This past UGC tasting was very quiet in Bordeaux compared to years past ….. there were very few American’s present. But, we went as we did last year and the year before because it’s our job… bad economy or not. When we tasted the wines, we were surprised by the quality and came back and told you so. Now, you have proof with Parker’s reviews. What we will promise is that we will do our best to get you the top wines at the lowest price possible. What the Bordelaise do from here is a mystery….. Stay tuned.
Posts Tagged ‘Bordeaux’
30th
April
2009
10th
April
2009
Back To The Right Bank…
Today we’re setting out for a very busy day on the “Right Bank”. We’ll start in Pomerol for the UGC tasting at Chateau La Conseillante where there are usually about twenty producers in attendance. It’s a good opportunity to find some standout wines in the appellation among some of the estates we don’t see too often. As we arrived, we check in and started going through the room tasting wines that were all quite different in style. You see, even though Pomerol is small, there are many different types of soil. The blends can be 50/50 Merlot/Cabernet Franc to 100% Merlot or somewhere in between. The wines we liked at the tasting were no surprise. Clinet, Gazin and La Conseillante were the hits with La Croix de Gay being the surprise. In this vintage, Merlot was tough for some although most say it did well. But of all the wines we tasted, the ones with the higher percent of Merlot were our least favorite… and we like Merlot (Petrus). After we finished this tasting, it was on the UGC in St. Emilion which is just across the road..
The St. Emilion tasting was held at Chateau Figeac. This is a beautiful estate located next to Cheval Blanc. At the tasting, there were many of the heavyweight estates of the appellation present. The hits were Angelus, Beau-Sejour Becot, Cannon La Gaffeliere, Clos Fourtet, Grand Mayne, Pavie Macquin, Larcis Ducasse, La Dominique and Troplong Mondot (more on this wine later in the blog) among the forty or so estates present. One of the issues in this tasting was over-extraction. It seems those who didn’t have the patients to wait and picked early had to over extract to get volume in the fruit. Doing this causes the wines to be overly tannic and out of balance. As one producer told me, you can’t do the same thing every year. You have to change with the weather… It’s a gamble, but the results can be rewarding. For 2008, it was a year to gamble, but that gamble paid off and it shows in the wines.
As we left, it was time for lunch… but not just any lunch. This was lunch at Troplong Mondot with the lovely Christine Valette. Every year, Christine hosts a lunch that she and her staff prepare. She is a great cook and her husband Xavier Pariente is a lucky man and he knows it. It‘s a great meal hosted at the estate in a cozy room with the fireplace crackling in the background. They also pour some older vintages of Troplong and the experience is a nice, relaxing atmosphere where you can chill and enjoy. After the lunch as all the guests left, it was time for us to taste the 2008. Upon tasting, we were introduced to the new label. Nice…. Xavier is an art broker/dealer and has a great eye and it shows with the new label. Tasting the 2008 revealed what the best wines of the vintage have. Fresh, ripe fruits, wonderful acidity, and silky tannins that are sweet and lifted. No it’s not the 05… or the 2000, but pretty darn close! After the tasting we went to the house and sat on the terrace that overlooks the city of St. Emilion. It’s a beautiful setting and there, we filmed some winery minutes for the Winery Channel.Tv as well as a segment with Chistine on the St. Emilion classification. It’s an interesting topic and one you should check out when we’ve edited the tape.
As we looked at the time, we decided to forgo out next tasting and go to Chateau Angelus where we were meeting with Hubert de Bouard and tasting not only the estates he owns but all he consults for. Since he is one of the hottest consultants in Bordeaux , going through the twenty-four wines in his lineup will be fun. The wines are priced in all ranges from about $10 to over $100 dollars. Of the lower priced wines, we liked La Fleur de Bouard (of course) Clos Chaumont, Lamothe Bergeron, Clos La Madeleine (next to Ausone), Lyonat, Vieux Chateau Palon and Chateau de Franc with the big surprise being a St. Estephe named Chateau Serilhan. Moving up the price range, the hits were his new acquisition, Chateau Bellevue (this wine rocked!), Fieuzal, his Rioja project Bodega Ostatu, Chateau Adaugusta (really small estate where the wine is killer), Le Plus from La Fleur de Bouard and of course Angelus (stunning). It was a great tasting and the Bouard’s were fantastic hosts as always.
