Bordeaux' Château Teyssier is a rising star
in St-Emilion -one of two right bank "stellar cellars" according
to Williamson & Moore's Wine Behind the Label (the other is the rather
more expensive Ausone). The Vineyard Manger is Robert Fortin (ex-Petit-Village,
Pomerol), the Consulting Oenologist is Gilles Pauquet (Cheval Blanc etc)
and the winemaker is Jonathan Maltus assisted by Cyril Beziat. The team
has steadily improved Teyssier which now must surely rank as one of the
greatest value Bordeaux available. Meanwhile, Jonathan has been purchasing
more land around the appellation and now produces premium wines including
"Le Dôme" and "Laforge". In 2004 he made, for
the first time, a wine from the recently acquired Château Grand
Destieu which promises great things. The white Teyssier, "Contre
le Vent" is so-called because whilst it is on a par, qualitatively,
with the St-Emilion Grand Cru wines, there are of course no white wines
permitted by the appellation's rules so it remains an outsider, a mere
Bordeaux Blanc, flying against the wind. In addition to the Teyssier labels,
the Maltus empire includes a very good range of Bordeaux Supérieurs
under the label of Château Lacroix and the new Pezat range. These
are some of the better inexpensive wines from Bordeaux. More recently,
Jonathan has widened his range to include a Barossa Valley old-vine Shiraz
from the Colonial Wine Company.
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