Berry Bros. & Rudd – Bordeaux for Christmas

by Jacqueline A. O'Neill · Published November 27, 2019 · Updated March 5, 2024

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To me, nothing quite says Christmas like the wines of Bordeaux, either served at the dinner table for its food friendly nature or bestowed as a generous gift. Below, a hand-picked selection of wines that are ready to drink now.

Prices include Irish VAT. Minimum order of €250. Last day for orders for pre-Christmas delivery on the 16th December.

2015 Ronan by Clinet, Bordeaux – €17.00
Medium-Full Bodied, Dry | 12.5 % alcohol
Ronan by is a firm favourite with our customers, and with good reason. The stunning 2015 vintage is more generous, with glossier fruit than previous years. This vintage is rich, the nose appealing and immediate with ripe black cherry, cocoa and seductive sweet spices. The palate is classically structured, a full frame of smoky, dark cherry-skin tannins, rounded by a modern, fruit-forward palate. Loaded with damsons, this 100% Merlot is vibrant and charming. The finish is long and plush with a seasoning of white pepper. Beautiful on its own, this will give even more pleasure with a roast crown of duck. Drink now to 2022.

2016 Berry Bros. & Rudd Extra Ordinary Claret by Ch. Villa Bel-Air – €22.00
Medium-Full Bodied, Dry | 13.0 % alcohol
Since its first vintage in 2002, “EOC” has come from a single estate in Graves. Surely the finest showing yet, the 2016 is a textbook example of classic, rounded Claret, that can be enjoyed now, or cellared for a year or two. Loaded with rich blackberry fruit, with a warming, woody finish, it will drink as well with a modest midweek meal as it will with the grandest of roasting joints.

2013 Ch. Haut-Plantey, St Emilion Grand Cru – €24.00
Medium-Full Bodied, Dry | 13.0 % alcohol
The 2013 vintage was varied in Bordeaux, and only the most selective achieved the best results – like Château Haut-Plantey. In 2011, the estate was bought by Jacques Thienpont, owner of the iconic Pomerol estate, Le Pin, who saw the potential of the property’s vineyards, situated on deep clay and limestone next to the famous Troplong Mondot. The nose is all cassis and smoky red forest fruit, the palate is fresh with dark and blue berries, while well-integrated oak characters are lifted by autumnal spice. Drink with game birds, beef Wellington or your Christmas dinner. Drink now to 2022.

2007 Ch. Potensac, Médoc – €34.00
(In 6 bottle wooden cases)
Medium Bodied, Dry | 13.0 % alcohol
Potensac provides reliably good Claret – and never fails to impress for the quality you get for a comparatively small buck. Layered with juicy cassis, tobacco and savoury sous-bois, the 2007 – perhaps a slightly lacklustre vintage in some eyes – is drinking beautifully right now. With plenty of spicy leathery length and dried fruit notes, this would be superb alongside a hunk of red meat, game, or whatever happens to be for dinner. Drink now to 2021

2010 Ch. Laroque, St Emilion Grand Cru Classé – €41.00 per bottle or €222.00 per 6 bottle case
Medium Bodied, Dry | 15.0 % alcohol
Ch. Laroque is a large St Emilion estate famous for its stunning 18th century château, as well as the quality of its wines. It is owned by the Beaumartin family and was granted Grand Cru Classé status in 1996.

Warm autumn berry fruits on the nose, with Merlot dominant in an elegantly robust manner. A certain freshness on the palate over naturally ripe fruit, leathery overtones, a good density of earthy/irony flavours, firm tannins, opening up well with a good decade in front of it. Drink now to 2029.

2006 Sarget de Gruaud Larose, St Julien – €45.00
Medium-Full Bodied, Dry | 13.0 % alcohol
Sarget de Gruaud Larose is the second wine of Second Growth Ch. Gruaud Larose, a property that produces some of St Julien’s most full-bodied and long-lived wines. Often a staff favourite at Berry Bros. & Rudd, Sarget is capable of serious ageing for a second wine, while 2006 is a dark horse of a vintage that suffered by following the great 2005 vintage. A textbook St Julien nose of cigar-box, pencil shaving and cedar combines with smooth cassis and spice. It’s elegant and smooth on the palate, but with good structure and composed, fine-grained tannins. This is quintessential Claret and outstandingly good value.

