We had some guests around for duck stew and I thought I would open a decent bottle of wine to go with it; in their honour; Chȃteau Ducru-Beaucaillou produce some of my favourite red wines from St Julien in the Medoc. I carefully decanted the wine before they arrived. The wine was excellent even if it was not one of their best years and it cost me a pretty penny: to buy a bottle now will cost you well over 100 GBP.
The wine has its own particular taste but it represents the terroir very well. If you tasted it blind you would easily tell that it is a Bordeaux wine if nothing else, and you would also tell that it is superior to most wines from across the globe. Whether it is worth the price is debatable as you are almost certainly paying for the name and some of the better years of this wine are held as investments. The wine went down great with the duck and I enjoyed it enormously.
After finishing the duck and the Bordeaux I opened a bottle of Alain Mathias Epineuil 2018 from Bourgogne. This is one of my favourite wines which comes from the north of the region. The soil here is almost unique to France and is based on limestone marls. My wife and I can recognise the wines from this area when we taste them blind. This is not because we are great wine tasters but because we have drunk so many of these wine, and some of my wife's family come from the area.
https://www.carteblanchewines.com/alainmathias
https://domainealainmathias.fr/nos-revendeurs/
For me the Epineuil is of similar quality to the Bordeaux which costs much much more owing to its reputation as an investment wine. The Bordeaux will keep longer and will develop further in the bottle.
The Epineuil is exceptional value for money and its quality is easily comparable with the best of wines.
Alan Mathias produces award winning wines.
I can't decide which red wines I prefer Bordeaux or Bourgogne and I suppose that it depends on my mood. One thing is certain you can still find high quality wines at reasonable prices provided to do your research , use local knowledge and visit the wine producers to taste their products. This is true no matter which country you visit.
https://domainealainmathias.fr/nos-revendeurs/
As an apéritif we drank 2013 Marques de la Concordia 'MM' Gran Reserva Brut Nature Cava. At 11 pounds a bottle this dry sparkling wine from Catalonia is a pure star and can hold its on against many Champagne brands.
