Château Machorre, Bordeaux Supérieur, 2021

A refined Bordeaux Supérieur this is classy and approachable wine in the modern Claret style. While honouring traditional approaches to vineyard management and winemaking, all the equipment is brand new and the expertise is first-rate. The result is a svelte and mouth-coating wine that is both complex and (as mentioned already) really approachable. It lacks nothing and is a superb advert for this level of Bordeaux: hugely versatile, pairing excellently with many foods yet requiring none, and looking the part too!

I’ve really been enjoying this wine recently. It’s really elegant, and showcases the classic characteristics of the right-bank of Bordeaux: dark red and black fruit flavours, integrated spice and notes of cedar, iron and tobacco. It is beautifully balanced and has a fine and yielding structure, with approachable tannins and fruit-forward flavours all set with an underpinning acidity that stops it getting too heady or jammy. It's a cracking bottle of wine, perfect for both immediate enjoyment and short-term cellaring.

As you can tell, I love it.

Set on the gentle slopes beside the Garonne river, Château Machorre's vineyard are planted with 22 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The soils are mostly clay-limestone with deep pockets of by iron-rich gravel. With plot by plot harvesting and fermentation, the nature of each vintage is nurtured as though it were a Grand Cru, which, for the price, it isn't and that is a good thing...

Ageing in oak barrels of various sizes, age and toast levels, giving a classic mouth-feel, balanced body and lots of really impressive black fruit and spice flavours. Excellent stuff. Delicious!