Bordeaux 2018: Where does reality in bottle meet hype from barrel?

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com  24 January 2021 From barrel, I had characterized 2018 Bordeaux as a vintage for “Hedonists and Intellectuals”. Over the course of the last few months, including several visits to Bordeaux during official lockdowns in France, I tasted 2018s on location, after recent bottling. Some bottles had been sent to me to […]

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Right Bank Satellites 2018

Mostly Castillon: some excellent, affordable wines By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com  24 January 2021 Many less heralded appellations from the Right Bank with cooler clay and/or limestone soils excelled in 2018. But I did not get to too many of them. We can start with Montagne Saint Emilion and Jean-Claude Berrouet, whose name resonates in the […]

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Fine Fronsac and more 2018

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com  7 May 2019 In a very good vintage, you can find economically priced wines, and 2018 is no exception. Once again, many Fronsacs assessed at the always well organized Grand Cercle tastings – this year at the lovely Château La Dauphine – proved yet again the quality of this appellation. […]

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#Bdx17: Best of the red rest

Right Bank Satellites By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com  26 May 2018 2017 makes the adage of seeking a “petit château” in a great vintage (and vice versa) less clear-cut. Certainly top terroirs excelled – on a general basis – so you can (more often that not) find happiness from the “grands châteaux” in 2017 – if the […]

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Bordeaux bargains 2014

Part 1 – Tasting wines from the Grand Cercle de Vins de Bordeaux (To go to Part 2, click here) By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com  5 January 2017 Like most of you, when I cannot actually do so, I sometimes dream of enjoying Haut Brion, Latour, Petrus and Le Pin. Or Leoville Las Cases, Palmer […]

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