Our Team's Favourite Fine Wines: Staff Picks from the Cellar

Our Team's Favourite Fine Wines: Staff Picks from the Cellar

Everyone at Cellar Advisor spends their days talking about wine. So we asked the team a simple question: if you could open one bottle, what would it be? Their answers take in Bordeaux First Growths, a Spanish icon, a Grand Cru Burgundy and one of Chile's best reds. Below, each pick comes with a little background on the wine and the people who make it.

Daniel Ward, Co-Founder & Managing Director – Clos Apalta 2015.

Region: Apalta,Colchagua Valley, Chile

Critic score: 100 points, James Suckling

Drinking window: now to 2035+

Few wines have done more for the reputation of Chilean fine wine than Clos Apalta. Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle, of the Grand Marnier family, founded the estate in 1994 with her husband Cyril de Bournet. From the start they ran it with a Bordelais mindset, and Michel Rolland was an early consultant. They also chose an exceptional site. Apalta is a natural amphitheatre of granitic and colluvial slopes opening onto the Tinguiririca River. The hills shade the vines from the harsh afternoon sun, and cooling breezes from the Pacific protect acidity through a long growing season.

The estate's great asset is its old vines. Much of the Carmenère and Cabernet Sauvignon is ungrafted and more than 80 years old. The wine is Carmenère-led, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a little Petit Verdot. Fruit is hand-destemmed, fermented in French oak vats and moved by gravity through a multi-level winery cut into the granite, then aged in new French oak. The vineyards are farmed organically and biodynamically.

The 2015 comes from a dry, balanced vintage and shows the estate at its most complete. It has dense cassis and black cherry fruit, graphite and spice, and fine-grained tannins with enough freshness to support its concentration.

Josh Lorec, Head of Trade Sales – Château Pavie 2005

Region: Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux

Critic score: 100 points, Robert Parker

Drinking window: 2015–2065

Pavie is one of the most talked-about estates in modern Bordeaux. It covers around 37 hectares across three distinct terroirs: the limestone plateau, clay-limestone côtes facing south, and sandier clay soils at the foot of the slope. The site has always been among the best in Saint-Émilion. What changed its reputation was Gérard Perse's purchase in 1998. He rebuilt the vineyard and cellars, cut yields sharply, harvested later and moved to a richer, more extracted style. The approach divided critics, most famously in the Parker–Robinson disagreement over the 2003, but the market's verdict came in 2012, when Pavie was promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classé "A".

The blend is Merlot-dominant, with a significant proportion of Cabernet Franc and some Cabernet Sauvignon. It is aged in new French oak.

2005 is one of the defining Bordeaux vintages of the century: a dry, sunny season with cool nights that kept the wines fresh. Pavie 2005 is monumental, with black fruit, liquorice and mocha over a powerful tannic frame. Only now is it starting to show its secondary layers.

Martin Docherty, Senior Advisor – Vega Sicilia Único 1996

Region: Ribera del Duero, Spain

Critic score: 98 points, Luis Gutiérrez

Drinking window: 2022–2035

Vega Sicilia is Spain's most famous winery and one of the great names in European wine. It was founded in 1864, when Eloy Lecanda planted Bordeaux varieties next to native Tinto Fino at Valbuena de Duero. That was more than a century before Ribera del Duero became an official denomination. The Álvarez family bought the estate in 1982 and has protected its reputation carefully ever since.

What sets Único apart is its unusually long, patient élevage. The wine, mostly Tinto Fino with a supporting share of Cabernet Sauvignon, typically spends six years or more moving between large wooden vats, new and used barrels (French and American oak) and bottle. It is released about a decade after the harvest. Only the best vintages are bottled as Único, and allocations are tightly controlled, which keeps secondary-market demand consistently strong.

At 30 years old, the 1996 is at its peak. Expect dried cherry, tobacco, leather and sandalwood, with the savoury, almost Burgundian finesse that mature Único is known for. Its acidity still holds everything together.

Jordan Williams-Whiting, Senior Advisor – Domaine Leflaive Montrachet 2015

Region: Puligny-Montrachet, Côte de Beaune, Burgundy

Critic score: 95 points, Stephen Tanzer

Drinking window: now to 2040

Domaine Leflaive has long been the benchmark estate in Puligny-Montrachet. Its holdings include Chevalier-Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet and a string of top Premiers Crus. The late Anne-Claude Leflaive converted the domaine to biodynamic farming in the 1990s, well before the method was widely accepted. The precision and energy of the wines made her one of its most persuasive advocates. Since her death in 2015, her nephew Brice de La Morandière has run the domaine with the same approach.

Leflaive bought its parcel of Le Montrachet in 1991. It is a tiny holding of around 0.08 hectares, enough for only a few barrels a year. Le Montrachet itself covers about eight hectares on the boundary between Puligny and Chassagne. Its thin, limestone-rich soils and south-east exposure give Chardonnay a combination of power and mineral depth that no other site quite matches.

