So what fun to attend the special VinExpo "Master Class" on pairing Sauternes with Chinese food. I was very excited to attend for two key reasons: First, I won an AXA scholarship for my ideas on the subject, and second, a benefit of the scholarship was a day at AXA property Chateau Suduiraut picking grapes (and even vinifying them!) with winemaker Pierre Montegut.

Well, to be honest, there was not too much "slave labor" involved ... picking grapes at their exact point of ripeness involves a great deal of stooping. thankfully. Pierre didn't crack the whip on that one. He also arranged a fantastic lunch with the exact theme of pairing different vintages of Sauternes with many different styles of Chinese food.

And today, many lucky people had the opportunity to taste these wines with food. Overall, they were impressive marches. I wrote other articles pairing Sauternes (and Barsac) with Indian food, and also recorded my experience with Pierrre.

Today was a bit different in that the audience, a mix of well known journalists and Asian. connosieurss, took the podium to provide commentary. Several Asians expressed they had their own preferences for the pairing based on 'their Asian palate.'

In any event, Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey  2007 was paired with marinaded salmon with Hong You Chili. As the name suggests in more ways than one, this was a spicy dish that went well with this full bodied wine. Aline Bally of Chateau Coutet paired her 2004 wine with marinated salmon, the acidity taming the wines.

I knew many of the chateaux owners and also had written for Sommelier India about how to pair Indian wine with food, so I knew the drill. These Chinese wines were a great treat! The secret to pairing wine at home is to match with a food that has spice, or salt. Some of the producers chose food that matched texture with texture, or contrasted different flavors.

The key point about Sauternes is that it is necessary to enjoy it before the meal, or with the first few courses, as the wine has a fabulous mouth-watering acidity.

Chateau Guiraud paired their 2003 with seared beef and red chile, while La Tour Blanche paired there wine with tea-smoked ducked. Bernice Lurton paired her stellar Chateau Climens 1975 with crossed arms pork -- fabulous!
 

Did any of you happen to read Neal Martin’s blog today on the eRobertParker.com site? I first met this eRobertParker.com wine columnist a few years back at one of the parties surrounding the tasting of the VDP “Grosse Gewachse” in Germany.  In person Neal is charming and a bit subdued, yet his columns are bold and colorful and he is never afraid to say exactly what he means.

The reason I bring this up is because we also briefly connected at En Primeur, and now I am comparing his notes to mine.

In his review of Margaux properties, I found that most of my tasting notes aligned with his, especially when it came to Chateau Brane-Cantenac 2010, mostly in terms of how it has been steadily improving each year. I’ve had the good fortune to visit the property, meet winemaker/owner Henri Lurton, and taste some fabulous vintages both here in New York and at the Chateau.

And though I loved the 1955, the very young 2010 seems as if it has the same potential in a half century. In my notes, I write “A very elegant wine with an refined nose of ripe rich concentrated fruit spiked with vanilla, and palate of ripe fruit – fresh young fig, sun ripened, black licorice, highly polished long finish.” The vintage was a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 8% Cabernet Franc with 70% new oak.
You can read about my visit to Chateau Brane Cantenac here:

Neal raved about Brane-Cantenac 2010 making its best wine ever!

 "So," you might ask, was it worth it to attend a very dressy event wearing snowboots, mittens, and all sorts of snow wear?

The crowd checking coats and boots at a fabulous downtown space last week seemed to think so. 17 Bordeaux château owners poured their latest vintages (as well as some earlier vintages) and it was great to visit the various booths and compare them to one another.

Among the crowd I saw many familiar faces, including Jean-Jacques Dubourdieu, an owner and marketing executive for his family's Denis Dubourdieu Domaines. I had been their guest last year at En Primeur, and it was fun to meet each member of the family and have dinner in the family home of Denis and Florence.
 

Guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and chocolates inspired by the flavors of Bordeaux wines created just for
the night by third generation Chocolatier and Pâtissier Francois Payard of FPBNY.

In addition, nine impressive wine lots (with a total value of more than $20,000) were
presented by participating chateâu owners as prizes to the night’s top tasters.
The wines awarded were:
Superstar Estates - Vintages 2000 & 2005
• Château Malartic-Lagravière Double Magnum Rouge 2005
• Château Clos Fourtet Magnum 2000
Superstar Double Magnums

Visiting Pichon Longueville

AXA generously hosted the winners of the AXA Millesimes scholarship offered to students of the Master of Wine educational program a week in October 2010. It was an incredible week of excitement, learning, travel, exploration, and a fairy tale few days at this incredible Chateau (see that second floor turret? That was my room).

