St-Emilion
First officially classified in 1954, St Emilion is one of Bordeaux's largest winemaking appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux combined. Many of the region's finest vineyards can be found atop the steep limestone slopes of the village itself, although a fledgling band of garagiste producers are eschewing terroir to make small-batch, deeply-concentrated wines from their homes.
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Ready, but will keep,
Bottles of this product are discounted by 30%. Price shown includes saving.
Set at the foot of the rolling hills of St Emilion, Ch. Billeron Bouquey has been a family-owned domaine for over two centuries. The winemaking has been in the trusted hands of the women in the family for more than three decades, producing modern wines with elegance and class. From the highly rated 2016 vintage, our Wine Merchant’s Range St Emilion shows an attractive nose of red and black berries, with a hint of cedar which gives way to a palate of opulent fruit, fine, firm tannins and a long, cool finish.
Set at the foot of the rolling hills of St Emilion, Ch. Billeron Bouquey has been a family-owned domaine for over two centuries. The winemaking has been in the trusted hands of the women in the family for more than three decades, producing modern wines with elegance and class. From the highly rated 2016 vintage, our Wine Merchant’s Range St Emilion shows an attractive nose of red and black berries, with a hint of cedar which gives way to a palate of opulent fruit, fine, firm tannins and a long, cool finish.
Ready, but will improve,
OK, OK. You've made your point. Yes you have nailed it again for the fourth year in a row. What would you like me to say? Yes, the wine you are making does surpass the place out the back where you once stabled your horses. This 2011 is fabulously defined, with the finesse and elegance of Michelangelo’s David.
A masculine, yet ultimately feminine beauty in perfect equilibrium, harmony, power and grace. Please, please just make it affordable for us mere mortals this year. Simply magnificent.
Simon Staples, Berrys’ Fine Wine Director
A masculine, yet ultimately feminine beauty in perfect equilibrium, harmony, power and grace. Please, please just make it affordable for us mere mortals this year. Simply magnificent.
Simon Staples, Berrys’ Fine Wine Director
Chateau Canon,
For laying down,
Simply irresistible. Well, possibly, if the price can be controlled! This is really sumptuous and pure. Hedonistic is not an adjective I have used often this year. Words like “firm” “grip” “structure” “tannic pile-up” are more scattered over the 350 or so wines we tried. This however is the antitheses of words like that. If this can come in at around £600 per case, bite its arm off. Fingers crossed.
(Simon Staples, Berrys’ Fine Wine Director)
(Simon Staples, Berrys’ Fine Wine Director)
Chateau Pavie,
For laying down,
Ch. Pavie occupies some of the best terroir in all of Bordeaux. The vineyards sweep up the steep slope and onto the plateau that rises high to the right of you as you enter St Emilion town from the southern plain. Bought in 1998 by Gérard Perse, he gave the property as high a level of attention and passion as he did to amassing a fortune from supermarkets. The wines entered a controversial period when, under the guidance of Michel Rolland, yields were slashed and the wines became super concentrated and super intense. This achieved 100-point scores from Robert Parker and the coveted “Premier Grand Cru Classé (A)” grade, but at the possible expense of the property’s magnificent terroir.
The 2016 vintage has seen a marked shift back to making a wine that is less extracted and which will be aged in less punishingly new oak. The proportion of Merlot has been reduced and the Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon raised. The 2016 itself is inky deep in colour and slow to come through on the palate, although the expressions eventually work their way through, revealing plum fruits, enticing notes of spice and gentle hints of leather. The close is dense and tannic, yet the fruit persists and is accessible; promising a wine that is altogether more amenable to some of the supercharged wines of Perse’s earlier years. It will be drinking that bit sooner and it undoubtedly gives more of the vineyard itself. Drink 2024-2040.
The 2016 vintage has seen a marked shift back to making a wine that is less extracted and which will be aged in less punishingly new oak. The proportion of Merlot has been reduced and the Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon raised. The 2016 itself is inky deep in colour and slow to come through on the palate, although the expressions eventually work their way through, revealing plum fruits, enticing notes of spice and gentle hints of leather. The close is dense and tannic, yet the fruit persists and is accessible; promising a wine that is altogether more amenable to some of the supercharged wines of Perse’s earlier years. It will be drinking that bit sooner and it undoubtedly gives more of the vineyard itself. Drink 2024-2040.
