July 1

The Grand Tasting was...GRAND!  Thirty five wines were tasted "double blind."  Bill used his experience of blind assessing stereo speakers to run our tasting.  There were three of us - Bill, Wayne (who owns Cave L'Avant Garde in Margaux) and me - and we tasted in silence with the bottles' labels covered and numbered.  We tasted, gave our ranking and did a lot of spitting.

After we had all tasted all thirty five wines we began by eliminating the ones we agreed should be "out."  There was general agreement on that list and ten wines were eliminated.  Then the difficult work began.  We still had twenty five wines to sort out and decide which eight would be in the club.  We narrowed the list to a top twenty, which we took to dinner at our friends' Marie & Phillipe.  Phillipe is a real Frenchman who is very particular about his wines, so he helped us narrow the list.  After a couple of hours of pairing the various wines with food we decided on the final eight wines  - with four others as our back-ups in case there are problems with the top eight.

As we looked at the list there were a couple of surprises.  First there is only one wine from the left bank.  We have decided that 2006 was a very thin year on the left bank and we are a little dissapointed that none of our favorites from here have made it.  Second, the selection is heavily weighted to the right bank of Pomerol.  These are wonderful wines that are typically more expensive than their left bank partners.  Third, we are amazed at what a great selection we have been able to find in the price range we need.

We estimate that we have tasted over eight hundred wines, and the eight we have chosen are really fantastic.  At the tasting last night I said to Bill and Wayne that I had to be able to open any of these wines at a tasting in America and have people be wowed.  I am sure they will be with any of the wines we've chosen - and you will be too when you receive them.  

A final note:  We worked to find wines that you can drink now, so while most of these wines will also be wonderful in a couple of years, I think you can open most of these soon.

the final list will be posted on the Members page when the final deals have been reached with the producers.

June 30

We've been at a B&B near St. Emilion that doesn't have internet access so I've been unable to update the blog, but now we're back in Margaux for the Grand Degustation and I have wifi.

We spent the last two days tasting in St. Emilion, Pomerol, and LaLande de Pomerol, with a lovely lunch in the amazing little town of St. Emilion.  St. Emilion was first inhabited in the 8th century by a hermit monk and it is one of the most beautiful towns in the world.  This is the right bank of Bordeaux, so we've been tasting a lot o merlot. We visited several wineries that we had tasted at Vinexpo and enjoyed their wines.  We met a young man who has inherited along with his brother and sister a winery that has been in the family since the 1750's.  He told us a story of his grandfather burying his 1929 vintage to hide if from the Nazi's.  He didn't even tell his children where he buried the wine because the Nazi's would ask the children every day where the wine was.  His great grandfather was killed in the war and no one knew where the wine was hidden.  Several years ago they were adding on to the chateau and a back ho found the 1929, which he says is still tasting very well.  The enthusiasm from this thirty year old vintner was contagious and just when I was getting a little jaded from tasting so many wines he reignited my own esprit de vin. 

We met a wonderful elderly woman who shuffled around her massive new winery/reception area and spoke rapidly in French.  My French has come a long way, but I was only getting about every fourth word.  I was saved by her assistant who also did not speak English, but at least spoke slower.  Her husband died twenty years ago and she took over the management of the winery and is now passing it on to her son.  She is proud, confident and competent and we are excited to taste her wine as part of the Grand Tasting tonight in Margaux. 

As I type this Bill is wrapping thirty bottles for the Grand Bind Tasting tonight.  We have had a wonderful time and can't wait to make our selections.  We won't be posting the names of the wines we choose because they are available only for club members.  They will be posted on the members page.

June 26

Sitting at a restaurant in Puy L'Eveque, near Cahors where we've had lunch the past three years and we've returned because the food is incredible and the view is stunning.  Today is no exception.  We are on the terrace in beautiful sunshine so it is extra wonderful.  The only problem is that they have a Barry White song on an endless loop which, and as much as I like Barry, it is a bit distracting. I've mentioned it to  the owner and the table next to us commented on it also (she thought it was just her). Now we have some lovely French music, but the owner thinks it's depressing.  Make your own joke here.