Leaving the chateau, it was back to the Left Bank to attend a dinner at Gruaud Larose. Manager David Launay told us there will be a surprise wine tasted so we were excited. As we arrived at the beautiful estate, we were escorted into the barrel room for a tasting of recent vintages of both Sarget de Gruaud as well as the Grand Vin. After the tasting, we went back to the chateau were the food and wine were served in a casual stand up atmosphere. The food was catered by one of the top restaurants in the area, Le Saint Julien where chef Claud Broussard was in attendance preparing exquisite dishes. The wines… some of the best of the trip with the 2000, 1995, 1989 and 1975 out double magnums being served. But wait… what about the surprise wine? Well, about half way through the event, out come magnums of 1919! Yes that’s no typo… It was surprisingly fresh and was a real treat to sample. To think all that wine has been through and still tastes the way it does is simply amazing. I mentioned to David that when he comes to Southern California, we need to do a dinner with older vintages of GL. They have one of the largest cellars of past vintages in Bordeaux and I don’t know about you, but a dinner with these wines that have been perfectly stored would be a hoot!
What a day our last day in Bordeaux was. Tomorrow, we will spend the morning with none other than the man himself, Bernard Magrez and taste through his portfolio before boarding a plane to Italy via London to attend Vinitaly. Stay tuned!
8th
April
2009
The Classified Big Dogs…
OK, this is it. The day we’ve been waiting for since first confirming this amazing schedule with our well-connected friends in Bordeaux. After a quick croissant and joltingly strong cup off coffee its time to wage war on the classified growths…
The day starts soon enough in St. Estephe. Nothing like 9:30 barrel samples at Montrose! Jean-Bernard Delmas (ex-Haut Brion) recently emerged from retirement to help this top chateau refine their wines even further. They were good already, they’re even better now. These 2008’s exhibit a rounder feel on the palate and sweet tannins (also a theme of the 2008 vintage) that we hadn’t seen before. Though there may be a slight sacrifice in the overt power of Montrose (sorry old-timers, this ain’t the 1990) the wine is all the better for it. The technical director at the chateau said they were looking to produce a smoother style of Montrose. What? Come again? Montrose saying they want to be “smooth”? Love it. Check out the Montrose we have in stock.
Now off to Cos d’Estournel. Lots happening here with major renovations at the chateau and the recent re-vamping of the cellar. OMG, we haven’t seen a cuvier like this in, like, ever. Tons of bling fermenting stuff. State of the art, out of this world. Perhaps the only chateau where the winery itself was more wow than the barrel cellar. These guys are serious. Some quick hellos with JG Prats and then onto the wines. The 2008 Cos is one of the most powerful wines of the vintage, yet exudes a polish and refinement so indicative of the vintage. A deceptive wine because it wears its extraction well, we loved it. Hope it is value-priced. Also worth a mention were the Pagodes de Cos and their La Goulee Medoc, both potentially memorable wines for the money. Check out the Cos d’Estournel, Pagodes de Cos, and La Goulee we have in stock.
Mmm…Lafite. Lafite Rothschild next up to the plate. Charles Chevallier was a little hesitant to get on camera because of the whole language thing but we did settle in and taste Carruades, Duhart and the big dog. Let the big dog eat! What a grand terroir nugget! Talk about textbook, this one really showed the classic lead pencil and cassis flavors of Lafite, and looks to have outstanding potential. While we bristle a little bit at the numbers thing it looks like a shoe-in for some mid-90s scores from the pundits. Carruades and Duhart also showed well. Price will be the only potential issue with this first growth that has a profound world following. Check out the Lafite Rotschild and Duhart Milon we have in stock.
