Maison Sichel is a highly-respected family company, The Sichels tick all of the boxes – Château owner, producer and négociant house, family-owned since its establishment in 1883. Now in 7th generation Maison Sichel has amassed more than 30 years of experience and, on the négociant side, has forged long-established relationships with its growers. This was also the first Bordeaux négociant house to invest in a vinification cellar, Cave Bel-Air. This enabled the company to extend its involvement in wine production and to shoulder the responsibility for quality at every level – from involvement in viticulture, control of the harvest and rigorous sorting, through to the winemaking process, maturation and the finished product. The Corney & Barrow buying team blended this claret, guided by Technical Director, Yvan Meyer. The constituent wines are from selected cuvées of grapes produced by Sichel’s long-term growers, based on the clay-limestone slopes of the Right Bank of the Garonne River and on siliceous boulbène in the Entre-Deux-Mers. Aged in vats rather than barrels, the wine has a lovely freshness and lively fruit character.