (not to mention unimaginative) to fill a list with glowing icons of the region; the fun - and the skill - of it is to find much less well known properties that shine nonetheless, yet remain mystifyingly under appreciated. Obvious perhaps, but still worth repeating, is that it is also where the best value is to be found. "Good value" and "Bordeaux" have not sat comfortably in the same sentence for many years, but there is a sort of grass roots transformation at the artisan grower level where passionate winemakers strive to make better wine rather than just arbitrarily jack up the price from time to time. We are rather proud of our modest selections - red and white - they represent the fruits of genuine hard work by cheerily determined growers like Benoit Duborg of Chateau Haut Pasquet, miles away from the silly end of the market and without so much as a whiff of the decaying laurels upon which too many estates have rested for far too long.
|