On to Mouton. No grand chateau here, just grand dirt. Philippe Dhalluin has worked some serious magic here since showing up in 2006 and making one of the wines of that vintage. We tasted the whole shootin’ match here, including d’Armailhac (very good), Clerc Milon (outstanding), Le Petit Mouton (no longer a melange of Pauillac vineyards but in fact a true second wine of Mouton) and Mouton itself. While not the powerhouse that was 2006, the 2008 Mouton is still an outstanding, full-bodied beautiful wine, loaded with the classic Mouton array of exotic spices, sweet tannins and a solid core of Cabernet fruit. This one should also get some love from the pundits. As we were leaving we were treated to a guest appearance by the Baroness Philippine de Rothschild herself. She’s a truly magnetic figure, the entire room stopping and staring, including yours truly. Unfortunately, no face time on camera with her but we did get some great vineyard shots! See what Mouton, d’Armailhac, and Clerc Milon we have in stock.
Next, Tristen’s Alamo, Pichon Lalande. Lots going on here as the chateau recently enlisted the services of Hubert de Bouard of Chateau Angelus to help with the wine. Pichon Lalande is one of the most beautiful chateaux in Bordeaux, with a grand terrace overlooking Latour, Pichon Baron and others, with a great view of the river. As for the wines, mixed signals here. La Bernadotte, their Haut-Medoc bottling, was quite good, Hubert’s signature fruitiness really coming to the fore. Reserve de la Comtesse was just fine, pricing will dictate if the wine is a value or not. But the flagship bottling sent mixed signals. The wine definitely exhibited more fruit and concentration than Pichons of the past, but we did miss some of the signature terroir from the Grand Vin, namely that compelling herbaceous streak that, in ripe vintages (except for 1990 and 2005), runs sweet, giving the wine an extra layer in the glass. A second tasting of the wine at a negoce a few days later was better, and since we are dealing with ultra-young barrel samples we’ll reserve judgement on the positive side since the wine does exhibit the fruit and balance to prove outstanding. See the Pichon Lalande and La Bernadotte we have in stock.
But why Tris’ Alamo? We were looking for a hook-up with Gildas d’Ollone, the director of Pichon Lalande, in hopes of getting him in front of the camera seen as he is a pretty easy-going guy. But fates would have it that Gildas had to (wanted to?) have lunch with the assistant to the Sultan (is it a Sultan?) of Oman! Tris was officially dissed. Pouting, tail between the legs, we retreated from Pichon Lalande heads hung low. What does the Sultan have that we don’t…besides a jet and his own country?
Latour…where cabernet is king. And it’s no different this year, with cab making up 94% of the Grand Vin. The Latour people seemed to be in a good mood and two of the wines reflected their joy. Latour was spot-on, not the biggest ever, but a wine that should be considered in the upper echelon of Latours over the past 20 years. Following the pattern of the vintage, the wine has good color, dead right cassis fruit, good acidity and fairly sweet tannins given that it is Latour. Another shoo-in for a mid-90’s score to be sure…we dug it. Les Forts was a bit ass-backwards, not at its best today but oh well. As for Pauillac, Latour’s third wine of which we’d like to see a lot more of, it was a scrumptious, extracted bottle of left bank Merlot with a Cab kicker. Drinkable earlier and certainly no slouch, hopefully some cases will grace our shores. See what Latour et Les Forts de Latour we have available.
The 15 minute drive from Pauillac to Margaux seemed to last longer knowing we were on our way to hang with Paul Pontallier at Chateau Margaux. Always one of our favorites (both Paul and his wine) we were hoping we were in for a treat and we weren’t disappointed. Following a quick tour of the chai (Margaux’s chai always has that perfect cellar smell for some reason, maybe they pump it in…), we proceeded to the tasting room where both the man and the wines he oversees delivered..in spades. The 2008 Margaux is a knockout and for our tastes, maybe the wine of the vintage. That being said, it wasn’t all roses in Margaux, and a serious amount of work had to be done in the vineyard before the Indian summer arrived to take the fruit that was left to full maturity. An intense selection has resulted in a strumpet of a Margaux, with an enticing lead in by the second wine, Pavillon Rouge. Like the good ones, haunting, brimming with that purple florality and pinpoint precision, full bodied but schooled in dance, this is a Margaux lovers Margaux. A stunner. We also had a knock at the 2007 Margaux (juicy, supple) and the 2006 (powerful but oh-so silky, even at this stage). Check out the Margaux and Pavillon Rouge we have in stock.