Julian, one of the friendly AXA staff people, picked myself and another student up from our station in a shimmering black car, and as if to highlight the drama of our destination, swirled the car into the impressive lengthy driveway of Chateau Pichon Longueville, where we would stay during our visit and dine tonight.

Words can’t describe the glamour of this enormous fairy castle of a chateau illuminated at night under the darkening sky. It was a thrilling moment, one few people in the world ever really have the opportunity not only to see, but to experience first-hand.

Patricia, another friendly AXA employee who expertly manages the Chateau, shows me to my room and if you look at the Chateau below, you can see that the bedroom I am given is in that second floor turret! The space is actually an extension of the bedroom, as it is a round room with a card table inside it.

During dinner, the five of us are ushered into the drawing room where we are served champagne and canapés by the charming hostess, and then make our way to the dining room. It is incredibly glamorous and the cuisine (mushroom soup and steak) is paired with Chateau Pichon Longueville 2000 (delicious with its black currant and tobacco flavors), Les Tourelles de Longueville (their second wine), 1990 Chateau Pibron – another AXA acquisition. I absolutely loved this wine with its notes of Prince Edward cherry tobacco and truffle. 

Dinner concluded with Chateau Pichon Longueville 2001, very black and intense, with delicious notes of tobacco, vanilla bean, black current, and black licorice. Dessert was served with the delicious 5 Puttanyos 2001 Tokaji from Disznoko, AXA’s property in Hungary.

Monday: Tour of the Chateau Pichon Longueville Vineyards and Winery

After a very formal coffee and croissant breakfast, we were met by the energetic blonde Corinne Michot, who along with Marie-Louise Schÿler, Director of Communications, spent several weeks planning the extensive details of our very extensive trip to various AXA properties in France and Hungary.

Corrine had a very glamorous life before AXA, working as a top sommelier and wine director for several prestigious restaurants in London and the world. Today she drives us the short distance to the Pichon-Longueville vineyards where we meet Jean-Rene Matiger, the technical manager who has been at Chateau Pichon Longueville since 1985.

Jean-Rene is an extremely likeable, energetic man who seems genuinely delighted to see us, and with his quick step and enormous strides, leads us proudly through the Chateau Longueville vineyards, which at the moment have a buzz of activity.

It is the harvest, you see, and the workers are here to pick. We learn they are the chateau’s regular workers who come from Spain each year, and when the wine harvest is finished, they continue to pick other types of produce throughout France. Treating workers well is very important to every chateau, as grape selection (ensuring only the most perfect grapes make it into the wine) is a primary element of a good wine.
 

Workers are housed at a hotel about a half hour from the property, and arrive by a large bus. At the end of harvest, which is scheduled for that Friday, there is a very big party and its correct execution (read, really great food, wine, and fun) is of key importance to Jean-Rene. The party sounds so exciting I wish I would have still been in town for it!

Luckily, though, we are able to get a feel for what it might be like when we have lunch at “la table des vendanges” with Christian Seely, the Managing Director of AXA Millesimes. I have met Mr. Seely many times before – a very elegant gentleman who is as kind as he is business savvy. The crowd of us enter the light, airy, modern room and take a seat at long rows of table. Some of the workers are still finishing their lunch, which today is a delicious tomato and mozzarella salad, roast pork, various vegetables, and of course, cheese and dessert. As this is France, wine is served as well – C’est le vie!

Before lunch, though, Jean-Rene gave our group a very extensive, insider’s view of the high tech winery with all its bells and whistles.

Perfect Berries

First, though, let’s mentally revisit the vineyard. The grapes looked super ripe and perfect, yet for a second growth like Chateau Pichon Longueville, they have to be absolutely flawless. Hand picking the grapes (which is much more expensive than mechanical harvesting) is only the first line of defense.

We tour the grape reception area, where boxes of grapes are deposited between men and women working the first sorting table. Standing on either side, they examine the grapes as they pass down the table, pulling out any obvious rotten grapes. Then, around the bend, is another sorting table, where yet another team takes another look a the grapes to insure perfection. Yet these days at top Chateaux in Bordeaux, a sorting table isn’t enough – now they have purchased the expensive optical sorting machine, which ensures absolutely perfect, uniform sized berries.

Seeing all the perfect berries roll down the belt after the optical sorting machine was amazing, each berry was the same size thanks to a computer program that ensures uniformity. And the berries looked delicious – I could not wait to see how they would taste!

