2024 Bordeaux initial report I hope that you have all had a very fine Easter Break and enjoyed the weather as well as some good food and wine. As it had been the case for the last 30 years (where did the time go?), I have spent the week before Easter in Bordeaux at En primeur tastings. Most of you would have seen various reports by now and will probably notice that the journalists are far less enthusiastic about the vintage than it would appear from various wine merchants reports (including mine). The truth is somewhere in the middle; journalist …

Release of 2022 Aalto and 2023 Blanco   I normally release Aato in January, but this year somehow run away from me, so it got pushed aside till now. Still, better late than never and since Aalto ages very gracefully (and most of you keep it for few years), the release date should not make much difference. We have had quite a few new subscribers and for their benefit, I have included a brief history of Aalto project at the bottom of this mail.  Before I get to the wines, just a few words about the vintages.  The end of …

  October is upon us and I thought I would start the season with the latest incarnation of one of our all-time favourites: Mauro VS 2021. First to say well done to those of you who picked up Mauro and Tereus 2021 before the ratings came out. The stock sold out in a flash after the Wine Advocate review was published.   VS is normally held in the barrell (and bottle) for few months longer hence delayed release, but it was worth a wait. To complement it, I will also release their white wine - Mauro Godello 2022 which is …

Beautiful wines of Aurore Bachelet   It’s raining here in Richmond, so I thought I would send you some Burgundy sunshine as captured by a very talented young lady - please meet Aurore Bachelet.  Following business degree and few years of working/traveling around the world, she eventually decided that the heart is where the home is and that the home was back in Burgundy. Not a bad place to call home, especially if your family owns some very fine vineyards in and around the villages of Chassagne Montrachet, Santenay and Maranges. On her return, Aurore spent 5 years working with …

XF Rose 2023 by Marcos Eguren   I know it is supposed to be summer out there, but not sure where the sun had gone to. So, since the sun had been very shy this year, I thought we could reverse the concept in which we drink rose when the sun is shining. Perhaps if we open some rose the sun might decide to join us!?! Worth a try - after all, what do we have to lose? Moving forward, I had managed to get 12 different Roses to my shop last weekend for a tasting to try and pick …