Vintage 2011 reports from Mark Hoddy in Bordeaux and the Midi

30th August

Back in Bordeaux and our Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Semillon have all been harvested in the Entre Deux Mers. The first to come in was the Sauvignon Blanc and some really explosive asparagus and grassy flavours already obvious in the juice. James had cooled the juice down to 5 degrees and settled out the large sediment what they call ‘gros lies’ in French. This morning, we racked carefully the cold juice under a blanket of protective CO2 into the insulated stainless steel tanker headed for the Chai. Back in the Chai, cellar master Denis had prepared the vats and had them ice cold and full of more CO2.

It’s such a fantastic feeling to have the first juice entering the Chai – rather like the opening ceremony of the harvest – and everyone was eager to be the first to taste! Meanwhile James was back out to check the Semillon and Sauvignon Gris and whilst the sediment settles out, which will take 36 hours, I am going to make another dash down to the Midi to meet Maitena and select this years La Voute Chardonnay in Limoux.

Vintage 2011 reports from Mark Hoddy in Bordeaux and the Midi

August 29th

It’s fast and furious in the Midi and apparently in Bordeaux too!

We have been watching the Pinot Noir very closely over the weekend and noticed some slight ‘shanking’ in the vineyard. This is where the berry starts to lose berry weight and fall to the ground and at this exact moment it is perfect for harvesting. If not picked immediately the results could be disastrous with loss in juice volume, fruit flavour becoming over ripe and potential alcohol levels too high.

So with no time to waste, the harvesting machines were called on and we were soon in the vineyard harvesting the first block last night. This particular sloping vineyard and the vintage weather this year has led to the north, south, east and west ripening differently so the winemaking decisions must be adapted to each area harvested. I worked on the processing and presses with another New Zealander also called James thorough the night.

The colour from the west side of the vineyard was leaching colour from skins into juice so quickly that we made a quick decision to do some short skin maceration (the sign of perfect maturity) and pressed off for a Clairet-style cold ferment without the skins to get maximum red berry freshness and low tannin which will be a useful blending tool later on for palate suppleness.

Our James then called early morning from Bordeaux saying perfect maturity in the Sauvignon vineyards and forecasting rain in Entre Deux Mers! I left Maitena to survey the Pinot Noir and I was soon back on the road up to Bordeaux to give James a hand to bring the first juice of 2011 into the Chai before the rain.

Sorry no photo as blackberry was covered in grape juice!

Tony adds: the Pinot Noir that Mark just harvested is what goes to make our 'Le Champ des Etoiles'. A 'Field of Stars' indeed, this is a wine of which I am very proud. Because our winemakers put in such efforts over so many years to get it right … and eventually succeeded.

You get a sense from Mark's blog just how critical it is to find those incredibly rare vineyards outside Burgundy that can successfully produce the flavours PN has to have to be really worth drinking. And also how timing the harvest of this unforgiving, awkward bloody grape is a matter of hours if not minutes.

Pinot Noir is unlike almost all other red grapes. With the others if you can't quite catch subtlety and finesse, then you can always just cut back your crop, concentrate the flavour power and make a blockbuster. Blockbusters win medals, score high marks. Which will do very nicely, thanks.

With Pinot Noir you can't do that. Either you find the elusive subtle flavours that say 'magic!' Or you don't. This is what makes PN such an obsession for the dedicated (or just plain mad) winemaker. It’s why they have PN conferences all the time.

It’s why I'm proud of what Jean-Marc's Flying Winemakers first attempted 20 years ago and which Mark is still perfecting. And keeping my fingers crossed.

And drinking. I'm enjoying a glass of the '08 as I write. It keeps getting better. The '09 is looking particularly great too, we feel.

Vintage has started in Bordeaux and the Midi!

The whites are being harvested; Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Sauvignon Gris, Muscadelle. Very early, of course, but then the vines started growing very early.

