Bauduc Les Trois Hectares Merlot 2006

This Bordeaux Supérieur is Gavin Quinney's flagship wine, made from the estate's finest Merlot grapes.

The first vintage of this wine, the 03, was the top selling red at restaurant Gordon Ramsay, which at the time was the only three Michelin star in London.

This deep, dark red was made from ripe Merlot grapes, selected from the best three plots of the vineyard, near the Château. Just ten French oak barrels were chosen for the final blend of this limited edition cuvée - a total of just 250 cases.

This full-flavoured yet elegant Bordeaux will be at its best between 2009 and 2015. Decant before serving.

Château Bauduc is a lovely 200 acre estate, with woods and parkland surrounding the Château and its 70 acres of vines. Both red and white varieties are grown on the clay, gravel and limestone soils - mostly Merlot with some Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grapes for our ‘Appellation Contrôlée’ reds and rosé, and Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon for the whites.

Each vine is tended by hand around eight times a year, from the winter pruning onwards, and passed by tractor some 22 times a season: trimming, spraying, mowing, turning the soil, and so on. We employ a system of ‘lutte raisonée’, or reasoned viticulture, whereby we only spray when we have to, or rather, panic when we have to.

Much of the vineyard has been replanted in the last ten years. We've replaced knackered old vines in wide rows on high yielding rootstocks with much narrower rows of higher quality rootstocks and varieties: a lot more work but far better grapes in the long term, in theory.