2020 Bordeaux: bottled classic

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 21 October 2023 TASTING NOTES CLICK HERE Dear Readers, It has been a while, but after buying a new apartment with renovation work, prioritizing articles in magazines for which I am paid, and work from my day job at the Council of Europe, I took a hiatus from this website. […]

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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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For hedonists and intellectuals: Bordeaux 2018

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com  7 May 2019 My top barrel samples from 2018 Full tasting notes by appellation and area: Pessac-Léognan+Graves (reds) / Médoc-Haut-Médoc-Listrac-Moulis / Margaux / Saint Julien / Pauillac / Saint Estèphe / Saint Emilion / Pomerol / Fronsac and other bargains / Dry whites including Graves / Sauternes & Barsac NOTE […]

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Margaux 2018 from barrel

by Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 26 April 2019  As a vast appellation, Margaux can be heterogenous in quality. 2018 is no exception. In many ways, however, it resembles the successful 2015 vintage. I feel that the acidity was slightly better in 2015, but the best wines from 2018 from Margaux are great. On the other […]

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Margaux merits #Bdx17

The Médoc, Part III By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com  24 May 2018 After examining Pauillac, Saint Julien and Saint Estèphe in Part I and Haut-Médoc, Listrac-Médoc and Moulis-en-Médoc in Part II, now to the barrel samples of Margaux. They include more classified growths than any other Médoc appellation: 21. Margaux is the only appellation whose sole […]

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2015 Bordeaux from bottle, part 1: Mostly Médoc wines

Margaux shines brightest By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com  17 November 2017 – revised, with new video intro, below. How good are Bordeaux 2015 from bottle? Based on two days of tasting top Médoc wines in early November this year, I would say quite good. It does not seem to reach the heights, on a more […]

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Underrated Bordeaux 2014

Worth seeking out from bottle: both white and red 29 January 2017 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com When I tasted 2014 and 2015 Château Montrose side-by-side in October last year at the estate, I learned that less than 40% of the harvest was used to make the first wine in 2015, while over 50% was […]

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Mad about Margaux #Bdx15

The best Médoc appellation in 2015 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 30 April 2016 With 21 cru classés châteaux – more than any other commune in Bordeaux, and ranging from first to fifth growth – Margaux is the most sprawling of the famous Médoc appellations, and is usually the most heterogeneous in quality because it […]

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Bordeaux 1966, fifty years on (and other surprises)

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com  13 January 2016 I have to thank my lucky stars for the great wine loving friends I have in Washington D.C. Since I am turning … 50 in December this year, I wanted to organize a 1966 dinner. And so six of us gathered at the famous wine friendly restaurant […]

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Bordeaux in barrel 2014: Solidly Margaux

Faves? Some excellent price/quality ratios, particularly from Château Labégorce. An excellent Château Prieuré-Lichine. Predictably very good Palmer, and a fine Château Margaux (and a superlative white that counts among the very best whites of the vintage)  MAIN BORDEAUX 2014 BARREL TASTING PAGE By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles 24 May 2015 Margaux may prove to be the weakest of the major […]

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