Waitrose Head of Wine Moves to Laithwaites Wine.

Nostalgic talk with our Dan Snook today. Leaving. Been buying for us fifteen years, apart that time he went to Paris to do Chateau Online. So always knew he and Jo had this yen for France.

Going to be a Pukka Fine Wine Negociant in Bordeaux - which was always his dream since he, like me, worked in Bordeaux as a student.

So it's not as if we'll lose touch.

Anyway, we needed a New 'Global Wine Director'.

We feel we've done very well indeed to get Justin Howard-Sneyd, M.W.

Justin; Head of Wine at Waitrose is instantly likeable, never mind being super-qualified and experienced. He'll fit in here perfectly well. Especially being as he's also a wine producer. In Maury too (Roussillon), where, in fact, our Mark Hoddy used to work on his 'Domaine of the Bee' (which is ace). Small world; wine.

Next year looks like it's going to even more packed and manic than this one.

Some might be surprised at the term 'Global'. But Justin will be in overall charge of all wines for the Wine Merchant businesses we now have around the world.

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Down to Gloucester DC ('Distribution Centre' tho' I prefer to think of as our Cellars)

It's the start of that annual marathon tasting for 'Wines of the Year'. Seven hundred wines!

Don't have to taste them all. There are 25 of us. Seven teams = approx 100 wines each. Can still do that. Just!

Lucky draw. My team start on champagnes. I think. (Everything is bagged up so we can't see and cheating invites severe social censure.) But champagne, well, not to difficult to guess really.

Then it's a 'flight' of Australian reds, one of Chilean - we think - reds, Spanish reds, Bordeaux reds... Some nice white and more Bordeaux.

From next door... a buzz ... every desk is manned and still the calls are overwhelming them. I'd gladly go help but there isn't a spare phone.

It's afternoon. Approaching the end. We haven't found a bad wine yet. A corked one, yes. Well, two.

I've been doing these tastings for so long! I tell the girls on my team (who were not born when I started Laithwaites) that less than 20 years ago the Chilean reds we tasted just didn't exist. The Spanish reds wouldn't have had any fruit and the Australians hadn't arrived yet.

Truly, it's a Golden Age of Wine.

We chose 300 wines to go through to the next round in Jan. I suggest one way to improve things. All the tasters bar me are young. Many customers are not young. There's age differences in taste. So... Next year, maybe round up a few older persons to come help get the balance right. I think I know where to find a few volunteers!

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Up to the Lakes to see my old poorly mother

I send her cases of wine. She'll only have a tiny sip. Sends all the rest around the village. Always been very popular, my mother.

Called in to see Dave Kerr at Estate Bottled Food, Preston. They've been busy. The thing about "the new eating out is eating in" seems to have given his jars a boost.

The M6! How much of my life have I spent sat on the M6?

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Christmas was a little slow taking off this year. But it sure is making up for it now!

It’s everyone to man the phones again. They are getting hot. 30 extra people drafted in today ... they're sitting on top of each other. It’s lively in there! And the Gloucester cellars are humming round the clock. All running smoothly.

Can't tell you how encouraging that is. Thanks to all our lovely customers. I am touched by your loyalty.

Did my 'stand-up' and tasting act yesterday for 100 or so enthusiasts at the Locksbottom-Orpington shop. So many coming up to say they've been with us 20, 30, even 40 years. Wow!

Last venue for the TL 40th Anniversary Tour is the Virginia Water shop on Jan 25th 2010.

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Google Smart phone

Saw today that Google have a service for their Smart phone where if you take a pic of a wine label on a bottle and send in, it'll reply with tasting notes. Mmm! We'll have to see about including something like that in our all-singing/dancing new website due out soon.

Spent the day up at Vinopolis, the 'wine experience' under London Bridge Station.

We are to take over the shop there next month. It's very exciting for me. I guess I have railway arches in my blood, having started off under Windsor Central Station. We plan to make it more of a events place than a shop.

All our shops do events (I'm doing a tasting tonight at the Surbiton shop) but Laithwaites at Vinopolis should do far more. Ideas welcome. Tho' we already have a few.

I look forward to appearing there regularly,  even if it's only because each time I go there I can also visit Borough Market right next door. My idea of heaven. Quite a buzzy part of town, Southwark; the Tate, the Globe, the Market ... the Laithwaites ?


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We had a absolutely lovely dinner last night in Windsor Castle. The last of our 40th celebrations.

I grew up in Windsor from age 7. Went to the 'Royal Free' school. As did a whole bunch of Castle and Park residents. My best friend's Dad was Castle Policeman on the Gate in the days when there was no security to speak of and his job was mostly rescuing the Guard from being embarrassed by tourists.

The Castle is a small, self-contained village, really. It is very much the Queen and Prince Phillip's home. Laithwaites is one of a handful of Companies who are of St George's. We must surely be the smallest. But we have history you see. My mother was a 'Friend of St Georges' because her friend Watty used to be secretary.

I spent long days wandering the Windsor Parks and riverbanks and seeing 'the Royals' was almost an everyday thing if you had a dog needing walks.

And of course I started the business now known as Laithwaites Wine in Windsor.

First from my bedroom in Grove Road, then from an office in Victoria Street, then (finances being zero) from a basement room in Victoria Street, then - the Big Time! - from Arch 36, Windsor Railway Viaduct.

After that we went to Slough which many did not see as progress but I quite liked. Finally Reading. But the Windsor link has never been broken; we now have a real shop in Arthur Road (previously Mrs Battersby's Sweet Shop selling soda 'Penny Drinks' that turned your tongue yellow. Today we'll give you a taste of a young syrah that will turn your tongue black! That's progress for you!)

So last night we and our guests attended Choral Evensong (I was so mortified to arrive late; there are times when you just don't want to 'make an entrance'. But the Dean was charming about it. Laithwaites even got a mention in the Service). We had good old Bruno Paillard's best Champagne in the cloisters and then dinner in the Vicar's Hall. Just where Henry II got scourged and Shakespeare is supposed to have give Queen Elizabeth I a preview of Merrie Wives.

A Falstaffian meal, then, by the Castle kitchens ... and lovely wines, of course; Philippe Bourlon brought the last of their Guibeau '70, and we enjoyed the Bujanda 1970 Gran Reserva Rioja too. Hugh Johnson brought his very own Tokaji Essencia 1996

A few speeches. Sir Michael Hobbs was really on form. And Ted Cochrane, on behalf of the customers said some really nice things about us. We hardly had to twist his arm at all.

Thank you Anne, John, and Amy. Having made your lives hell for years I didn't deserve it. But Barbara did. And she loved it.

Thank you everybody.


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I don't know what it says for the new XV du President, but our Labrador seems keen on it.

Snoop is always hungry, so we don't leave any food on the kitchen tops when we go out. But last night I left a decanter of XV du President when we went out. On our return … bits of decanter and red wine all over the floor! Labradors! Anyone else had this problem?

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Today the Polish team came in. Up to this year that would probably have meant we had a deputation from Gloucester Cellars. Big Polish contingent there. Lovely lot.

But this year we have begun selling our wines in Poland … I've always had a soft spot for the Poles. My father was in the Air Force and always spoke glowingly of the brave Poles.

Anyway it is going very well there and we just found our thousandth customer. Lots of statistics, but one in particular. Which group of people would you think could produce a rate of response to our offer that is more than double what we've ever experienced anywhere? Normally that'd be doctors. Every country it’s doctors who buy most. Doctors; those people who tell you to cut down your drinking … them.

Well in Poland they are trounced by … the Priests! Love it!

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Excellent Australian wine tasting last night

… in the Great Marble Hall of Australia House. (Thanks to Libby Woolcock for organising, and buyer Thomas Woolrych who has worked SO hard these last years). His mission: to prove Australia has as much variety as Europe. Our Sydney office has also helped masses. And our own little winery; RedHeads in McLaren Vale has done its bit too.

There is simply no better range of Aussie wines in Britain today. Amazing value from those surviving family wineries who did not get eaten up by the 4 (soon to be 3) megadrinks groups who do 90% of Aussie wine. When you buy Aussie wine always ask "is this from a real family estate or is it just a brand name?". Our families still care passionately about quality.

Here are the wines and his notes. Worth a read even if you weren't there ...

Went down to Ditchling Common, Sussex to see Mike Roberts

… and family at South Ridge or Ridge View as is more know outside of Laithwaites. Mike is Mr. English Sparkling Wine. The country owes him a debt.

Went with Barbara who is having her wine made there (none released yet but tasting very promising. And with our Anne (Linder) who was responsible for getting our first South Ridge made in 1993. It is the oldest wine in Mike's cellar. Two bottles left. I drank one with Hugh Johnson a few years ago. It was a revelation. Hey, England really can make very serious wine!!! Like a fine bottle of Krug it was. Really! (Ask Hugh).