Chateau Cheval Blanc,
Ready, but will keep,
This is a truly great Cheval Blanc. Just a smidgen below the quality of the 2005 (yes, really) it is a monster of a wine, and utterly complete. Overflowing with dense fruit, huge tannins and balanced acidity it has all the tools to age majestically. The nose is all creamy, rich, intense black fruit while the harmonious palate boasts cool, incredibly concentrated, elegant cassis and plums with an astonishing pure, complex finish that we could still taste 10 minutes after leaving the chteau. Without a shadow of doubt, the wine of the vintage.
For laying down,
All the 2015 wines from Ch. Ausone wowed us and Moulin Saint-Georges is often a leading contender in our category for great-value wine for the table in five years from the vintage, this year was no different. Concentrated fruit is blended superbly with tasty tannins and a deep, blackberry finish. It is a crowd-pleasing wine. Rewarding. It demonstrates all that is good about St Emilion.
Blend: 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc
Blend: 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc
Chateau Angelus,
For laying down,
There is a beguiling freshness and lift to this wine, a result of the high proportion of Cabernet Franc in the blend. This perfectly interweaves with the Merlot, which is ripe, fresh and lush.
Precise dark fruits, rich, juicy blackcurrants and blackberries combine with a healthy dollop of cream. Very tasty. The spiciness on the finish is incredibly well received. With a crunchy mouth-feel, the wine’s concentration is certainly attractive.
Blend: 62% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Franc
Precise dark fruits, rich, juicy blackcurrants and blackberries combine with a healthy dollop of cream. Very tasty. The spiciness on the finish is incredibly well received. With a crunchy mouth-feel, the wine’s concentration is certainly attractive.
Blend: 62% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Franc
For laying down,
This is an engaging treat of plums, damson, cherry, blackcurrant and blackberries, all rounded off by lovely creamy notes. The wine shows a bright, deep ruby colour and a perfumed nose of ripe, red fruit as well as a hint of spice from oak-ageing. The palate is well balanced, with brambly fruit shining through.
For laying down,
Ch. Figeac stands out in some style in 2015. We have a soft spot for the wines of this estate and found the wines to be triumphant again this year. Fine, stylish and with generous gravitas, the wine immediately appeals in the glass with a tremendous dark purple colour. Lively, with spice evident on the nose and dancing on the palate, the highlight here is the really super-fine tannins which are just wonderfully integrated.
The finish is tasty, harmonious and refreshing. We loved the tension and underlying power of the wine. There is the coolness shared by the 2015s, but slightly more restrained. It's a wine which makes you happy to taste, drink and enjoy. Really delicious and complete, t is very much Ch. Figeac.
Blend: 29% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Cabernet Franc
The finish is tasty, harmonious and refreshing. We loved the tension and underlying power of the wine. There is the coolness shared by the 2015s, but slightly more restrained. It's a wine which makes you happy to taste, drink and enjoy. Really delicious and complete, t is very much Ch. Figeac.
Blend: 29% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Cabernet Franc
For laying down,
In recent years this fine estate has performed extremely well and 2015 is no exception. The wine has a great balance of ripe raspberry fruit and soft-grained tannins. It is simply delicious and will be a joy to drink two to three years after the vintage and 10 years thereafter. It shows a silky, seductive nose, with a core of redcurrant fruit. It is certainly one of the more successful wines from St Emilion this year.
Chateau Ausone,
For laying down,
There is a wonderful quality to this grand vin in 2015. Its hilltop location looking out over the appellation always makes it a glorious property to visit and we loved the wine this year. Sweet, succulent and beautifully perfumed with floral aromas and a touch of vanilla spice, there is real focus here.
This great estate has used its renowned terroir to create something which is full of multi-layered fruit complexity. Really focused, rewarding and utterly charming, the mouth-filling creamy palate offers a richness of flavour which lingers long on the finish. This epic wine is one of the very best produced by the Bordelais in 2015.
Blend: 50% Merlot, 50% Cabernet Franc
This great estate has used its renowned terroir to create something which is full of multi-layered fruit complexity. Really focused, rewarding and utterly charming, the mouth-filling creamy palate offers a richness of flavour which lingers long on the finish. This epic wine is one of the very best produced by the Bordelais in 2015.
Blend: 50% Merlot, 50% Cabernet Franc
Clos Fourtet,
For laying down,
The nose here is so seductive. With high-toned notes of violets, autumn leaves and a gorgeous toasty mocha edge, the seduction continues on the palate with sweet fleshy Merlot fruit coated by fine tannins and toasty, spicy notes from the oak. There is a freshness, energy and overall balance that really impresses.
