Wine of the week: an enthralling petit verdot from Bordeaux

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2018 Petit Verdot by Belle-Vue, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux, France

£28.95, bbr.com

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While this is a rather simplistic overview of these three excellent vintages, I have found a wine that combines a soupçon of each in one bottle. The reason for the unusually delicious flavours in this wine is that it is made from 100% petit verdot, a grape that is increasingly important in this mighty region.

Petit verdot is famed for its deep, dark-tasting notes and inky colour. Isabelle Mulliez, the mind behind Belle-Vue, has used her oldest vines to make this enthralling wine. When her husband, Vincent Mulliez bought Belle-Vue in 2004 then sadly passed away in 2010, she was galvanised by the unique setting as well as the 80-year-old petit verdot in her vineyards. She makes small quantities of this fantastic cuvée alongside her more traditional blends.

Partly matured in terracotta amphoras, this is a thoroughly modern wine with a profound flavour that imprints a unique signature on your taste buds. Exciting, suave, vigorous, refreshing, and just starting out on a ten-year lifespan, I urge you to buy this inspirational wine and marvel at the vision and talent of the Mulliez family and their bold portfolio.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com)

Matthew Jukes has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006.

He has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.