Packed room. Word gets round. We wanted them all to get the message that for us Australia is not about 3-for-£10 deals. It’s about discovering the much wider spectrum of styles from that vast country's myriad regions. And it’s the fascination of their highly individual top-level wines, now they are abandoning control-freakery in the cellar and letting the terroir speak for itself. They used to be so disparaging about 'terroir' . 'Selling Geography" they called it. Laughed at the French.
But they get it now! You sterilise the terroir out of wine and it just gets SO BORING! The customers go away.
Or worse.
Thomas had brought along some recent 3-for-£10 bottles from Supermarket X, to compare.
Even though they bear the name of a great and once-respected Aussie wine family (tragically taken-over by a Conglomerate) I am not sure if these wines are worth the effort of opening them. 'Nothing wines'. 'Waste-of-time' wines. Not nice. Not doing the Aussie reputation any good at all.
They send over cricketers as weedy as these wines, we'll have no trouble with The Ashes.
By contrast the Homestead Shiraz Viognier and the Homestead Sauvignon Blanc are just so lovely. They will console me all summer - as, of course, they are very unlikely to send over weedy players.
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Back from Bordeaux. Easter. Watching Andy's lambs playing tag in the field, ignoring the rain.
What did the visits to the top Bordeaux Estates tell me apart from how well it is possible to live?
Very well.
Firstly, there's nothing wrong with the 2008 vintage.
Secondly there's plenty wrong with the Bordeaux wine trade. There has for a while been a wide chasm opened up between the few at the top who sell their best wine at huge prices to very rich collectors and speculators desperate to get a share of superb and above all scarce 'names'... and the many at the bottom who have to give wine away or who just don't sell wine at all, these days. They have problems not because it’s not very good, but because a myriad of little chateau names mean nobody can get customers to remember their names. Supermarkets don't want baffling names.
Disaster looms.
Sad thing is the overall quality has improved by leaps and bounds recently. The vineyard and cellar techniques of the top chateaux are common knowledge and can now be replicated by the humblest if they study and slave at it. And the great names are far from owning all the best soils. Bordeaux is big.
All of which leaves me and my Company a big opportunity and, I feel, a great obligation to help both our customers and our growers. To find or have made, wines that are as good as the top names but affordable.
Making the best wine with every expensive vineyard and cellar technique deployed doesn't cost much more than £10 a bottle. So we can afford to source fruit from really excellent places, give it 'the works' and still keep the price well below what top restaurants charge for a basic 'house wine'.
Wines that cost £1000 a bottle don't taste a hundred times better than a £10 bottle. They taste maybe 2 or 3 times better. At best. I just spent a week checking this out. It is possible to achieve that 2/3 times improvement for very little cost.
In our Chai au Quai Jean-Marc and Mark are doing just that.
Bordeaux's finest wines are amazing. We just need more of them. And we need a name people can remember. How about 'Chai au Quai'?
OK?
Back there next week with bigger ambitions!
Very well.
Firstly, there's nothing wrong with the 2008 vintage.
Secondly there's plenty wrong with the Bordeaux wine trade. There has for a while been a wide chasm opened up between the few at the top who sell their best wine at huge prices to very rich collectors and speculators desperate to get a share of superb and above all scarce 'names'... and the many at the bottom who have to give wine away or who just don't sell wine at all, these days. They have problems not because it’s not very good, but because a myriad of little chateau names mean nobody can get customers to remember their names. Supermarkets don't want baffling names.
Disaster looms.
Sad thing is the overall quality has improved by leaps and bounds recently. The vineyard and cellar techniques of the top chateaux are common knowledge and can now be replicated by the humblest if they study and slave at it. And the great names are far from owning all the best soils. Bordeaux is big.
All of which leaves me and my Company a big opportunity and, I feel, a great obligation to help both our customers and our growers. To find or have made, wines that are as good as the top names but affordable.
Making the best wine with every expensive vineyard and cellar technique deployed doesn't cost much more than £10 a bottle. So we can afford to source fruit from really excellent places, give it 'the works' and still keep the price well below what top restaurants charge for a basic 'house wine'.
Wines that cost £1000 a bottle don't taste a hundred times better than a £10 bottle. They taste maybe 2 or 3 times better. At best. I just spent a week checking this out. It is possible to achieve that 2/3 times improvement for very little cost.
In our Chai au Quai Jean-Marc and Mark are doing just that.
Bordeaux's finest wines are amazing. We just need more of them. And we need a name people can remember. How about 'Chai au Quai'?
OK?
Back there next week with bigger ambitions!
Monday, 20 April 2009
Up early so we can sit in the usual traffic jam around Bordeaux and not panic too much about being late for our appointment with Latour.
Once over the bridge we take the rat-run along the riverbank and make it only 10 mins late which, in French terms, is early.
The new tasting room is high art. Why a Zebra? And that poor goldfish in its bottle! RSPCA won't like that. The Grand Vin was a huge b...... , the 'Forts' too. The third wine I found very interesting as very reasonable price and approachable ... within my lifetime.
Then to Pontet Canet and one of the great wine men of Bordeaux. The Tesserons, originally Cognac people, have Bordeaux bred in the bone. So feet on the ground. Not great art. Just well built, sensibly renovated trad chais and three horses working the vineyard. Lovely to see. Alfred is a great believer in simplicity and letting nature look after itself. I like him a lot. Makes me laugh. Dry sense of humour. We all really liked what he's doing there. And we really loved his wine. They say his '05 is up there with the First Growths! His '08 could be too if you ask me. It had immediate attraction.
Then on the Lafite. Eric (Getten) smiling today. (He's given me a right roasting before now.) And Charles (Chevalier) charming, modest and funny as always. Do the cellar visit. Which is a fair old hike! Builds the appetite. To the Salon Rouge for aperitif (Los Vascos Sauvignon Blanc) and reminiscing, not easy to relax with all those stern ancestors graring from the walls. Lunch was of course on a par with Pétrus – how much of this can I take? – but we enjoyed their Midi estate - Aussieres - wines which Charles has worked so hard on.
The Los Vascos Reserve (Chile) was fabulous but of course the Lafite was ... no, run out of adjectives on this trip. Peter the photographer had to leave for home early. Not many can have swallowed a glass of '90 Lafite so speedily! He drained every drop. The rest of us adjourn to the Salon Vert - more ancestors - for coffee. Much needed!
Then its on to see Anthony Barton. If I could only visit and buy from one wine producer in France, it would be Anthony.
Not sure how old he actually is. He said he missed his rowing blue being sent down from Cambridge in '48! Still capable of getting girls like Bordeaux buyer, Clare Tooley sighing! And certainly doesn't act the old man. Wicked humour. Irish, of course, but Irish like the Duke of Wellington was Irish. This is a man with more stories than I'll ever have. Makes great wine too and doesn't overcharge.
We end up at Rauzan Segla where we've been invited to stay in their rather nice chateau (owned by the Chanel family!). Surprising as last time I was here, I caused a great fuss by passing out, mid-dinner in front of our hosts and 50 customers. Not my finest hour. Luckily most of the customers were – as usual – medics and didn't bat an eyelid. Called the ambulance and carried on drinking!
As a result of this and a few more such 'turns' I now have a pacemaker. So I tell them, no more need to worry. But then me asking to borrow a battery-charger was a mistake. Much witty hilarity from John Kolasa and Francois Dugoua who run this place and a small, high-class broking operation from whom we get much good stuff.
Dinner is another over-the-top experience and the sleep in the 'Blue room' is deep. Lots more tasting all the following morning but I realise this must be getting boring for you. Fly home.
The new tasting room is high art. Why a Zebra? And that poor goldfish in its bottle! RSPCA won't like that. The Grand Vin was a huge b...... , the 'Forts' too. The third wine I found very interesting as very reasonable price and approachable ... within my lifetime.
Then to Pontet Canet and one of the great wine men of Bordeaux. The Tesserons, originally Cognac people, have Bordeaux bred in the bone. So feet on the ground. Not great art. Just well built, sensibly renovated trad chais and three horses working the vineyard. Lovely to see. Alfred is a great believer in simplicity and letting nature look after itself. I like him a lot. Makes me laugh. Dry sense of humour. We all really liked what he's doing there. And we really loved his wine. They say his '05 is up there with the First Growths! His '08 could be too if you ask me. It had immediate attraction.
Then on the Lafite. Eric (Getten) smiling today. (He's given me a right roasting before now.) And Charles (Chevalier) charming, modest and funny as always. Do the cellar visit. Which is a fair old hike! Builds the appetite. To the Salon Rouge for aperitif (Los Vascos Sauvignon Blanc) and reminiscing, not easy to relax with all those stern ancestors graring from the walls. Lunch was of course on a par with Pétrus – how much of this can I take? – but we enjoyed their Midi estate - Aussieres - wines which Charles has worked so hard on.