This visit, after the serious tasting, we tried two '96's. Both incredibly complex and showy. Most English Sparkling is world class (we do need a snappier name tho' … Mike and others are keen on 'Merret' after the English guy who made his wine fizz back in 16-something … forget when, but ages ago) but to become very good it needs time. There was a song by Eartha Kitt 'An Englishman Needs Time' … so does English Sparkling apparently. Or Merret.

You'll get plenty opportunities to try. The UK acreage under vines has rocketed. Expect a bit of a surplus around 2013 unless everyone starts drinking more home grown fizz. Mike's doubling the size of his cellar and we have new cuvées quietly maturing. Could do worse than snap up a bottle or two of our own Theale Vineyard Sparkling (made by Mike the Maestro). No English wine has won more accolades and awards than our little baby.

Just remember you need be in no rush to drink it.

Saturday we bought a couple of barrels ('pièces' they call them) at the Hospices de Beaune Auctions. We thought it had been such a good vintage.

I'd planned to go myself but the trip to Hong Kong came up.

So we called Bernard. Bernard Derain is one of my very best friends. I trust him totally. We asked Bernard to go and bid for us – without his drinking mate Alain Roy 'cos that would be risky; those two together = danger – and he agreed.

He's never agreed to go before. 35 years in the business, (he runs the Mancey cellars where we buy most of our white Burgundy) and been to the pre-auction tastings almost every year, but never wanted to buy before. Always told me 'no'. Hospices Auction wines always command higher than average prices but they can be very special, are quite unique … and all in a good cause.

This year for the first time he was after a couple of wines for himself and thought we could get a couple of goodies too.

Anyway he bid very well. The wines he went for were offered in six lots of a barrel each. The first barrel always goes for a lot. Both times Bernard waited, held his nerve and bid for the fourth and got the lowest price of the day.

He got us the Pommard we wanted and the Beaune Premier Cru 'Nicolas Rolin'. Not cheap. But it’s satisfying that other bidders paid far more for the same wines. They stay in the Hospices Cellars until Christmas whereupon Bernard will take them to his cellars at Tournus until bottling.

Anyone interested should call Will Waters or one of his posh mates in Fine Wine on 0845 194 7801 and they'll give you a price/ note you down for a priority call when we.../ give you all the details/ ...whatever!!!

"La fête fût surtout longue" says Bernard, being as one of his lots was at the beginning and one at the end...so he was there from 2.30pm to 9.00pm. It’s tough in the wine trade! But fun; his note finishes;

"C’était en tous cas très excitant et j’ai dû me retenir pour ne pas prendre quelques pièces supplémentaires. Mais j’ai été raisonnable".

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I read somewhere the scientists have proved there are certain red wines that go with fish!

Very thorough tastings (I'll bet they were!) proved that while many reds accentuate the fishiness of fish to an unpleasant degree, other do not. And it turns out these fish-friendly reds have very low iron content. Iron is the key. Not tannins as we used to assume. Great to see scientists discovering something positive for a change.

Good news for those who prefer red wine but also like fish. I will set our own boffins (Jean-Marc and copains) on analysing our list immediately and let you know. As a guess, based only on the evidence of my mouth, I reckon Loire valley reds will be likely candidates, and maybe Midi reds made from Midi grape varieties like Cinsault, Grenache and Carignan. Just a guess. We'll see.

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Visit Hong Kong warehouse.

When the social events are over we escape Hong Kong's marble towers across the water to the hive of industry that is Kowloon. Weave through steaming streets of intermingled workshops, bars and shops to our warehouse three floors up.

It’s cool – good! – and packed to the roof. Maximum use of space means constant bending under the low racking. Like a mine of wine. Reminds me of our early days in the old munitions factory we rented in Slough.

But the software! The delivery-tracing computer programme proudly demonstrated by young Anthony is the best I've ever seen. It tells you where every bottle is at every moment, video links mean you can SEE it delivered from here – or from Britain if you wish. We must have this in the UK!

Delivery isn't easy in this crowded city, but we have a great team here, and after all nowhere is more than 25 mins away in Hong Kong.

Anthony and I check the Red Heads wine; Esulé that has been a big hit at tastings. Tomorrow fly home.

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Been talking to Hong Kong journalists all day. Groups for lunch, tea, dinner. Questions questions questions! Always with wine of course.

Waiting to go on HK radio now. No wine tasting allowed, thankfully. I might be able to sound 'awake'. Hugh's gone missing again. So slight flap. They worship him here. Won't want to talk to just me. I love the way many of them call him Huge Johnson. Actually I always thought of him as Huge. And he's so useful. Gets you into overbooked restaurants, no problemo.

Those front desk girls that can be a problem? You whisper the magic HJ words to the Maitre d' and they CARRY you in!

No wonder he loves coming back here.

It's not quite the same in the UK. I remember being on a BA shuttle flight with Hugh once. He decided, as he was their Wine Consultant, he ought to taste every wine in drinks trolley. When he asked for everything, she gave him a look and just the one bottle. "But I'm Hugh Johnson!". Toss of the head ..."Huh, that's what they all say!" H left speechless.

H here now.. 'On Air' soon.

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Taking weight off feet after excellent inaugual launch tasting of our Hong Kong venture with the South China Morning Post; called 'scmpwine'.

On the roof of a restaurant called The Pawn on Johnson Street. Almost 200 turned up to meet us – well, mostly to meet Hugh (Johnson, here with us) and, after a necessary glass of Bollinger (it's unseasonably warm in HK), taste four excellent claret-ish reds. And ... taste them blind. With the chance of a magnum of Bolly if they guessed which was which. Many did. Know their wine here! HK is so exciting!

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Sydney. Arrived last night from Fiji.

Been with David Thomas on his boat. Talking wine with my old Guru. Barbara and I had quite a reasonable wine business back in the early eighties. Then one day I got a call from David at the Tasmanian Embassy saying he'd like to start a similar business in Australia, would I help? Well yes. He copied it. Worked OK.

Then he introduced his own ideas and it all took off. Made us look shabby. Had to spend a decade or so catching up. Thank God he retired. To sit with Dave and his Barb on 'Adagio', swimming the reefs, eating the fish. With a big wine fridge on the boat!

The life! (I did try Fiji's 'wine'; the famous Kava drink made from Kave roots. Mmm. I don't think the rest of the world is quite ready for Kava just yet!) Anyway here's Laithwaites today selling wine in Australia in competition with David's old Company. 

We visit our new Sydney office. Small - though vast compared to the tiny old terraced house they were crammed into last year. Talked to the people on the phone, the buyers, the writers, the logistics (not easy getting wine to the remote north west, apparently) the accounts and all.

Want to see what our lot do in Oz? Try http://www.winepeople.com.au/ and tell your Aussie 'rellys' to give us a try. We're good.

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As things speed up here (Gloucester Cellars now working 24 hrs) for me personally it's a bit of a whirl!

The 40th Show was a Wine Rave! Loved every minute of it. Just couldn't walk at the end! (Tired, I mean, nothing more!) Thanks and love to all there.

Don't know how we did it but at dawn the following day we were out in Wyfold vineyard again, helping Barbara and Cherry bring in their Chardonnay. 3 tons of it. Way up on last year. (Not to mention the '07 zero harvest). Tired?  Beyond tired. Zombie.

Monday heading in to a meeting with the whole buying team under London Bridge at Vinopolis but had to divert at Euston to Cumbria; (Mother unwell. But now happily improved). Back Wed for Board Meeting for 2 days, then Friday looking at possible new English vineyard sites with Thierry Lesne; our ex-flying winemaker chum from Champagne. He liked our chalk soils! He loved all the partridges and pheasants he saw. He'll be back.

Last night we had Barbara and Cherry's Vintage Supper in the barn for all or most of their unpaid helpers. All decorated with autumn red vine leaves and berries. Standing by the brazier it was the final, final, end of ends to vintage '09.

Tomorrow we fly to Sydney via Fiji where we are to spend a few days afloat with Barb and my great Aussie mentor; David Thomas. It'll be back to school. But in Fiji so who cares!  I don't know how communications work in the Pacific, anyway my Blackberry will be confiscated. So there may be some silence which Rob my web boss will fill with news from home.

Back soon!

Cheering one for the older customer …

Anyone who remembers the old Bordeaux Direct days will remember the old Coq! My original emblem. A cockerel in the shape of a wine glass. Doodled on the back of a wine label while I was chained to the bottling machine in '66. Stuck it on the side of my van in '69. Coq au Vin, really. (I was once asked if I sold wine or chicken!)