Chateau Larcis Ducasse,
For laying down,
I loved the blueberry and violet aromatics of this wine and the subtle smoky notes that prevail on the nose. It is also very finely poised on the palate with a wonderful freshness showing the hallmarks of the vintage. This offers an excellent introduction to the fine estate. A wine to savour and enjoy.
Chateau Cheval Blanc,
For laying down,
Cheval Blanc has a really pleasing velvety texture in 2015. It is a stylish wine as usual, with power, elegance and a lovely mouth-watering freshness. There is a seductive richness in 2015 along with concentrated raspberry, blackberry and plum fruit. Soft, beguiling and pure, it is a very pleasant glass of wine.
Elegant and silky. There is nice crunchy fruit and green pepper, with tobacco leaf on the finish. Power emerges on the mid-palate, but is quite well hidden behind the fruit and layers of spicy flavour.
Blend: 55% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc
Elegant and silky. There is nice crunchy fruit and green pepper, with tobacco leaf on the finish. Power emerges on the mid-palate, but is quite well hidden behind the fruit and layers of spicy flavour.
Blend: 55% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc
Chateau Ausone,
For laying down,
Ch. Ausone is the cherry on the cake of the St Emillion in every sense of the word. Its tiny production (only 1500 cases a year) and wonderful quality makes it one of the most sought-after wines in the world, while its hilltop location looks out over the appelation like a lord surveying all he purveys. Made from 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot this has a real 'wow' factor again in 2006. It has an amazing nose of blackberry, smoke, pepper and roses followed by a complex, lush, mouthfilling creamy palate with vigorous tannins and layer upon layer of flavour and richness. This epic wine is one of the very best in Bordeaux.
Chateau Angelus,
For laying down,
Having finally achieved his ambition last year to raise Ch. Angélus to the Premier Grand Cru Classé “A” status – St Emilion’s equivalent of becoming a First Growth – Hubert de Boüard was determined to produce a wine worthy of the elevation. As he put it: “We’re a first growth now, so we have to produce a wine that will rank alongside the other great wines of Bordeaux”. He’s succeeded. In a strange way the vintage, so problematic for many, may have helped him, but he still required nerve to rely on the quality of fruit coming from his vineyard and resist over extraction. He allowed the Cabernet Franc to play its usual part in the final blend, discarding the small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon altogether, but not falling back too heavilly, as so many did on the Right Bank, on the riper Merlots. This is the most subtle Angélus I can remember, very concentrated, powerful and rich, but with a purity of fruit that helps it to shine out.
Simon Berry, Chairman
Simon Berry, Chairman
Chateau Ausone,
For laying down,
With 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot, this is a rigorous wine, precise, compelling and striking. As with Chapelle d’Ausone, the quality and ripeness of the Cabernet Franc was complete, but the late summer rains compromised the concentration expected of a great year. It is the politesse, however, which marks this wine out. A remarkable seam of freshness invigorates the wine, more so than in 2011 and one is left with a sensation of an almost Thatcher-esque dressing-down; perhaps uncomfortable in parts, but also poised, composed and certainly thorough and, depending on your expectations, almost certainly good for you in the long run. There is no immediate gratification here, but a class act for the medium to long term.
Mark Pardoe MW, Wine Buying Director
Mark Pardoe MW, Wine Buying Director
Chateau Canon-la-Gaffeliere,
For laying down,
Saturated but not impenetrable colour, with a plum note on the nose allied to some coolness and blackcurrant. There is a high percentage of both Cabernets here – 38% Cabernet Franc and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon – which add structure and freshness to the richer Merlot red fruit and makes you think of Figeac. Fine tannins and medium body show that this isn’t overworked, a trait often seen in the past with St. Emilion. This is right up there with the 2009 and 2010. Give it a decade in the cellar and this will be highly rewarding.
For laying down,
Charming, pretty dark fruit shows expectantly on the nose with notes of violets and a savoury hint adding to the mix. The 87% Merlot unsurprisingly dominates the palate, but it is still very elegant and fine. Not a blockbuster by any means, but fine, regal fruit and notes of oak lead onto the finish with ripe, fine tannins and crisp acidity.
Martyn Rolph, Private Account Manager
Martyn Rolph, Private Account Manager
For laying down,
A nose bursting with intense ripe and concentrated red fruits really captures your attention when tasting this wine. Poised, minerally and velvety, this has real definition and a juicy freshness which we didn't taste in all of the 2012s. This wine has seriously good potential, and is certainly one of our favourites from St Emilion this year.
Max Lalondrelle, Wine Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd