A young winemaker from the Cotes de Bordeaux: Castillon appellation, Gilles Laurencin is responsible for CABS, a blend of cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc that has become a suprise hit on the west coast of America.

'With the name and the label,' Gilles says, 'I was aiming this wine at the UK market. 'But it was in California that it really took off.'

Laurencin, from Château de la Meulière in the former Premières Côtes de Bordeaux, launched this bottle in 2004 after listening to his customers. ‘I got the idea for making Cabs when I was in California, sitting around a dining table with a number of American wine drinkers. They all referred to ‘Zin’ for Zinfandel, ‘Cab’ for Cabernet Sauvignon… it was such a fresh and unpretentious way of looking at wine. I wanted to create something similar.’