Well, the marketing consultants despatched the old coq to poultry heaven ("too French!") when we changed our name to Laithwaites a few years ago. Or so I thought! Turns out old BD fanatics rescued the dear bird and had him frozen.

For our 40th bash dinner for our winemakers there he was again in all his glory. Inside his block of ice. By midnight he still hadn't thawed so I guess he's back in the freezer. One day.. One day my Coq will return.

Reassuring customers we don't deliver via the Royal Mail

The email I sent out about the post strike seems to have reassured customers. Now everyone realises they can get all our offers and lists 'on-line', and understands we do not deliver via the Royal Mail. Business seems to be as good as normal, even maybe slightly ahead.

The power of this Web fair boggles!

When we had this post trouble last; in the Seventies we didn't have any other way to communicate. That nearly broke us!

My lot are dreaming up all sorts of other ways round the problems. So fingers crossed and we'll all still have a jolly drinks Christmas.

Just having a quiet cup of tea at the 40th Anniversary Wine Show

Sounds odd but all after all this tasting gets to you. Forget how many wines. A few hundred. Its very heartwarming seeing so many customers. And they come and thank me. Why do they do that? It’s me as should be saying thanks. Such support!

Amazingly the Laithwaites mob are looking radiantly happy (amazing as many didn't get to bed 'till five). It's meeting so many friendly enthusiasts. It was the dinner they put on for Barbara and I last night. They wouldn't tell us what to expect. What we got was like the Great Hall scene from Harry Potter. Long tables festooned with greenery and candelabra. Lots of candelabra. Delicious roasts. The wine producers were wowed! But only fair when you consider they've come so far (several from New Zealand) just to stand up and pour wine all weekend. They deserve at least a nice meal. 

We all got given a glass of Champagne on the door. We all thought it was nice. But it wasn't Champagne. It was Theale Vineyard English!

My Auntie Nell came. Can't believe. She's 95 and comes to a 300 wine tasting. That's Lancashire farming stock for you! The farm she and Uncle Noah ran at Rivington was my favourite place on earth when I was a boy.

Must get back to the taste, spit, greet, thank routine. Will be on autopilot by nine tonight. It's so fantastic though. It feels like a dream.


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Conference all day. Had to learn to listen and shut up.

Was lectured about blogs. Apparently doing it all wrong. Need to shut up a bit here too. Get you to reply. Fine by me. OK so tell me what nice wines did YOU find on your Summer Holidays? Anything we should try and import. (Over the years got quite a few wines from customer tip-offs).

See you Friday/Saturday at The Laithwaites Wine Show! Got a few 'returns' if you need tickets.

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We did the first part of Barbara and Cherry’s harvest at Wyfold on Saturday.

Lovely weather. And so easy; they had the sense to grow their grapes a metre up, so no bending. Oddly the Pinot Noir was ripe, the Chardonnay not. So we just picked the black grapes. Must've been forty local folk and Laithwaites crowd turned up. All over in 4 hours, grapes packed off to Mike Roberts at Ridgeview, hot soup drunk – and some wine.

Their first vintage was in 2006. Not seen a bottle yet though. (Warning to all who fancy getting into English Fizz. It takes a LOT of time.) Next Sunday, fingers crossed, we do the Chardonnay and 2009 is finally all in.

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Can you remember when you'd limp, gasping off a sports field, feet swollen, legs gone, back bent, arms bruised, scratched, bleeding, sore all over?

Well it's like that with grape harvesting in France. I had to go off for the early bath yesterday.

But it's all OK if you've won. And this year we've won. Almost all of us.

Young Clare, our Bordeaux buyer, has been all over the place and was, last night, going on about it was all such a lovely deep luminescent purple colour she'd fancy wearing it.

Some of us are working on this thought. Certainly, you just stick your hand down through the cap to feel the warmth of the fizzing juice/wine, your arm comes out all dark red.  So if we popped Clare in for 5 mins ...?

Seriously though it's a good 'un. We've declared so many 'Vintages of the Century' here that some of us are wary of seeming to do it again. But there are these key indicators. The colour. The strength. (The Puritans will go bananas over the strength but we are not to blame, this is what nature gives us). The smiles. Clare noticed this and she's right; despite a lot of difficulties for many in selling the wine, just making stuff like this makes you happy.

Then there's the sticky roads. Spilt juice on M. Le Maire's new tarmac. And its the first harvest for me when I didn't ever put on my overalls. Even at 8 a.m. It was too warm.

This morning however it finally looks normal; drizzly-grey for the first time. But I'm headed out. Just going past the Terraces of Tertre Daugay where our 'Epiphanie' came from (customers certainly went a bundle on that ... could we do it again please, JMS? Clare?).

I'm off to meet this week's Staff Trip for tasting and lunch at 'La Louviere' (Graves) then on to airport and home.

No rest though. English harvest starts tomorrow! Then next week it's the Great Thrash. I can't see how I can get out of making a speech. But come anyway.

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Yesterday in front of BBC cameras we harvested the 2009 Theale vineyard Chardonnay in front of our offices.

Biggest crop ever! Surprising given the summer weather.

Theale Vineyard Sparkling Wine is a most surprising wine. Its competition success makes in one of the very top English sparklers and it seems it can beat good Champagne in the International Competitions.

Not bad for a Berkshire vineyard built on rubble and surrounded by warehouses and the Southern Railway.

How I wish we had acres of it! But we've less than one.

Today we have just 681 bottles of the 2004 Theale Vineyard Sparkling for just £22.99. It's taken five years to mature!! If I were you I'd get some. In fact I will get some. A dozen please Max?

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The man who made all this possible

Today would have been Monsieur Cassin's birthday. He'd be getting close to a hundred, now.

I'm thinking of him this balmy 'rest day' between finishing harvesting the Merlot and starting on the Cabernets tomorrow. He's the reason you are reading this. Any of this. Had I been billeted with anyone but M and Mme. Cassin when I arrived in France as a student there would be no Laithwaites. Of that I am quite sure.

I was not, on arrival here, one of those natural born entrepreneurs you read about. I did not have a paper-round or indulge in anything even vaguely money-making as a child. I did not come here to learn a trade or make my fortune. I came on account of the Maigret series on TV. And that hilarious Jacques Tati film; 'Jour de Fête'. And Brigitte Bardot. I just fancied France. No more than that.

But Monsieur Cassin decided to mould me. He'd had a lifetime of British culture running a French trading company in British Africa. Some of our culture he liked; (he knew Shakespeare by heart), some he certainly didn't; (Governor Sherwood-Smith who called him the 'Uppity Frog' and had him arrested).

I was his chance to give a raw Brit some French culture.

He forced me to speak French. Speak or starve, basically. But when I asked correctly they fed me such delights. And introduced me to their culture, (Girls, Bals, French Girls, Fêtes), Not Bardot but ... so different, and, hey, I'd just escaped from a British Boarding School!

Then I got the meal time talks about doing business. I was infected by the enthusiasm. France now; dirigiste, socialiste France is not held to be particularly entrepreneurial. Completely anti-entrepreneurial really. But this was then.

I worked in a winery that Monsieur became manager of when it was bankrupt. I saw how with no resources he turned it right round into a big success. I learned how he broke rules, innovated (being the first producer ever to sell direct to a supermarket made him very unpopular in Bordeaux) and generally baffled the competition.

Then, that fateful day he said "You could do this too, Tony". My mind exploded, and ... Presto! The aimless youth had his life's mission.

And Monsieur's support, when I set off ... I'd post him little dictafone tapes of moans, he'd return them, a master-class in business-studies.

He constantly repeated the word ''Comptabilité" (Accounts!). And I would say "Oui, Monsieur" whilst not doing any at all, until two years in when Barbara came to do them for me.

As we grew he would repeat the new mantra " Faites attention à vos Marechaux"! (He saw me as a bit of a Napleon). We didn't watch them, and, alas, he was right. But we survived.

Ah! Monsieur. What would you think now? 40 years and still going? He wouldn't seem impressed. I'd get a finger-wagging lecture. But I guess inside he'd be happy.

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Ste Colombe. Out on the steepest slopes at eight. Barely light to see ...

But big team so finish by ten. Back to Chai to sort until lunch … However, coach arrives with this week's 'le staf' as they call it here; a tour group of DW staff. Clamber aboard with relief, steer driver through Faugères estate, up round past their one week old 'wine cathedral' to something a bit older.

Parts of Chateau Pressac date from the C15th and it was where we signed the surrender at the end of the 100 years war when we - the English - lost Aquitaine.

Modern history is nicer. I first knew it as a spooky Gothik sort of place perched on its hill so hidden in pines you could only see the turrets. Transylvania -in- Bordeaux. And it made terrible wine. Jean Francois Quentin bought it a dozen years ago, clearered the trees, built terracing and planted 40 hectares. They said he was mad. Terraces! Impossible.

