The first-ever Southwold tasting, a wide-ranging assessment of a young bordeaux vintage, evolved from a series of spectacular vertical tastings of Cheval Blanc, Latour and Petrus organised by Clive Coates MW of the Malmaison Wine Club, Simon Loftus of Adnams and Sheldon Graner (East End minicab driver turned wine broker, and founder of Majestic) with vintages back to 1926. Loftus and Coates...
The Southwold tastings – a history
Thursday 12 February 2026
• 1 min read
1947 first growths a-go-go. Things were very different when this annual tasting got off the ground. Above, at the prototype tasting in 1980, left to right, an unknown taster, John Thorogood, Liz Morcom MW and Clive Coates MW.
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