One of the great things about primeurs week is the chance to go behind the scenes at some of the most famous names in wine. Visiting and tasting at the First Growths is brilliant fun, partly because the wines are usually amazing and partly because one gets to experience how each chateau presents itself. These visits are one of the best bits of my job and something I know is a privilege very few wine …
Posts Tagged ‘Bordeaux En Primeur’
Apr
09
Bordeaux 2009 – tasting the new vintage part 1: Graves
By David Bolomey, http://bordoverview.blogspot.com
Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte
Bordeaux 2009. Last week Jan van Roekel and I visited Bordeaux, running from the one château to the other to taste the young 2009 vintage. After the many signs of an unparalleled vintage our expectations were… high.
And yes, it was a joy to discover Bordeaux 2009. At the same time it was good to taste all …
Apr
08
Bordeaux 2009: Quotes from the critics
It is over a week since we touched down at Luton Airport following our trip to Bordeaux, and I’ve spent most of that time writing up the notes. How time flies when you are having fun. I’ve just handed a whopping 12,500 words over to our designers to put our offer brochure together and will start loading up the copy up to our website tomorrow.
I’m not the only one who has been writing up notes …
Mar
31
Bordeaux 2009: All right on the night
By Gareth Groves
We have tasted some superb wines today – but also less than stellar numbers. After a near perfect hit rate amongst the big guns of the left bank yesterday, we have found a bit more inconsistency in St Emilion and Pomerol. The highs on the right bank are still very high indeed, but further down the scale you have …
Mar
29
Bordeaux 2009: Dinner at Pichon Baron
After all the hype we are actually here. The official kick off is tomorrow morning but we have had a sneak preview of a few wines at Pichon Baron, in the company of the Chateau’s legendary winemaker Jean Rene Matignon and our favourite pastel-pink-pullover-wearing negociant Edouard Andre.
Four wines is no basis on which to judge a vintage but …
Apr
23
Chateau Bibendum – They came, they saw, they tasted!
We opened the doors to Chateau Bibendum at 4pm yesterday and the Great British Public poured through the doors. The scene at Lord’s akin to the Saturday of an Ashes test. Well, almost. But I bet there were more people tasting Bordeaux in the Nursery Pavilion yesterday than watch Glamorgan hammer the Middlesex bowlers on the big pitch.
In fact, over 700 wine lovers joined 70 Chateaux and more than a few …
Mar
31
Bordeaux Day 1: “If they all taste like Lafite…”
Above: the regal buggies at Mouton
First of all, I don’t expect any sympathy. I may have been awake for about 20 hours in the constant company of Alex Marton but I have spent most of those hours in close proximity to a glass of pretty good wine. If I even think about moaning, I know I will get lynched the moment I step foot outside Chalk Farm tube …
Feb
18
Truffle Hunting St Emilion Style
Ben and Alex are in Bordeaux this week, tasting a few early 2008s and finalising the list of Chateaux for our annual Bordeaux extravaganza at Lord’s in April. In between the tasting and talking, they have also found time for a spot of dinner as this late night text from the dining room at Troplong-Mondot shows:
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