He works those terraces with a horse. He's bought the finest bit of oak forest in France to ensure his supply of prime oak, and done simply everything to take this wine up to Premier Cru standards. Today he was showing off the very latest bit of kit.  This one uses lasers and puffs of compressed air to remove any non-perfect grapes. And it goes so fast its a blur. Hey-ho, humans being phased out again!   

Fascinating tour and pleasant lunch. This is a very undervalued wine because it’s still unknown.

(Interesting fact; one of the grapes planted at Pressac is called - throughout Bordeaux - 'Pressac'. It came from Cahors. A Monsieur Malbec changed its name to his own and exported it round the world. It found great success in Argentina.)

Walk home to find that, harvesting over, they're having a hen race. Six hens, first back to the pen. Sheila, the favourite, a very smart hybrid, wins.

Catching up on emails and diary. Tonight eating with 'le staf' at 'L'envers' wine bar St Emilion. 

Tomorrow is Sunday. I may not get up.

A welcome day off

Given a day off harvesting on account of advanced age and knackeredness. Go down to watch what Chai OK up to. Lots of rushing around and Elvis on full volume. Sauvignon, Roussanne, Grenache Gris, Chardonnay, Viognier, Vermentino, Verdejo ... fermenting away merrily. Maybe Elvis? Yves taking photos of all the poseurs.

Escape yet another big lunch to walk up along the riverbank. Pay respects to old General Talbot at his little monument,  where he fell in the battle in 1453 just by the Rauzan ford.

Things haven't changed much on this river since then. You look up river;  just trees and water, as always. A mile down river though, the great Chai au Quai gleaming in the midday sun, dominates the view. This is the view the boatmen in their gabares must have been happy to see when bringing down the wine.

Jean-Pierre has got me another old postcard from 1911. Garbares loading hundreds of barrels in front of the Chai. Two little girls watching in their Sunday Best. Like Gigi's.

Not quite so romantic today, but still a lovely spot to soak up the sunshine.

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It looks like a rather advanced space vehicle. Or one of those Transformer things. It can change its shape.

Today I saw a demonstration of the very latest, state-of-the-art, Grape Harvesting Machine. It doesn't just harvest grapes, it sorts, cleans and classifies the berries as well as – or better than – we've ever been able to do with our hands and eyes.

Most farmers here have used harvesters to save money for years. Only those few aiming very high up the quality ladder have retained their troops of pickers to do things carefully and gently. But now here's a machine seems able to do better than humans.

Not sure yet. But tests and comparisons on finished wines will soon show. It isn't very eco-friendly, that's for sure. But here, straight economic survival seems more important just now.

I can't help but reflect (as you do a lot at my age) that when I first came here in 1965 the methods, involving horses, oxen, human beings in clogs or bare feet, their muscles (considerable), wooden tubs and concrete tanks .... Nothing whatsoever - NOTHING - had changed for a thousand - almost two thousand years. The Roman, mortar-lined tanks I came here to excavate on the archaeological dig by the church I am sat looking at, were no different from the ones still being used.

In my 44 years coming here, now that this Spaceship has landed, EVERYTHING has changed.

Viticulturally-speaking, I am now 1,800 years old.

And I feel it this morning ... but that's because we, at least, are still manually harvesting. And it’s hard.

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Yesterday was picking and sorting from 8 till 6. All grubby and sticky with juice.

Then it was quick wash, best suit on and over to the Grand Opening of the new Chateau Faugeres.

Our next door neighbour Silvio Denz has spent three years and an unimaginable sum building a winemaking palace on the hill in front of us. We've watched the crane for a couple of years, and lately it has been like a frantic ant's nest of workers.

The result, I like. Very much. Practical winery but with such flair (Swiss architect) and imagination. And St. Emilion could do with a little of that. They can be sooo stuffy.

St Emilion is an area of nice little old warm stone houses, but not really castles; 'chateaux', if we're honest about it. (Whereas Castillon has a whole bunch of ancient fortresses.) There are only four large estates in the whole of St Emilion. But now they have Silvio and his modern winery.

It's clever. Uses the slope. A gravity winery. No pumps. Pumps bruise wine. So grapes come in level one. Tip down into the wooden fermenters, level -1,  then drop again to the barrels, level -2. Above these levels rises three more levels of tower; The Belvedere, which looks across to the ageless beauty of our dear Ste Colombe. Ignored for centuries. But no more.

It was quite a banquet. The whole wine world was there. My daughter-in-law and I felt a bit out of our depth but found a nice corner on the Castillon table with the Mayor and other St. Colombains, and we spent the night remembering the tragic fall and subsequent rise of Chateau Faugeres and its extraordinary people. The Esqissauds, their cousin; the Peby Guisez. All very bright, lovely stars, all tragically extinguished but who live on in their Faugeres.  Someone will maybe write the story one day.  Make a good film.

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Lying on the grass trying to straighten my back. Why do we grow grapes so low down?

It’s 11am. An hour to go to a blessed harvest lunch by Bernadette which always makes this pain seem worth it. Actually with the sun shining, the breeze cooling and the larks arising in song all around ... it’s pretty good really.

Harvesting with the family. Barbara saying there's nothing in the world she'd rather be doing on her birthday than this ... which doesn't make me sound such a great husband.

But these are lovely grapes. Small, black skins already leaking colour when you squeeze them, red stalks. Crunch the pips and no acrid taste whatsoever. These grapes are ripe! This will be one of those slightly annoying vintages when everyone – even the bone idle – will make good wine. On the one hand I kind of prefer the trickier vintages when skills counts. On the other hand there is great joy in harvesting such beauty!

Sound of tractor returning empty. Break over. Bend to it. Must go.

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Young Blogs and old Diaries. Take your pick.

It’s all go at the moment ... vintage is on. Wonderful, sunny one here in Bordeaux and from what I hear, equally good across Europe. See you all at the 40th Wine Show next month. It'll be good.

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Flew back to sunshine in England!

Spend the afternoon reconnoitring possible sites for more sparkling wine vineyards in the Chiltern hills around us. It is beautiful country. But a few well-planted vineyards would add much interest and charm. And some revenue for farmers maybe.

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Second celebration was yesterday in St Emilion

At 5p.m. the Ban des Vendanges was declared by the red-robed Members of the Jurade from top of the King's Tower. Vintage 2009 is now officially on.

Before that an extraordinarily diverse bunch of folk were inducted into the Jurade in ancient ceremonies that took up the entire day. I know because I was one of them. And so was Barbara.

At 9 a.m. we turned up at the Town Hall garden to get robed-up. Barbara looked immediately regal. I – because I have, err... the wrong shape – spent the day looking like I had a couple of towels round my shoulders.

A band of extras from 'The Three Musketeers' struck up and we processed behind the banner to the Collegial Church. To facilitate things, the traffic bollards had been removed from the centre of the road ... but, alas, not the raised traffic island. I know this because, whilst trying to impress fellow inductee Roger Voss, and not looking where I was going, I tripped on the damned thing. Much flapping and tangling of red robes, much general hilarity, some loss of dignity.

Mass was Highly Celebrated; bells and incense etc by a full fidget of squirming small boys.

The Cure gave mention of Cotes de Castillon in his sermon. I liked him! Good choir, I thought. But then star-inductee; Joseph Calleja sang 'Ave Maria' and it was ... transcendental? A great tenor sings like that and you get something that goes right through you and even the not very convinced get the goose bumps. Yes, words do fail me.

Then it was out into the sun to process, raggedly, to the Monolithic Church (carved out of the solid rock under the town's great spire). Here, we New Boys were 'done'. Each of us standing forward whilst being lauded to the high vaulted ceiling and instructed to drink St Emilion on every conceivable occasion.

Politicians; swivel-eyeing, artists; big hairing, doctors – the pro-wine lobby, one imagines; actors; posing, Texans; big, Japanese; little, and even wine merchants; beaming.

I am now a 'Prud Homme' a proud title which I must look up the meaning of. Barbara is senior to me; a 'Dame'. Pronounced 'Damn'!

Then another procession back up the hill to the garden of the Dominicans for a glass of much needed restorative and lunch.

Dear old Monsieur Manoncourt (Chateau Figeac) now the 'Premier Jurat' came for a chat. Which was an honour. Very old now, he was remembering the occasion during these same festivities back in September '75 when a crew of scruffy young Brits (including me and Hugh Johnson) were allowed in and presented with a case of Figeac to be taken aboard the ill-fated Brigantine 'Marques' and – with another 2000 cases of lesser clarets – sailed home to Plymouth.