In the winery, Jean-Rene spent a lot of concentrated time explaining the Chateaux’s new gravitational system. It is a very clever system, and very expensive – the beautiful berries I just described gently pass through a hose before the stainless steel fermentation tank, and then gently are deposited in whole berry form atop something that looks like a stainless steel escalator, though instead of a “flat” step the step is more of a spoon so that the grapes are secure.

When they arrive at the top of the vat, a worker gently guides them to a miniature crusher located on top of the fermentation tank, so that the juice that falls into the stainless steel vat is as fresh as it could possibly be, with zero chance of oxygenation.

We were able to climb the stairs to see this miracle in action, absolutely invaluable for a student as the day may come (will come) when we would have to actively describe this process.

The Control Room

Jean-Rene took a great deal in pride in showing us the control room in his winery, which looked like a high-tech spaceship from its circular nature. The control room was packed with computer-like machines that gave various readings. From here, Jean-Rene could monitor the chemical activity of every wine in winery.

One key thing to realize is that a technical director means wearing many hats, and Jean-Rene seems as comfortable talking to workers in the vineyard as he does operating the NASA-like computers in the control room.

The Cellar

Corrine Michot gave us an excellent tour of the cellar, both the “old cellar” and the new cellar which is gorgeous and so high tech it even has “skylights” that allow a visitor to look up at the sky through a thin film of water, as the cellar is located below the water table.

Barrels are filled with gravity, and then protected from oxygen with carbon after malolactic fermentation is complete. The barrels are made of French oak from seven different makers at a medium toast. The barrels are racked every three months, and fined in the barrels (not mixed together in tanks). The general mix is 90% new oak, 20% 1 year oak. The lees are kept in the barrel and is used to form a wine meant for internal consumption.

Gravity: The Taste Test

So earlier, I described the gentle way the whole berries are coddled to the top of the fermentation tank. Do you think there is a difference between grapes that are gravity fed to the tank, or pumped in?

Christian Seely led a very interesting test, in which we tasted two groups of base wine: Group 1 was 2008 Merlot, and Group 2 was Cabernet Franc. In both cases, the wine I identified as smoother and better balanced was gravity pressed, so proof that this really is the answer for Chateaux able to afford it.

VerticalTasting Chateau Longueville 2000 - 2009

One of the highlights of the itinerary the AXA team put together is a vertical tasting of Chateau Longueville from 2000 to 2009.

The wines were all delicious, but my favorites were the

- 2001 with its silky cherry notes, sweet vanilla, and delicious balance along with flavors of mocha and casis;

- 2003 with its notes of Prince Edward Cherry Tobacco, vanilla, and ripe fruit;

- 2005 with the flavors described above along with more ripe red integrated and concentrated fruits, much more extracted too …

- 2006 very extracted with smoke, plums, tobacco, and seductive ripe fruit;

- 2007, very smooth with notes of spice and vanilla – incredible integration and balance;

2009 showed very well, very powerful and extracted with a substantial mouth feel and good tannic structure.

Dinner at Chateau Kirwan

That evening, we were privileged to have a tour, wine tasting, and dinner at Chateau Kirwan in Margaux with the charming and dedicated Nathalie Schyler, who is Director of Tourism.

Chateau Kirwan is a gorgeous place, and we arrived just at dusk with the Chateau illuminated against the night sky. Nathalie showed us the winery and cellar, and we enjoyed a tasting of several vintages before dinner in her private apartment. Ms. Schyler is also a pioneer in developing the idea of inviting groups (usually business groups) to arrive at the Chateau for lunch or dinner paired with the Chateau’s wines. This is good business branding as it helps sell the current release and at the same time, sends Chateau Kirwan ambassadors to various countries in the world.

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 to write about Chateau Prieure-Lichine.

Our Visit

A gorgeous bright blue sky greeted our arrival at Chateau Prieuré-Lichine, a Fourth Growth estate located in the Margaux appellation in the commune of Cantenac. Vivacious Ulrich Latrille (pictured above), Head of Communications, welcomed us and updated us about the winery before lunch.  It was planted during the 16^th century by a small community of Benediction monks. Today it ranks among the largest estates of Marguax and its vineyard spreads over the five villages of the appellation, ensuring wine depth and complexity thanks to its ownership under the Ballande group.

Yet as is the case with many Chateaux in Bordeaux, the estate had its ups and downs over the centuries, mostly as a result of the French Revolution and the way the Benedictine Priory was seized, divided, and sold. In 1952, Alexis Lichine, author of Guide to the Wines and Vineyards of France and On the Wine Routes of France, found the dilapidated vineyards (11 hectares) for sale for $18,000 and bought it, changing the name from Chateau Prieuré-Cantenac to Chateau Prieuré-Lichine. He improved the property and acquired more land, with his son carrying on after his death in 1989. (He is buried in a little knoll in the middle of the vineyard).

