2017: the underdog nobody wanted to bet on.

I hunt down value wines with soul, the kind that tell stories, spark debates, and challenge your assumptions about what good and "affordable" can taste like. The deal: Hong Kong prices with free delivery in urban areas. Six-bottle minimum. Ready to explore? WhatsApp 852 66236746 or email cf.lau@dunndunn.hk - Kevin K Tang

(AI photo)

Château Latour-Martillac 2017 from Pessac-Léognan is full of tannins and black-currant flavours. This dense wine has a strong structure, thanks to its dark tannins and ripe fruit. I gave it 93 points on my blog, Dunndunnplus.com, and Wine Enthusiast gave it 93 points as well. I stand by every point.

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2017 was the underdog vintage that few people believed in.

There is an ignorance that looks like expertise, not from those unaware but from those convinced they know and do not check. Bordeaux négociants quietly dumped 2017s, merchants sold without a story, and most never tasted the wine. It was a frost year, uneven and difficult. Most judged without trying; the rest relied on hearsay, repeating vintage folklore until it became fact. Nobody questioned it. In the Hong Kong and Chinese markets, people simply moved on.

Château Latour-Martillac 2017 earns 93 points for its structure and character, not its vintage label. If it were labelled 2016 or 2018, it would be in high demand. This wine is dismissed because of vintage bias, not true quality.

But it has a 2017 label, and for many people, that is enough reason to ignore it.

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Let’s talk about the consumer—the self-proclaimed value hunter. This is the person who talks about the joy of drinking well for less, the importance of finding overlooked bottles, and how silly it is to pay just for a label. These people are vocal, common, and persuasive.

They will not buy this wine.

Some see the score, sense the value, and wait, not from doubt but calculation. If buyers stay away and no one champions the wine as a deal, prices drop. Then these patient hunters move quietly, not to champion but to seize. That is not value hunting; it is patient predation.

Everyone agrees the wine is good, but nobody buys it. That is not a bad situation for someone who understands its value.

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Pessac-Léognan is not Pauillac. It does not ask to be judged against a warm, ripe year. The gravel, the structure, the tannins — they resolve, they do not soften. A dense 2017 Pessac is not a vintage failure. It is the appellation speaking. The frost shaped the yield. The terroir shaped the wine. Most never stopped long enough to hear the difference.

Price hesitation is rooted in the Bordeaux setting, with 2017 priced as if it were a great year. Merchants could not move stock, consumers faced price mismatches with the story, and no one corrected the narrative. This pricing misalignment perpetuated undervaluation.

That is not just the consumer’s fault. The system protected its own profits and left the wine behind.

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The people who will enjoy great wine in ten years are those buying it now at these prices, while others wait for approval.

The market is not always wrong, but it is almost always slow to catch up. It is also usually driven by things other than the wine itself.

The stories said this wine was finished before it even began. The pricing system let it down. The market ignored it. Yet it remains, quietly and stubbornly, without apology.

The question was never about the wine. It was always about the people who couldn’t see it.

Château Latour-Martillac 2017 is still the underdog. It is still worth every cent, even if nobody wants to spend money on it.