A bright aromatic wine showing red cherry fruit, earthy spice and liquorice notes. The palate is generous and laden with red fruits, complemented with cardamom spice and woody herbs, over a supportive frame of fine grained tannins. A juicy and vibrant wine.
Château Mahon-Laville is a unique red wine produced by Jean-Christophe Barbe, a professor of oenology at Bordeaux University specialising in noble rot. Jean-Christophe is famed for his outstanding Sauternes estate Château Laville. Although Château Laville is predominantly planted with white grapes, Jean-Christophe has set aside a 1.3-hectare vineyard of red varieties to create Château Mahon-Laville.
The harvest team at Château Laville are trained to make multiple passes through the estate’s vineyards, selecting only the perfectly botrytised grapes required to make top Sauternes. Jean-Christophe utilises these skilled pickers to ensure the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for Château Mahon-Laville are only harvested when they are perfectly ripe. Such a level of detail is not always possible in this area of Bordeaux, with many producers forced to harvest when pickers are available, rather than when grapes have reached optimum ripeness levels.
Château Mahon-Laville’s Bordeaux Supérieur is made from 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged for 12 months in oak. This wine marries ripe plum and blackcurrant aromas with a subtle cigar-box spiciness.
An attractive wine, with flavours of sweet, dried cherry, mint, tobacco and sage. A savoury style of Pinot Noir, with plenty of aromatic presence, and plenty of fruit in the background.
Château Léoville Poyferré 2019 has a typically seductive bouquet with layers of ripe black fruit laced with tobacco, sous-bois, touches of marmalade and dried orange peel. Give it another hour and more blue fruit begins to emerge. The palate is medium-bodied with lavish, luxuriant black fruit and a creamy texture that is instantly seductive. It is a more opulent Saint-Julien than the Barton with a satin-like texture on the finish. If you love the style of Léoville-Poyferré then you will adore this. 2026 – 2065
Neal Martin, Vinous (June 2020) – 98/100
Casse Ferreirinha 2021 is a wine of great intensity, complexity and elegance. On the nose, aromas of ripe red and black fruits combine with spicy notes of cedar and tobacco box and subtle floral notes of rose and violet. Full-bodied on the palate, with ripe and velvety tannins and a refreshing acidity which carries the complex flavours onto the lingering finish.
The 2020 vintage in the Douro got off to an unsettled start with a rainy spring causing an increase in disease pressure in the vineyards and a reduction in yields. The summer was dry and very hot and featured the hottest July in the last 30 years. This accelerated the growing cycle and required careful canopy management to avoid grape sunburn. Some rainfall in mid-August gave the vines the boost needed to undergo the final stages of ripening during the heat that continued in September. 2020 was one of the earliest harvests on record in the Douro and yields were down 30% compared to 2019, but the quality of the grapes harvested was excellent.
This Pinot Noir is bright ruby red in colour. On the nose, it displays ripe cherry and strawberry aromas. The bright palate combines juicy fruit with supple, velvety tannins.
The 2023 vintage in the Languedoc was characterised by hot and dry conditions, with less than 200mm of rain falling throughout the year. A drier than usual winter resulted in a slow start to the growing season. Temperatures remained relatively mild until mid-August, when there was a heatwave. This accelerated ripening and, coupled with the lack of water reserves, resulted in lower yields. The harvest began earlier than usual and the grapes harvested were of excellent quality with a good balance between ripe aromatics and refreshing acidity.
The nose of this wine is captivating, with enticing aromas of both red and black fruits, interwoven with spicy and peppery notes that add an intriguing complexity. As you take your first sip, the tannins reveal themselves to be ripe and plush, providing a beautifully soft texture that enhances the wine’s overall structure. The full-bodied palate is balanced and well-rounded, with layers of fruit flavor and subtle spice. Flavors of ripe blackcurrant shine through, while the white pepper adds an additional dimension of spice that lingers on the finish. This lingering aftertaste is both fresh and refined, leaving a lasting impression of depth and elegance. A wine that is well-suited for pairing with a variety of dishes, or to be enjoyed on its own, it offers a harmonious blend of fruit, spice, and structure.