We've found that some of the wines we brought into the club have now been discovered by US importers and are now available in the states. It's nice to know we're ahead of the curve - and that is one of our goals.  Such is the case with the Cahors, Chateau Gaudou Rennaissance.  We love the 2006, but it's available in the US so we won't be doing it in the club this year.  It is a little frustrating to discover that a wine we love can no longer be in the club.  Our goal continues to be to find great wines that are not imported into the US market, and still fit into the 700 euros mark.

This afternoon we met the owners of a great winery in the Cahors region.  The father, son and son-in-law all spent an hour with us tasting their 2005 & 2007 - which we really loved - and it was another one of those "pinch me, I can't believe I'm doing this" moments.  These are great people working hard to make a great wine.  We are hoping this wine makes it to the final cut and have taken a bottle to the Margaux tasting.

We continue to taste great wines and already have an amazing selection for the grand tasting in Margaux.  More wines to taste tomorrow.  I'll keep you updated.

June 25

Our last day at vinexpo was a whirlwind of activity trying to taste a few more wines before the show closed.  We met a wonderful winemaker at the Cahors booth and have taken a bottle of his wine for our grand tasting on Tuesday.  This has become a little like American Idol.  We are gathering wines we like and taking them to Margaux for a grand blind tasting on Tuesday.  We meet with a winemaker and tell him what we're doing and when we select one of his wines it's a bit like saying "welcome to Hollywood," only it's "Welcome to Margaux."  

When we started the club we were concerned that we might not be able to find enough quality wines each year.  This year the opposite has been true.  We've found over twenty five wines that have been "invited to Margaux."   Bye the way, if you are in the neighborhood you are certainly welcome to come to the tasting with us. 

We've found the 2006 vintage to be mostly thin and not very interesting but that makes the great ones really stand out from the pack.  We have several that are wonderful and are excited to see how they taste against the others in the selection.  Of course the 2005's are excellent and there are still some of those to be had.  We are aware that we've done a lot of 2005's so we are really looking for other vintages, particularly ones you can enjoy now.

From Vinexpo we drove to Bergerac and visited two wineries that we wanted to include last year but were unable to get label approval from the FDA.  They've assured us they will make the changes to the labels and both have been included in the grand tasting in Margaux.  We met Quinten who is in his late twenties and along with his brother they are taking over the management of the winery.  The winery has been in his family since the early 1700's and he told us of the importance of continuing on the family tradition.  He is proud of his wine (and it's excellent - will be in the Margaux tasting) and is committed to making a great wine that his ancestors would be proud of.  This is the France I know and love.

As I write this I am sitting on a patio in a small town near Monballizac having a totally relaxing incredible lunch.  If we had vegetables like this in America I would weigh fifty pounds lighter.  Today we're tasting in the Bergerac region and head to Cahors tomorrow.  I think we'll be adding another five wines to the grand tasting.  Life is good! 

June 24

Man does not live by bread alone - it takes wine and cheese also.  We spent another full day of tasting at Vinexpo and we are exhausted.  Today we spent a lot of time in the Pomerol tasting room and our pallets were assaulted by some huge and tannic wines.  We really loved a few of them and they are going to make it into the final tasting.

We taste over 100 wines each day and continue to look for wines that really blow us away.  This year we have already found at least ten wines that we could do in the club and we are thrilled by the quality of what we're finding.  This is great news because we still have five more days of tasting as we travel into Bergerac, St. Emillion and Cahors so we can continue to look for only fantastic wines.

We were also invited to a private tasting in Bordeaux tonight to re-taste a wine that we liked when we tasted in on Monday.  We liked it again, and will add it to the collection of wines we will taste again before we make our list of eight for this year.  We will have the top ten or fifteen wines collected back here and re-taste them all to decide on which eight will be in the club.

We are also very aware that we have included a lot of wines in the past two years that need to be cellared, so we are looking particularly for wines that you can drink now.  I know you will be excited about the collection we are putting together and I have all of you in mind as I taste.  We really do talk about you and think of you as we taste.  

Sante

June 23

Another incredible day of tasting.  We began at Vinexpo where we tasted a sampling of Tuscany wines (nothing to get excited about) then wines from the Haut Medoc.  We were disappointed by the Haut Medoc also, but found a wonderful wine that has great potential for the club.  It was a bit closed down when I tasted it but an hour later it was still lingering on my pallet and I am quite impressed with it.  I'm thinking about putting it in the club, but not sure you all will be able to keep it in your cellars long enough to let it mature and enjoy it when it's really ready.  I know what has happened to all the 2005 St. Brice.  OK, I had to reorder more St Brice myself because I drank all mine, but we will really have to keep our hands off of this one until it matures.  