Paul was in a good mood and chatting away so it was at Palmer’s expense that we were a little late. I wonder if they get that a lot, actually. “We’re at Margaux right now and running a bit long, but we’ll be right over”. We’re sure that Bernard DeLonge and Thomas Duroux would be sticking little pins in voodoo dolls of us if we didn’t sell so damn much of their wine. Anyway, count us in as real Palmer fans. But then again, who wouldn’t be a fan of the ’66, ’70, ’83, ’89 and so on? Ah, but enough reminiscing (cue the Little River Band), we were here to taste the 2008. It’s good…real good. This sample was a touch closed aromatically but delivered a dark, forceful blast of refined fruit that carried the weight and poise of the appellation, with the bones to sit in the cellar for a decade. Qualitatively it’s a step behind that great 2005 but certainly bumps heads with any other vintage of the decade and should be priced substantially lower. We’ll see…
Dinner that evening followed a tasting of about 50 small production 08’s (Clos St. Martin, La Confession, Clos Manou etc..) with a negociant friend. They brought more “interesting” wines out for the meal that included ’75 Beausejour Becot (good), ’75 Mouton (better) and ’88 Leoville Las Cases (a little bretty but no joke), 75 Suduiraut (really good). It was a fun evening with interesting conversation that finished at midnight. Tomorrow, Haut Brion, super seconds and UGC’s. Going to be another busy one.
5th
April
2009
A Long Day On The Right Bank…..
The difference between going to Europe to work and going for vacation is that, if you just so happen to stay out until 4:30 am on vacation, you can sleep in, grab some breakfast, take in a film or some sightseeing, and generally recover. When working, that alarm goes off way too early, especially when Kyle’s wife and kids called at 6 AM because they think ‘daddy’s already awake’. Lord…
So after what could be termed as two 90 minute ‘naps’ we proceeded to the breakfast table gaunt, hungover, jet-lagged, sunglasses on, and bitter knowing we’d have to ‘man up’, choke down a croissant and some (hopefully) strong coffee and proceed to a morning tasting of over 100, shall we say, ‘value-priced’ Bordeaux from 2008 intermixed with some other vintages. Could be painful…not looking forward to this one. But this is what we do. All it takes is just one good find out of the hundred and it makes it all worth while. Rifling the wines, we managed to get through the tasting and found a couple of interesting prospects. Kyle still looks blue as we stuff ourselves with a quick sandwich. Wait till he hears he has to laptop blog n the backseat (I hope he’s not sitting behind me because barf on my back would be a real bummer! ) as we drive lightspeed to St. Emilion because we’re late for our appointment with none other than the Count himself, Stefan Von Neipperg…..
We manage to make our appointment on-time after testing our Opel diesel minivan to it’s limits. Kyle managed to hold down his lunch and all is well as we pull into Canon La Gaffeliere. Waiting for us was Mr. Smooth himself dressed in his “smart” attire. One thing about Stefan is that he’s always happy and in a good mood. After some small-talk about cars and the economy it was time to taste through his 08 line-up.
Over the years, he has produced some of the best wines to come out of Bordeaux. From the incredible QPR d’Aiguilhe to the rare (and expensive) La Mondotte, his portfolio pretty much has all price ranges covered. We start with 08 d’Aiguilhe. Wow! We don’t know if this tastes so good because we just had our palates worked by a bunch of tannic, acidic wines with no fruit or maybe it is just that good. If it’s priced in the low 20’s, we would highly recommend it as it is loaded with black and blue fruits, incredible freshness and polished tannins. A definite must-buy! Next we taste his Pessac-Leognan wine, Clos Marsalette. This is a small property located next to Latour Martillac and the wine from it has Neipperg’s signature style. The difference here is that this left bank offering possesses the minerality the area is known for. Quite delicious for sure. We then proceed to taste his St. Emilion properties Clos l’Oratoire and Canon La Gaffeliere. Stefan mentioned the same thing Alain Vauthier did about the quality of the Cabernet Franc in 08. While Clos l’Oratoire was good in its own right, Canon La Gaffeliere rocked! One of the best barrel samples of this wine I ever tasted. We also tasted it at the St. Emilion UGC and it was the best in the room. Finally, it was La Mondotte… What the hell???? OMG this wine was the shiznit! We could have hosed the whole bottle as it tasted like the finished product. Even Kyle came to life after this one. As promised at dinner the previous evening, our friend Jeffrey Davies also managed to drop off samples of his luxury cuvee Porte du Ciel and Clos des Truffiers from the great 2007 vintage in the Sud part of France. Holy Sh_t! So rich, so pure, it’s like drinking grape syrup but in a good way because they’re so incredibly balanced. If they are priced right (please Jeffrey), they’ll be a hoot to have around. Plus, they age really well as the 99 Porte du Ciel would attest (see previous post). In addition to the wines mentioned, Stefan is making wine in Bulgaria. And, surprise, they are also deeply fruited and well priced. As we said our goodbyes, we talked about pricing and of course the “crisis”. I sure hope they are listening….If I we’re a betting man, i would say they are.
