One of the selling points of Chateau Palmer is its easy to pronounce. That it is one of the most Anglophilic Bordeaux blends is reinforced by the sales manager taking us through a tasting yesterday at Caroline’s Fine Wine Emporium on Strand Street, Chris Myers.

Who pointed out that Bordeaux was English for three centuries. It’s also easy on the tongue in the taste department and Cape Town’s wine identities (below) were suitably receptive for a wine which costs as much per bottle as many winos earn in a month.

Of course the opinion of some of these luvvies has yet to recover from last year’s White Club fiasco with their tasting notes for fake Bordeaux real harakiri stuff, if they had any honour at all. But for these barkers and shills, taste is the least of their worries.

At a more realistic price (a 12-bottle case is less than a bottle of Palmer) is the Chateau La Couronne 2011 owned by the Mahler-Besse family who own Palmer together with the Sichels. The Couronne is light years away from the wines of the same name grown in Franschhoek yet at around R300 a bottle, its comparable to some of the high priced reds from the former Olifantshoek.

I’m off to Bordeaux for the en-primeurs at the end of the month and La Couronne will certainly be on my radar screen.