Château La Tour Carnet, Grand Cru Classé, 2018

Love Bordeaux? Come on in here: this is a 4th Growth Grand Cru Classé that offers seriously wonderful value for money.

This is one of the best-value Bordeaux that we have ever sold.

This is cellar-worthy Grand Cru Classé wine, approaching its plateau of delicious drinking in tip-tip drinking condition. This deeply impressive and hugely respected property is, with Château Cantemerle, one of the very few Châteaux to be classified in 1855 that is not based within one of the famed communes. This has somewhat stunted its ability to continually increase prices, while the quality of the property has - perhaps contrarily - continued to grow and grow and grow.

The Château is one of the oldest in the whole of the Médoc, dating back to the 12th Century; with medieval architecture (parts from 1120), it can be hard to establish exactly when wine production began, but some of its many owners include one of the most important French philosophers, Michel de Montaigne, who was a pioneer of wine-mkaing in the region, choosing only those Châteaux that were good enough for very fine wine production. The current vineyards have been continuously farmed since 1409.

It is situated right on the border to the west of Saint Julien, sitting very close to Pauillac too. It is less than 7 kilometres from Château Latour and les than 5 from Beycheville.

Château La Tour Carnet, one of the original Grand Cru Classé wines from the classification of 1855, is a highly-esteemed winery in the Haut-Médoc region. It has a modern vineyard makeup of 75% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc allowing the stony soils to give depth and structure uncommon in many Merlot-dominant Médoc wines.

This is a ripe and juicy La Tour Carnet, with a broad and inviting nose, leading to earthy notes and spices. The medium-bodied palate has fine and age-worthy tannins, balanced by freshness and a nervy, sinew-like structure on the really finessed finish. The bottle age that this has really repays us now...