Aromatics are strong. But maybe alcohols won't be so strong.

Anyway, our winemakers are on the move. Today, Mark comes back from checking his Midi vineyards and gets the Sauvignon Blanc moving here. He has James from Hunters NZ back again, Maitena from San Sebastian again and new-girl Lauren, fresh out of Plumpton the UK wine college. Jean-Marc is flying about all over the place.

As I am due to go back to the UK for routine stuff you probably don't want to read about I will, for now, hand my diary slot over to Mark and his Blog so you get a real first hand feel for the addictive madness we call 'Vintage'.

Here he is ...


And harvest madness begins ...

Heard a few rumours about rain in the Midi and I had mixed conversations with local growers over the phone; most of them in over-exaggerating farmer mode! So only one thing to do: get down to the Midi, which is exactly where I have been for the last two days. And of course, it’s not as bad as they make out, just them being farmers!

I started early in Carcassonne at Domaine Lalande to check the Chardonnay. My mate and Lalande winemaker Richard 'Ozzy' Osbourne was there to greet me and raring to go for his now-20th vintage here!

The Cailloux Chardonnay vineyard is in great shape. No mould and small bunches made up of clean crisp berries. Needs another 7 days I reckon, but I'll keep a close eye on it.

Viognier for the VC also clean, but a little behind in maturity. So this year, patience and risk will be the name of the game here I think!

Next was a bit of a drive across the Languedoc to deepest Bezier wine country. I had to check firstly Roussane with the Baron de Bertier, then Vermentino with no other than Madame F herself!

All looking very good indeed as long as any rain stays away for the next week.

With the panic over, I went back to the winemakers’ 2011 Midi base – a gite in beautiful Peyriac Sur Mer – to freshen up before heading back into vineyards for the Pinot Noir harvest tonight! Back to Bordeaux early tomorrow as the Sauvignon Blanc comes in. And so the harvest madness starts!

A stormy night in Ste Colombe

We were up at the Comptoir de St Genes for dinner. The heat was heavy. Luckily the Comptoir is air conditioned. It was full of Brits. Which is new. Drove up but walked back (too much good Castillon wine) … about 50 mins in the pitch dark.

For the first time this Summer it was a clear moonless night and the Milky Way was brilliant.

When you can't see much I guess your other senses heighten. It was like walking through a Turkish bath most of the way. Just one 20m stretch was deliciously cool. Must've been a 'river' of cold air running down a side valley. It was so distinctive. Such a thing gives you a clue as to why two apparently identical side-by-side vineyards can produce different results.

Over to the east we saw great clouds lit by lightning flashes. Close Encounters. Getting closer. We sat out a bit. With a beer. They got still closer. But it was still an airless, hot and heavy night.

We went to bed. Five minutes later a tornado hit us. Shook the house. Broke the pole of my ancient tent. Moved the garden furniture. So violent yet oddly … no rain. And still heavy in the morning.

The weather behaving like a teenager this year.

Drinks with M. Derenocourt, Ste Colombe

Had drinks with our neighbour Stephane Derenoncourt who they say is now the most in-demand winemaking consultant of all. Funny he should come to set up his own winery, vineyard and offices right bang next to our place. I think the village is very lucky. But seems he thinks he is quite unappreciated locally. Many apparently think he is crazy to aim at making great wine here in Ste Colombe.

The same people think the same about me.

So I think we should get together with a few other quality nutters and put on a journalist's blind tasting of our Castillon wines versus Saint Emilion 'Grand Crus' to find out just who comes out top. Then we'll see.

Stephane does everything with such extreme care … such a delicate … actually a very 'kind' touch. He loves the earth, the vines and the grapes. I'm certain he'd prefer to just stay around here and get his hands dirty. Instead of which, when vintage kicks off he'll be racing right around the northern hemisphere … from California to Syria of all places! Now Syria … I ask you … that's brave. But I tried the wine he makes there – on sale at Le Comptoir de Genes here – and it’s good.