Next it was off to the charming Mathieu Cuvelier of Clos Fourtet, a chateau that is practically in the city of St. Emilion. One of the coolest aspects of this estate are its “caves”. Located literally under the chateau are caves cut out from the limestone that was used to build the city. They act as a perfect environment for storing bottles as we witnessed a bunch of old bottles resting comfortably. The caves also double as the barrel room. Really cool stuff, literally. After the tour we went back to the house and tasted a few vintages including the 05, 06, 08 Clos Fourtets, 06 Closerie de Fourtet (their second wine) and new for 08, a rose. What the winemaking team has done at this estate is incredible. The wines are fantastic! The 08 is another one of the few St. Emilion estates that nailed it. Great extraction without being over extraction, which too may estates from this neck of the woods were guilty of. Balanced, great freshness of fruit and sweet tannins make this a real winner. The pink is good too. As for the other vintages tasted they’re great with the 05 being a must for collectors as it’s simply amazing. If you have the means….go for it. You won’t be disappointed.
As the time approached 5:00, we had one more appointment left. Hey, this is Sunday! But no rest for the weary as we’re looking forward to our meeting with the Jonathan Maltus. On our way, we realized we were driving on fumes. We were told there was a gas station just down the road. As we pulled in and tried to fill the tank, our credit cards wouldn’t work for whatever reason. Since it’s Sunday, nobody is working so cash is no good either. Doh! But a couple on a motorcycle came to our rescue and told us to follow then into Libourne to a station that takes cash. What a super nice gesture. The French are very helpful people and this is proof. We coasted into the station, filled the tank and were on our way.
Upon our arrival at Chateau Teyssier, the base of operations for Maltus’ St. Emilion properties, we received the grand tour from sales director Marianne Salimanca as well as a brief explanation on what’s new and exciting. After the tour, we were greeted by Jonathan to taste his 2008’s. We have to admit, the man can make a kick-ass bottle of wine. He’s treating the whole St. Emilion thing like Burgundy and you know what, it works. Think of Chateau Teyssier as the village wine because it comes from a couple of plots, mainly one next to Monbousquet. The next wines Vieux Chateau Mazeret and Chateau Laforge would be considered the Premier Crus and the Grand Crus would be Le Carré, Les Astéries and Le Dôme, all coming from single parcels located on the cote of St. Emilion. It amazed us to taste the differences between the three since the parcels are so close to each other. They each have their own characteristics and style. After tasting the line-up, we made our way into Jonathan’s “great room”! What a cool place to hang as the kitchen is a gourmands dream. There we met his wife Lyn, who was preparing a fabulous dinner. On the menu was a mache and scallop salad followed by a ribeye (or what seemed like one, it was juicy) cooked over the open fire in the kitchen/living room fireplace. The wines served were 2007 Clos Nardian, a tiny production, highly priced white Bordeaux made from 40% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Semillon, and the rest Muscadelle, 2004 Le Carré and 2000 Le Dôme. The food and wine were great and we had fun playing “name that tune”. Jonathan has an incredible sound system with fifteen thousand songs at the touch of a button. Cool stuff…especially for music buffs. Great conversation, great wines.
Jonathan’s business concept seems sound, he has delicious wines priced at the lower end of the spectrum for top-notch Bordeaux (Pezat, Teyssier) and he has the high end covered with these unique, trend-bucking single vineyard wines. Daring stuff for this staid wine community. We come away from our visit impressed but asking will the Bordelaise accept what he’s trying to do? Or, an even better question…. will America? Or, in the end, does it really matter? It doesn’t seem as if small town politics is necessarily Jonathan’s thing. Just as long as every bottle gets sold we say challenge the rules. Stay tuned….
