Editorial

Editorial 15 October 2025

Autumn-Winter 2025/2026

Dear Madam, Dear Sir,

We are delighted to present our new ‘Autumn-Winter 2025/2026’ selection, featuring over 1,200 carefully selected wines to accompany you throughout the festive season and beyond, until spring 2026.

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New arrivals in Bordeaux

Three main criteria guided the selection of new Bordeaux wines for this catalogue:

  • The expansion of dry white Bordeaux selections. Until 2015, the production of high-quality dry white wines from the Gironde region was mainly confined to the Léognan area. Over the last ten years or so, we have seen a proliferation of initiatives to produce great and ambitious dry white Bordeaux wines, both in the north of the department (Médoc) and in the south (Sauternes). Following last spring's selection of Albus,lthe refreshing white wine from Clos Manou (northern tip of the Médoc), we are now adding two great dry whites from Sauternes' premier cru classés: Vieilles Vignes de Suduiraut and Lilium de Climens.
  • The excellent value for money and immediate enjoyment of the 2022 second red wines. Due to the high quality and good yields of the 2022 vintage, the second wines of the classified growths benefited from high-quality batches that are not normally included in their blends. This resulted in an overall quality well above the usual standards, coupled with the fleshiness, smoothness and depth typical of the 2022 vintage. A perfect illustration of this is Confidences de Prieuré-Lichine 2022 in Margaux, medium-bodied and already perfectly smooth and flavourful. At only €19.00 a bottle, Bordeaux still has some strong arguments in its favour!
  • The arrival in our cellars of the now bottled Bordeaux 2023 wines. For the record, 2023 was a very fine vintage in Bordeaux, equally successful for both white and red wines. The weather during the vine's growing cycle (March to September) was warm, sunny and dry, but not excessively so, with a splendid late season (an exceptional September) that was ideal for perfecting ripeness, harvesting without stress and botrytising the Sauternes region.

As expected, the 2023 dry white Bordeaux wines are remarkable for their energy and purity (as in 2021), while the sweet whites offer beautiful concentrations (aromatic and liqueur) perfectly balanced by the natural acidity of the vintage (the cool nights of August).

Reflecting the weather, the 2023 Bordeaux reds harmoniously display the character of a sunny, warm vintage across all appellations on both banks: racy, structured, flavourful wines with good depth and an expression of black fruit. The only slight downside is that yields were a little too generous in some areas, resulting in wines that are simpler, pleasant and easily accessible but lacking the substance and length on the palate of a great wine. To sum up, 2023 has produced many very decent wines, some truly excellent and a few quite exceptional.

For reds, 2023 is undoubtedly one of the many great Bordeaux vintages since 2015. According to Vinous (Galloni)'s rankings of the best wines (98/100 and above) from each vintage, 2023 comes in fourth place:

2022 (26 quotess),
2016 (24),
2018 (22),
2023 (16),
2020 (15),
2019 (13)...

 

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New products outside Gironde

Among the most notable new additions this season, we are delighted to welcome the following to our selection:

• Domaine Les Vignes d'Adélie in Viré-Clessé (Mâconnais), with two beautiful Chardonnay vintages, fresh and pure, so dynamic and obvious, and at less than €20.00 a bottle, they can easily outshine their neighbours in the Côte de Beaune.

• Domaine de la Pierre Gravée in Vouvray (Touraine), created in 2021 by a friend and follower of Jacky Blot (La Taille aux Loups). His two vintages in his first 2022 vintage, great crystalline Chenins that combine smoothness and delicacy, convince us that this estate will very quickly make a name for itself.

• le Vin Jaune du Domaine Pignier (Jura), in the new 2018 vintage (after six years under veil), is a first for us, as it is the first Vin Jaune in our selections. The one from Domaine Pignier is a powerful and expressive version, with aromas of citrus, nuts and rancio that call for chicken with morel mushrooms and Comté cheese.

In addition to these new additions, we are also delighted to welcome back two estates that were absent from previous editions due to a lack of wines to offer (victims of their own success and/or victims of bad weather):

  • Égly-Ouriet Champagnes, with five cuvées (Prémices, Bisseuil, Grand Cru, Blanc de Noirs and Millésimé 2016),
  • The Jurançons from Clos Larrouyat, two (very) dry whites and one sweet wine.

Abroad, we offer a new Italian estate, Fattoria di Fèlsina in Chianti (Toscane), which demonstrates a keen sense of balance and finesse in all its pure Sangiovese vintages, a stubborn determination to preserve the freshness of the fruit by avoiding any jammy notes, and above all, fair and reasonable prices.

Finally, we have completed Taylor's Vintage Port selection with four vintages: 2009, 2011, 2017 and 2018.

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Tasting Offers

We are renewing our usual Tasting Offers to encourage you to discover/purchase deserving, interesting wines at a discount:

• Savigny-les-Beaune 2022 from Domaine Jean Chartron, an excellent Chardonnay perfect for drinking now, "It is creamier than expected, with notes of almond and white chocolate on the finish. I would drink it young to enjoy all its freshness," as Vinous (Martin) wrote. And without breaking the bank: €35.00 per bottle (per 6).

• Rieussec 2019 (Sauternes), the vintage in which Rieussec underwent a double revolution, both in style, with a drastic tightening of selections, combining richness and finesse, and in presentation, breaking with traditional visual codes: new bottle format, new labelling, new repositionable cork, new packaging (box of 4 bottles). Rated 97/100 by Vinous (Galloni) as ‘fascinating from start to finish’. At £75.00 per bottle (per 4).

• Château Malescot-Saint-Exupéry 2022, a Margaux described as ‘very flamboyant’ by Revue du Vin de France, or ‘almost Burgundian in style’ by Vinous (Galloni). In any case, an absolutely magnificent wine that reminds us of this estate's great success in 2009. At £58.30 per bottle (per 6).

• Clos Fourtet 2022 (Saint-Émilion), a sumptuous wine, with crisp fruit throughout, combining the utmost refinement of texture with a body of rare power. In short: all the glory of Cabernet Franc on the limestone plateau, and the critics were spot on in their assessment: 98/100 for the Revue du Vin de France (‘exceptional’), 99/100 for Vinous (Galloni) (‘undoubtedly one of the wines of the vintage’). At £126.70 per bottle (per 6).

 

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The Unusual

Finally, we have brought back two unusual products that were popular and are still in demand:

• wines, a dry white and a red, from Domaine Zorah in Arménia,

• soy sauces, from Shinko, made in the Saint-Émilion region by the owner of  Château Coutet.

We hope you will enjoy discovering these new products.

Kind regards.