Stephan's favourite tipple? A good dry fino sherry! I keep saying; sherry will make a comeback!

Car boot sales - popular in Castillon, too!

Sunday there was a Vide Grenier (car boot) all along the quayside in front of Le Chai au Quai. So Libby, Brigitte and Fraser decided to open up. Brilliant idea. The heat outside was like an iron bar on the head. So folk flocked in to the cool, cool cellars and sales were brisk.

There's an art exhibition upstairs. Local lady. Elderly nudes. Not really my thing but good technique.

Went home for cold showers and a roast chicken dinner with le Revelation du Baron, GG, Le Coin and the wine from a neighbouring chateau that interests us greatly.

Libby came to teach us synchronised swimming in the dark. My hopes of late-dawning Olympic glory dashed when thrown out of the class for not floating properly.

Monday she brings me a ton of proofs to correct. That's hols over then.

The shooting star

"Twinkle twinkle little st… Whoosh, Burn, Ooh! Aaah!" ... everybody shrieks. Sets off every dog in the valley. That's a Lively Night Out in Ste Colombe!

Ever since we've come to Bordeaux in the Summer – forty years, almost – stargazing has been a feature. There's still not a lot else to do. Originally, the clarity of the night sky here astounded us who had grown up in murky England. Could actually see the Milky Way. Then in Ste Colombe, there were no street lights. Not needed. The locals went to sleep at dusk because they would be up at dawn to work before the heat. So no light pollution.

We had no other diversions after dark being as we'd have drunk too much so anything intellectual was out of the question. So we would lie on the ground and look up, saying "beam me up" and "warp drive Mr Sulu" etc.

We'd spot satellites – or sputniks as they were then – and cry out "seven o'clock, heading to two". There were not as many planes as now. We are on the main holiday flightpath to Spain. Just little stars that moved jerkily across the sky. They do still.

But a shooting star … now that would MAKE our evening. If we ALL saw it. Tonight, we all saw a cracker. Three seconds. And a fiery break up at the end. Really does make everyone yell and set the dogs barking.

Which reminds me of the very special night, long ago, up at La Clariere (where we no longer live because its now home to winemakers and outbounders) when my mate Parkin fell asleep starwatching and stayed out all night … comatose … to wake at dawn … with a small dog trying to eat him.

We laughed! Still has the marks.

Happy days.

My first work-free day of the summer

Little white clouds in the blue today; means the weather will stay nice. Clear blue here means there will be storms … that can wreck vineyards. So we like the white puff balls up there. The gentle breeze is good too. Cleansing for grapes and vines.

Very little sound. Tractors spraying but vine rows act as baffles on sound. The odd car. Dogs barking to each other across the valley. Flies. Church bells on the hour.

We lie here on the first work-free day of the Summer. (Half our office follows us here nowadays which makes it nice and lively but, like everyone, we crave a break before the autumn rigours).

Sipping a cold dry Chenin from Montlouis. Suburbs of Tours. Valley of the Cher. Been years since I was there but I asked Charles and Flipper Sydney to send some bottles from their patch – the Loire – for our summer. Good one, Charles.

Yesterday's hit was a fantastic St Chinian white courtesy Andrée Ferrandiz in the Midi. Very nice one, that. I've also some Burgundies chosen by Bernard Derain. Our friends have done us proud. But it’s not just pure pleasure. We will report back to Justin and Abi and who knows, they may be on our list soon.

All these, plus the latest delights from Le Chai au Quai and the choice of 100 Castillons up at Le Comptoir St Genes ... We are spoilt.

Bordeaux 2011 - my thoughts on the vintage so far ...

The weather pattern this year in Bordeaux is different. But, you might say, it always is; that's what makes this region's wines so fascinating.

Well, yes. But this year is a different kind of different.

