Lacroix

Jonathan Maltus was cited in Wine Behind the Label 2007 as having one of the right bank's two "stellar cellars" (the other is Château Ausone)

Bordeaux' Jonathan Maltus is a former engineer who sold his company to develop his passion for wine. In 1994 he purchased St-Emilion Grand Cru Château Teyssier which he has since transformed into one of the very best estates from this renowned appellation. Indeed, over the last few years he has bought up other St-Emilion estates and created the prestige wines "Le Dôme" and "Laforge". From 2004 he has added a new lower level (an expression which really does not do the wine justice) label "Château Grand Destieu".

In addition to Teyssier, the Maltus empire includes a very good Bordeaux Supérieur under the label of Château Lacroix. These are some of the better inexpensive wines from Bordeaux. More recently, Jonathan has widened his range to include a Barossa Valley old-vine Shiraz from the Colonial Wine Company

The Lacroix wines are great value Bordeaux. The red is made with all the care of the Grand Crus and from essentially the same blend as Teyssier (approximately 85% Merlot, the remainder Cabernet Franc). The Lacroix vineyard is adjacent to some of the Teyssier plots and includes some rows of very old vines.