The Los Vascos Reserve (Chile) was fabulous but of course the Lafite was ... no, run out of adjectives on this trip. Peter the photographer had to leave for home early. Not many can have swallowed a glass of '90 Lafite so speedily! He drained every drop. The rest of us adjourn to the Salon Vert - more ancestors - for coffee. Much needed!
Then its on to see Anthony Barton. If I could only visit and buy from one wine producer in France, it would be Anthony.
Not sure how old he actually is. He said he missed his rowing blue being sent down from Cambridge in '48! Still capable of getting girls like Bordeaux buyer, Clare Tooley sighing! And certainly doesn't act the old man. Wicked humour. Irish, of course, but Irish like the Duke of Wellington was Irish. This is a man with more stories than I'll ever have. Makes great wine too and doesn't overcharge.
We end up at Rauzan Segla where we've been invited to stay in their rather nice chateau (owned by the Chanel family!). Surprising as last time I was here, I caused a great fuss by passing out, mid-dinner in front of our hosts and 50 customers. Not my finest hour. Luckily most of the customers were – as usual – medics and didn't bat an eyelid. Called the ambulance and carried on drinking!
As a result of this and a few more such 'turns' I now have a pacemaker. So I tell them, no more need to worry. But then me asking to borrow a battery-charger was a mistake. Much witty hilarity from John Kolasa and Francois Dugoua who run this place and a small, high-class broking operation from whom we get much good stuff.
Dinner is another over-the-top experience and the sleep in the 'Blue room' is deep. Lots more tasting all the following morning but I realise this must be getting boring for you. Fly home.
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Then we went to Pétrus …
Tasting the new wine with Olivier Berrouet, son of previous winemaker there Jean-Claud, who has generously supported us such a lot over the years – since he first helped me with a spot of geography homework in '68.
Olivier still very young but with a dream C.V. that reads like the top end of a fine wine list; Domaines Romanee-Conti, Château Cheval Blanc, Château Pétrus. An unbeatable hand, really. Then we were invited to lunch with Madame Colette Moueix, widow of the great Jean-Pierre who founded what is now, by far the most powerful dynasty in Bordeaux. All down to him having spotted the lethal effects of the Great Frost of '56 before anyone else. So the folklore goes. But actually he was much cleverer than most people realised. I met him a few times. The reputation terrifying, but the man so charming.
Mme Colette is a quite adorable little lady. Grandson Jean – modest lad, is possibly the future. Grandmother clearly adores him and he her. Wished I remembered my Art A-levels as we were in rooms with a fortune hung on the walls. Small fortune too, in the wine glasses! Honestly, I don't live this well more than once or twice a decade! We were running late. Well you can't leave that sort of wine undrunk!
To Château Pavie-Macquin. Wrong way up a one-way street. But this is France.
Still owned by the family of 'The man who saved Bordeaux' (by introducing Phylloxera-resistant grafted vines to rebuild the devastated vineyards). Now run by Nicolas, one of the very numerous, and very clever Thienpont family. We've always done well with this wine, very well made and v. well sited on the steep hillsides, just outside the walls of Saint Emilion next to Pavie, across from Ausone ... hard to beat. Fascinating is Nicolas. We’re now very late.
Then to the only Château, (Angelus) so far, to announce their price for the 2008; a decent reduction on the 2007 price. I like the de Bouard family, admire their work and think I have more of their wine in my own cellar at home than any other claret (apart my own). If you ever wondered how much they paid to have James Bond drink their wine on a train in 'Casino Royale' the answer is nothing. The Bond producers just love the wine and are great friends.
Then we had to rush to Anne-Marie's big tasting of Cotes de Castillons, set up to select the wines she will stock in her Cave à Vins at the 'Comptoir de Genes' opening in June! Almost all the great and good of the appellation were there and I was mortified to have kept them waiting.
We tasted 60+ wines, the standard was excellent and there were bargains aplenty. Three hours we worked and argued. La Clarière did well. But Henry's Trois Frères seemed to win more friends. Ah well! Time I accepted that my boy might make better wine than me.
Absolutely shattered we go to the pizza van to find the fool has run out.
Back hope we unearth three dusty jars of Porc Basque from EBF and a tin of haricots and dine like kings before the final collapse. Whataday! Pétrus to a pizza man without pizza.
