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…
Posts Tagged ‘European Grand Tour 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!
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.
The King of the Cote…
After lunch at Climens we were in a world of hurt time-wise to make our next appointment. Tris drove like a bat out of hell, rampaging across the Entre deux Mers, careening across country roads so we’d have the opportunity to taste and tour at what many consider the mecca for St. Emilion wines, Chateau Ausone. This really is like going to church folks, except the communal wine is substantially better and Pauline Vauthier is minding the “pulpit”. To wine geeks all over the world Pauline is one of Bordeaux’s true pin-up girls, very easy on the eyes, very bright and in charge of overseeing all the technical side of Ausone and its partner estates, including Moulin St. Georges, Fonbel and Chateau Simard, where the Vauthiers now oversee production and marketing. Pauline guided us through the entire 2008 line-up, where we got our first sense of what we had in store the rest of this trip.
Asking about the harvest, we were told that it was indeed a special one, contrary to the doom and gloom that we’d heard stateside. Though we did get it half right, it was a miserable August and September. But that, my friends, was not the end of the story. Starting the second week of September (what is traditionally considered the start of harvest), Bordeaux saw 6-8 weeks of beautiful weather, plenty of sun, cool temps, but warm enough to further ripening. Those who didn’t panic with the onset of rot earlier in the growing season and managed to cut away the damaged fruit were given an extraordinary amount of hang time, the top estates not harvesting until the second or third week of October (“no risk, no fun” to quote Stephan von Neipperg).
This was evident in the Vauthier wines. Starting with the Simard, through the Fonbel, to the silky, gorgeous Moulin St. Georges, there wasn’t an ounce of doom and gloom in this place, though there was some disappointment at the reduced production due to lower yields and the smaller-berried Cabernet Franc making up a larger part of the final blend. When we saddled up to the Chapelle d’Ausone, Ausone’s second wine, things had taken another turn again. This wasn’t just good, it was phenomenal. What leftovers! Easily as good as many an Ausone made prior to the rejuvenation of the chateau in 1998, lovely fruit, a tactile, near-crunchy chewiness, a truly great wine in its own right. Yet, sadly for the Chapelle, Pauline and Alain Vauthier’s Ausone took it yet another level! It is devestatingly great wine, on par with what the Chateau achieved in 1998 and certainly no more than the tiniest tick behind the 2000 and 2005. The Vauthiers say thank the Cab Franc for this one, of which this year it makes up more than half the blend, with more Cab Franc sticks going into the ground over the next few years. The Vauthiers love the results they get with perfectly farmed Franc, and so do we, this year’s Ausone is a swirling array of blueberry, black cherry, limestone, sweet tobacco and minerals, with ripe, plush tannins that make it almost drinkable now until the signature structure of the estate says, “excuse me” and takes over. Whew!
After some filming of the caves and a little shop-talking with Alain we retreated from Ausone with the same amount of reverence with which we had arrived. Calling it a long day, we proceeded to the mean streets of St. Emilion for a palate-cleansing Stella followed by a fun dinner that night with some good friends in the town of Bordeaux, where we ate at local haunt Bistro Le Sommelier, knocked back some tasty Magret de Canard, and drank some great wines off their reasonably priced list including 98 Sassicaia (95 euros!) and 99 Montrose (65 euros!). And to think we’re looking at another week of this? I hope we survive the experience… K.M.
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.
The NYC: Ham and hamachi at Momofuku…
3/23 Upon arrival at LAX, it’s a busy Monday with lines out the door at the Southwest terminal. But we are flying Virgin America and there is no line at all as we breeze through the “Bransoned” baggage drop-off and security checkpoint. Once boarded, the Airbus 320 has almost a nightclub feel to it. Since Kyle, aka “the travel agent” in charge of booking the flights for the tour booked early, we are in the front of the plane in aisle seats. So for the next 4 1/2 hours, we are going to kick back and enjoy our flight and prepare for what will be a crazy 16 days.
