2016 Château Chasse-Spleen, Moulis-en-Médoc, Bordeaux

The most famous red wine grape in the world and one of the most widely planted.

Moulis is the smallest of the six Médoc communes but boasts a wide variety of soils and terroirs. One of the two communal appellations located on the Atlantic side of the Médoc, its hilly country is studded with a diversity of gravels, limestone and clay. These are sturdy wines, but the best are capable of considerable longevity and are often seductively perfumed, with more power than Margaux wines – albeit less finesse and elegance.

Château Chasse-Spleen is the leading Moulis estate along with Château Poujeaux. Although it is classified only as a Cru Bourgeois, it regularly outperforms many of the Médoc's more renowned classed growths. There are two theories behind the château's rather unusual name: firstly, that, when Lord Byron visited the estate in 1821, he remarked `Quel remède pour chasser le spleen`. Secondly, that it is named after Baudelaire's poem, Spleen.