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….