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There has been something of a revolution at La Source this year. This marvellous estate near St Emilion is now not only under new ownership but has also appointed Patrick Valette, ex Ch Pavie, to oversee the work both in the vineyards and the cellar. Patrick's advice is put into practice by talented new winemaker Sebastien Lamonthe.Patrick's attention to detail, from severe selection of fruit to micro techniques in the cellar, is legendary, and his first La Source is a wine of amazing quality. Of course with 70 year old vines he enjoys something of a head start. He has also enjoyed the benefit of the new owner's further investment in the cellar.Aged 100% in new oak, principally merlot, this is a very fine wine, precise and pure. It has layers of polished dark fruit and is beautifully balanced and long. This year also sees a significant drop in price. A new pricing policy, deliberately designed to help this wine attract a wider audience has been put in place and in our view this wine now offers excellent value. It is one of the purest 2004s that we tasted. Drink 2010-2020
When the Romans first planted a few vines on the limestone outcrops of St Emilion in the early years of the first century, and tasted what was, by all accounts, rather thin, bitter wine, they can hardly have imagined that the region's greatest red wines would become the most sought afterfine wines in the world. From the days in the seventeenth century when the then owners of Ch Haut Brion, the de Pontac family, became the first to export to the UK, selling their wine in their own tavern, the Pontac's Head, red Bordeaux or claret has been the Englishman's favourite. The wines of the 1855 Classification are merely the tip of the iceberg. Bordeaux AC accounts for about half of all wine produced in the area, from vineyards outside the regional or communal appelations and often blended by the negociant houses. Simpler beasts these although still clearly related to their more illustrious cousins - relatively light and fresh, full of fruit, with soft tannins making for delicious, and good value, early drinking.