Lunch was long but it was delicious, and I did have the delicious Brigitte Bourlon of Chateau Guibeau to my right (her charming mother on my left). Brigitte's rather-too-handsome-for-my-liking Eric seemed to have Barbara and her sister Helen in fits, Phillipe and Stephanie also. Monsieur Bourlon sat silent. He always does. But we did get a smile eventually. That was after the Pavie 2000 and the Clos Fourtet '99 which could make a stone statue smile.

Saw a load of old - some very old - friends and made new. Lots of English. Puzzlingly all from Yorkshire. Just had to point out the tables were all bedecked with wonderful RED roses!

After that, things sort of faded and here I am back in my airport home again. Work calls.

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Back to Bordeaux for two ceremonies.

First, last night, was the Grand Ouverture of the Comptoir de Genes, in Saint Genes; next village to ours. Barbara, Henry and I undertook, last year, to renovate the building housing the village shop and bar, plus the derelict barn alongside.

We didn't want to lose our shop and funny old bar. Claudy, Madame La Maire de St Genes (and with us at Laithwaites for 36 years!) really didn't want to lose the heart and soul of her village when M. Guimberteau decided to retire. Anne-Marie Galineau, dynamic little mother of 3 small boys packed in her well-paid job and started to learn how to run a corner-shop. But her dream was of a wine-warehouse-cum-restaurant that would provide - at last - an opportunity for people to enjoy, under one roof, the riches of Castillon wine. (Husband; Vincent Galineau is a good grower.)

For Castillon which has no trouble putting on, every summer for over 30 years, twenty performances of a slick, professional, son-et-lumiere re-enactment of C15th life and the bloody Battle of Castillon, (800 actors, 60 horses, oxen, goats, geese, you name it), has just never seemed able to introduce its great wines in any effective way to the world.

Anne-Marie has done it in 6 months. You have got to see this place. It’s full most lunchtimes of St Emilion merchants and producers, finding out what their neighbours can do. And worrying a bit maybe. There are tourists and there are locals.  She's got it just right. €14 all-in lunches and wines at cellar-door prices (just €6 corkage to drink it in the restaurant).  It opened in June and has been pretty much booked-out ever since. So in a way, last night's Big Opening was superfluous. In another way it was vital for all the young team to get their applause, and for the good growers of our region to get together - on the eve of a promising vintage - and let their hair down.

Wine flowed, Chef Lucie sent round plate after plate of delicious morsels and little St Genes had probably the brightest night in its entire existence.  Remember the name; Comptoir de Genes.

Me, this morning, I'm not remembering too much detail at all. Except to see something like this pulled-off in the face of implacable 'Non's' from the world's most stifling bureaucratic culture, gladdens the heart. Gives hope.

Ann-Marie looked radiant but we saw, in the tears shed during her speech, what this has taken out of her. She needs a little rest. Then on to Phase 2. Oh! Yes! There's more to come.

Comptoir de Genes. Google it. Visit it. Say I sent you.


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Sorry for being quiet but been up walking in the Cumbrian rain.

And on the wagon due to excessive weight gain over the summer. Very difficult to do a wine diary under such circumstances. A water diary just wouldn't work. If you want wine action, I suggest you log on to our winemaker Mark's Blog. He's just a bit busy...

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France is so special. I just love it.

Our village Maire is at last marrying off his son on Saturday. This has brought us considerable benefit already …

For, you see we live on the cross-roads by the church.

The Maire lives 200 yards down our road to the west.

His son – a lovely lad – lives, with his long term fiancé and their kids, 200 yards down the road to the south.

For the last week our Maire has lived on our two roads; just those 400 yards, directing all kinds of heavy state machinery.

The roads around our house have been manicured to perfection. Hedge-cutters, ditch-excavators, road-diggers, road sweepers have been going all day. The electrics have been tidied and the drains cleared. They even remembered to collect our bins this week. Ah! And now the bracing smell of fresh tarmac is wafting across our deckchairs.

Maires have such power in France!

It’s rather magnificent. We say that because we're not complaining, of course; our place has never looked so neat!

And – going on past experience – the nuptial feast on Saturday will be a wonderful finale to our holidays.

Home to England on Monday.

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Am getting bored with hols and the harvest preparations here are making the blood run faster.

Excitement mounts. See Mark's blog from down at the Chai. They're not on hols there. New casks came in yesterday and new tanks tomorrow. A fork-lift instructor is here from Gloucester to train them so not too many cases end up in the Dordogne.

Our Annual Aussie has arrived and is Bonjouring everyone to death.

Grapes here are looking black and ripe. Actually they're not ripe. Month to go. But then this time last year they were still green. And we still made really great wine. So what's this year to be? If this weather holds I fear it'll be yet another Wine of the Century!

I need to get home to talk over all the news with the brains back at Theale.

In wine, basically the whole year is decided in just a few weeks Sept-Oct. You gotta get it right. And get the best stuff before anyone else. You wouldn't think something like wine required split-second decisions. But it does. At Vintage time. Right down the line.

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Sorry to all at home, but the sky has stayed pure blue for 3 days here since Sunday, when it stopped raining.

This is like the Bordeaux summers we've not seen since '05. If you're still in the vineyards after 10am you could die! Even Scottish Moira has a bit of a tan. (A 'Scottish Tan' she says; meaning no longer blue).

Last night was shooting star night. Our old tradition here. Lying flat looking at the stars which are always brighter here (and the ground less damp) than the UK. Bagged over 30 in one hour (well, those with good eyes did). A record. Good omen?

So got up too late. Hence got fried in the vines.

But only 14 rows to go. Then every bunch will be hanging free, untangled and exposed to morning sun and the drying breeze. All potentially festering clumps of bunches will have been 'de-fankled' and there'll only be two bunches per shoot, and just one on the weedy shoots.

Getting quite nerdy aren't I?

I may have mentioned this before but as I work I just cannot seem to stop this rude schoolboy ditty going through my head; (But, err, adapted!), You know it? To the tune of The Sailors Hornpipe"?

Begins...

" Oh! ... Do your grapes hang low? Can you swing 'em to and fro'?"

It’s crucial, you see, that they do swing well and that they must NOT be left in a knot – or even a bow.

But it's very promising for the vintage. Says he, touching wood with crossed-fingers.

Wise Alain says the value of a Bordeaux vintage is actually based on the sea temperature at Cap Feret in August. This may or may not affect the grape ripening process. But a couple of degrees warmer sure affects the mood of all the Bordeaux Merchants traditionally holidaying together there. They return to work all happy, fit and optimistic. And this 'bounce' somehow transmutes into a 'great vintage'.

Not heard that theory before. But maybe ...

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Thomas Woolrych in Argentina Day 13: Just tasted my TOP MALBEC from the trip.

Okay – I've tasted an abundance of really good Malbec since arriving in Mendoza at the weekend. But this one is special.

It's made by a young 35-year old called Karim Mussi, whose great grandfather came here from Lebanon after WW1. He works out of an ancient 1912 winery in La Consulta in the Uco Valley. This is one of the very best areas for Malbec in Argentina. Over 3000ft up with a dramatic snow-clad Andes in the background. Surrounded by giant cedars planted by the 19th Century English owner over 100 years ago.

Vineyards here are up to 60 years old. I tasted the wines in the dusty yard on top of an upturned French barrique. These are some of the darkest, spiciest and most exciting Malbecs I've seen. Karim spends every penny he has on the best French barrels and when you have grapes of this quality, he needs nothing else.

He's not exported to the UK before and makes very little wine. They'll last for ages but are already showing brilliantly.

Thomas Woolrych, Head Buyer

Tony is on holiday

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Thomas Woolrych in Argentina Day 12: Empanadas and Torrontés

Are made for each other. After this morning’s tasting, fresh empanadas were served. Piping hot from the clay oven. Like small Cornish pasties, traditionally filled with a meat and olive mix but there are many versions. Served with a refreshing glass of chilled Torrontés, they are quite delicious. We could do with these in the office as they're a lot tastier than sandwiches. Mind you Torrontés works equally well with Thai food. A bit easier to find back at home.

Thomas Woolrych, Head Buyer

Tony is on holiday

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Thomas Woolrych in Argentina Day 11: People and families matter in Argentina.

Sounds trite but it's true. Especially if you are looking for quality. When we buy wine, we favour family producers.

Tasting of 50 wines today with the Zuccardi family in Mendoza. Headman Jose Alberto was delighted to know that he was dealing with another family company that had wine at its heart. You can tell he cares about what he's doing and that's what we look for. The big corporate giants with their megabrands wouldn't turn out on a Sunday morning like this. It really is a people business.

Thomas Woolrych, Head Buyer

Tony is on holiday

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Thomas Woolrych in Argentina Day 10: A Bordeaux chateau in the Andes

Herve Fabre comes from a Bordeaux wine family but left 16 years ago to buy a vineyard in Chile. However he fell in love with the Malbec he tasted from Argentina and bought an old vine vineyard in the Vistalba area of Mendoza. With his energetic wife Diane, he has created a small winery with the feel of a high quality Bordeaux chateau.

