The text of this article originally appeared in The World of Fine Wine, issue 53 A seated tasting of nine vintages of La Conseillante from 2010 back to 1982, presented by director-winemaker Jean-Michel Laporte at Bonhams, London in March 2015, showed among other things how consistent a performer this Pomerol estate is. The impression was reinforced nine months later at a tasting of six of the same vintages, together with the 2011. The second tasting, held before and during di

This article originally appeared in The World of Fine Wine, issue 51 A tasting billed as a UK first is tempting by any standard, but when presented by Renzo Cotarella it is doubly so. Cotarella – he hardly needs an introduction – is CEO and chief winemaker of Antinori, a youthful 60-year-old who has been with the company since 1979 and says he has no understudy but a team of 40 technicians. “I think what will be very difficult in future will be a single winemaker and a single

£8.50 (£7.50 on offer), Tanners Wines A Spanish wine made from Bordeaux grape varieties by a British couple. It’s either three-way vinous entente cordiale or a recipe for disaster. Needless to say it wouldn’t be here if it was the latter. The entente distinctly cordiale has produced an exuberant, dark, fruity red with chocolate-coated black cherry, liquorice and toasted oak flavours and a welcome lift of freshness to the finish. The 2016 is Merlot-based with 9% Cabernet Sauvi

£14.95, Tanners, tanners-wines.co.uk The name may sound a tad old school, but the wine, I’m happy to say, is not. It’s claret for sure, aka red Bordeaux, but it’s not the old-fashioned, weedy, thin sort that use to fuel gentleman’s clubs at lunchtime (and may still do, for all I know). It’s a supple, rounded blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon aged in barrels for a year to give a spicy oak softness to the mulberry and blueberry fruit, graphite and green pepper flavours. It

Ornellaia and Masseto are close siblings but very different wines, as I discovered on a recent visit All planted to Merlot – the Masseto hill near Ornellaia Two of my wine drinking, as opposed to tasting, highlights last year were Ornellaia 2000 and, from the same Frescobaldi stable in Bolgheri, the all-Merlot Masseto 1989. I’d resolved at the start of 2015 to open some of my most treasured, mature bottles with friends and family, instead of waiting for elusive, supposedly ri

£14.95, The Wine Society; £17.99, or £15.99 when you buy any 6 bottles, Majestic If you want a red wine that goes down well with lovers of classic claret as much as with fans of new world reds, this Bordeaux-style blend from New Zealand is just the ticket. It’s mainly Merlot, but with some Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec, and it’s matured in expensive French oak barrels in the same way as a classy Bordeaux (aka claret). The result is dark, ripe fruit edged with