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  • Ausone

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    At this property we are at such Olympian heights of quality that breathing in this rareified atmosphere may be restricted – and not just because you’re gasping after having heard the price. So what sets it apart and makes the Hollywood glitterati, various Oligarchs and software developers so obsessed with the stuff? First, the biggest Ausone obsessives are the Vaulthier family who own it.

  • Capbern

    From the same stable as St-Estephe stablemate Calon-Segur, with the same management and winemaking team, Capbern has always been a bit of a wine trade insider secret. Prior to 2013, it was called Capbern-Gasqueton (the double barrel referencing the two important families in its story) but that was clipped back to Capbern under new management. Both Calon-Segur and Capbern were under the control of the Capbern-Gasqueton family by the late 1900s, and stayed there throughout the 20th century.

  • Ch Petit Village

    In the modern world only gynaecologists and Christian Seely can get away with bow ties. Seely is the professorial managing director of AXA`s wine division and nearly lost Petit Village when, as the Bordeaux rumour mill has it Gerard Perse tried to buy it. Fortunately the deal fell through and there is still a little outpost of the Medoc in Pomerol. Like Medoc, Petit Village`s soils are stony and gravel dominated and the Cabernets together make up 25% of the blend. But then, with neighbours like Cheval Blanc, Figeac and Vieux Chateau Certan, that is not a surprise.

  • Chateau Angelus

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  • Chateau Angludet

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    Angludet is many people’s touchstone Margaux, unforced and perfumed. It is a former Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, though the Sichel family who own it no longer choose to present it to the Cru Bourgeois classification. The chateau is set in a bucolic stretch of south-west Margaux, 3 kilometres inland from the river. It owes its roots to a 12th century knight, Bertrand of Angludet, who build his house here. Vines were probably first planted in the 17th century. It looked like that was finally over after the great frost of 1956, when the extreme winter cold killed most of the vines.

  • Chateau Armailhac

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    With more name changes than a Walthamstow wide boy on the Costa Brava, Armailhac now has a stable brand name. A sister Chateau to Clerc Milon, its vineyards are well placed over two types of gravel and some sandy limestone. Appropriately, since a mid nineteenth century owner was a fan of Cabernet Sauvignon, the majority planting is of that grape, with 23% Merlot. As is typical of the Mouton branch of the Rothschild family there is no second wine here, but as is also the case, the grand vin doesn`t suffer as there are lots of negociant offerings to take up any slack in quality.

  • Chateau Barde-Haut

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  • Chateau Batailley

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    Quintessential Pauillac. For many people, Batailley is their touchstone Bordeaux property, offering textbook lead pencil shavings, blackcurrant and cassis, tobacco, and a gravelly minerality. That gravelly note should be no surprise. The Batailley plateau sits on extremely deep gravel beds. The plateau and the chateau are both named for a battle that took place here in 1452, towards the end of the Hundred Years’ War. English troops, who had been holed up at nearby Latour, crossed the plateau on their retreat only to be routed by French soldiers. Relations are much friendlier these days.

  • Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot

  • Chateau Beauregard

    Chateau Beauregard is an object lesson to those interested in get rich quick schemes. In the early nineteenth century, with wine prices at an all time low, the owner at the time invested in dye plants to produce pigment for paints. The introduction of cochineal to France quickly burst that bubble and the property was sold, almost bereft of vines. The property was replanted with vines which reached maturity just as phylloxera arrived in the late C19.

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