Their Gran Reserva Malbec is truly one of Argentina's finest buys (“a wine to buy by the case” according to The Wine Gang). I also had the first tasting with them tonight of our exclusive new HJ Fabre Malbec which was already looking superb and arrives in October. They served it slightly chilled with the beef which was a nice touch.

Their young winemaker is off to Montalcino for the harvest and his father Jorge (Chief winemaker at Norton) joined us for dinner. He wanted to know where he could find a good Indian restaurant in London. I learned today that Argentineans eat 60 kilos of beef per year so Jorge is obviously looking for a bit of a change.

Thomas Woolrych, Head Buyer

Tony is on holiday

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Thomas Woolrych in Chile Day 9: Sometimes tastings in hotel bedrooms work out.

Yes it’s best to visit the winery but sometimes we have to do impromptu tastings where we can.

In Adelaide we tasted and bought the lovely Homestead range of wines from Victoria after a tasting in Dr Tony Jordan's hotel room. In Melbourne, it was a tasting of the McPherson Basilisk Shiraz Mourvedre in the winemaker’s windowless hotel room that made us buy it.

On this trip we had a quick tasting in my hotel room with two Chileans who we may well buy from. Wines really have to shine in these conditions. No fancy glasses or vineyard views – in fact the main problem was finding a corkscrew as none of us had one.

Thomas Woolrych, Head Buyer

Tony is on holiday

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Thomas Woolrych in Chile Day 8: Up early to see the sunrise in the mountain vineyards of the Edwards family (who make our Don Cayetano wines).

At 2500ft you have stupendous views across to the Andes. A visiting soil expert had just announced that the vineyard soils up here are just like “the Hill of Hermitage”. The vines are still young but the elevation and coolness up here means greater colour and deeper, more concentrated wines. Luis Felipe reckons he will make Chile's best wine here. He could well be right. His inky black Malbec is a wine to take on the Argentineans at their own game.

Thomas Woolrych, Head Buyer

Tony is on holiday

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Dan Snook in Chile Day 7: La Palta

Is the Chilean national treasure. Man, woman and child indulge on a daily basis – and a kilo will cost you less than a pound. No one here could do without the humble avocado.

Luis Felipe consumes 50kg a year! Children take avocado sandwiches to school in their lunchboxes, we spread it on bread for breakfast every morning. And once you’ve tasted a Chilean avocado you'll understand why. Its beneficial properties are renowned for lowering bad cholesterol but the most important factor is it tastes so rich and delicious!

Dan Snook, Wine Director

Tony is on holiday

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Dan Snook in Chile Day 6: Is there something in the wines here?

There must be something about the wines here - and the fact that there's no Sky TV - which causes the Chilean wine fraternity to be so productive!

Francisco (Pancho to his friends) Matias and Adolfo are the team at Cono Sur who fashion such trophy-winning wines as the ‘Best Sauvignon in the UK’. I don't know where they find the time or the energy but they've each got 4 children - and they're only in their early thirties. Luis Felipe, who we are seeing today, has 5!

Chilean red is good for the heart as we know but it evidently has other hitherto hidden powers!

Dan Snook, Wine Director

Tony is on holiday

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Thomas Woolrych in Chile Day 6: Forgotten how lovely wine made from the Carmenere grape can be.

It's a Chilean speciality although originally from Bordeaux. I first tasted it on a trip to Chile in 1990 (it was all labelled Merlot then). Deep in colour, spicy, packed with exotic red fruit flavours – it was the tastiest "Merlot" I'd seen at the price.

It’s still great and even more so this year as 2009 was a warm vintage and Carmenere likes a bit of heat to get fully ripe. So Argentina may have its Malbec but look out for more Chilean Carmenere.


Thomas Woolrych, Head Buyer


Tony is on holiday


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Thomas Woolrych in Chile Day 5: We learnt a bit about Chilean food tonight.

They like a good BBQ or Parilla – especially at Independence Day on September 18th.

Churrasco Italiano is also popular – a huge Chilean sandwich made up of layers of avocado, thin strips of beef, sliced tomato and a bit of mayo. Fuenta Alemana in Providencia makes the best.

Empanadas are also excellent – like small cornish pasties and traditionally made with meat, onion, black olive and a bit of egg.

But the most surprising fact was how they like their coffee. In the day in Santiago its common to enjoy a breakfast coffee in a Cafe con Piernas. Literally a ‘coffee with legs’ due to the attractive ladies who serve you. In a bikini. Sounds more exciting than Starbucks.

Our breakfast however will be a Cabernet one as we start tasting at 8.15am sharp with the La Rosa team who make our Chapel Vineyard wines. Coffee with Legs will have to wait for another time ...

Thomas Woolrych, Head Buyer

Tony is on holiday

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Thomas Woolrych in Chile Day 4: First to taste Tarapaca's secret new wine …

Back with our old friends at Tarapaca in their magnificent estate just outside Santiago. After a 3 hour tasting looking at the new whites from 09, we were keen to sit down to dinner (lunch was a modest sandwich at the airport).

Chief Winemaker Ed Flaherty announced that we were first to taste his new Flagship red from Tarapaca. A rich deep full flavoured Cabernet Syrah that they've been secretly perfecting. It’s not released yet and only 400 cases have been made for the whole world. "The aim was to make the most exceptional Tarapaca we could" said Ed.

All I can say is that our glasses were empty and the bottle finished in record time. It’s that good. Price is around 40 quid but a Bordeaux First Growth is ten times that. This is far rarer and is set to be one of Chile's very best wines ever made.

Thomas Woolrych, Head Buyer

Tony is on holiday

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Dan Snook in Chile Day 3: Something surreal about working your way through 50 wines on the other side of the world

… with the snow-capped mountains forming a tremendous backdrop – no condor sited though.

La Serena and Elqui feel a little less slick than modern day Santiago: more frontier town. Dinner last night was a fun affair with Giorgio, Aldo and with the pacific lapping on the shore (next stop Australia). An array of seafood like you've never seen with exotic names to match its appearance: loco, macha and pico rocco. The Alta Tierra Sauvignon was the ideal food match.

Monday has really seen us doing what we came to do: a complete 3 hour tasting of all Giorgio's wines (look out for some new whites soon and the terrific Alta Tierra Syrah Carmenere 07 arriving in the UK in October). Then a hop on a plane to Santiago to be met by Javier from Tarapaca and a mammoth blending session of the 09 whites.

Four hours of backwards and forwards adjustments; bit more Casablanca in the Sauvignon, a touch of Viognier with the Chardonnay: the search for quality.

Christian and Ed are sharp winemakers and a pleasure to deal with. An exhausting day but highly satisfactory – no matter where you go in the world, winemakers speak the same language.

It's now morning, the sound of exotic birds coming through the dawn, and the anticipation of once again getting into the winery and doing what we love best – putting together blends and wines that will excite.

Dan Snook, Wine Director

Tony is on holiday

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South America Trip Day 2: Welcome to Chile … and the craziest vineyards in the world!

After a lovely family lunch with Aldo, Olga and several of their 15 grandchildren, we set off to tour some of the craziest vineyards I’ve ever seen.

Not many people plant vines up here except to make the local spirit pisco; we are after all only one valley down from the Atacama desert. Aldo and cousin Giorgio (an old friend from Trentino) planted winemaking grapes here in 1999.

320 sunlight days a year and only 70mm annual rainfall puts our recent summer into perspective. But; taking two years to bulldozer solid boulders from the river bed and plant Syrah and Carmenere, then planting 20 hectares half way up the Andes at 6000ft and half the way to Argentina? Well it sure aint the easiest way to make a living. But boy do the wines taste like they are worth the effort.

Off to bed. Know to be on top form for a big blending session tomorrow but next time you taste an Alta Tierra, think about some of the craziest vineyards in the world!

Dan Snook, Wine Director

Tony is on holiday

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South America Trip Day 1: Bristol, London, Paris and now sitting in Santiago domestic departures with a view of snow-capped mountains.

Awaiting our connection up to La Serena and the Elqui Valley, most northerly Chilean wine region and home to Alta Tierra, the highest vineyards in Chile with some vineyards at 6500 ft. The sunlight, arid conditions and altitude make for intensely flavoured wines. Brought my trainers but I doubt I could last more than 20 minutes running at the altitude!

Stunning views, courtesy of Air France, of the highest peak of the Andes at dawn, Mt. Aconcagua at 26000 ft. Chilly in Chile, odd putting on a fleece here but it is only 3 degrees outside.

I am really excited to be back as it is so visually stunning and the people so hospitable, and am confident of finding wines and stories this week that translate the majesty of the place.

