Jane Anson

Chateau Haut-Brion

1st Cru Classe, 1855

Bordeaux 2014: First Impressions - Graves and Pessac-Léognan

There are two clear stylistic camps for the Bordeaux 2014 vintage in Pessac-Léognan and Graves, writes Jane Anson, who offers her first general impression of the wines before rating them for Decanter.

First bite

[Jane Anson] In theory, the first tranche is the most alluring aspect of the whole system, in fact the very point of its existence for wine lovers; a good price as a reward for paying upfront for bottles that won’t be delivered for two years.

Between the wires

[Jane Anson] ‘Pruning is the longest, hardest job of the year,’ says Dider Vallade, chef de culture at Château Angélus in Saint Emilion.

The disappearing châteaux

[Jane Anson] What the UGC doesn't need, it is fair to say, are three of their biggest draws announcing that they are taking their wines out of the communal tastings.

100 years of Siran

[Jane Anson] What do you learn from tasting a 100 year vertical of a château from an appellation like Margaux?

What does the drop in oil prices mean for wine?

[Jane Anson] Certainly it’s hard not to feel cheerful about the idea of more disposable income for families to spend on other things. But will it provide the wine market with the stimulus that it clearly needs?

Cru Bourgeois Medoc chateau sold to Chinese investor

Chateau Preuillac has become the latest Bordeaux wine property acquired by a Chinese investor, after its owner families decided to sell following two difficult vintages.

Land fever in Saint Emilion

[Jane Anson] The problem, increasingly, is that one of them is getting column inches for all the wrong reasons.

The shadow men

[Jane Anson] Brokering is a business that dates back almost 900 years to when Bordeaux was a duchy of the English crown, and a need developed for local men to act as liaison between those producing the wine and those selling it.