TMG Blog

A chilled unlabelled white wine bottle sweating on limestone beside a shallow dish of oyster shells and folded linen — The case for dry white Bordeaux
Bordeaux

Carbonnieux and the case for dry white Bordeaux

Ask a table of reasonably serious drinkers in Hong Kong to name a white Bordeaux...
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A row of unlabelled bottles from different years along a stone ledge, one lit by low autumn light, the rest in shadow — A vintage is not a grade
Bordeaux

Cantenac Brown and why a vintage is not a grade

Two bottles of the same wine from years three apart can differ more than two...
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An antique brass scale balancing a cluster of grapes against a stack of ledgers, a quill and inkwell on a worn counter — 1855 measured trade, not taste
Bordeaux

Cantemerle and what the 1855 brokers were measuring

In 1855 Napoleon III wanted a display of French agricultural achievement for the Exposition Universelle...
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A single vine stake centred between two weathered fence posts, gravel and river stones scattered beneath in soft grey light — Being the middle has its virtue
Bordeaux

Branaire-Ducru and the virtue of the middle of Saint-Julien

The 1855 classification is read, almost universally, as a quality ranking. It was a price...
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A weathered stone urn beside scattered Pauillac gravel and a coiled length of rusted chain, morning fog over distant vine rows — The 1855 list undersold this one
Bordeaux

Chateau Batailley and what the 1855 list undersold

In the spring of 1855 the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce received an awkward request. Paris...
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Two decanters side by side on aged oak with one hand carved stopper set between them, gravel and vine leaves scattered — Two estates, one Barton hand
Bordeaux

Barton in Saint-Julien: two estates, one set of hands

Here is a problem that anybody who has tried to learn Bordeaux by tasting has...
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A folded paper chart with faded grid lines curls beside a glass of deep red wine and a magnifying glass — A vintage chart hides the range
Bordeaux

What a vintage chart hides behind a single score

Ninety-six sits beside one year on the chart, eighty-seven beside the year next to it,...
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Two matching Bordeaux bottles with different coloured capsules stand close on dark wood beside a rolled vineyard map — Second wines are not always cheap
Bordeaux

Second wines: when the same cellar is a bargain and when it is not

The pitch writes itself. Here is Carruades de Lafite, made by the same team, in...
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Two unlabelled Bordeaux bottles rest together, one dusty with an aged cork half drawn, the other freshly capsuled — Now wine and cellar wine differ
Bordeaux

Bordeaux to drink now and Bordeaux to keep are different buys

Buying Bordeaux to drink and buying Bordeaux to keep are two different activities. They use...
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A glass decanter catches a thin pour of dark red wine from a tilted bottle, sediment settling at its shoulder — Decanting can make wine worse
Bordeaux

What decanting actually does, and when it makes wine worse

A waiter takes your bottle away, pours it into a glass vessel with some ceremony,...
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A modest unlabelled Bordeaux bottle stands beside a stack of coins and a plain wooden crate on a rustic table — Value sits in Cru Bourgeois
Bordeaux

Cru Bourgeois is where the value sits in Bordeaux

Cru Bourgeois sits on a label like a consolation prize, and that is roughly how...
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Four terracotta dishes in a row hold different soils, pale gravel, dark clay and mixed pebbles — Gravel splits the four communes
Bordeaux

How gravel and clay separate the four Medoc communes

Margaux, Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Saint-Estephe. Four names on four labels at roughly the same money, and...
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Producer Guide
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Fossil flecked grey limestone fragments with tiny oyster shell imprints scattered on dark soil beside a pale tinted glass of white wine — Kimmeridgian rock shapes Chablis
Burgundy
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