(Would you believe Air France serve Chilean wine in their London lounge!!)

Dan Snook, Wine Director

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As I sink, like the setting sun, (getting ever bigger and redder), into the torpor that is Bordeaux in August ...

... it is better for you, my dear blog readers to head south with the boys.

The boys (Dan and Thomas) are off to Chile and Argentina to find Eldorado – or its wine-buyer equivalent ... And you will be there to hear their cries of joy as at the back of some hacienda they uncover something Alfonso or Juan was hoping to keep for himself.

You'll enjoy the flight, the drives, the bus rides and horse treks as our fearless duo go where no winemen have been before. You'll be offered it first here. Stay tuned. You fly Paris Santiago with Indiana Dan and Crocodile Thomas ... for a Wintery August in the Andes!

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Monday. Sunny hot again. Bit of dawn grape thinning. Then to Market.

Meet nice customers at Chai. Bag of estuary shrimps (cooked with star-anise) and beers at La Plage by the river.

Then Henry gets loan of new device to till the earth between vines. We play happy farmers all afternoon – he drives, I watch. My kind of holiday this. Had I been able to, I'd have done what he's doing. Always wanted to be a farmer. Anyway this thing really works!

Mind you, if he wants to buy one it’s €7000 apparently. Further evidence, as if were needed, that being a small grower (Henry has 4 hectares) is no longer economically viable. Tractors – even tiny vineyard tractors are hugely expensive as are all these devices you hang on them. Then add all the cellar equipment! When I first came to this village there was just one tractor (it’s still going). The rest used oxen and horses!



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It wasn't Aladdin but Alain (Vauthier of Chateau Ausone) who finally cracked the rusty old lock that for half an hour had barred the way to this wine

The torchlight glinted off black glass … walls of bottles reaching up to the high roof. The vast place was literally packed to the roof with thousands upon thousands of bottles of every good vintage of Saint Emilion Grand Cru since 1990!

I thought about kneeling. This truly was what every wine merchant the world over can only dream about. Some would kill for this. And it was – mostly – all ours. How come?

I'd like to claim the credit, so would Clare our buyer here, but really it belongs to Dan (Snook, Global Head etc). He'll have to tell the old tale of how as a student he came to interview the late owner of this place, "Coco" Mazeres uncle of Alain Vauthier, and discovered the cache of old vintages lying in wait.

Coco you see was more interested in crafting his wines than in selling them and in his later years the old man came to love them so much he just wouldn't sell anything. Not a bottle. Lesser vintages were sold off in bulk. Everything he thought good enough to bottle, he just hoarded away.

Vintage after vintage Until, many years later, after he had recently died, Dan got a call about this legendary cellar and the memories came flooding back. Busy in the UK and with Clare on holiday he had to ask the old person he refers to – somewhat glibly I feel – as 'Chief' who just happened to be down the road, to go taste.

So I got the treat of a lifetime. The Vauthiers had inherited this liquid fortune. I went over immediately. Are you surprised? It’s just down the hill from Ausone, next to Canon La Gaffelière. A vast rambling ruin of a place I've stared at many a time (our lawyers are next door and when with lawyers I do a lot of staring out of windows). Old Coco didn't do any decorating.

Alain's daughter Pauline took a bottle of every vintage – ten in all – and set up a 'vertical' back at Ausone. The sheer freshness of those old wines – undisturbed since bottling – wines made the old way with no clever new tricks to make them taste softer sooner. Most of us don't have the patience. But old M. Mazeres certainly did. We toasted him with every bottle.

The recent vintages are great, but the wines from the nineties are just something else! After ten years or so you're no longer tasting fruit, you're tasting … mysteries! Deep mysteries.

Every bottle was fine. Did I have favourites? Maybe. But I'm an old hand at this. I no longer rush to categories or score vintage. Because they change. I'll just say everything was good. Some could be great.

Nearly forgot. What's this wine called? Chateau Simard. You won't know it unless you're my age at least. It’s been so hidden. But in future you will. We will be writing to you shortly.

Buy all you can and think about putting your name down for more as and when the next vintages are released.



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Went to the Battle last night. Battle of Castillon Re-enactment Son et Lumiere.

Go every year. Fantastic. Thousands of actors and assorted animals. I love the country market scenes best.

The English always lose. But to be fair they make it very clear that Bordeaux was on the English side. They really mourn General Talbot (and the catastrophic loss of wine trade the French takeover caused). Poignant right now. Because its the sudden contraction of the French trade to do with new drinking or non-drinking fads and endless directives from Paris and Brussels that is crippling the small wine producers here once again.

The English (Scots, Welsh, Irish) wine drinkers must come to the rescue again.

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To St Emilion in evening (crowds gone!) to meet group from work. From Theale and Shops.

They'd done Giscours, du Tertre and Beychevelle that day but were downing large beers when I found them. Dinner for 30 alfresco out the back of 'L'Envers de Decor'. Left early. They went on till 3! Ah! Youth!


Following morning they were all at the Chai 9.30 prompt if blear-eyed. It was me didn't make it. Ah! Age! And being on hols really.

Did them the La Clariere tour though, then walked them down through the vineyards and woods to our place by the church. BBQ by Brigitte and Gilles, visit the 'Presbytere' cellar, a quick look at Henry's Chai and off.

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Invited Jean-Pierre and Annette (used to employ me at the Chai 40 yrs ago) to dinner at the newly opened Comptoir de Genes.

Foodies, both, I was nervous but the 23 year old chef (Ann-Marie's niece who trained in Indonesia) produced a very reasonably-priced feast. We drank Laithwaites Champagne and Presbytere '01 which they sell there. You pick your bottles from the piles of boxes around the place. Prices are the same as at the Chateaux for take out. If you drink it there they add €6 a bottle.

The place has been busy since it opened. It’s a gorgeous building, cool in both senses and affordable. Best selection of Cotes de Castillons (Cotes de Bordeaux - Castillon) on the world. Avoid St Emilion's crowds and come here.) She's doing mixed taster cases too.

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Oxford University came to ask questions today.

Two MBA's from Brasenose are doing a study on the future of the traditional small Bordeaux wine producer and wanted some input from someone who has been here since the Middle Ages.

I told them the future is tough for the small grower. Supermarkets sell 90% of all wine now – all around the world – and they just don't seem interested in taking a regular supply of Monsieur Jean's little chateau claret, however good, however cheap.

To survive as a small vigneron now you either have to live in a very posh (pricey) appellation area or be a fanatical, multi-talented nutcase happy to work all hours in your vines then hop on planes to distant lands to sell. Few are up for that.

The best hope for the keen producer is ... us, Laithwaites Wine ... with our large numbers of adventurous customers keen to try individualistic and stylish bottles they've never heard of. They are a lifeline.

Wish we could do more, though.

Inevitably a lot of small Bordeaux growers will be leaving the business soon, and the vineyards of Bordeaux will shrink. But ... it has happened before – over centuries. This is a region that takes the long view. And ... maybe because of all the current difficulties Bordeaux is now one of the most exciting wine regions to work in. Painters and composers do their best work starving in garrets, don't they? It’s maybe becoming the same for winemakers. It’s so tough here you must make something brilliant just to get noticed.

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Sun belting down on Bordeaux vineyards but lovely cool, drying breeze from the north.

Perfect for vines. Gets rid of the damp from yesterday.

We were out early like everyone else – adapting our day to the 'heure soleil'; sun time rather than clock time so as to work in the cool and avoid the noonday sun. We may be English (and Scottish) but we have learnt the local wisdom. And clearly Alfie the dog is not totally mad either, chased rabbits all morning but now being asleep in the shade.

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Back to where it all began. Bordeaux. Barbara drives. I fly. It’s our habit. Less strife.

Weather's a bit better. We have family here now; Henry and Kaye. Meal ready! How wonderful!

Peaceful Sunday morning in France? No way. Settling down with a book. Quiet ... all the others off to Libourne market. Sparrows chirp. Doves coo. Bees buzz. Dog scratches. Quiet. Then the horns start. Cacophony. It must be our neighbour Fred's 'burying-of-bachelorhood' do.

They come in waves. Car convoys with horns blaring, lights flashing, flags waving. Sets the dog off. Sets all the village dogs off. And Fred has an awful lot of friends. (He makes very good wine, is a generous soul, is the mayor's son ... and also now captain of the Castillon XV).

The wedding is later this month. More hooting then. We're invited ... so it'll be my turn. Ah! Now the singing's started. Dogs joining in again. Time for a walk. There's some food and wine thing in St Christophe. Hour and a half on foot. Direct through vineyards. Get there and they've gone home early. Fermé. Favourite word round here; Fermé!

