Frederic Borderie, Chateaux Les Combes and Les Gravieres de la Brandille, Bordeaux, France

Frederic Borderie, in his late 30s, is one of our stars, making delicious, perfumed whites and a range of reds which he fairly views as the equals - both in quality and longevity - of more expensive wines from grander appellations.

Modestly he ascribes their success to his vineyards being on gravelly river terraces of the Isle river, an underrated terroir with some similarities to the Médoc and Graves. He makes traditionally styled reds, built to last, but through his experience working in the USA and Australia he also has a very modern appreciation of bringing in high quality fruit. The wines are bottled under two domaine names, from land assembled over the generations by his family, but all labels share a Famille Borderie inscription. Fred himself has added land in Lalande de Pomerol.

This kind and gentle man is a master winemaker, whose wines gain rave reviews in the wine press in France and appear in many of the smartest restaurants in Bordeaux: we are pleased to be his sole importer here.