‘Zeta’ Pegaso 2021 is ruby in colour, this wine is floral and expressive on the nose. Primary aromas of red fruits blend with complex nuances of minerality and spice. The palate has a good weight sensation, mainly given by the intense and deep fruit flavours, whereas the finish is fresh, juicy and clear, yet persistent.
The 2021 vintage started with a mild autumn. Winter was marked by the strong Filomena storm that brought 40 cm of snow and 10 days with temperatures below 10ºC. The year continued with a late bud break, followed by a frost at the beginning of April that had an impact on the volumes. Summer was generally mild except for a heatwave that was accompanied by wildfires in the villages of Cebrero. Rain at the key harvest time was another challenge in 2021, but with thorough grape selection, the quality of the wines was excellent.
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This is a complex, aromatic and medium-bodied Pinot Noir with silky tannins and long-term ageing potential. Intense flavours of black cherry and darker fruits are complemented by underlying gamey aromas with great depth and length.
The 2022 vintage began with cool temperatures that resulted in low yields for early-budding varieties. This meant that the vines were able put their energy into a small crop, resulting in intensely-flavoured fruit. The season remained mostly mild and dry, but with some well-timed rain that kept the vines healthy right up to harvest.
This wine is bright ruby-garnet in colour. With the grapes sourced from different sub-areas of Serralunga, there is a spectrum of perfumes on the nose, ranging from spicy to sweet, floral and fruit. The palate is a classic example of the region; full-bodied, elegant and well structured, with great ageing ability.
Winter saw mild temperatures and little rain and snow resulting in an early start of vegetation growth. The first part of spring was dry and sunny. Between May and July frequent rainfalls slowed down the growth and provided soils with precious water which, together with average summer temperatures, prevented water stress. Although veraison started early, the cooler nights in September made up for the early start, slowing down the vegetation growth, granting perfect ripeness and excellent ph and acidity levels.
Aurelio Montes is widely credited with pioneering Chile’s quality revolution. His ability to identify potential in previously unknown sites, has led to the creation of appellations which now produce some of Chile’s finest wines. The Colchagua Valley is a perfect example of this. Aurelio first came to the area in his 20s and became fascinated by the then-barren landscape of Apalta, where Montes are based today. Apalta translates to ‘poor soils’, referencing the area’s alluvial soils comprised predominantly of sandy loam and clay, as well as granite on the steep hillsides. Though a difficult environment for traditional agriculture, Aurelio sensed its potential for high-quality grape growing. Starting in these vineyards, he applied a rigorous, quality-focused approach to farming, resulting in low yields and perfectly ripe fruit. Their long-standing dedication to sustainability also led to them becoming B-Corp certified in 2024.
An outstanding example of a Nuits-Saint-Georges Villages. Aromas of black cherry, blueberry and blackcurrant are married with a subtle spiciness from the oak. Supple on the palate, with velvety tannins and a mouthwatering acidity which drives the complex flavours onto the long finish.
2021 was a challenging vintage for winegrowers and producers in Burgundy. There were historically low yields due to catastrophic spring frost and hail, compounded by a cold, wet growing season. It is a return to a more classic vintage marked by bright acidity and freshness thanks to the cooler temperatures and resulting slower ripening, which allowed for full flavour development.
Chances are there wasn't collaboration, communication, and checkpoints, there wasn't a process agreed upon or specified with the granularity required. It's content strategy gone awry right from the start. Forswearing the use of Lorem Ipsum wouldn't have helped, won't help now. It's like saying you're a bad designer, use less bold text, don't use italics in every other paragraph. True enough, but that's not all that it takes to get things back on track.
The villagers are out there with a vengeance to get that Frankenstein
You made all the required mock ups for commissioned layout, got all the approvals, built a tested code base or had them built, you decided on a content management system, got a license for it or adapted:
This is quite a problem to solve, but just doing without greeking text won't fix it. Using test items of real content and data in designs will help, but there's no guarantee that every oddity will be found and corrected. Do you want to be sure? Then a prototype or beta site with real content published from the real CMS is needed—but you’re not going that far until you go through an initial design cycle.
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