One of the fantastic advantages of being in the wine industry is that you get invited to events like the Grand Cru Bordeaux Tasting of the 2008 vintage in New York.  Over 100 producers brought their wines for industry people to taste, and evaluate.  Bill and I attended the event and my notes are below.  It is a very uneven vintage.  Some chateaux made excellent wines while others were thin and uninteresting.  So, buyer beware.  You can get great wines in this vintage, but you need to know what you're looking for.  I should point o

 2007 Ventoux from J.V Fleury - This is my best value wine of the month. It is from the Rhone region of France - the home of Chateauneuf du Pape - and while not of the quality of Chateauneuf it is nonetheless a great wine. It has spices and interesting fruit on the pallet and is very easy to drink. At $12 a bottle this is a great wine for the price and the perfect wine to have while you're watching the game.

 The 2003 vintage in Bordeaux is turning out to be a wonderful vintage that is drinking very well now. Here are four that are worth looking for, as well as two more wines that you will want to add to your cellar.

The best wine I tasted this month was at my favorite restaurant in New York, Brasserie Ruhlman. The wine was a 2004 Chateau Phlean Segur and it was really wonderful. This is a classic Bordeaux from a vintage that is drinking very well now. The wine has wonderful up front barnyard that changes to black fruit and finishes with a hint of dark chocolate. The vintage may be underrated but there are great wines in every vintage, and this is one of the greats from 2004.

Wine Recommendations

2004 Chateau Crois de Beaucaillou – I have recommended many of the “seconds” in my newsletters and this is another example of a great value “second” from the makers of Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou. At less than half the price of its big brother, this is a wonderful wine for around $30. It has excellent complexity and a fairly dense finish that lingers on your pallet. This is my top recommendation for the Bordeaux lovers who want to enjoy a great wine without breaking the bank.

 Here is a list of the best wines I’ve been enjoying over the last several months.

2002 & 2005 Ch. De Pez – My top picks for deeply complex classic Bordeaux. They are both amazing wines I first had when I was in France last summer. I have found the ’05 a couple of places here but you’ll have to hunt for it. It is spectacular.

2003 Ch. Segla – a dense, fruit forward Bordeaux, the second of Ch. Razan Segla and amazing in it’s own right. A wonderful wine at around $40 that is worth much more.

 I have enjoyed some amazing wines this summer. Here are my top five:

1996 Chateau Beycheville - This is proving to be a much better vintage from Bordeaux than originally anticipated. I absolutely loved this wine. It has the alluring barnyard on the nose, followed by rich and complex flavors of black cherry, oak, hay, mushroom and tea leaves. It evolves to a hint of chocolate and raspberry after it opens. If you can find this - get it!

In the last month I’ve tasted some wonderful wines beginning with the 2004 Chateau Laforge. This is a wonderful, classic, complex Bordeaux with black fruit and lots of barnyard. For the Bordeaux lovers this is a great choice at a reasonable price in an underrated vintage.

From the same vintage, the 2004 Abbaye de Tholomies from the Pays d’Oc is a classic Rhone wine that is elegant and full of interesting fruit. This is a lovely wine to enjoy on summer evenings and goes especially well with grilled chicken.

The best wines I’ve had recently have been from B&B’s French Wine Club. The Chateau St. Brice and the Chateau Deyrem Valentin are simply amazing and I am having trouble resisting opening them every time I have friends over. There is still time to join the club and receive the Spring shipment of two cases (two more in the Fall). Visit the web site at www.bandbsfrenchwineclub.com for more information or feel free to contact me directly.

The other wines I can recommend this month are:

One of my favorite wines from Bordeaux is Chateau Razan Segla, and recently I had the opportunity to taste the 1996. This was one of the best Bordeaux I’ve had in months and is an incredible example of what great Bordeaux should taste like. It has the classic smoky, barnyard, black fruit mix on the nose and elegant mouth feel, with a long lasting finish. Awesome.