Olivier still very young but with a dream C.V. that reads like the top end of a fine wine list; Domaines Romanee-Conti, Château Cheval Blanc, Château Pétrus. An unbeatable hand, really. Then we were invited to lunch with Madame Colette Moueix, widow of the great Jean-Pierre who founded what is now, by far the most powerful dynasty in Bordeaux. All down to him having spotted the lethal effects of the Great Frost of '56 before anyone else. So the folklore goes. But actually he was much cleverer than most people realised. I met him a few times. The reputation terrifying, but the man so charming.
Mme Colette is a quite adorable little lady. Grandson Jean – modest lad, is possibly the future. Grandmother clearly adores him and he her. Wished I remembered my Art A-levels as we were in rooms with a fortune hung on the walls. Small fortune too, in the wine glasses! Honestly, I don't live this well more than once or twice a decade! We were running late. Well you can't leave that sort of wine undrunk!
To Château Pavie-Macquin. Wrong way up a one-way street. But this is France.
Still owned by the family of 'The man who saved Bordeaux' (by introducing Phylloxera-resistant grafted vines to rebuild the devastated vineyards). Now run by Nicolas, one of the very numerous, and very clever Thienpont family. We've always done well with this wine, very well made and v. well sited on the steep hillsides, just outside the walls of Saint Emilion next to Pavie, across from Ausone ... hard to beat. Fascinating is Nicolas. We’re now very late.
Then to the only Château, (Angelus) so far, to announce their price for the 2008; a decent reduction on the 2007 price. I like the de Bouard family, admire their work and think I have more of their wine in my own cellar at home than any other claret (apart my own). If you ever wondered how much they paid to have James Bond drink their wine on a train in 'Casino Royale' the answer is nothing. The Bond producers just love the wine and are great friends.
Then we had to rush to Anne-Marie's big tasting of Cotes de Castillons, set up to select the wines she will stock in her Cave à Vins at the 'Comptoir de Genes' opening in June! Almost all the great and good of the appellation were there and I was mortified to have kept them waiting.
We tasted 60+ wines, the standard was excellent and there were bargains aplenty. Three hours we worked and argued. La Clarière did well. But Henry's Trois Frères seemed to win more friends. Ah well! Time I accepted that my boy might make better wine than me.
Absolutely shattered we go to the pizza van to find the fool has run out.
Back hope we unearth three dusty jars of Porc Basque from EBF and a tin of haricots and dine like kings before the final collapse. Whataday! Pétrus to a pizza man without pizza.
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Up early to Saint Emilion. To a building site.
To the extreme western end of the limestone ridge which is the 'raison d'etre' of Saint Emilion. To the site of our boldest winemaking venture yet. To Ch. Tertre Daugay.
A year ago we fused our buying and winemaking teams together under Dan Snook. And to spur the new team to aim high, I set a silly challenge. "Make me a P*trus" it was called.
Of course you cannot replicate Pétrus. I know that. But I have always regarded Pétrus as the ultimate in super-meticulous viticulture and super-sophisticated winemaking. I thought our winemakers – and all their contacts in the business – should try and create a wine using similar levels of perfectionism. Why not aim high? ... or higher? ... or even highest?
They have started on the project. There is as yet no name for the wine. We need something like 'Sans Contraints'. Any suggestions? But the wine is en route. It is being made at Château Tertre Daugay; a Grand Cru Classé Saint Emilion.
Why?
There's a special situation that allows us to obtain the wine for a uniquely low price because the Château was recently sold, and is in full reconstruction of both its cellars and its reputation.
The new owner is my friend, Alexandre de Mallet who I've known forever. His father was a great friend of the Cassins (my 'French Parents'). Alexandre and his winemaker – the current top winemaker round here, Stéphane Derenoncourt – started improving the vineyards from a bit of a run-down state five years ago. But only actually bought the place last year. The new cellars are, as yet, but a deep hole in the rock.
Anyway Alexandre liked our suggestion and agreed that we (Jean-Marc and the team) could get involved in a joint venture with them to make a ‘super-cuvee’ in 2008. So that's what we tasted this morning in the little old cellars at Tertre Daugay. (Everyone who has ever been to Saint Emilion will know the little house perched on the first hill you see arriving from Bordeaux.)
