2019 Château de Clotte, Cotes de Castillon

It's no wonder Château de Clotte has been our best-selling claret over the last year or so - a Saint-Emilion-styled, Côtes de Castillon claret from a fabulous vintage.

A best-seller bound to sell out. So, after the 2016 did so last year, it was clear that we needed to get in place whatever next vintage was available. It turned out that this was the 2019, which wed tasted and enjoyed a few times in France. Since then, we've been waiting and waiting for its release - now it's finally here.

The delicious 2019 takes the class and structure of the 2016 and enhances it with a dapple of extra sunshine. It's younger certainly, but riper, rounder, suppler, and more luxurious in texture. In short, a bottle of Saint-Émilion finesse without the price tag.

The Côtes de Castillon lie on a ridge to the east of the plateau of Saint-Émilion and share a similar terroir - limestone, gravel and clay. In my opinion, here is the most underrated appellation (along with Fronsac) in all of Bordeaux. The wines are terrific, the prices modest, and offer much better value than those of Saint-Émilion - by a stretch.

Château de Clotte's 2019 vintage is a blend of 50% cabernet franc, 40% merlot and 10% malbec, with lovely rich berry fruit flavours and a hint of spice, tobacco and vanilla from its oak aging. It is still youthful, but opened an hour beforehand and it blossoms in the glass. Utterly delicious now, it promises at least 5-7 more years of sumptuous drinking pleasure.