We left Vinexpo around noon and went to visit a couple of chateau whose wines we liked and also to check on St. Brice.  The 2006 St Brice is another winner from this co-op but it has tough competition this year.  We were given a bottle and will re-taste it with food in a couple of days.  We also stopped by Ch. Bois de Roc which you are going to receive in the Spring shipment.  Their 2006 is really wonderful and we also have a bottle of this to re-taste.  The competition is getting fierce.

From the northern part of the Medoc we went back south to Listrac to meet with the owner of a chateau who had invited us to taste his wines.  We sat in the shade of his chateau as he opened four different vintages so we could taste and compare.  We quite liked his wines and think that his '06 may also make the cut.

From there we went back north to a chateau in the Mdedoc where we had been invited for dinner ( but had to turn them down because we had other plans with our negotiant ) and were welcomed with food and a fabulous white wine to start.  We met the wine maker, his father and several other people who help make the wine and then tasted the reds in five different vintages.  We loved their '01 but they only had four cases left (we bought all four) and we think his '06 is also a contender for this years club pack.  We have a couple of bottles of this wine and will be re-tasting it during the week.

Tomorrow is another day at Vinexpo and a tasting of some wines from Pomeral tomorrow night.  

We continue to meet fabulous people who are working hard to make high quality wines.  They are small producers who have their entire lives invested in their wines and it is a privilege to be with them and to appreciate their wines.  We know you will too,.

June 22, 2009

Today was our first day at Vinexpo.  We arrived in Bordeaux last night and had a lovely dinner with our negotiant Wayne and his wonderful wife Cathy who are both indespensible in making the wine club work.  We couldn't do this without them and it is really a remarkable thing that we connected with them several years ago.

Vinexpo is the largest trade show for wine in the world and is held every other year in Bordeaux.  The three pavilions show a massive amount of wine and it is truly overwhelming.  We were fortunate enough to attend three tastings that were of great interest to us.  The first was a tasting of Malbec wines - and we were particularly interested in Cahors where we will be visiting next week - and we found these to be very interesting.  We found an outstanding wine that might make into the club pack for next year which we will re-taste when we visit the property.

We then went to a tasting room of about twenty five various wineries from the Medoc and found another couple of very interesting wines that are contenders for the club pack.  Some of these small producers are making great wines at remarkable prices (especially given what is happening to the dollar these days) and these are exactly the kind of wines we had in mind when we started the club.  We'll visit the chateau this week and re-taste these wines also.

Perhaps the highlight of the day was the tasting of right bank - Laland de Pommeral - wines.  We loved these mostly Merlot wines and found them to be elegant and nicely structured.  Two more wines that are potential for the club pack and we also got invited to a structured tasting/dinner for Wednesday night.  I think we'll go.

Working hard as always.  

I love all our wines, but to me the St. Brice is still the most amazing of all.

The weather is finally great and I am looking forward to tasting some Vouvray.  In 1999 I rented a house and spent a month in the Loire Valley home to the very special Vouvray.  Vouvray is a white wine that comes in three types, sec (dry), demi-sec (semi dry) or moelleux (sweet). We had enjoyed the moelleux very much in '99 and had a case shipped to us upon our return.   The sec and demi-sec are available in the states, but I have never seen a moelleux here, so I was on a quest to find one for the club. 

After driving through the little towns and getting a little lost, we finally stopped at a Cave des Producteurs where I hoped to try wines from several different producers.  To my delight one of the wineries they were representing was the very one we had shipped back in '99 and we tasted four of their wines including a sparking rose.  Their '03 and '05 Moelleux were both wonderful.  They are sweet but not as sweet as Sauterne or Ice Wine and they have a clean finish that makes them perfect for a warm summer day.  I think the '05 is the best and it is another wine club contender.

My last winery was Domaine Huet, which is mentioned in the excellent book, Wine and War.  This is a great book for those of you who are history buffs and also enjoy wine.  It tells the story of five French wine areas and the way they dealt with the German army during WWII.  Huet is one of the great stories in the book and I was thrilled to get to see the place myself.

