The Guimberteau family has owned the Château Franc-Baudron estate since 1923. This is a vineyard on a human scale where each generation has left its footprint on the family heritage. Since 2010, the new generation of Château Franc-Baudron has embarked on an environmental approach by converting the entire vineyard to organic farming. The area hosts bee-hives, uses plants for treatments (horsetail, nettle and ferns) and seeds flowers to encourage biodiversity of wildlife in the vines. They have begun implementing new winemaking techniques by using minimal inputs to express at its best the nature of the grapes and the type of soil. Most of the family’s plots of Montagne Saint-Emilion are located on a clay-limestone plateau. Bright and intense in colour with aroams of blackcurrant, blackberry and oak notes.Well balanced, powerful and velvety.

It shows a lovely pale yellow colour with greenish tinges. Fresh and expressive on the nose, with superb notes of pink grapefruit, mango and some slightly toasted hints. Its fine balance on the palate is remarkable, with a lot of roundness and body, as well as pure, elegant freshness. The flavours of Sauvignon are delicate and persistent, giving this wine length and vibrancy.

2nd wine of Chateau Fonplegade. A lovely aromatic wine with mint lift and oak weight. Plenty to love here, rounded and rich but needs to to harmonise.

This 20ha estate has been owned since 1994 by Florence and Daniel Cathiard, who also own Château Smith Haut Lafitte and are making some of the most exciting, perfectly honed wines in Bordeaux. Their top wines ell north of £80 a bottle so this wine appears relatively good value, particulalry since it came out top at a recent Decanter tasting of Red Graves from 2016. Bravo. Planted to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, on mostly gravel soils with some clay. Grapes are handpicked and sorted twice, whole-berry fermented in large oak vats before ageing 14 months in 25% new French oak barrels. This is intense, fruity and a real joy to drink now or keep for another 10 years.

2nd Wine of Ch Laroque, Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé. Made of 96% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc from vines more than 50 years old, the medium to deep garnet-purple coloured 2018 Les Tours de Laroque opens with pretty raspberry coulis, black cherries and warm plums scents with underlying fungi, black loam and cracked pepper hints plus a touch of beef drippings. Medium to full-bodied, elegant and fresh, with a firm line of grainy tannins, it delivers a graceful, earthy finish.

This Claret is fresh and balanced. The blend is Merlot-based and the wine is aged in French oak barrels for 12 months, giving a nice aroma of spice and wood smoke. The palate is fleshy with a hint of plum, the tannins fine and firm, leading to a generous finish. Drink now to 2036