The team have selected elements from the high 'balcony' terraced vineyards and the upper parts of the slopes to the south and west. There's no final blend yet but the possibilities are looking terrific. I write that just after tasting the 2008 Pétrus, Margaux, Lafite, Latour and Mouton. So I have the best wines in my palate memory. Which is now quite short term. But good for a few days still!
Doing a pre-release offer in a coupla months??
If we are happy that is. But after this morning I’m sure we will.
The basic idea is that even when you give vines and wine the best and most luxurious handling imaginable, it only costs about £10 a bottle. So if you can spot an opportunity to get wine from a superb – really superb – site at a fair price, you can offer your customer a wine between a half and a quarter – or more – of the price of something similar from a famous name Château. All you don't get is the bragging rights of the famous name. So? Who needs that? It’s the wine that matters.
A year ago we fused our buying and winemaking teams together under Dan Snook. And to spur the new team to aim high, I set a silly challenge. "Make me a P*trus" it was called.
Of course you cannot replicate Pétrus. I know that. But I have always regarded Pétrus as the ultimate in super-meticulous viticulture and super-sophisticated winemaking. I thought our winemakers – and all their contacts in the business – should try and create a wine using similar levels of perfectionism. Why not aim high? ... or higher? ... or even highest?
They have started on the project. There is as yet no name for the wine. We need something like 'Sans Contraints'. Any suggestions? But the wine is en route. It is being made at Château Tertre Daugay; a Grand Cru Classé Saint Emilion.
Why?
There's a special situation that allows us to obtain the wine for a uniquely low price because the Château was recently sold, and is in full reconstruction of both its cellars and its reputation.
The new owner is my friend, Alexandre de Mallet who I've known forever. His father was a great friend of the Cassins (my 'French Parents'). Alexandre and his winemaker – the current top winemaker round here, Stéphane Derenoncourt – started improving the vineyards from a bit of a run-down state five years ago. But only actually bought the place last year. The new cellars are, as yet, but a deep hole in the rock.
Anyway Alexandre liked our suggestion and agreed that we (Jean-Marc and the team) could get involved in a joint venture with them to make a ‘super-cuvee’ in 2008. So that's what we tasted this morning in the little old cellars at Tertre Daugay. (Everyone who has ever been to Saint Emilion will know the little house perched on the first hill you see arriving from Bordeaux.)
The team have selected elements from the high 'balcony' terraced vineyards and the upper parts of the slopes to the south and west. There's no final blend yet but the possibilities are looking terrific. I write that just after tasting the 2008 Pétrus, Margaux, Lafite, Latour and Mouton. So I have the best wines in my palate memory. Which is now quite short term. But good for a few days still!
Doing a pre-release offer in a coupla months??
If we are happy that is. But after this morning I’m sure we will.
The basic idea is that even when you give vines and wine the best and most luxurious handling imaginable, it only costs about £10 a bottle. So if you can spot an opportunity to get wine from a superb – really superb – site at a fair price, you can offer your customer a wine between a half and a quarter – or more – of the price of something similar from a famous name Château. All you don't get is the bragging rights of the famous name. So? Who needs that? It’s the wine that matters.
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Clare came and got me. To airport to collect Dan and on to Château Margaux. Starts to rain.
Place is empty. They had hordes of people tasting the 08’ last week. Paul Pontallier is super charming. Been here 25 years now. I first came here on a student trip with Prof. Peynaud in '68. Disaster vintage, that was! The 2008 however is tasting really good. Funny really. After all it was a dreadful summer. But the long dry autumn saved things. And produced the longest grape 'hang-time' period ever - 140 days! When the norm is 110 to 120 days. And the 2006 was lovely ... but our last case of that was just bought. By Clare!
Margaux really is the most beautiful Médoc Château for me.
Lots of banter about whether the First Growths are going to be nice to the world and put their prices right down! Paul smiles. Not a flicker of a clue. Angelus have just come out 40% down. The first. And only. But gives us hope.
Then we go to try the new Mouton Rothschild. They were very sorry they had to de-invite us to dinner as the French Ministre des Finances had urgent need to visit. Wonder why?
Anyway, we weren't unhappy to be invited to one of the best restaurants in Bordeaux - closer to home. Ate far too well and drank some stars: d'Armaillac, Petit Mouton and Clerc Milon, climaxing with the 61’ Mouton!
Not for sale, alas.
Crash to bed at midnight.
Margaux really is the most beautiful Médoc Château for me.
