Château La Forge· Saint-Émilion

Stéphane Derenoncourt's hand is on this one too, here as consultant rather than owner, and I carry it for the same reason I carry his own Domaine de l'A, I trust how he reads a site. Five hectares of Saint-Émilion, planted in 1975, on clay and limestone with a vein of sandy gravel between 40 and 55 metres.

Merlot with a fifth Cabernet Franc, yields held to 32 hl/ha, raised in 40 to 50 percent new oak. The result is rounded and immediate without being soft-edged, a Saint-Émilion that knows what it wants to be on release.

A small property making a small quantity of honest wine. I take a case allocation and would happily take more.