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Monday is market day in Castillon. I love it. Have loved it for 43 years.

Stallholders who know you. Who enquire about your health, your sex-life, your English rugby. I just love it.

Wild horses (or a small, cross, Scottish wife) are needed to get me to a supermarket. Hate them.

But real markets I could live in. They smell so good. A little aperitif with Jean Pierre and Annette in their lotus flower garden high on the town wall, then lunch at Les Voyageurs. Mimi still begging I find her an English buyer because she's so tired. Never! An English restaurant in Castillon. Unthinkable. Le Chai looking good. Syrah de Folie just bottled. Wow! But am officially on holiday so my Blackberry is about to be taken awa.........

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Gloucester's well worth a visit. Just phone and Go. Pass it on.

At last night's Laithwaites Wine second celebratory staff barbeque in pouring rain at Gloucester I learnt something useful; that some clever local customers have worked out how they can go and get wine from our wonderful Gloucester Cellars. We don't have a shop at the Cellars. However, if someone has an appointment (Try calling 01452 651970 to get one) then a charming girl will happily help them out. Ring the bell; things whirr, click and open. Customers are well sorted out. Our lot are extremely helpful in many ways!

And it’s a fascinating awe-inspiring place.

Impresses me no end. Me, who cannot even organise his own haircuts, getting the credit for this amazing great whirring, clicking, gliding shiny super-efficient thing is ... Is Ridiculous!

I just love to stand in the middle of it all (absolutely forbidden, of course) and marvel. It’s the model railway of my dreams. Cases scurrying hither, thither, up, down, along tracks at the start of their journey to customers.

Look for a discrete building with a barrel-roof (appropriate, eh?) on Hurricane road, Gloucester Business park, Brockworth.

The secret of this place's success (after the slightly unfortunate Terminal 5-type launch in '06) is not the machinery but those hard working, charming young people both upstairs where the phones are and downstairs packing and checking the trundling cases. Gloucester's finest. Poland's finest. I salute them all!

Their energy is extraordinary. Last night you could have powered a small town on that energy as the boys and girls got together for a dances and games in the rain!

I, the oldest by several decades just sat, watched and happily drank their choice of wines; the really amazingly good white Papavero, then Laithwaites Cabernet Sauvignon and the Opi. All went down a treat with a big roast pig served (quite moist) by a truly dedicated (and also very moist) young chef. England's Moist Barbecue Summer! Needs good wine.

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Email from sweet young Cousin Ruth. Said she was thinking of going to see her friend Madeleine, now in a care home in France.

"Who's she?" I reply. "Lady I stayed with every summer as a child. In Vouvray. The one who saved Uncle Harry". "Pardon"? "You must have heard the story"? "What story"? "How in the war Harry and his mate crash-landed in a vineyard, were scooped-up by Madeleine and her Dad, hidden and sent home via the Resistance, and how we've been friends ever since"!

"I've been visiting Vouvray from nearly 40 years, and I swear I never knew that story"! "You must've. You're getting past it old cousin!" Maybe.

Call our Loire agent and Philippa Sydney tells me "Everyone knows of the story in Vouvray - it's quite a legend! I have just spoken to one of Madeleine's grandsons Fabrice and he would be delighted if you were to contact him ... His grandfather (who is no longer alive) apparently used to speak a lot about 'Arry' the English pilot who was shot down in the vineyards of Vouvray! Today it is Fabrice and Laurent the grandsons who run the vines, with father Marc in the background".

I will do that. Fascinating. And you never know ... maybe they'll have good wine. I'll report back.

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Sitting with the dogs in the empty marquee the morning after the Laithwaites 'End-of-Year' BBQ at our house.

We've held a Company party here for decades now, but only when we feel we've earned it. Been four years since the last one!!!

But everyone's worked 'till they've dropped this year and the result was good, so … Party on!

I am just sampling the leftovers. Sad, I know. But you might be interested. Because I don't choose the wines for the party. I think there's some sort of informal process goes on round the office. So what did the Laithwaites tribe choose to drink for their own party? Nothing pricey ... but then it’s only a barbecue and anyway the accountants always come and would get stroppy.

Whites

Quinta das Amoras from Portugal seems to have become our house drink. That and Le Vert Galant then surprisingly the Chilean Gewurztraminer Gran Valle de Niebla. All weird-grape wines with particularly marked, intense and unusual flavours. That's what you need at a Barbie.

Reds

The Homestead Victoria Shiraz Viognier is certainly the drink of choice with us right now since old Dr Jordan came over and did his tasting for us. All his wines have gone berserk at recent customer tastings too so it may well all be gone. But get if you can.

The special Bombero; Selección del Rey, the Ultima Edizione, the Harmans Road Cab Merlot (not so surprising as WE all know the secret of this wine's real name) and – very interesting, this – Chante Clair which we've launched as France's answer to Papavero and Black Stump. Clearly WE like it. It’s the perfect Barbie wine, I'd say. If anyone fancies trying out these wines I suggest you call and speak to one of what we call our Outbounders, or 'Bounders' for short. They were all here last night. They'll know what I'm on about and put a case together.

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Meetings today at the Wine Bar (RedHeads, Theale) with the 'New Team'.

Brimming with ideas. Head-hurtingly creative they are. The ideas for the new Website are just so clever. We've been rounding up customers into a room and getting them to say what they'd really like on the Website. Apparently the customers are more imaginative than we are! Anyway, sometime this summer the site will start to sing. Then it will keep getting better.

We had a little drink to celebrate. Don't know how but the Bar have got hold of a case of Henry's Wedding White which he made to be served last year at the nuptials. Called 'KR' (the bride's initials). Quite what he put in it he is mysterious about. But certainly a lot of love! Was a big hit. Still is. There are 85 bottles left. It’s a real one-off - there's only one K. R.!

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Email today from Andree Ferrandiz; our agent in the Midi.

Delighted we are buying from Embres et Castelmaure again. The first place she ever took me. To see the wild men. And their surprisingly beautiful, subtle wine. Reminded me .... When the hunters of Castelmaure go after the wild boar (apart from their winemaking it’s all they do) up on the baking hot 'Serre' they take their wine.

The older men have a great day. The lads – who drive the beasts towards the guns have a dangerous day. When it’s all over any remaining bottles are buried to the neck in the favoured spots. To be ready, cooled, for the next hunt.

Remember this. When serving their Pompadour Corbières. Bury it first.

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St Colombe. Everyone now has another reason to come down to Bordeaux. The 'Comptoir de Genes' is now fully open.

Just too late for our recent party down there ... but on time and on budget. Miracle wrought by the adorable (but fiercely energetic) Anne-Marie.

Now you can dine elegantly and very well in St Colombe's next door village. To do 'elegant' when all around you are cases of wine – it’s a wine warehouse as well, with tables set between piles of boxes - that's not easy. But she's done it. It’s the coolest space around!

The Story

We've always got our groceries Chez Guimberteau at St Genes – a short bike ride or long vineyard walk away. (I even have an old pic of the Sixties we went with Old Charlo the Mule and a buggy). A great shop. A real shop. (I do not enjoy supermarkets). And its being also a Bar was no drawback.

But ... old Guimberteau started getting a bit creaky - as you would, 40-odd years of never shutting except Christmas Day. And wanted to sell. No takers! Facing the loss of the heart and soul of her little village, Madame le Maire; Claudy Gomme ( 'our' Claudy - with us since 1974) appealed for help.

One of her parishioners; Anne-Marie was keen to pack-in her commuting to Paris Banking job, spend more time with her young family and run the enterprise. We, as big fans of that 'Grand Designs' programme, were intrigued by the possibilities of the semi-derelict buildings. The Pound was strong – then – so we bought the buildings and she bought the business.

To cut this short; as well as shopping and having a little drink, you can now dine in a new, beautifully restored high roofed space – bit like a church nave – and dine very well but simply and affordably.

Check out Anne-Marie's website. And pay a visit. You can buy most of the La Clarière wines there at the same price as at the winery. In fact all the wines – mostly Cotes de Castillons – are at ex-cellars prices. These are of course much lower than the UK. In fact they are much lower than just down the road. Starting at €4! You don't get down anywhere near that in St. Emilion!

The wines of all the good local growers are here; from Domaine de l'A and Aguille, us ... and many more.

Le Comptoir de Genes isn't one of our Companies, it’s all Anne-Marie. But I would be so delighted to see this little example of a rural renaissance succeed. And I know all of my customers would just love it – and meeting Anne-Marie, Claudy, their families, all the staff of the Comptoir and all the inhabitants of St Genes and surrounding villages.

See you at the bar. Mine's a 'petit rosé'.



(Claudy Gomme, Kaye Laithwaite, me and Anne-Marie Galineaud in Le Cave a Vin restaurant.)

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