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 [...]
Henri Lurton
I just returned from Bordeaux where I had attended En Primeur, a week long tasting for international fine wine journalists to taste the new 2009 vintage. I had the good fortune to catch up with Chateau Brane-Cantenac owner and oenologist Henri Lurton, whose grandfather bought the second-growth estate in 1925.
All week long, I overheard [...]
Florence Cathiard, standing
"Ah, you are my house guest this Thursday!" exclaimed the glamorous Florence Cathiard, who, with her husband Daniel, owns Smith Haut Lafitte in Bordeaux. Though I can’t quite remember if Madame Cathiard was actually wearing diamonds, she seemed to sparkle with them, such was the charm of her dazzling personality.
To set the scene, [...]
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 [...]
Chateau La Papeterie
So, you might ask, what were some of my observations on my most recent trip to Bordeaux for En Primeur — a week when journalists, members of the trade, and others come to taste the 2009 vintage? Of course I had many – perhaps the most poignant was realizing that a surprising [...]
Gorgeous sunny weather is this beautiful city is always a treat. I am here today, March 15 2010, on a four day study trip with fellow students in the Master of Wine program. Happily, I’ve met most of the group during our Napa educational week and then during what is called a ‘Course Day’ in [...]
Sopexa JoLynn Howe (right)
… so I will be in Bordeaux in a few weeks to attend En Primeur … and so appreciated the snapshot of some of the 2009s showcased by Sopexa’s Le Cercle Rive Droite today for journalists and members of the trade. The 2009s were showing remarkably well! At the same time, Sopexa [...]
Wearing a bright red, very elegant, fitted jacket with glossy dark hair spilling over her shoulders, Noemie Ruelloux, communications manager for Chateau Haut-Bailly, welcomes me to the Chateau. Haut-Bailly is situated on the left bank of the River Garonne, south…
Bordeaux Map
Bordeaux. The name says it all. This whisper of a word conjures up images of luxury, gorgeous chateaux, elegantly dressed aristocrats, and lavish, sophisticated living.
We won’t even get into all the centuries of romance novel-style drama that must have included arranged marriages for the sake of building a family dynasty and all that, yet [...]
Sauturnes … yummy!
Luscious, sweet white wines with exotic, upscale Indian cuisine – who would have imagined it? When I received the invitation to attend a Cru Classes tasting of Sauternes and Barsac (both sweet white wine appellations in Bordeaux, France) with a lunch to follow, I already knew what to expect to eat. We’d start [...]
Sauturnes … yummy!
Luscious, sweet white wines with exotic, upscale Indian cuisine – who would have imagined it? When I received the invitation to attend a Cru Classes tasting of Sauternes and Barsac (both sweet white wine appellations in Bordeaux, France) with a lunch to follow, I already knew what to expect to eat. We’d start [...]
“Robert Parker spent an entire day here,” says the charming matriarch Annick Saturny, whose husband bought and created Château Tayac many decades ago. So far, this is the first Château I have visited that actually looks like the American ideal…
“My grandfather created Château Cailleteau Bergeron in 1933,” says Pierre-Charles Dartier, a tall, affable fellow with the rugged, camera-ready good looks of a football star, standing in front of his family’s winery with his sister and partner, Marie Dartier. It…
When gregarious Robin Kelley O’Connor – popular wine educator and now Director of Sales and Education at Sherry Lehmann – begins a short introductory speech during a Grand Cru tasting event showcasing wines from three key Bordeaux producers, wine aficionados…
Andrew Bell, ASA (r) at Union Des Grands Crus de Bordeaux “If only people could imagine the riches!” says a wine connoisseur friend, standing in the gorgeous ballroom of the historic Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan. It is a sunny…
If you’ve seen the film A Good Year, you might recall that the Russell Crowe character, a financial wizard, inherits a winery in France and promptly sets off to sell it until he falls in love with the region. In…
Quick! What does Saint Emilion mean to you? In your mind, does it represent the healing saint of the same name? Does it signify a quaint, ancient, walled village in Bordeaux? Or, for you wine lovers, does it represent chateaux…
Didier Galhaud, tall, dark, and slim, meets me at Chateau Guiraud in the Sauternes district of Bordeaux, and escorts me around the First Grand Cru Classe wine property, known for the spectacular sweet wine called Sauternes. Grey mist swirls around…
Didier Galhaud, tall, dark, and slim, meets me at Chateau Guiraud in the Sauternes district of Bordeaux, and escorts me around the First Grand Cru Classe wine property, known for the spectacular sweet wine called Sauternes. Grey mist swirls around…
Wouldn’t it be interesting to take a snapshot of the past? For example, on a recent trip to Bordeaux, I visited many of the same Chateau as our third president Thomas Jefferson. It was so interesting see the same topography,…
