Château de Pitray, The Society's Côtes de Bordeaux 2020

This is the kind of thing The Wine Society does so well: affordable, everyday-drinking claret, made in an unpretentious but quality-minded way. In this case, the name behind the own label is Château Pitray, located in the Right Bank value hunting ground of Castillon. Here we have a blend of mostly Merlot, with Cabernet Franc and a tiny dash of Malbec, unoaked (which helps to keep the price low). The quality to price ratio here is impressive – it's a very expressive and open style of claret, with ripe and firm blackcurrant fruit, good freshness and a decent length. From the 2021 vintage, this will be rebranded as The Society's Reserve Claret.