Michelin chefs lend their names to new wine brand

The renowned sommelier Gérard Basset OBE has teamed up with a wine-loving French hedge fund manager and a quartet of Michelin-starred chefs to produce a new wine brand from four different Bordeaux appellations.

SGC or Le Secret des Grands Chefs consists of four 2009 wines from small unknown vineyards in Pauillac, St Emilion, Pomerol and the Médoc. All will retail at over £200 a bottle. While the names of the chefs are on each wine, the names of the chateaux remain a closely guarded secret. ‘The clue is in the name of the brand’ said Basset, who joined the project last year.

The idea behind the SGC brand was to find underperforming wines in great terroirs and give each grower the cash, expert resources and equipment to enable them to realise their full potential.

In the UK, the SGC range is being exclusively sold by Hedonism Wines in Mayfair, whose buyer Alistair Viner reckons they surpass the First Growths in the way they express the terroir.