We've had a very successful trip and I believe we have some wonderful wines for the club.  I am always sad to leave France, but I leave knowing I'll be back.  Until then.

Sante,
Bob

Sebastian is really amazing.  In addition to setting us up with the fantastic host couple last night he also set us up with three wineries to visit today.  Wine tasting in Bordeaux is not like most other places.  Here you must first have an appointment.  When you arrive you are then met by someone who is passionate about wine and will spend at least an hour giving you a guided tour of the entire facility and opening several bottles for you to taste.  At the end there is no expectation to purchase as there is nothing to sell.  You also never pay for the tour.

Sebastian had set us up with two small producers in the morning and a larger operation in the afternoon.  The first was Chateau Des Eryins located in the small village of Margaux.  It is more a house and a barn set among the other houses in the small town of Margaux then it is a chateau.  We met with the wine maker himself - a young man whose father is the wine maker at Chateau Margaux - and tasted both his '04 Bordeaux appellation and his '05 Margaux appellation  (from the barrel).  Both wines were amazing.  The Bordeaux was very concentrated with ripe fruit and great balance and structure.  We were in awe.  Then we tasted his Margaux from the barrel and we were blown away.  It's true that this vintage will be stunning and this wine is an excellent example.   (Those of you who bought futures will not be disappointed!) The wine was elegant with a balance of violets, licorice and barnyard all well integrated like liquid silk.  It lingered on the pallet for a long time and we were simply blown away.  This is a very small production and we are hoping for ten cases of each to be able to include it in the club. 

Next we drove over to Chateau Mille Roses and met the owner and wine maker David Faure.  David had inherited the property from his parents and has done an amazing job updating and creating a new facility.  He took us to his new barrel room where he opened five wines for us to try.  We were unimpressed by the first couple but then his '02 was something quite unique.  The wine did not impress us at first taste, but after we swallowed the wine the finish was amazing.  It had a kind of boomerang effect that came back with lovely black fruits and complexity.  It made us want to drink more and with each sip we had the same reaction.  He gave us a bottle of this to take to lunch and the same sensation occurred.  We think this wine is ready to drink now and is a definite contender for the club.

The last wine of his we tried was his '05 - again from the barrel - and it too was amazing.  It had a massive expressive nose of ripe fruit and leather with some barnyard and excellent structure.  It is very concentrated and lingers on your tongue.  Another wine club contender.

After a lovely lunch in Pauillac we headed to our last winery, Chateau Haut Breton Larigaudiere.  This is a much larger operation and we had a lovely hostess give us the tour, but in the end we were not impressed by any of their wines.  They were all thin and simple and we did not consider them worthy of the club.

Bill left for Paris in the evening and I hooked on with the Cottrills for a ride up to Chenenceaux and some Vouvray tasting tomorrow.

Sante
Bob

We spent the morning visiting two wineries in Cahors and loved both of their wines, and have included them in the grand tasting for tonight. We found them to be interesting and complex without the new world over oaking that we have found elsewhere. After another wonderful lunch we drove up to Fronsac and found our very basic B&B. After sampling the wine of the B&B - which wasn't good - we headed to St. Emilion for dinner and a visit to the wine shops there. There is a lot of work going on in St. Emilion and new shops opening. We found a young guy who is representing a wine that is absolutly incredible and Bill and I both think it is one of the best we've ever tasted. At 45€ and 65€ it is too expensive for the wine club but I will get details for anyone who might be interested in getting some.

The weather is still not good - cold and rainy - but we are managing to have a great time anyway.

Our next stop is Margaux and the Medoc.

Santé

After a two hour delay my flight landed in time for me to catch my train to Avignon where it is very cold and unbelievably windy.  Bill picked me up at the train station and we went directly to our first winery  - a dissapointing adventure as they will not export to us.  From there we went to the little town of Chateauneuf du Pape and the Cave du Verger des Papes.  Here we found some success meeting Jean Baptiste and tasting some excellent wines.  We tasted two fantqstic sweet white wines - one of which will be in this years Christmas case - and two reds that are definatly in the running for the upcoming shipment.  We found that there are 160 wineries here and 120 export to the US.  We are looking for wines that are not currently being exported to the States so our task is a little more difficult here.

Today we are off to Gigandas with a friend of Bills who lives here and has offered to show us around.  we are on the quest.  Check back tomorrow and I will keep you updated.

Santé
Bob