Bordeaux En Primeur
05 April 2013 Filed in: News & Views Cellar Notes
The Bordeaux ‘en primeur’ circus is about to swing into action. Here’s my take on it, written earlier this year for publication in the April issue of Food & Wine Magazine:
It might not have made headlines on Sky or CNN but within the cosy little world of fine wine the news last year that Château Latour, one of the superstar names of Bordeaux, was withdrawing from the annual en primeur jamboree set tongues wagging and the twittersphere humming. Read More...
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Mouton '85
01 June 2012 Filed in: Cellar Notes Blake's Best
Great claret, indeed all great wine, is about balance – a point made oh-so-memorably by Château Mouton-Rothschild 1985 at a gala wine dinner in Dublin last night. The ‘building blocks’ – fruit, tannin, acid and alcohol – were all there in equal and harmonious measure, and as the wine approaches its 30th birthday they are seamlessly blending together into a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts. Read More...
Tasting at La Mission
Last Friday was gloriously sunny in Bordeaux, perfect for a stroll through the vineyards at Château La Mission Haut-Brion where the recent renovations are now complete. Meanwhile, across the road at sister property Château Haut-Brion, a major restoration programme is underway, meaning that it is closed to visitors and the wines of both châteaux are tasted at La Mission. Read More...
Bordeaux Lunch
28 July 2011 Filed in: Travel Miscellaneous
Last Friday in Bordeaux the weather was doing a quickstep between snippets of sunshine and cascades of rain. The former showed the city to perfection, gloriously restored and barely recognisable now from the drab, sad metropolis that presented a tired face to the world in the 1990s. The latter sent the crowds scurrying for shelter under awnings and umbrellas or, more effectively, the portico of the splendid opera house. There I stood, peering grimly across to the Regent Hotel, as the Porsches and BMWs divested guests and luggage for a short, wet sprint to the lobby. Read More...
Fire at Château de France
23 July 2011 Filed in: News & Views
I am currently visiting the Graves region of Bordeaux, arriving last Tuesday, just after a serious fire at Château de France near the village of Léognan. Though not as well known as the heavyweight names of the region, such as Haut-Brion, de France is an immediately recognisable property because of the distinctive, yellow-painted château that catches the eye as you drive south from Léognan on the D651. Read More...
Value Bordeaux
22 June 2011 Filed in: Tastings Cellar Notes
If the term ‘Value Bordeaux’ does not sound like an oxymoron in the current climate then I don’t know what does. The usual mad whirlwind of the en primeur campaign is in full, if slightly faltering, swing and, as ever, the prices set (demanded?) for the top wines are causing outrage and angst amongst the commentators. But it is easy to be dazzled by the fireworks and to lose sight of the big picture. Bordeaux is a vast wine-producing region and the châteaux that garner all the attention account for a minuscule percentage of the total output. There is still plenty of value to be had from Bordeaux, as I discovered at a recent tasting in Dublin. Read More...
Vintage of the Century
17 June 2011 Filed in: Miscellaneous
Nobody is quite certain how long the comic farce Vintage of the Century has been running and the bad news received today is that the Guinness Book of World Records will not consider it for inclusion due to the multiplicity of its authorship. It would be difficult to enumerate all the hands that have had a part in Vintage’s success but the list certainly includes: wine writers, Bordeaux negociants, châteaux owners, wine merchants, sundry smoke and mirror practitioners, PR spinners and the man in the street, including the social media tweeters and their ilk, commissioned just a few years ago to “freshen up the script.” Read More...
Pichon '29
The Wall Street crash was just around the corner when the grapes for this wine were being harvested almost 82 years ago, so it seems fitting that it should be consumed with the world still staggering from the effects of the latest economic crisis. It was superb, so fine in fact, that it could have buoyed up the most troubled of spirits and banished, for a few moments at least, all fiscal woes. Read More...
Mouton Magnums
25 March 2011 Filed in: News & Views Miscellaneous
“I hope the Mouton Collection is enjoyed by the new owner, who I believe is from Asia.” So said singer Chris de Burgh earlier today when I contacted him about the sale this week of an extremely rare collection, from de Burgh’s cellar, of magnums of Château Mouton-Rothschild spanning every vintage from 1945 to 2005. The price paid was £155,250 (€178,538, $251,660). Read More...
Margaux Quartet
21 March 2011 Filed in: Blake's Best Cellar Notes
Thanks to the outstanding generosity of a friend myself and a small group of fellow wine nuts enjoyed a stunning quartet of vintages from Château Margaux last Saturday evening: 1990, ’89, ’86 & ’83. All four were in excellent condition and, while each taster had his or her own favourite, there was no question of trying to agree on a ‘winner’. That would be to miss the point altogether. Read More...
A Busy Bordeaux Lady
Charming, articulate and very capable are just three descriptors that sit easily on the shoulders of Sylvie Cazes-Regimbeau, recently appointed as managing director of all the Louis Roederer properties in Bordeaux. This, in addition to her other role as president of the Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux, will make her a busy lady indeed. Read More...
Facelift at Fieuzal
10 March 2011 Filed in: News & Views
As you crest the small rise on the D651 coming south out of the village of Léognan the usually tranquil view is broken by a massive crane that towers over the vineyards.
Read More...Bordeaux 2009 Revisited
03 March 2011 Filed in: Tastings
It is a chilly morning here in Bordeaux as I prepare for the annual Millesima tasting, where the last vintage but one is always presented, shortly before it is bottled. Thus it is the already legendary 2009 that is under the microscope this year.
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