Some top vintages of Ch Tertre Roteboeuf – St-Emilion superstar

Tertre Roteboeuf's an interesting property (and not just because everyone wants to put a circumflex on the O and call it roast beef instead of belching bull). On the face of it it looks almost garagiste – a small estate lovingly tended by owner François Mitjavile on a south-facing amphitheatre on the St-Emilion Côtes two kilometres south-east of the village. Super-ripe Merlot is the key, even though the wines show no signs of excess.

But Mitjavile is very much his own man. He has never applied to be a Grand Cru Classé, for example, and I doubt very much whether...