2015 was a warm, sunny year and an early harvest. The top growers kept their tension by picking at the right moment. Leflaive's Montrachet has great concentration, with citrus oil, white peach, hazelnut and a long saline finish. It is one of the rarest white wines produced anywhere.

Olivia Souto, Senior Advisor – Château Haut-Brion 1986

Region: Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

Critic score: 96 points, Robert Parker

Drinking window: 2008–2030

Haut-Brion can claim to be the first luxury wine brand. In the 1660s Arnaud de Pontac marketed it by name in London, and on 10 April 1663 Samuel Pepys recorded drinking "Ho Bryan", which "hath a good and most particular taste." Two centuries later it was the only estate outside the Médoc to be ranked a First Growth in the 1855 Classification. Since 1935 it has belonged to the Dillon family, and today Prince Robert of Luxembourg is at the helm.

The vineyard lies on deep gravel over clay in the suburbs of Bordeaux. The surrounding city creates a warmer microclimate, so Haut-Brion often ripens earlier than the Médoc. The blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc produces the smoky, earthy, mineral character that defines great Graves.

1986 was a Cabernet year on the Left Bank: a large, structured vintage with firm tannins that needed decades to soften. Haut-Brion 1986 has aged into a classic. It shows cigar box, cedar, scorched earth, truffle and dried cassis, with the silky texture only long bottle age can give.

Patrick Thornton-Smith, Non-Executive Advisor – Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 2015

Region: Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

Critic score: 98 points, James Suckling

Drinking window: now to 2030

Smith Haut Lafitte's recent history is one of Bordeaux's great revival stories. Former Olympic skiers Daniel and Florence Cathiard bought the Martillac estate in 1990 and invested in everything from the vineyard to the cellar. They built an on-site cooperage so they could control their own oak, moved towards organic and biodynamic farming, and helped create Caudalie, a skincare brand based on grape polyphenols. The château's red is classified under the Graves classification. The white is not, but it now ranks among Bordeaux's finest dry whites.

The white is made mostly from Sauvignon Blanc with small amounts of Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon, grown on deep gravel. It is fermented in barrel and aged on its lees with bâtonnage. This builds texture and weight without covering up the variety's aromatic lift.

2015 was an excellent vintage for Pessac-Léognan whites. The wine combines ripe citrus, white flowers and exotic fruit with a smoky, flinty edge and a taut mineral finish. With time in bottle, it is taking on the waxy, honeyed complexity of top white Graves.

David Rowland, Senior Advisor – Château Léoville Las Cases 1985

Region: Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

Critic score: 95 points, Robert Parker

Drinking window: now to 2030

Léoville Las Cases was ranked a Second Growth in 1855 and is widely regarded as the leader of the "Super Seconds", estates that regularly perform at First Growth level. Its core is the Grand Enclos, a walled vineyard of gravel over clay next to Château Latour, entered through the stone lion gate shown on the label. The closeness to Latour is visible in the glass: Las Cases has a density, reserve and longevity unusual even for Saint-Julien.

The Delon family has run the estate for generations. The 1985 was made under Michel Delon, whose perfectionism and uncompromising selection became famous. His son Jean-Hubert Delon has continued that approach since 2000.

1985 was a warm, dry vintage that produced harmonious, charming wines. It was less tannic than 1986 but has proved remarkably durable. Las Cases 1985 is at its peak: cassis, pencil shavings, cedar and forest floor, with silky tannins and the fine-boned elegance of classic claret.

Luke Griffiths, Purchasing Consultant – Clos du Marquis 1998

Region: Saint-Julien, Bordeaux

Critic score: 90 points, Robert Parker

Drinking window: now to 2030

Clos du Marquis is made by the Delon family of Léoville Las Cases and dates back to the early 20th century. It was long seen as the Las Cases second wine. In fact it comes from its own vineyards, which lie outside the Grand Enclos, and it has always had a distinct identity. That was made official in 2007, when Le Petit Lion took over as Las Cases' second wine and Clos du Marquis stood as a Saint-Julien in its own right.

The wine is Cabernet Sauvignon-led, supported by Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and made with the same rigour and severe selection as the grand vin. In practice it offers classified-growth quality at a considerable discount to its neighbours.

In the Médoc, 1998 was overshadowed by the Right Bank's stellar Merlot. Well-sited Saint-Julien still produced classic, structured wines, and they have repaid patience. The Clos du Marquis 1998 is now fully mature, with cedar, graphite, blackcurrant leaf and a savoury, gently tertiary finish.

Explore Our Fine Wine Collection

Our team's picks cover the whole fine wine spectrum, from mature First Growth claret and Grand Cru Burgundy to Spain's most collectable estate and a New World icon. Whether you're building a cellar, looking at investment-grade wine or searching for one special bottle, our specialists can help you find it.

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