The Vineyard

Today the vineyards cover about 70 hectares throughout Margaux with 130 separate parcels of vines, with 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, 6% Malbec, 1% Petite Verdot.

The Wines

Chateau Prieuré-Lichine (Le Grand Vin (50% of all production)
Chateau de Clairefont, AOC Margaux (second wine)
Le Clocher du Prieuré, AOC Haut Médoc
Le Blanc du Chateau Prieuré -Lichine, AOC Bordeaux

Etienne Charrier is winemaker, with Stephane Derenoncourt is consulting winemaker since 1999. In the vineyard they have increased canopy size to increase the potential of sugar synthesis by the vine, and stopped using chemical herbicides with a goal to use more organic products if possible. They are also doing more leaf plucking and heightened trellises for better vine aeration and improved maturity of grapes. The challenge of the season was to preserve freshness of Merlot because of the high alcohol potential.

Berries are manually harvested with an extensive selection process. A first stage consists of a vibrating table, then a conveyor belt with four to five people sorting bunch by bunch, then de-stemming at a second belt with sorting berry by berry to get rid of the little pieces of stems. For the Grand Cru Classe wine, the winery now has an optical sorting system which employs a camera to analyze individual berries according to shape, size, color, and surface texture thus allowing the winery to retain only those berries considered perfect for making the wine.

Grapes are de-stemmed, with whole berry fermentation (grapes not crushed). The winery uses cement fermentation tanks for a slower, more even fermentation. Grapes have a cold soak maceration for 3 – 4 days, then 8 – 12 days alcoholic fermentation up to 28 Celsius. The Grand Vin spends 16 months on oak (45% new) and the rest one year old. The wine is aged on lees and racked only every seven months, making for two rackings in total. Maturation on lees makes for a silkier wine. The amount of micro-oxygenation depends on the year and character of the wine. Blending is done at the end of aging, instead of before which is typically the norm.

We enjoyed Chateau Prieuré-Lichine 2004 with lunch, with the wine revealing a dark robe with licorice, plum, and cherry on the nose and concentrated fruit and spice on the palate that could easily improve with aging for 15 – 20 years. We also enjoyed the Chateau Prieuré-Lichine 2001 with a beautiful deep color, and rich blackberry on the nose. On the palate, more concentrated black fruit and exceptional balance between fruit, tannins, acid, and oak.
The entire team at Chateau Prieuré-Lichine seemed very happy to receive us, with Ulrich Latrille going out of his way to present the story of the winery in the most exciting way possible, and realizing that as students we valued all the information he shared with us.

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 other fine wine journalists raving about Brane-Cantenac — not just this vintage, but as the “first of the seconds” and that many of them collected it in their cellars. After the 2009 Margaux blind tasting, I discovered I too had given it top marks.

So naturally I asked Mr. Lurton about the vintage …

Mr. Lurton, the new vintage of Brane-Cantenac is showing very well and got very high scores from me in a blind tasting. What, if any, challenges did you have during the growing season?

It has been an easy vintage. The most challenging for me was to find the best moment for picking. We had to find the moment when the skins were perfectly ripe without losing the freshness of the fruit.

Did you learn anything during the growing season this year that will help in the 2010 vintage?

We learn every vintage! 2009 was a dry year and for some parcels — young ones mostly — it was very interesting to notice their ability to resist the dryness and even if was too soon for them to go into the first wine, they are still very qualitative. In addition, our newly planted Carmenère was impressive.

Do you see some dramatic shifts in the market this year? For example, is Asia buying more Brane-Cantenac and America more Baron de Brane?

The market, and mostly Europe or America, will buy more Baron de Brane. The quality is very high, it’s a wine that will be able to age for many years and the price is very fair. I think also in those markets, buyers will want to have some Brane-Cantenac in their cellars. The price of Brane is always reasonable and will surely be so this year for a top château in this vintage. But you may be right, the demand in Asia will make it more difficult.

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During the week, I overheard many journalists (who are also collectors) speaking very highly of Brane-Cantenac, especially in terms of its ability to mature and how it is showing right now. Their comments seemed directed not at this particular vintage but your brand in general. Would you attribute this to any one element — for example, extreme selection and care in the vineyard?

