Cab.Sauvignon

This wine, awarded a gold medal at the Concours Général Agricole in Paris, is everything one could want from a Bordeaux Supérieur. It’s a blend of Merlot (70 percent), the Cabernets (Franc and Sauvignon) and Malbec (all 30 percent), made by Hervé Lhuillier, the fourth-generation owner of Ch. Fleur Haut Gaussens.

Hervé achieves remarkable consistency year on year, but still manages to capture the characteristics of the vintage: his ’14 is delicately perfumed, with an array of dark fruit aromas, and shows crisp acidity yet sufficiently supple tannins to be uncorked now. Six months in new oak might overwhelm a lesser Bordeaux Supérieur, but are just right in this case, contributing extra complexity to the nose and roundness to the palate. A truly marvellous accompaniment to roast beef, lamb or venison.
Will Heslop, Wine Buyer

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Ch. Fleur Haut Gaussens, a thirty-hectare property north of Fronsac on Bordeaux’s Right Bank, stands out for the quality and originality of its wines. This brand new cuvée, made from 100 percent Cabernet Franc – a valued supporting actor in these parts but rarely the lead – is a case in point. It hails from young vines, which winemaker-proprietor Hervé Lhuillier harvests relatively late, to produce a wine bursting with bright, ripe red-fruit character on the nose and palate.

La Bergeronette’s gorgeous, lifted bouquet speaks of Hervé’s decision to retain around 15 percent of the stems during vinification; a technique more commonly seen in Burgundy than Bordeaux. One third of the final blend is aged for six months in 400-litre barrels (the rest in stainless steel) which impart only the subtlest of aromas, but take some credit for its irresistibly supple tannins and sheer juiciness. The finish reverberates with Cabernet Franc’s trademark acidity. Drink now to 2020.
Will Heslop, Wine Buyer


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Classic Coonawarra Cabernet, cool blackcurrant fruit with a hint of mint. Lovely intensity. Tannins are fine and well-integrated, good depth across the palate with an attractive ‘juiciness’ to the fruit. Silky and feels very complete already, the benefit of releasing to the market with some bottle age. This is a very fine but generous Cabernet, simply a very impressive wine which will age beautifully (but there’s no need to wait!) Drink 2019 – 2026+
Martyn Rolph, Private Account Sales Manager
 
The aromas immediately announce the variety, displaying intense characters of blackcurrant, red berry, black olive and a subtle hint of menthol.  Combined with the nutty oak aromas, this wine delivers a complex yet elegant bouquet.
The palate of this wine has a perfectly aligned structure, weight and intensity creating a backbone for longevity.  The aromas on the nose follow through onto the palate and these full bodied, spicy flavours combined with pin point acidity and firm, grainy tannins deliver a wine of stature and grace.  This wine will continue to develop in complexity and interest for as long as you can manage to cellar it.
Winemakers Note

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DeSante is a small grower and their Cabernet comes from the prestigious Oakville area within the Napa Valley, home to some of the most highly regarded and sought-after wines in California. I love this Cabernet: although it displays the typical generosity and power of a Napa Cabernet, there is a purity and elegance that defines the wine and makes it incredibly accessible. Wines of this quality can be rather expensive and unaffordable, but DeSante – who make only 1,000 cases in total – really deliver with this wine, both in terms of price and quality.
Fiona Hayes, Wine Buyer (winter 2018)

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Until 1st April this product is discounted by 40 percent. Price shown includes saving.*
Katharine and David spend a day in the cooperage every vintage, making sure that the toasting is suited to the vintage conditions – just another example of their meticulous attention to detail. This cuvée is aged for 10 months in 50 percent new oak. The fruit comes entirely from Oakville. Despite being a trickier vintage, Desante has managed to obtain balance between the 14.5 percent alcohol, ripe fruit and chalky tannins. The wine offers cassis, liquorice, clove and ripe red-fruit aromas, with warm, spicy notes on the finish.
Fiona Hayes, Wine Buyer
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If a wine could have perfect pitch this would be it: the tightly-coiled nose of this 96% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Cabernet Franc wine is poised with juicy graphite and cassis notes while the palate's delicious with pretty, small-berried red fruit, some spice & cocoa, the silkiest of tannin structures &, overall, a certain aristocratic aloofness commensurate with top Rutherford wines. Immaculate but ideally savoured between 2010 & 2020, along with some fine rib-eye.
(David Berry Green)

In contrast to Bin 707, Bin 169 is the expression of the fruit and terroir from one single region, Coonawarra, perhaps the region more closely associated with Cabernet Sauvignon in Australia than any other. Matured for 14 months in new French oak, contemporary style showing both regionality and maturation of Cabernet Sauvignon in fine grained French oak.

Reticent and tight at first on the nose, the wine opens up to reveal dark, small-berried cassis fruit, fruits of the forest and wet stone. The palate is the essence of power and elegance, like a giant slalom skier – elegant, suave in form, yet with great power and strength. The palate is full of minerality, with black and red fruit, and an iron or pepper-like spiciness. This has great acidity at the front and tensile tannins – ripe yet tight and huge, boding very well for its future development. One can almost see the remoteness and wildness of this unique vineyard, in terms of the wine’s strength and brooding darkness, yet at the same time an almost effortless, wistful, cerebral quality. For me, it has a distinct personality and sense of place, hints of Napa in the fruit and yet the structure reminded me of the strength and iron core so often found in the likes of Ch. Latour versus its other First Growth Bordeaux peers. Much like some of the world’s finest and most complex wines, this is a wine made on the edge of what is possible, truly expressive of its surroundings, opening and closing over its evolution, flirting with perfection. It’s something very special. It’ll be hard to resist over the next few years, but this has the stuffing to last very easily over the next decade or so. Drink 2027-35+.
Stuart Rae, Fine Wine Commercial Manager 

Returning to my original tasting notes, it is clear I must have been utterly captivated by the 2012 Promontory. Descriptors referencing black forest gâteaux, macerated blueberries and baking spices of all kind were scribbled with haste to capture the character of the wine before the next intriguing layer unfurled. On reflection, my initial excitement remains palpable, what a truly glorious offering. The precision and purity on the nose is remarkable, a crystalline clarity like you’re smelling in high definition, there’s lots of everything but not too much of anything. Cherry and blackcurrant fruit is rich and dense, but held in check by granite and cool stone. Left in the glass, a cooling freshness persists. So fine is the interplay of lustrous berries and svelte, silky tannins that, for a red of such grand proportions, it seems almost refreshing. All before a finish that lasts an age. Outstanding and a real joy to drink, an experience any wine lover should aspire to.
Jared Ehret, Private Account Manager