3rd
April
2009
A Day Off…Kind Of
This was supposedly our day off but you know how things work out doing business on the road. Instead we’re doing a bit of filming this day because the sun has finally come out and Producer Steve Jarvis has decided to drag us in the vineyards for pieces on Pape Clement as well as some Wine Minutes that will be shown both on www.winex.com and thewinerychannel.tv (after extensive editing.) A fabulous tour of Pape with the lovely Claire (you can see the Magrez’s are beyond serious…more on their great 2008 later) followed then by 5:00 PM freedom! It was off to the town of Bordeaux (a 15 minute drive from the winery) for some easy living (and more filming). We hung out with some local friends of ours and had some beers and a quick salad before thinking about dinner. But it was Saturday night and our top two picks in town were booked. So we headed off to an old stand-by of Tris’, L’Orleans, where we had the specialities of the house, steak tartare and meaty, briny oysters (Marenne #4 if memory serves) from Brittany. Not exactly a love fest for the digestive system but man were they good! Bottles of L’Abeille de Fieuzal Blanc 2007 (Fieuzal’s second from an excellent vintage) and Clementin de Pape Clement 2005 (yup, Pape’s second) quickly disappeared, as did the time, seen as we had to push the clocks forward for daylight savings on this day in France, losing a very precious hour. After a cleansing ale we said our goodbyes and it was off to bed, hopefully just beating the sunrise. Tomorrow morning is going to suck…
2nd
April
2009
Davies, Happy Cows And Montesquieu…..
Meeting with the kooky, crazy Jeffrey Davies today. We remember the first time old Davies walked into the hallowed confines of Winex back in…oohhh…let me see…1995? He was doing stuff in the ‘sud” of France that no one was doing. True, Kermit Lynch has had a presence down there since, like, forever, but Jeff provided some real thrills with those early wines from Clavel, Moulinier, Negly, and Clos l’Escandil. We coined them the “Jeffrey Davies ink blot collection” based on the insane color and concentration of fruit the wines carried, along with those recognizable terroirs.
Davies is a smart dude. Winemaker, negociant, bon vivant, erudite (kind of), the man can go on for hours about wine, and it is combo of ‘mad skills’ that has made him a fixture in the world of French wine. He helped pioneer many of the super-cool Bordeaux’s we see today (all the Perse wines, Neipperg stuff) and was also one of the main catalysts behind the vin de garage movement. For which he has no regrets, for even though the whole 200% new oak thing has fizzled out a bit th whole concept if turning Bordeaux winemaking on its rear opened up the minds an hearts of many winemakers in the region, who are now willing and open to try new things in the vineyards and cellars. You can’t say the man has never taken a chance…that’s for sure. No risk, no fun…
Anyway, great tasting with him as usual. Lots of fun stuff coming down the pipe including some new Bordeaux discoveries and exciting new wines from the 2007 vintage in the Languedoc that are uber-cheap (2007s are great). Jeff was great on camera as well, a cat like him never turns down a ‘close up’. No direction needed, just turn it on and let him roll. Anyway, we rifled about 50 wines, told some dirty jokes, drank some Champagne (the new Legras NV Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs is rather tasty) and then headed out to hot ‘new kid on the block’, proprietor Bruno Géraud of Chateau Mejean in the Graves, where the rest of our evening was just beginning.
Some traffic on the Rocade delayed our arrival to the chateau but didn’t dampen our spirits. A quick vertical of Mejean (they’ve only produced six vintages and for such young vineyards the wines are outstanding) was followed by a run out to the barn, where we stood eye to eye with our dinner, a herd of the prized local Bazadaises cattle enjoying the good life, munching the finest hays and pretty much just chilling. This was a work variety of cattle (probably still is) but locals discovered that the lean beef from the more relaxed cows made for some pretty fine eatin’. The meat from these happy cows is much in demand right now, and we were about to discover why.