A seven-month drought culminating in scorching June heat is unusual. Then a very wet July is most unusual. One unfortunate set of our 'Wine Advisors' or 'Bounders' came for two weeks’ work here in July and had rain every day.

Châteaux here have detailed weather records going back one or even two centuries, but I don't believe they've seen that combination before.

But the one balanced the other; that rain cancelled out the early start.

So when I got here beginning of August, things looked about normal.

August, so far, has been mixed. About 50/50 sunny/cloudy-with-showers.

What this means for the vintage is still impossible to call, though some writers are already dismissing the vintage. (They really should think about the livelihoods of us small growers before they do that).

It’s not THAT bad. The early fine weather kicked growth off a month ahead of usual, so grapes are well-ripened. The subsequent wet weather, which in the past would have caused outbreaks of rot, is now easily manageable. We have the techniques, these days.

So as of now, it’s all to play for. At La Clarière we won't have a big crop, but some of our neighbours will. Not fair, really. But there you go.

The top châteaux, with all their techniques and all that money at their disposal will, if the weather stays reasonable, probably make great wines. They'll likely make less of their Premier Vin and more of their Deuxieme. But that's how they keep their prices up.

But if it rains from now to October – well then, not great. A light vintage. Not a bad one though.

Patience. We just have to wait until the fat lady sings ... in a month or so. She's on hols just now.

We are going to walk into Saint Emilion for supper, now. And see what that lot have to say.

Confounded by Nature …

Does Nature always punish the uppity people? Or does she just like to play tricks?

I'm not very happy looking at my Bordeaux vineyard. About 20% of bunches have shrivelled to nothing. That's 20% crop gone already. Because 27th June, the temperature here hit 42°C and the sun whacked every bunch it could see.

Our slower neighbours didn't suffer so much because they had not, like us keenies, already stripped off leaves to expose our bunches. This is – or was – considered best practice in a region where damp is a problem. Let the drying winds in is the idea.

You try to get clever with Nature; she confounds you! Ho ho.

After the heat wave and drought we had weeks of rain. Don't know where we are. I'm obviously in farmer mode: moaning.

Best get back to writing.

It’s been a week for correspondence …

Yesterday, I had an email from Claire-Lou, the manager of our shop in Windsor. She was passing on a note entitled ‘That’s why we work here’ from Grisha, one of her Wine Advisors.

I love it. Of course I love it. That’s why I work, too.


Dear Tony,

This is a little story about a customer Grisha had in the store yesterday evening, and as he was asked to pass the message on to you, please see below. (Perhaps we should have a blue plaque on the wall to say this is where it started, if we are going to be getting tourists coming from California that is!)

Kind Regards

Claire-Lou



Early yesterday evening a middle-aged man came in asking the question we always love to answer: “are you Laithwaites, as in Tony Laithwaite?”

“Yes sir, that’s us” I replied, unable to contain my smile. (For those few seconds I felt famous, as we always do whenever anyone asks such a question). The man, it turns out, is a HUGE fan of ours back in the States.

While we were casually chatting away over a glass of Showstopper he explained to me how hard it was for him to find good quality wines in the States. He said everyone drinks either whiskey or beer and not much 'good' wine is sold in shops.

He read an article from (he thinks) the Wall Street Journal about this Brit called Tony who has a knack for finding really good wine. Intrigued, he signed up to the wine club straight away and was hooked after his first case.

He said he was wooed by the range of delicious wines that he received, and that having tasting notes with them was a real plus. He is in England for the first time visiting family and so he jumped at the chance to come to Windsor and see where it all began. We greeted him with open arms.

After tasting a few wines, some small talk, some serious talk (we like to take our wine talk seriously), and a few photos later (he loved Claire’s sign “you can’t buy happiness but you can buy a great bottle of wine” and absolutely had to have his picture taken with it) he left - a rather happy chappy - with a few bottles to keep him stocked up while he’s visiting.

