Ben Youngs and Dan Cole at Château Méaume: the Rugby Legends Edition

In April 2026 Ben Youngs and Dan Cole, England's two most capped men, came to Château Méaume while they were in Bordeaux to watch Bordeaux Bègles play Toulouse in the Champions Cup. They recorded an episode of their podcast, For the Love of Rugby, among our vines, stayed for dinner in the kitchen, and between them brought 245 England caps to the table. To mark their careers we made a limited Rugby Legends Edition of our 2019 Réserve du Château, with a label that goes back to where the game began.

How did Ben Youngs and Dan Cole end up at a Bordeaux vineyard?

We heard they would be in Bordeaux for the quarter-final at the Stade Chaban-Delmas, so we wrote and asked whether they would like to spend a day on the estate. To our surprise and considerable delight, they said yes.

They set up their microphones among the vines and very kindly asked us to join them for the recording. Afterwards we walked them round the vineyard, and the day ended around the kitchen table in the château with a few bottles open. Ben and Dan approached a good Bordeaux with the same commitment they brought to every game they played for England, and the stories that came out over dinner were a good deal more candid than anything that ever made it into a match programme. The conversation went on far longer than any of us had planned, which is usually the sign of a good evening here.

Who are Ben Youngs and Dan Cole?

Both men made their England debuts in 2010 and both spent their whole club careers at Leicester Tigers. Ben, the scrum-half, finished with 127 England caps, more than any other man has won for England. Dan, the tighthead prop, won 118, the second highest total. Both left Leicester at the end of the 2024 to 2025 season, and their 245 caps together represent fifteen years of playing Test rugby at the highest level, through Six Nations campaigns and Rugby World Cups.

Since January 2024 they have hosted For the Love of Rugby, a podcast where they talk through the latest games and share the sort of dressing room stories that only two people who have spent that long in the England squad can tell. Plenty of rugby fans already know their voices. Far fewer will have pictured them sitting in a Right Bank vineyard with a glass of Merlot.

Why did we make a rugby wine?

Mark's love of rugby started at Rugby School, where he was a pupil, as were his father and grandfather before him. Three generations of the family played on the same fields at the school where the game was invented.

The story goes that in 1823 William Webb Ellis, a pupil at Rugby School, picked up the ball during a football match and ran with it, "with a fine disregard for the rules", as the plaque at the school puts it. Rugby football grew from that moment. As a small footnote that we are rather fond of, 1823 is also the year wine from Château Méaume was first imported into the UK.

So when Ben and Dan sat in our vineyard talking about the game, it felt natural to mark their careers with a bottle. The player on the Rugby Legends Edition label is a Rugby School 1st XV player in the traditional school kit, with his XV colours on his chest, the kit that has been worn on the oldest rugby fields in the world for generations. England's white shirts are generally traced back to that same school kit, which is why we kept the label so close to it.

What is in the bottle?

We chose our 2019 Réserve du Château, the wine we consider our finest expression of the estate. It is made from our oldest vines and aged in French oak, and it comes from a single piece of Right Bank terroir that our family has looked after since 1978. Like all of our wines it is Merlot-led, which gives it the generous, rounded fruit that Right Bank Bordeaux is known for.

The values we wanted the wine to share with the game are simple ones: character over showmanship, patience over shortcuts, and the quiet confidence of having done the work properly. A Réserve from a good vintage rewards patience, and 2019 was a good vintage on the Right Bank. You can read more about how it sits among our other wines on our Right Bank Bordeaux wines page.

The Rugby Legends Edition is a limited run. It makes a thoughtful present for anyone who follows England, played the game at school or club level, or simply enjoys proper Bordeaux, and it is sold only through our own shop rather than through merchants.

Can you visit the vineyard where the podcast was recorded?

Yes. The farmhouse where our guests stay sits on the same working vineyard where Ben and Dan recorded the episode, a short walk from the vines they toured. It is an 18th century farmhouse with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, and it sleeps up to 10, so it works well for a group of friends or two or three families who want to combine a rugby weekend with some wine country. Bordeaux Bègles play their home games at the Stade Chaban-Delmas in Bordeaux, under an hour's drive from the estate, and we are 15 minutes from Pomerol and 25 minutes from Saint-Émilion.

There are a few things worth knowing before you plan a trip. We are in the countryside at Maransin, so you will need a car. The estate is a working farm, so the farmhouse is for adults and guests aged 17 and over. It suits groups who want long dinners, good wine and a quiet night under the stars rather than a big night out.

Guests in the farmhouse taste with us in the cellar, and if you ask Mark about the day Ben and Dan visited, he will happily tell you the stories that are fit to repeat. If you would like to know more about the family behind the estate, our story since 1978 is a good place to start, and our post on why a working vineyard beats a Bordeaux hotel explains what a stay here is like day to day.

Quick answers

Who hosts the For the Love of Rugby podcast? Former England internationals Ben Youngs and Dan Cole, who between them won 245 England caps.

Who is England's most capped rugby player? Ben Youngs, with 127 caps. Dan Cole is second with 118.

Where did Ben Youngs and Dan Cole record their Bordeaux episode? Among the vines at Château Méaume, a family-run Right Bank estate at Maransin, while they were in Bordeaux for the Champions Cup quarter-final against Toulouse in April 2026.

Where can I buy the Rugby Legends Edition? Only from the Château Méaume online shop, while the limited run lasts.

Can a rugby club have its own wine label? Yes. We make custom-label Bordeaux wine for clubs, anniversaries and dinners, using the same wine from our cellar with your own design on the bottle.

A bottle with a story behind it

Ben and Dan came for a podcast and stayed for dinner, and the Rugby Legends Edition is our way of remembering the day and the two careers behind it. If you buy a bottle for a rugby fan, the thing to tell them is that the wine was made on the estate where England's two most capped men sat down among the vines to talk about the game they love.

Our official online shop opens separately so you can choose your delivery country, select your wines and complete your order securely. You can find the Rugby Legends Edition in our shop.

If you would rather drink it where it was made, the farmhouse on our vineyard sleeps up to 10, and Mark will open a bottle of the Réserve in the cellar and tell you about the evening Ben and Dan came to dinner.