Lots of banter about whether the First Growths are going to be nice to the world and put their prices right down! Paul smiles. Not a flicker of a clue. Angelus have just come out 40% down. The first. And only. But gives us hope.
Then we go to try the new Mouton Rothschild. They were very sorry they had to de-invite us to dinner as the French Ministre des Finances had urgent need to visit. Wonder why?
Anyway, we weren't unhappy to be invited to one of the best restaurants in Bordeaux - closer to home. Ate far too well and drank some stars: d'Armaillac, Petit Mouton and Clerc Milon, climaxing with the 61’ Mouton!
Not for sale, alas.
Crash to bed at midnight.
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Up early to use car before Henry uses it to tow trailer of vine stakes up the hill.
He has 80 vines to plant - replacements - very quickly; planting season's virtually over.
To St Genes for bread and ham. The shop is stunning. Worth all the far too much money we spent on that building. Historical Note: To stop our dear local shop disappearing when the Guimberteau's retired the Laithwaite family agreed to buy and do up the premises. That was in the days when the £ was worth something. We forgot the basic rule of buying currency forward. So it has been very painful.
But the feisty little Anne-Marie, who took on the shop, has cracked the whip all winter and the decrepit barn next door is now an immaculate space - high, with tall windows, like a church! All in warm honey-coloured stone. Quite a shop! And busy! Our daughter-in-law Kaye works there on the till. That's one helluva crash course in learning French-as-she-is-spoke! She now knows what 'Cloppes' are (cigarettes). And 'Vin Cuit'.
In July, Anne-Marie will open a Cave à Vins featuring all the best Cotes-de-Castillons at cellar-door prices. And there'll be tables for lunch amongst the stacks of cases. Anyone thinking of visiting Saint Emilion this summer should try Saint Genes (pron. Jeu-ness) first and save a fortune. La Clarière-Laithwaite will be sold there of course. Who needs anything else?
Down to Le Chai au Quai. Watched the bottling of the Maury VDN and got Mark to let me try a couple of their new arrivals. Mark looking very bright-eyed and fighting fit. Has to be. Off tomorrow to Hermitage, to supervise very closely the wine we bought there. Constant vigilance is necessary.
Lunch outside in warm sun - first time this year. Alfie being a good puppy. Maybe sunshine calms him. Quick chat with Claudy about the State of France. Not good says the 'Maire'. Wine growers just hate having a teetotal President.
To St Genes for bread and ham. The shop is stunning. Worth all the far too much money we spent on that building. Historical Note: To stop our dear local shop disappearing when the Guimberteau's retired the Laithwaite family agreed to buy and do up the premises. That was in the days when the £ was worth something. We forgot the basic rule of buying currency forward. So it has been very painful.
But the feisty little Anne-Marie, who took on the shop, has cracked the whip all winter and the decrepit barn next door is now an immaculate space - high, with tall windows, like a church! All in warm honey-coloured stone. Quite a shop! And busy! Our daughter-in-law Kaye works there on the till. That's one helluva crash course in learning French-as-she-is-spoke! She now knows what 'Cloppes' are (cigarettes). And 'Vin Cuit'.
In July, Anne-Marie will open a Cave à Vins featuring all the best Cotes-de-Castillons at cellar-door prices. And there'll be tables for lunch amongst the stacks of cases. Anyone thinking of visiting Saint Emilion this summer should try Saint Genes (pron. Jeu-ness) first and save a fortune. La Clarière-Laithwaite will be sold there of course. Who needs anything else?
Down to Le Chai au Quai. Watched the bottling of the Maury VDN and got Mark to let me try a couple of their new arrivals. Mark looking very bright-eyed and fighting fit. Has to be. Off tomorrow to Hermitage, to supervise very closely the wine we bought there. Constant vigilance is necessary.
Lunch outside in warm sun - first time this year. Alfie being a good puppy. Maybe sunshine calms him. Quick chat with Claudy about the State of France. Not good says the 'Maire'. Wine growers just hate having a teetotal President.
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Just arrived in Bordeaux. Vines are bursting into leaf. Tiny leaves.
A mad week rushing round Grand Chateaux lies before me. Sort of an assault-course for the nose. Clare Tooley (our Bordeaux Buyer – lives here full-time) has been at it a week already. Read what she has to say about the great annual tasting of the latest claret vintage, going on now.
Monday, 6 April 2009
We've won an ECMOD award again ... for the ninth time!