Dinner at Bruno‘s restaurant, Le Table de Montesquieu, has been one of the highlights of the trip thus far. The restaurant is only a year old but is already getting some serious ‘love’ form the locals as well as serious foodies looking for different option in the staid Bordeaux dining scene. Armed with a beautiful wine cellar, those happy cows, and a young, Michelin-level chef, Bruno seems to have good thing going. We started with a trio of amuses that were just OK but things took off from there. The first asparagus of the season was accompanied by a farm fresh egg (they also raise their own chickens) in a ‘faux’ shell that was a bit truffley. Really delicious. Next up was that tasty beef (aged 15 or 30 days, my French is a bit rusty), served with just a pass over the coals in the kitchen. Outrageous stuff that, though quite lean, was packed with flavor. Quite a bit found its way down the old piehole before Tris and I cried ‘uncle’ due to the potential threat of ‘meat sweats’ . But Steve from thewinerychannel.tv managed to choke his all down due to the fact that he skipped lunch and, well, he just plain likes to eat. The obligatory awesome cheese plate followed (perfect with a mag of Jeff’s 1999 Porte de Ciel) but the dessert was the real capper. A six pack egg carton with the eggs topped, hollowed out and filled with six tail-kicking desserts. Things were a bit fuzzy at that juncture but I do remember the saffron/honey sabayon, rhubarb ice cream and a couple of ridiculous chocolate-based diddies that were really well done. Bravo!
1st
April
2009
How things have changed……
Last year in our blog if you recall, we talked about how Bordeaux was buzzing. Everybody was happy, the emerging markets were buying like crazy and the hint of a “crisis” in the world was only coming from us Americans… who they all ignored. My, how things have changed…
Our day with the negoce. Always interesting discussing the market (or potential lack thereof) with the middle men that run the whole shooting match. Seems like Bordeaux is sweating it a little bit. Lots of unsold stocks right now, including the latest albatross that ends with a ‘7’, 2007. (As an aside, what’s up with that? 57, 67, 77, 87, 97 and now 2007, all pretty much crap to mediocre vintages. I’m already making plans to not have any children born in 2017.) Tensions are high and, as Bob Marley said, “the battle is getting hotta..”. If the Chateau come out en primeur at crazy high prices could it be the end of the futures system? The negoce won’t bite, the merchants and importers won’t bite, the Chateau will left sweating it out. Hey, everybody on this side of the market realizes the chateaux have to come out strong and low to repair the damage done with the pricing the last several years……. except the chateaux. These cats are playing it pretty close to the vest and hoping/praying that the economy pulls itself together and all will be able to afford their wines at the current prices. Not a single chateau owner that we’ve talked to has come out and stated that there needs to be a correction. They’re not blinking, and there is fear (at least on our part) that this whole thing is going to drag out again, every chateau staring at each other saying, “you go first”. Ugh. Little do they want to realize (though they do), that buyers need to get out of a futures campaign that which they used to get, namely a deal on a great wine, a reward for plunking your hard-earned dollar down two years before the wine is released…the way it used to be. Without that incentive we don’t see much point.
28th
March
2009
Bordeaux At Last….
3/24 Bordeaux at last…Following our quick trip to New York, I am happy to say the Wine Exchange team is finally here! The weather is cool and grey and as unpredictable as to what the “First Growths” will price their wines “En Primeur”. Everybody has said to us “you should have been here last week”….. it was sunny and warm. Oh well, after all, this is Bordeaux in Spring…
Our first day was filled with some exciting footage and interviews with Jean-Philippe Janouiex (La Croix St. George, La Confession and Croix Mouton), Jacques Guinadeau (Lafleur, Grand Village) and Oliver Nouet (Fonplegade, Candale, Bel-Air, Lagarosse, l’Enclos, Roylland). Coming early has allowed us and the producers the time to spend with each other trying to keep the conversation on the terroir and the wines. But, inevitably the topic always ends up on what the French call “the crisis”. We’re preaching the fact that the first growths need to come out hard, fast and cheap, thereby setting the pace for the market, making the rest of Bordeaux re-think their pricing. Customers will undoubtedly take their cues from folks like Chateau Margaux selling for $175 instead of $500. Would you bite at that price? I think many people would, considering we’re hearing that the doom and gloom of July and August was saved by a strong, dry September and October, and there will be some very interesting wines.
