News

On 25 April, TV7 (the local TV channel of the Sud-Ouest newspaper) invited François-Xavier Maroteaux (Château Branaire-Ducru) and Élise Gruault to take part in its ‘Vino Veritas’ programme for a 27-minute owner/merchant exchange on the challenges of the ‘Primeurs 2024’.

Below is a link to the programme (in french).

Our new ‘Spring-Summer 2025’ catalogue (100 pages), which will be available until 15 October, is currently being processed and will be sent out by Post on Tuesday 20 May.

We hope you will receive it in your letterbox before the end of May. If this will not be the case, if you would like to receive a second issue or have it sent to a friend, please let us know by e-mail (dubecq@dubecq.com) or through our contact page.

We often reproduce the comments and assessments of the Vinous team's critics, which we consider to be the most relevant and reliable of the moment, because:

• Vinous is a totally independent magazine, with no commercial links with wine producers or distributors.

• the tasting panel is a stable group of 10 experienced tasters (Antonio Galloni and Neal Martin are ex-collaborators of Robert Parker, Rebecca Gibb and Anne Krebiehl are Masters of Wine, etc.).

• Vinous covers not only the most prestigious appellations, but also vineyards from all over the world, from the most famous to the least known.

• Bordeaux wines are doubly supervised by Antonio Galloni and Neal Martin, each of whom organises his own tastings. It's great to have two distinct opinions on the same wine from two tasters with different sensibilities: Antonio Galloni favours hedonism, while Neal Martin is more analytical.

• Bordeaux wines are monitored and regularly noted and commented on throughout their development (and not just once before or after bottling). To take an example from a château we are particularly fond of, Lynch-Bages, in the 2014 vintage:

  - tasted, reviewed and rated (93-95) by Antonio Galloni in April 2015 (en primeur),
  - tasted, reviewed and rated (94+) by Antonio Galloni in February 2017,
  - tasted, reviewed and rated (92) by Neal Martin in June 2021,
  - tasted, reviewed and rated (92) by Neal Martin in February 2024.

For these reasons, we have decided to systematically reproduce in full the latest commentary published in Vinous for each of the wines in our selection, whether from Bordeaux or elsewhere. This enhancement to our site is currently underway and will be completed within 10 days.