Chateau le Puy Bordeaux Côte des Francs 'Emilien' 2016

Bordeaux remains the benchmark for high-end and much sought-after Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot based blends, often with a price tag to match. There are 57 appellations across the region making Bordeaux the largest producer of appellation wines in France. It is a region delineated by waterways; the famous Cabernet blends of the left bank lie on the Atlantic side of the Gironde and Garonnne rivers and the famous merlot-based wines of the right bank lie to the right of the Dordogne river where it feeds into the Gironde. The area between these two famous regions is known as the Entre Deux Mers - ‘between two seas’. The stunning, complex white wines of Bordeaux produced from oak-aged Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon and the incredible heady dessert wines from Barsac and Sauternes cement the region as a classic. Under the surface lies value and a fledgling natural wine scene too so it’s not just for the well-heeled. Local Knowledge: If your budget doesn’t quite stretch to the €30,000 a bottle asking price for the newly released, Graves-based 2015 Liber Pater investigate wines from Bordeaux et Entre-Deux-Mers, Côtes de Bourg, Fronsac, Canon-Fronsac and Côtes de Blaye.