What on earth are ECMODS? Not sure what the letters stand for but they have become like the 'Oscars' of the world of On-line and Direct Marketing – basically, people who deliver to your door – that Brave New World in which we compete. Milly Wood, Lorraine Rogers and David Lockwood did the red carpet bit and collected an award for the 9th time!
We win every year we enter!
Easy eh? Not really.
Anyone might expect us to be a Company of 'Wine Nuts' and indeed we are. I'm the senior 'Nut'. But the key thing is that we 'Wine-Nuts' are outnumbered by Laithwaites obsessively dedicated 'Customer-Nuts'. It is their obsession rather than ours that wins us so many awards and – much more important – friends. Head of Customer Services,Victoria Sherston – I love you. And your whole crowd! Love you all.
We win every year we enter!
Easy eh? Not really.
Anyone might expect us to be a Company of 'Wine Nuts' and indeed we are. I'm the senior 'Nut'. But the key thing is that we 'Wine-Nuts' are outnumbered by Laithwaites obsessively dedicated 'Customer-Nuts'. It is their obsession rather than ours that wins us so many awards and – much more important – friends. Head of Customer Services,Victoria Sherston – I love you. And your whole crowd! Love you all.
Friday, 3 April 2009
Jean-Claude Mas needs YOUR support!
Gosh we are a speedy company these days! Laithwaites customer John Hart sent me this email with link to a bit of BBC film about the problems in the vineyards of Languedoc. Worth watching.
Message for Tony Laithwaite: take a look at this BBC article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7969564.stm
… then contact Jean-Claude Mas and rescue him from the clutches of the big supermarkets … sounds like he needs your support!
Jean Paul Mas is one of the brightest, most open-minded winegrowers of the region. The fact that he sells a lot of wine in the UK, US and Australia called 'Arrogant Frog' says a lot about him. Like he isn't arrogant.
We have, arriving soon, his Sauvignon Blanc Domaine Vié (“best white wine of my trip" buyer Abi Hirshfeld, "Mon Dieu! Ee ees betteur zan moi!!" Chief Winemaker Jean-Marc Sauboua), and his Pinot Noir 'Beaujour' from Limoux: “far better than generic Burgundy, barrel-aged, really seductive, charming wine, brings a smile to your face. What Pinot Noir should taste like and so rarely does” raves Abi.
See how fast we move? These wines are not yet bottled but by all means call your friendly wine advisor and they'll put you down for some.
Message for Tony Laithwaite: take a look at this BBC article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7969564.stm
… then contact Jean-Claude Mas and rescue him from the clutches of the big supermarkets … sounds like he needs your support!
Jean Paul Mas is one of the brightest, most open-minded winegrowers of the region. The fact that he sells a lot of wine in the UK, US and Australia called 'Arrogant Frog' says a lot about him. Like he isn't arrogant.
We have, arriving soon, his Sauvignon Blanc Domaine Vié (“best white wine of my trip" buyer Abi Hirshfeld, "Mon Dieu! Ee ees betteur zan moi!!" Chief Winemaker Jean-Marc Sauboua), and his Pinot Noir 'Beaujour' from Limoux: “far better than generic Burgundy, barrel-aged, really seductive, charming wine, brings a smile to your face. What Pinot Noir should taste like and so rarely does” raves Abi.
See how fast we move? These wines are not yet bottled but by all means call your friendly wine advisor and they'll put you down for some.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
On wine and the common cold ...
When I did my wine course at Bordeaux University, one of the Professor's little gems of advice was that, if you think a wine is off, it is more likely – statistically – that it’s you who is off, not the wine!Human taste buds and olfactory nerves being what they are (poor things, really) are easily upset. Indigestion, fatigue … worst of all, a common cold, play merry hell with them!
I was reminded of this yesterday at my company's annual get together. With key people from around the world watching, I got every single wine choice wrong in the game of Wine Options put on by my buyers!
Guessing a wine isn't normally too hard. You start northern or southern hemisphere? Then, maybe America or Europe? Then, maybe France or Italy? Then, north or south Italy? Then, maybe Nebbiolo or Sangiovese? And so on … always a choice of two. So always a good 50% chance …
I think I set a record for getting every option wrong for every wine. But … I had a cold! Phew! Lucky! I've a reputation to protect, you know.
Reminds me of what the ninety year-old Harry Waugh – a great wine merchant – is supposed to have said when asked if he'd ever mistaken a claret for a Burgundy. "No …" he replied, "... not since lunchtime"!
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