Recently my friend and I were enjoying blind tasting a wine as is a typical practice at dinner. After a few moments of careful examination, it was safe to concluded it was from the Old World, likely a 2007, and a Pinot Noir. Yet what [...]

What better way to spend a summer weekend than by blinding tasting two whites and out of all the whites in the world, analyzing their variety and origin? Of course, this sort of Sherlock Holmes antics is familiar to students in the Master of Wine program. Typically I ask wine retailers that [...]

Chateau Prieuré-Lichine   In March of 2010, several Master of Wine students – myself included – were invited to visit several prestigious Chateaux in Bordeaux. We were each assigned a Chateau to cover, and I had the good fortune of being able [...]

Domaine de Clairefontaine is a charming restaurant and apparently luxurious hotel in the N. Rhone. We rushed here after a visit to E. Guigal, terrified we would miss the last seating and miss one of the last opportunities for a Michelin rated lunch as we had in Arles. [...]

Rosé wine from Provence has been famous for thousands of years, yet many people do not realize that the whites and reds of Provence are refreshing and delicious, with many of the barrel-aged reds worthy of long-term aging.  Though many people think of glitzy jet-set St. Tropez or touristy Marseilles [...]

“Welcome!” exclaims vivacious Remy Devictor (wearing stripes), who with his brother Oliver owns Domaine La Sangliere, just a stone’s throw from the beaches of St. Tropez. With much pride, he shows me around his winery, asking that I not take pictures of the empty spaces were the fermentation tanks once stood (“we’re getting brand [...]

  “Welcome to Domaine de Sulauze,” says handsome owner and winemaker Guillaume Lefevre, looking miraculously fair under the intense summer sun. We are standing outside our gites (room) for the evening, a gorgeously restored apartment with an expansive kitchen and newly remodeled bathrooms inside a structure several hundred years old. [...]

  “Welcome to Abbaye Saint Hilaire,” says fun loving,good-natured owner Philippe Burel, with his characteristic cheerful smile and little laugh. He greets us at the very long driveway of his estate, which includes a winery producing upwards of a half-million bottles of wine a year, 16 gites (a European word used to describe rooms outside [...]

“You must have some fresh Truffles on toast!” says attractive blond Valérie Rousselle-Riboud, looking very glamorous and jet-set [...]

Nathalie showing excellent wine review in Vin magazine
“Welcome!” says Nathalie Vancoillie, a very tanned, toned, attractive woman with sun-streaked hair and an athletic build as she escorts us into her Chateau in Provence, a charming stone structure that dates from the 15th century. Most people think of Provence as St. Tropez, yet Nathalie lives outside [...]

Buffet in Chablis
…. Most of you know what a fabulous experience I had this March in Burgundy, when journalists had a chance to visit the various regions and try wines of many different producers. I really enjoyed my time in Chablis, where I actually got very close to identifying the seven Grand Cru in a [...]

  Today was a tasting of wines from the Cote Chalonnaise at the Tonnellerie de Mercurey. There are four key areas in the Cote Chalonnais. Bouzeron is famous mostly for their Bourgogne Aligote de Bouzeron, a fruity white wine with a clean finish. Most producers [...]

To see Day 2 please click here

To see Day 1 please click here
 
Today was the day to celebrate the Maconnais – one of the sunniest and most southern areas of Burgundy. The soil is limestone here and the wine is high in acidity, but riper than Chardonnay in the North. You can find good value [...]

 
Day 2 of Les Grands Jours de Bourgogne 2010
(to see Day 1, please click here)
To see Day 3 please click here
To See Day 4/5 please click here

People who are new to Burgundy are often amazed at the high price, especially when it comes to the red wines of the Cote de Nuits. Yet when [...]

10th Edition Les Grands Jours De Bourgogne
Wine friends, I’ve been obsessed with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir since my visit to Burgundy to take part in the Les Grand Jours De Bourgogne – a very exciting week in the lives of journalists and trade professionals, and of course the winemakers throughout Burgundy. This was my second [...]

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…so I am here in New York, on the jury panel to taste wines of the Cotes du Roussillon with regard to the Saint-Bacchus awards 2010, a competition originating in Roussillon that has been going on twenty-five years. This is one of my favorite regions in the world, and the La Maison de la Region [...]

 
… Now I am sure you’ll agree that there is something slightly decadent about savoring wine aboard the open top of a double deckered bus (painted like big yellow taxi with red baloons) at the start of a warm Manhattan summer. Yet well over a dozen journalists did just that on May 4th to celebrate [...]

Caudalie
 
It seems like just yesterday I was a guest of svelte, soignee Florence Cathiard and her handsome husband Daniel at their Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte estate in Graves during En Primeur – the annual event when the latest vintage is unveiled and tasted by the world’s fine wine journalists. In addition to producing excellent wine, the [...]

Celine Villars-Foubet
 
"So what vintage do you think this is?" asks charming hostess Celine Villars-Foubet, an owner of the 1855 Grand Cru Chateau Camensac (and many others). We are sitting at a round table inside the very grand Chateau Chasse Spleen (another Chateau of hers) enjoying vibrant green watercress soup and an unknown red wine.
"2001," I [...]

Jean-Jacques & Florence Dubourdieu
 
So here I am in Bordeaux the Sunday before the beginning of En Primeur, where journalists will sample the new 2009 vintage. Already the word is that 2009 is a fantastic vintage, and as I had some great early tastes this week (and was warned not to write details!) I quite agree.

As [...]