The best of the Medoc

Our last category is the coveted ‘best of the Medoc’ title. There are few surprises with big names: Palmer, Ducru, Las Cases, Lynch and Pontet taking the top five places. A great showing from Xavier Borie’s Grand Puy Lacoste has propelled this 5^th growth into a very respectable 6^th place ahead of the gorgeous Montrose and Pichon Lalande. Clerc Milon is also flying high and at £340 per case looks like a great buy. Last and by no means least - the utterly charming Calon Segur. Never flashy, not really a ‘tasting wine’, but by its sheer allure, it forces its way into the list.

Perhaps it is also worth mentioning Leoville Poyferre, usually high on the list, but narrowly missing out this time. Another absentee is Pichon Baron which came well down the pecking order...

1	Palmer	***
2	Ducru Beaucaillou	*
3	Leoville Las Cases	***
4	Lynch Bages
5	Pontet Canet	*
6	Grand Puy Lacoste
7	Montrose
8	Pichon Lalande
9	Clerc Milon
10	Calon Segur

Vintage Port 2011

The 2011 Port growing season was, in the words of Paul Symington, "an extraordinary year". Starting off with copious rains in October and November 2010, it became extremely dry, before finishing with timely and refreshing rains in August.

"If you'd had a watering system in the vineyards, this is was exactly when you'd have turned it on" the Symingtons happily told us.

The extremely dry first 8 months of the year saw a mere 250 mm of rain fall in the Douro, against an annual average of almost 400mm. These dry conditions coupled with a burst of extreme heat in June gave rise to a final crop that is sadly 15% below average. I say sadly because at this early stage these look to be a seriously excellent range of ports. Perhaps because of the early concentrating drought, the levels of dry pungent schisty minerality in these wines is truly superb and they display plenty of powerful, concentrated, structured fruit. Long deep and powerful, yet also crucially fresh, this looks set to go down as an truly classic vintage port declaration.

Bordeaux 2012: Chateau Montrose Vintage Report

Bordeaux 2012: Exclusive Tasting with Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou

Top of the Right Bank and Graves

Who should be topping our chart of Pessac Leognan, Pomerol and St Emilion; well it's Monsieur Durantou of course. Fresh off the back of La Chenade's victory in the hotly contested 'Best Value' category, Denis is back on top of the charts with his legendary Eglise Clinet. On his heals is Francois Mitjavile with his excellent Tertre Roteboeuf, followed by Alexandre Thienpont's hugely impressive Vieux Chateau Certan.

Special mention should go to Florence and Daniel Cathiard's Smith Haut Lafitte and Olivier Bernard's Domaine de Chevalier. These two really caught our eye and should offer terrific value for money.

1 L’Eglise Clinet

2 Tertre Roteboeuf *

3 Vieux Chateau Certan ****

4 La Mission Haut Brion **

5 Smith Haut Lafitte

6 Pensees de Lafleur

7 Evangile

8 Clos Fourtet

9 Domaine de Chevalier *

10 Conseillante

Bordeaux 2012 - Vieux Château Certan Report with Alexandre Thienpont

Bordeaux 2012 - Interview with Château Cheval Blanc

More J&B chart toppers

Denis Durantou at Eglise Clinet

Now it is the turn of the ‘best value’ picks. This is the most subjective of all our ‘top tens’. The same rules apply, 10 points for a win and a star all the way down to one point for 10^th place. Usually we get a disparate set of results for this section; in all 29 estates were selected. Rather surprisingly one wine shone out as a clear winner. Denis Durantou’s La Chenade from Lalande de Pomerol took five of the possible eight top spots. Guess what we’ll all be drinking in four or five years’ time... Those who narrowly missed out included: Montlandrie, Lalande Borie, Fonbel, Haut Batailley, Grande Maye, Cantemerle and Moulin StGeorges.

1	La Chenade	*****
2	Clos des Quatre Vents	*
3	Ormes de Pez
4	Valade
5	Petite Eglise
6	Capbern Gasqueton	*
7=	Teyssier
7=	Villa des Quatre Soeurs
9	Lacoste Borie
10	Gloria	*