Domaine de l'A· Côtes de Castillon

This is the home estate of Stéphane and Christine Derenoncourt, and that alone tells you most of what you need to know. Stéphane has consulted for some of the most serious properties on the right bank; Domaine de l'A, bought in 1999, is where he answers only to himself. I tasted it on site, and the discipline shows.

Castillon is the unglamorous side of the Saint-Émilion plateau, but the same clay-limestone runs under it, here at 60 to 90 metres. Nine and a half hectares of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and a little Cabernet Sauvignon, worked by tractor, aged in a measured 30 to 40 percent new oak.

What I import here is conviction at a fair price, a consultant's own wine, made without anyone to impress. I take a modest allocation each vintage and it moves quickly.