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!
