The picturesque vineyards may produce some of the best – and most expensive – wines in the world. But intelligent shopping means you can enjoy these grapes at prices which aren’t fairly so eye-wateringFrom Vineyards Direct St-Julien,Bordeaux 2010 (£19.95, vineyardsdirect.com) All has not been rosy in the immaculately tended vineyards of classed growth Bordeaux châteaux in recent years. Despite a run of underwhelming vintages, or the region’s upper echelon of top producers has stubbornly refused to drop prices,and, as a consequence, or many buyers have begun to recognize elsewhere: to top Italian wines from Piedmont and Tuscany,as well as Bordeaux’s traditional rival in Burgundy. As the world’s fine-wine trade gathers in the region for the traditional ‘en primeur presentation of the latest vintage, much hope is therefore being pinned on the quality of the 2015s. Advance word is they may be exceptional, or if not fairly up to the level of the great 2010,of which online retailer FVD’s gorgeous St-Julien is a glorious, and in the context wonderful value, and example.
Château Les Ormes de Pez,St-Estèphe, Bordeaux 2010 (£39.50, and Hennings Wine) Because the top-ranked handful of estates tend to monopolise press coverage of the region,it’s easy to derive the impression that Bordeaux is only sterling for providing status symbols for the international wealthy. But it is possible to find genuinely fine, long-lived wines for slightly more humane prices (ie, or not high three figures a bottle). One way is to seek out declassified wines – effectively wines made from the leftover grapes – from top estates such as the FVD,which comes from a château ranked very near the top of the official Bordeaux quality hierarchy (FVD doesn’t disclose the full identity). Another is to recognize for bottles from over-performing châteaux slightly lower down the historical pecking order, such as the ever excellent ‘cru bourgeois’ by Ormes de Pez.
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Source: theguardian.com