Our first stop is New York for an overnighter to attend a tasting of importer Eric Solomon’s finest new releases. It’s one of our favorite events as there are always some truly great finds. We then leave New York Tuesday evening and take the red-eye to London. Being that I can never sleep on planes, I’m hoping this will be the first time because once we land, we have forty-five minutes to catch the connection to Bordeaux. That’s right….forty-five minutes. Cameras, film, carry-ons and a recovering bad back… We thought it was a tight connection, but the folks at British Airways said “no problem”…. So, fingers crossed! Once landed in Bordeaux, there is no time to rest as we have two hours to get the car, drop off our stuff at Pape Clement, our home for the week in Bordeaux, and then drive thirty minutes to Pomerol and meet with Bordeaux’s newest superstar winemaker, Jean-Philippe Janouiex at Chateau La Croix St. George…….
But before we even get to thinking about Bordeaux we still have a night in NY that we have to “deal” with. And deal with it we shall! A quick cab ride to the Lower East Side and we’re standing outside Momofuku Ssam Bar, one of the toughest tables in the city. We actually asked three of our good friends that know NY just where we should eat and all three independently recommended Ssam bar, no kidding.
And how about that economy? We walk right in and grab a table after about a 10 minute wait. But the joint is still jumping, loud, happy, bouncy. We take a seat at the wooden communal table and start to dig in. Wine list is crazy expensive (surprise) but we find a nice Kerner from Koferhof as well as a bottle of Alto Moncayo’s Veraton that don’t break the bank and we’re off and running. The food is great, we start with the cured hamachi with horseradish and edamame, the fish is just perfect, dude, we could have ordered like three of these plates. What a tease! Then a charred squid salad wit ginger scallion and mizuna, just delicious, seasoned and cooked perfectly.
Then a ham tasting. Ssam bar has four regional, artisan hams on the list but we choose two, one from Virginia and the other from NC if memory serves. Sliced super-thin, they’re the perfect salty start for our intro into protein, which consisted of a wicked tender chicken dish with cauliflower, snow peas and grapefruit and a once again perfectly cooked and seasoned hanger steak with Romesco and fingerlings.
Three distinct styles of cuisine, all executed in a bulletproof fashion, fun atmosphere, with spot-on service, damn, what a great meal. I’d come here again and again…and again…Bring me a bucket!
Tris and Kyle Set Sail To Bordeaux and VinItaly Along With The Winery Channel.TV…
Up early heading to LAX for our European Grand Tour, 2009 with a quick layover in New York. This trip is not going to be one of the typical tours we’ve taken in the past because this time, we’re traveling with The Winery Channel.TV. Producer Steve Jarvis will follow Kyle and me through an array of tastings, in-depth interviews and historical tours with some of the worlds finest winemakers.
Our first stop will be Bordeaux. There, the plan is to show you what really goes on during the hectic and crazy week of En Primeur. We have planned interviews with such Bordeaux luminaries as (are you ready?) Alain Vauthier (Ausone), Gerard Perse (Pavie), Jean-Philippe Janouiex (La Croix St. George), Stefan Von Neipperg (La Mondotte), Bernice Lurton (Climens), Bernard Magrez (Pape Clement), Pierre Lurton (d’Yquen, Cheval Blanc), Hubert de Bouard (Angelus), Jean-Guillaume Prats (Cos d’Estournel), Jean-Bernard Delmas (Montrose), Paul Pontallier (Margaux) and the list goes on… Not only will we (eventually) show you the people behind the wines (many, many hours of editing to bleep out f-bombs and not incriminate ourselves) but we’ll also show you what makes Bordeaux so special…. its dirt. A full week of non-stop action.
After leaving Bordeaux, we will travel to Verona to one of the worlds largest wine shows, VinItaly. You’ll spend four days with us at the show as we pour through (literally) hundreds of Italy’s greatest wines, including all the top new releases from Montalcino, Piedmont, Chianti and much, much more. With perhaps another surprise interview…or four…… Stay tuned..
