CHATEAU PAVIE, Les Aromes de Pavie(second wine by Pavie), St-Emilion A Merlot-dominant blend featuring Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, this Saint-Emilion Grand Cru is among Bordeaux’s best second wines. Introduced in 2005 by Pavie’s winemaker, Gérard Perse, Les Aromes de Pavie inherits four hectares of vineyard from the château’s grand vin. Made with the same care and aged on 50% new French oak, Les Aromes comes with all the elegance of the flagship: a rich, full-bodied drop. It’ll easily age well over 20 years, but give it 5 in the bottle at the very least.

Penfolds' Block 42 vineyard is one of the most historic Cabernet vineyards in the world. Planted only 30 years after the 1855 Bordeaux Classification, Block 42 has the oldest plantings in the world that have continuously produced Cabernet Sauvignon. This unique history is harnessed by Peter Gago in the 2004 Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet that has produced a beautifully aromatic, perfectly balanced and ripe Cabernet Sauvignon. The fruit simply explodes across the palate, giving tremendous depth and length of flavour. While young, plush and full-bodied today, the Block 42 has many years of ageing ahead of it and will be comfortable in your cellar well into the 2020s.

Classified as one of ten 4me crus in 1855, Chateau Talbot, in the Saint-Julien appellation, has a distinguished history. Throughout the years, it has been owned by the Governor of Aquitane, the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Marquis of Aux before being acquired by the Cordier family, the fourth generation of which are still in ownership today. Their 2016 Grand Cru is a wine of exceptional personality and charisma, already impressing critics with its silky sweetness and subtle edge. Balanced, crisp, and full of complexity, it is loaded with ageing potential, promising to become something even more prodigious just a few short years from now.

Regarded a Super Second (but technically a 3me growth), Palmer is capable of producing wines that equal or even outstrip the quality of its famous Premier cru neighbour, Ch. Margaux. Named for the wealthy English military man who bought the estate in the early 19th century, Palmer is now majority owned by the Mahler Besse and Sichel families - famous Bordeaux negociants. Many of the best plots on the property were purchased after the Classification of 1855, explaining in part why Palmer did not warrant higher standing at that time. Certainly today there is no question that the wine is among Bordeauxs best. The estate also makes a separate second label - named Alter Ego - which is made from similarly high quality fruit but treated differently in the winery with the aim of producing a counterpoint in style to the First wine.

The formidable fortress depicted on the famed vanilla Latour label was built to withstand the Gironde pirate attacks of the 15th Century. And, truly, as well as the tower still stands, so does Latour and its consistent excellence regardless of vintage. Nominally Pauillac, this First Growth sits almost astride the border of St. Julien and its output as one would expect is dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon with 10 per cent awarded to both Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Any experience with Latour is to be savoured with patience this notoriously slow-developing wine requires at least a decade or twos development. But the reward for this patience is a fulsome melange of power, finesse, depth and tone.