Before I get carried away with Bordeaux 2015, I thought I’d let you in on some mature vintages of Languedoc top-end pioneer Mas de Daumas Gassac I’ve tasted recently. I last wrote about this property a few years back, then looking at the 2007, 2004 and 2001 vintages. The verdict was that you need to give the reds time in bottle to show their best. Over the past couple of months, I’ve re-tasted the 2004 and the 2001 and the other night I had the 2000. The tastings reconfirm that Daumas Gassac is a wonderfully rewarding buy for those with patience and a cellar and who enjoy sturdy reds that are characterful, warm and opinionated.

Château Angludet and Château Cantemerle are two of the best value fine red Bordeaux’s you can pick up. Cantemerle, classified a fifth growth in the 1855 classification, regularly produces top class claret and has been on particularly impressive form in the last decade. This Haut-Médoc is located in Macau, just to the south of the Margaux appellation. Château d’Angludet [now simply labeled Angludet] is a very well-known old Margaux property that was pretty much brought back from the dead by the late Peter Allan Sichel after he purchased the ailing property in 1961. Today the wine has been taken to even greater heights by his son Ben Sichel. It is undoubtedly one of the best value chateaux of this large and heterogeneous appellation. The property has excellent terroir and neighbours Château Giscours and Château du Tertre.

You could be forgiven for feeling something of an underachiever following a trip to HALL, the ambitious state-of-the-art boutique winery on the outskirts of St Helena in California’s Napa Valley. Created in 2002 by serial entrepreneur Craig Hall and his wife Kathryn Walt Hall, the property is founded on the site of the old Napa Valley Co-Op. The centerpiece is a stunning new winery and tasting room, given an almost transparent air with floor to ceiling glass. In contrast, set beside it, is the renovated stone Bergfeld Winery established in 1885. Works of art are dotted about the gardens, including a giant silver rabbit that jumps Watership Down-like, out of the vineyard, as if making a bid for the St Helena Highway out in front.

For me St Estèphe has produced some of the 2014 vintage’s most exciting wines. I’ve already written on Château Cos d’Estournel, Château Calon Ségur and Château Montrose who have jointly produced a set of 2014s can will probably hold their own alongside their remarkable 2010s. But this is not the end of the story. Very impressive wines have also been made at Château Capbern, Château Lafon-Rochet, Château Meyney, Château Ormes de Pez, Château Phélan Ségur, and Château Tronquoy-Lalande. Château Le Boscq, Château La Commanderie, Château Le Crock are all potentially excellent too. I’m a great fan of this appellation usually but 2014 is a wonderful vintage here. Given the reasonable pricing of so many of these wines, this vintage provides an excellent hunting ground for price-savvy Bordeaux enthusiasts.