We are often asked to name châteaux in Bordeaux that are on the rise. One name that immediately springs to mind is Château Berliquet. This Saint Emilion property suffered from what many felt was rather clumsy and formulaic winemaking for many years and the full potential of this excellently situated property has not been revealed until recently.
Berliquet was purchased by the Chanel group in 2017. This was a perfect fit for them as the tiny 9 hectare vineyard is actually adjacent to their own Château Canon – one of the undoubted stars of the appellation. Other neighbours include Belair-Monange and Beausejour-Duffau. Wine-making has been completely transformed under the Chanel ownership and the management of the talented Nicolas Audebert.
The breakthrough vintage here was 2019 – a wine that has received huge praise. We can offer the 2019 today at £395 per dozen: a fraction under the original en primeur opening price.
Customers should think of Berliquet as a slightly earlier-maturing version of Canon. It is very much made in the same style as Canon, with freshness and delicacy to the fore. It tastes nothing like the rather extracted, jammy Berliquets of the past.
The great 2019 vintage here has received excellent reviews from the critics and these include an impressive 94 point rating from William Kelley of the The Wine Advocate. Our stock is lying with us at our Melksham bond, packed in 6 bottle wooden cases.
Price comparisons with older vintages of Berliquet rather miss the point here, such is the improvement in quality (and, in our opinion, style) over the past five years, though it is worth noting that, at £395 per dozen this comes in at less than both the 2022 (£548) and 2021 (£458) vintages.