2011 Ch. Malartic-Lagravière, Rouge Pessac-Léognan – €49.00
Medium-Full Bodied, Dry | 13.5 % alcohol
Vivid, expressive, juicy and concentrated, the 2011 Malartic Lagraviere comes from good-sized estate of 131 acres, of which 17 are dedicated to their excellent white wine. Made from a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, it exhibits a dense ruby/purple color along with a supple, medium to full-bodied texture with no hard edges, an opulence and exuberance that provide lots of seductiveness, and tell-tale notes of burning embers, charcoal, kirsch liqueur and black currant fruit. Drink now to 2034.

2011 Ch. Giscours, 3ème Cru Classé Margaux – €61.00
Medium-Full Bodied, Dry | 13.5 % alcohol
The 2011 Château Giscours is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. It offers more fruit intensity than the 2012 with more of the Margaux floral character. It is medium-bodied with supple ripe tannin on the entry, red cherry and raspberry fruit intermingling with cedar and tobacco notes. There is a real sense of richness and depth that few properties have this vintage. Drink from now to 2030.

2005 Ch. Moulin St Georges, St Emilion Grand Cru – €76.00
Medium-Full Bodied, Dry | 14.0 % alcohol
Owned by the Vauthier family of Ch. Ausone fame, this is just as jaw-dropping, in its own way, as its illustrious sibling. This is a proper St Emilion with the Ausone panache shining through. Made from 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, it has a dark inky colour with a delicious Port-like nose of intense, rich, dark fruit. This is a sensuous wine with sweet, creamy forest fruits and earthy, floral and chocolate overtones. The tannins are big and ripe, completelely subsumed within the enormous fruit and long finish. Production is very limited here, with only 3000 cases made. Unmissable. Drink from now to 2025.

2011 Ch. Haut-Bailly, Pessac-Léognan – €85.00

Medium Bodied, Dry | 13.0 % alcohol

The lovely and charming Veronique Sanders and the team at Ch. Haut-Bailly have done it once more. In a vintage where all the châteaux really did have to craft their babies and contend with more than problematic growing conditions, Ch. Haut-Bailly has come out almost on top of the pile, surpassing several First Growths in quality. Incredible intensity and deep red and black fruit with the finest tannins of the vintage coating the palate. It has precision, grace, complexity and power with an outstanding richness that fills the mouth completely. Drink now to 2043.

2007 Ch. la Conseillante, Pomerol, Bordeaux – €108.00

Medium-Full Bodied, Dry | 13.5 % alcohol

This is one of the very few `wow’ wines in 2007 with a jaw-dropping concentration, exotic richness and complexity that mark it out as one of the wines of the vintage. The 15% Cabernet Franc (along with 85% Merlot) has bestowed this Conseillante with a stunning, elegantly floral nose of blackcurrant coulis and spice. The palate is even better, with sumptuous creamy blackberries, raspberry sorbet and a lovely minerality all supported by substantial velvety tannins. Drink now to 2030.

2004 Ch. Lynch Bages, 5ème Cru Classé Pauillac – €133.00
Medium-Full Bodied, Dry | 13.0 % alcohol
This the pure essence of Pauillac: profound, ripe cassis aromas flow from the glass and herald a palate of cool, spicy, incredibly concentrated blackcurrants, and cream, vanilla and bitter dark chocolate all tightly woven together in a precise core. Lynch-Bages has again performed as well as many of the super-Second Growths. Drink from now to 2025.

2003 Ch. Lynch Bages, 5ème Cru Classé Pauillac – €173.00
Full Bodied, Dry | 13.0 % alcohol
This exceptional château continues to make a mockery of its 5th Growth status, and in 2003 has re-emphasised just how good the Left Bank wines are. Huge wafts of muscular, minty, cassis-laden Cabernet Sauvignon on the nose introduce a powerful structured palate with savoury hints of liquorice. This is unquestionably Lynch-Bages, and a great one at that. Displaying even more elegance than other recent vintages, this Cabernet-dominated wine (83%) will gain even more weight in barrel and looks likely to prove absolutely stunning with a bit of patience. Drink from now to 2030.

2004 Ch. Léoville-Las Cases, 2ème Cru Classé St Julien – €180.00
Medium-Full Bodied, Dry | 13.0 % alcohol
A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, and 11% Cabernet Franc it exhibits the classic style of both Las Cases and St.-Julien in its deep black currant notes interwoven with sweet cherries, wet stones, and toasty vanillin. Made in a structured, medium to full-bodied style with superb concentration, beautiful purity, and admirable symmetry, this beauty is one of the strongest efforts of the vintage. Drink from now to 2030.

Please let me know if you would to order of the above selection.

Best wishes
Ian