The care in the vineyard is really our top priority. The selection is extreme because I want to make the best wine possible. There is another reason: the quality of the soil of Brane. The ability to mature and the aromatics qualities have been linked to Brane since the 18th century. And the reputation of the Château and the prices made it very close to the first growth during two centuries. In addition, the quality of our team is yet another great factor.

I had the honor of having dinner at Chateau Brane-Cantenac last summer during Vin Expo, with Mr. Lurton acting as guide for the visiting journalists. As he led us through the estate and vineyards, I felt such a sense of wonderment. The terroir is as it has been for hundreds of years … yet the winery had been of course modernized. Still, the letters of the year the family acquired it, 1925, were engraved on the cellar interior.

The estate was first founded by the Gorce family in the early 18th century. The reputation of the wines attracted the Baron of Brane, and he bought the estate after selling Baron-Mouton in 1833. The vineyard area is 90 hectares (222 acres) and the grape varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon 65%, Merlot 30%, Cabernet Franc 5%. The date of the harvest is decided based on phenolic ripeness, technical ripening tests, and by tasting the berries. When the grapes are harvested they are weighted and sorted once again before being de-stemmed and crushed. The must is pumped into vats, and after each batch the pipes are flushed with compressed air to ensure complete separation of grapes from one plot to another. Oak vats are used for Cabernet and Merlot from the plateau of Brane, and for the others fermentation is carried out in stainless steel tank or epoxy-lined concrete tanks.

The must undergoes a pre-fermentation cold masceration, and is punched down to accelerate the extraction of pigment and flavor compounds. After fermentation (20 - 28 days) the wine is aged on the lees for two months. Blending is done by the end of February and 60% of the wine is then aged in new oak. The barrels used in Brane-Cantenac are made of fine grained French oak from several coopers.

You can read related articles about Brane-Cantenac here and read about the Baron de Brane Bordeaux I had at Jean-George here

I found the Brane-Cantenac 2009 having very concentrated fruit, smooth, well balanced, and with good integration overall. And I really appreciate how Mr. Lurton respects the terroir and devotes himself to letting the wine really express its sense of place. He is extremely generous with his time, and I’m glad he was able to give you his thoughts about this vintage.

"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, we were at a very elegant party at the Academie Du Vin de Bordeaux, and I was sipping a glass of 1920 Chateau Montrose (still racy with generous though somewhat faded fruit after a near century). It has become a custom for top Chateaux to donate library wines that end in a “0” and I happily spent the night drinking 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and so on. Swirling around me were the most famous Chateaux families in Bordeaux. Madame Cathiard fit in this scene beautifully, and I suddenly found myself very curious to visit Smith Haut Lafitte, where I would be a guest of their estate and at dinner, and enjoy a private tasting of the new 2009 vintage.

When I arrived, I found the Chateau (located in Graves) as gorgeous as one can imagine, with two white swans swimming in a pond. Nearby yet out of sight were the hotel, spa, and gourmet restaurants the couple and their two adult daughters had created, Sources de Caudalie — very famous for its revitalizing treatments, cosmetics, and cuisine. Two years earlier I had dined there, seen the rooms, and vowed to return. It is the kind of place you only see in France, where the glass-walled pool area is filled with attractive, very slender and fit people who have just enjoyed a spectacular lunch, while the treadmills in the room called a gym could be a museum piece.

Ancient bottles in cellar

The tasting of the 2009 vintage was quite a production given the state-of-the-art tasting room with its high-tech cellar. Once we had assembled, Mr. Cathiard took out his remote control device and the cellar doors parted in “Open Sesame” fashion. Fellow guests, including two Masters of Wine, a magazine publisher, and a famous wine journalist for a UK newspaper, all took a look before the Cathiards’ Technical Director Fabian Teitgen and elegantly dressed and mannered sommelier opened the new vintage and explained their terroir, winemaking process, and philosophy.

The Graves terroir consists of gravelly soil, layers of alluvial, sandy, and stony soil deposited on a limestone soil by rivers and glaciers during what is known as the Quaternary Period. The estate has a rare example of a “croupe” or rise of Gunze gravel, which is thick and ochre-colored due to its high iron content. It is well drained, poor, warm on the surface, while being cool and humid deep down thanks to clay and limestone. This means that the vines have naturally low yields, and the grapes ripen slowly and fully as the wet soil deep down regulates the water supply and makes for even ripening. The 2009 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte 2009 red is elegant and well balanced, and one can really taste the soil Fabien Teitgen described. So — how did it get that way?

