Anson’s pick: BPR estates, best for current drinking
Champagne Barons de Rothschild, Blanc de Blancs, Champagne 2006 94 £60 Cheers, David Bell McCraith, The Finest Bubble, Vinatis 100% Chardonnay. A success for this inaugural vintage release. Brings together all three branches of the family – Mouton with cousins Baron Eric de Rothschild at Lafite and Baron Benjamin at Château Clarke. Tightly focused minerality, soft toasted vanilla bean without being sweet, hints of crab apple and great persistence. Drink 2017-2032 Alcohol 12%
Aile d’Argent Blanc du Mouton Rothschild, Bordeaux 2012 95 £47.50-£ 59.38 (ib) Christopher Keiller, Crump Richmond Shaw, Farr Vintners 63% Sauvignon Blanc, 37% Semillon. Enticingly drinkable right now. Soft, rich apricot and white peach, fleshy but with mineral overtones that prove beautifully persistent. The grapes undergo a small amount (usually less than 10%) of malolactic fermentation to soften the varietal Sauvignon character and ensure this is a luxurious white without compromising on the fresh backbone. Drink 2017-2025 Alc 14%
Domaine de Baronarques, Chardonnay, Limoux, France 2013 92 £ 19.17 (ib) Justerini & Brooks A great Chardonnay that should be far better known. From the Limoux region of southern France, where things get pretty steep-sloped and high in altitude, this has the luscious, slightly waxy edge of a classic Chardonnay, but with lashings of focused, steely citrus character that emerges through the mid-palate. Drink 2017-2025 Alc 13%
Château Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, Bordeaux 1986 100 £ 595-£887 Brunswick Fine Wines, Cadman, Farr Vintners, Four Walls, Seckford, The Wine Society, Turville Valley Wines 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 10% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Wonderful, concentrated and still astonishingly young, this has brushes of violet aromatics rising above the tight cassis fruits and rich black truffle edging, and the classic menthol edging of aC ab er netSauvign ondominated Pauillac. Wed rank this over lunch and it was breathtaking, but were told that 24 hours later it had blossomed even further, so make sure you give this a serious amount of time in carafe to open up – something that gives you just a small clue to how structured, layered and complex is the wine we are dealing with here. Drink 2017-2040 Alc 13%
Chateau Clerc Milon, Pauillac, Bordeaux 2009 94 £60 (ib)-£99.16 Blanco & Gomez, Frazier’s, Lay & Wheeler, Millésima, The Solent Cellar, Whitmore & White I’m cheating a little by saying this is ready to go, but it’s the beginning of the true upward swing for Clerc Milon, and should be celebrated. The richness of the vintage comes through, gorgeous colour, young, opulent, silky, wonderful texture. Here new oak crept up to 33% and this is just perfect, with a vibrant freshness. Young but not oppressively so. Drink 2018-2032 Alc 13.8%
Almaviva, Maipo Valley, Chile 2010 93 £78 (ib)-£ 113.40 Berry Bros Exchange, Crump Richmond Shaw, Find Me That Wine, Fine & Rare, Rollings Wine Co 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Carmenere, 9% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. Lateripening vintage, 90% of the grapes harvested in May. Here are the markers of Maipo in a cooler vintage – still rich and exotic with gentle spice, brambly blackberry fruits, toasted coffee beans, but balanced by a real sense of elegance and lift with liquorice root. Not as intense as the bigger vintages but beautifully precise. Drink 2018-2028 Alc 14.5%
Chateau d’Armailhac, Pauillac, Bordeaux 2005 92 £45.83 (ib)-£85.83 BI, Cru World Wines, Fine & Rare, Harrods, Lay & Wheeler, Millésima, Nickolls & Perks, Robert Graham, Sandhams This is almost the perfect time to drink this wine, though it still needs decanting to bring out the plush strokes of fruit. Aromatically it majors on cassis, liquorice, cedar, patisserie. A lovely, classic Pauillac that is not overly intense and retains a sense of juiciness. Of the three Baron Philippe de Rothschild Pauillac estates, this is the 2005 to be opening today. Drink 2017-2028 Alc 13%