Grapes are picked at the ultimate ripeness and carefully sorted into a small three-hectoliter mobile vat. The temperature is lowered for cold masceration prior to alcoholic fermentation to bring out color and aroma. Indigenous yeast helps the fermentation begin spontaneously. M. Teitgen prefers to mascerate at an average temperature of 26-28 degrees centigrade with pigeage (punching down the cap), as it is the most delicate extraction method. Interestingly, this is done by hand. Post-masceration the vats are kept at a temperature of 28 degrees centigrade and left on the skins as long as it takes for the wine to form its tannic structure and acquire the right degree of richness. Then they run off the free run juice, separating it from the solid matter in the vat. This is used to make the press wine. The secondary (malolactic) fermentation takes place partly in vat, partly in barrel, to stabilize the red wine. The wine is kept on its lees for the first months of aging, and the team decides what winemaking operations to do based on weekly tastings.

The same care goes into the white wine, with the grapes grown on soil that has more clay. These grapes (Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon) are picked by hand in several waves to get perfect ripeness, then pressed in a pneumatic winepress in a nitrogen atmosphere. During the pressing, the grapes and juice are protected from oxidation by a blanket of inert nitrogen gas, which helps the wine retain its color and aromatic potential. The juice goes into stainless steel vats via gravity flow at a temperature of 8 degrees centigrade for cold settling lasting 24 hours, then it is put in barrel. The alcoholic fermentation takes place in barrel and lasts for 8-20 days, then the wine is aged on the lees for 10-12 months in 50 percent new oak barrels. These barrels are regularly topped up, stirred with a stick, and tasted. The 2009 white Chateau Haut Laffite is fresh and delicious, with an aromatic nose and perfect level of acidity, and reflects the care in the vineyard and wine cellar.

Lucky guests also had a chance to taste the second label, Chateau Cantelys, which the Cathiards just decided to export to America as “Recession Proof Wine.” Chateau Cantelys is a 40-hectare estate of which 24 hectares are under vine in the commune of Martillac in the heart of the Pessac-Leognan appellation. The estate is a single block located on a gravelly rise, with the average age of the vines 20 years. I tried both the red and the white and they were very good quality, with the white being especially vibrant and aromatic.

Dinner was lovely — the Cathiards are gracious and generous hosts, with many spectacular library wines to match the cuisine. And in the morning, the glamour of the previous evening turned into a a delightful and very comfortable breakfast with Madame Cathiard as we sat in the estate’s enormous kitchen with its near-antique stove, nibbling on croissants and talking about her daughters, their dedication to Sources de Caudalie, and the success of the many spas (including the Plaza hotel) who now carry their products. Madame Cathiard is such a glamorous, exciting woman and unrivaled storyteller that one would think she lives the life of a character in a best-selling romance novel — and perhaps she does. Yet one rarely meets an individual so genuinely sincere, vivacious, devoted to her family, and talented in the vineyard as well as the integrated aspects of marketing, distribution, etc.

Beyond tasting the excellent 2009 Chateau Smith Haut LaFitte wine, meeting the Cathiards, hearing their many stories, and seeing their absolute devotion to this Chateau impacted me quite powerfully. And their story is so deeply intertwined with their wine one can almost taste it in the glass. And now, with Chateau Cantelys coming to America, one can “taste” their story on an every-night basis with dinner.

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 is the custom during this week, journalists are hosted by Chateaux all around Bordeaux. I knew that tonight — Sunday — I would be spending the evening at Chateau Reynon, but I couldn't find much information about it, including who its owners were, on the web.

Once our car maneuvered the long, winding, majestic driveway, I was greeted by charming young Jean-Jacques Dubourdieu (responsible for Marketing and Sales Management) who I initially met in Manhattan at a Sauternes tasting event. But wait! What was Jean-Jacques doing here?! When I had seen him two weeks earlier, he was representing the prestigious Second Growth Sauternes Chateau Doisy-Daene at an event for Master of Wine Students (and freely pouring the 1998 vintage). Standing next to him was an elegantly dressed and equally charming woman introduced as his mother, Florence who runs administration for the chateau.

After a trip up an elaborate marble staircase, I was shown into my bright yellow room with very high ceilings and two enormous windows that look out to the vineyards. When I went downstairs for a pre-dinner tasting, I found my host was Professor Denis Dubourdieu (Jean-Jacques' father), whom I had also met two weeks earlier with Master of Wine students.

Professor Dubourdieu has a very grand name in Bordeaux and indeed the world, as he is a dignified and much sought-after consultant. Fellow students in the Masters of Wine program felt so privileged to have met him on the trip, as Professor Dubourdieu was kind enough to give a lecture and take us all into the university's technical room where we were able to sample bottles of different varietals from different areas and create our own blended wine. One of the more memorable quotes from his interesting lecture to Master of Wine students was his analogy of how wine and humans are so much alike — something to the effect that it is beneficial for both fine wine and humans to become more interesting as they get older, and to appear a bit younger than their actual age.

Chateau Reynon, I discovered, was built in 1848 and acquired in 1958 by Florence's father. The young Dubourdieu newlyweds took over the Chateau in 1976. Though it is gorgeously decorated enough to appear in a decorating magazine today, I am told it took quite a bit of work on the part of the Dubourdieus to bring it back to its former luster.

Reynon is just one of five domains in the family's collection and is considered one of the most renowned Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux estates. The soil is deep gravel on clay subsoil on top of a well-drained hill. At mid-slope the soils are clay and calcareous, with soils sandier at the foot of the slope. At 21 hectares for red varietals, the vineyard is composed of 82 percent Merlot, 13 percent Cabernet Franc, and 4 percent Petite Verdot. The 16.5 hectares of the white vineyard are made up of 89 percent Sauvignon Blanc and 11 percent Semillion.

The Chateau produces a Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux appellation red wine, a Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc dry white wine, and a Bordeaux red wine. Sometimes (when conditions are favorable for noble rot) a small quantity of Cadillac (an appellation) sweet wine is produced.

I tasted through the wines of Chateau Reynon and the other properties, and listened with fascination as the professor explained many intricacies of terroir and wine-making my fellow students would be most envious to hear!

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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 number of families own a great many chateaux. In fact, some families own so many chateaux that these glorious, world-famous structures now exist as platforms for wine-related events, housing for journalists or guests from the wine trade, and, because no one really lives in them, a unique insight into Bordelais culture gone by.

Now imagine — just imagine — you had the opportunity to taste the new 2009 vintage Chateau La Cabanne Pomerol in a pristine, virtually untouched eighteenth-century setting. Oil paintings of ancestors in their gilt frames smile (no frowns here) down on you as you sip the wine that members of their family made on that exact terroir two hundred years ago. One can just imagine the courtiers, negotiants, and perhaps a fine wine journalist or wine-collecting noble person where I now stand, tasting the new vintage and making a pronouncement. It’s quite a heady feeling to know that most (actually all) of the furniture in the room is over a century old and perhaps twice that. And of course the terroir is the same — only the humans standing in a circle, noses in glasses, are new and sadly temporal.

I am tasting the 2009 from Chateau La Cabanne and the five other estates owned by Michele and Francis Estager in the reception room of Chateau La Papeterie, a picture-perfect Chateau where I and other journalists will spend the night in this week of En Primeur. Michele Estager is a delightful, elegant, and well-dressed woman who tells many stories in French, some of which I can understand. The chateau is also a depository for at least two centuries of family heirlooms, curiosities, and museum-quality furniture that have been passed down through the family for generations. When I ask to borrow a pair of scissors to cut a thread, Madame puts her finger to her mouth as if thinking, and then slowly, as if led by a distant memory, leads me to a large bureau where she opens its ancient wooden doors and extracts an object the exact shape of a old square cigar box. She opens it and reveals a few spools of ancient thread. “It belonged to my mother-in-law!” she exclaims, with an amused laugh, seemingly surprised to have remembered where it had been stored so many years before.

Leading the tasting is oenologist for all the Estager chateaux, Florent Faure. The Chateau La Carbonne 2009 is deeply flavored, with concentrated fruit and an elegant sense of balance. The chateau dates back to the fourtheenth century when it was part of a larger estate. Its current size is ten hectares located in the graves of the western slopes of the Upper Terrace in the geographic center of Pomerol. The clayey subsoil and gravelly cinder (concentration of sand and iron) give the wine power and a distinct minerality and sense of place. The tasting includes all the wines in Michele and Francis Estager’s estate, and even the “under $20 wines” are fabulously rich and ripe. The wines all seem a terrific value and this is a terrific year to buy them.

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 the UK and dinner at the wine bar Terroir.

Our first day started at 4pm and went until Midnight.

Chateau Rauzan Segla

Nearly an hour's drive from the modern city of Bordeaux is the castle-like structure of this 2nd growth winery that was built by Pierre des Mesures in 1661. Much of the origninal structure remains and on this gloriously sunny day it is awe inspiring to walk the same manicured graveled walks as Pierre and his descendants.

I've read that during the 18th century the estate has vineyards encompassing Gassies, Segla, Desmirail, and Marquis de Terme - it was inherited in 1903 by Frederic Cruse - and feel into a state of disrepair and neglect due to lack of investment. Many fault the old, infected wooden vats for the loss of the wine's quality, which may be why so many wineries are using stainless steel today.

The chateau was bought by a negociant who replaced the tanks with stainless steel and grubbed up the vineyard to plant a majority of cabernet sauvignon, with a smaller percentage of Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc. The percentages vary yet as is the case in most of the Medoc, Cabernet Sauvignon is the major varietal.

During the harvest, 100 extra workers come to pick and select grapes, which is done on two selection tables by block and varietal. The average age of the vines is 35 years. The estate has 52 hectares.

Once sorted, the perfect grapes are de-stemmed and led down by gravity to the crusher, where they are gently crushed (not more than twice) by block and varietal and then put in fermentation tanks where they are quickly fermented at a warm temperature (29 c) with native yeast for a week, and then enjoy three more weeks (depending on the vintage) of masceration with the skins in tank, with twice daily pump overs using a special mechanical device that takes the juice from the bottom of the tank and pumps it over the top. Then the wines are aged in oak in a series of two rooms. The first year room sees each barrel "topped up" through the bunghole twice a week for three months. Then after six months the wine is put in the second year room, which has them age in a combination of new and second year French oak from a variety of forrests to improve the aroma and complexity of flavors. The wine is racked six times in room, a traditional time honored process which uses egg whites to to fine the wine (they do not filter), with the yolks reserced for a famous cake traditional in the area. Six eggs to each barrel. Just enough wine is run out with each racking until it runs clear, and then it is put in another barrel so in the end the winery is left with a naturally clear product which contains the complexity of flavor without the cloudiness.

We tasted the 2007 first wine - the vintage was said to have been challenging. I liked the wine yet thought it was very feminine in style, with lots of bright red fruits, very sweet and intense. My technical notes are below

Violet ruby color, purple rim, medium intense nose of sweet intense violet, tart raspberry, pomegranate, black licorice, and cherry.

On the palate, Dry, medium acidity, medium tannin (very balanced), tannin that can be described as somewhat grainy in texture, medium body, 13.5 alcohol, and flavors of tart cherry and tart red fruit.

Overall the wine had finesse, good length, intensity of flavor, complexity of flavor, concentration of fruit, yet curious about its potential to age for many years and until I taste through several vintages, am unsure if this wine is a one-off vintage and expresses typicity for this winery and their terroirs. I would love to find out.

Chateau Cos d'Estournel

Another visit to a gorgeous estate, this one curiously Indian influenced in style (on the outside at least) with a lovely palm tree lined entrance way. We were met by General Manager Mr. Jean-Guillaume Prats, one of the most elegant and well spoken winery GMs I have met, which is saying quite a bit because all of them are exceptionally gallant.

After our warm welcome we were ushed upstairs to the Indian-influenced tasting room, where we found it arranged for a formal tasting of their En Primeur 2009 vintage. The wines were all a purple-violet color with a purple rim. I really liked the 2009 Goulee, which is made from old vine Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in the north near the river. I liked the second wine, Pagodes, as well. These vines are all under twenty years. The percentage here is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot.

The first wine Cos d'Estournel was delicious … a very complex nose of vanilla spiced plum and palate with medium acid, med+ tannin, a medium body, med+ alcohol, and incredible spice and minerality. With its finesse, length, complexity of flavors, concentration of fruit, it shows the potential of aging quite well.

After this elegant tasting with its formal placemats, napkins, and bevy of uniformed servants (security?) we were ushered into a futuristic fantasy land of the inner workings of this fabulous state of the art winery. Pictures (well, these pictures at least) can not do the stunning scene justice. I must persuade the winery to send me images that reflect how gorgeous this winery is. Think a Vogue fashion show, with models slinking down an illuminated high tech Lucite runway and you will have an idea of what this winery looks like. It is all Lucite and sophisticated high tech lighting and shiny surfaces. Pumping over is a work of art here, a silent musical symphony of shiny moving parts. One wonders why one needs to go to this extent to accomplish the basic purpose of pouring wine over itself, yet -- why not? Quite a step away from the ancient TV episode when Lucy Ricardo stomped grapes with her bare feet.

Dinner in a private room was another embarrassment of riches. 1998 Tattinger Blanc de Blanc, Antinori Solaia 06, Cos d'Estournel 2003 -- all incredibly fabulous. To end the dinner that included truffled scallops, lamb, and cheeses, was 20001 Hetszolo Tokay (5).