As we were saying our goodbyes he shook my hand and said: “tell Tony one of his fans from across the pond popped in to say hello.” I assured him nothing would make Tony happier than to hear that someone from halfway across the world likes his wines, and so here I am passing on the message.

We sure like to be a part of people’s dreams here in Windsor, especially to someone who is on their first trip to the country. Just a big candy shop for 'big' kids, I always say. And everyone is always welcome!

Kind Regards

Grisha
Wine Advisor

The Infamous Rouge

Laithwaites Wine has always been about providing a direct link between you, the customer at home and the winemakers in their vineyards. Normally, that link is simply the wine in your glass and a story or two from yours truly.

But that’s not to say it’s a one-way street. Our winemakers always like to hear what you have to say … many travel thousands of miles to meet you at our events. What follows is a transcript of the recent correspondence between one of our eagle-eyed customers and Aussie winemaker, Bob Berton. And it just goes to show that none of us are immune to the occasional slip-up …

28th June, 2011

Dear Director of Marketing,

As the acknowledged authority on our famous rogue Dick Turpin (in 1737 mistakenly said to have fled to Ireland) I was disturbed, in cashing all our Air Miles for wine, to discover that the character of your villainous Ned Kelly is seriously undermined by the label description of him as an “infamous rouge” on your Kelly Country Cabernet Sauvignon.

Nonetheless, rather than allow this rogue’s hirsute image to be sullied further, I thought you should have opportunity to redeem his notoriety when labelling the next lot of this very bold wine, guaranteed to put hair on your chest and sundry other parts of the masculine torso.

Should you decide to acknowledge this gesture, I would be pleased to introduce Ned Kelly to other old codgers of my acquaintance who, being somewhat past their last stand, would surely welcome some other diversion!

Sincerely,


Derek Barlow

PS please note that Turpin himself was, before he became a highwayman, a member of the Gregory aka the Essex Gang, and that those other members who were not hanged were transported to America.

PPS it also crossed my mind that commercially there might be something to be gained from completely rebranding your Ned Kelly red as “That Infamous Rouge”?


To which Bob replied:

8th July, 2011

Good morning Derek,

Firstly thank you for taking the time to write and yes this has since been corrected. I would like to say that I intentionally misspelt this to be cheeky, but in truth, I must have been having a senior moment.

The fact that we continue to admire the romanticism that surrounds the likes of Ned, speaks volumes for our tepid existence. These men were ruthless killers and not often given to the sharing and caring philosophy that we have adopted today. I’m sure they also had their moments of compassion and love, but they didn’t seem to display this when things didn’t go their way. I think today their school report would probably state “doesn’t play well with others”. But they lived their short lives to the full and bowed to no man so I guess that is very attractive when we are confronted by ever-increasing governance.

I’m not so sure that Turpin’s ideal to “rob from the rich to give to the poor” was any more than a clever marketing strategy to allow Ned to get away with blue murder and still have people afford him shelter. Whatever the rationale it worked for him and, in reality, it worked for us as well since we remember him with some fondness.

Thank you also for the comments about the wine, hirsute perhaps not, but definitely bold and masculine and I love the thought of it as “the infamous rouge”. I just need to get Tony Laithwaite to see the lighter side of this and agree.

Again thank you for your letter and if you ever attend the Sunday times Wine Club Vintage Festival in April each year, then please find me and make yourself known as it would be a pleasure to meet you.

Best regards


Bob Berton

Director of Marketing, Viticulture, Winemaking - and creative misspelling

Watch this space for a new wine, perhaps?

Too many great bottles, too little time

Last night at Libby and Hoddy's he got carried away and tried to sort the above problem. He started with non-stop raving – and pouring – about Portugal where they were on hols. Our friends showed them their secrets – and we drank a couple or so.

Then Mark's latest bottling: the 2010 Clairet. That's for me, this Summer!

Then he went mad. And opened his first ever wine: called Le Nain Violet 'O3, a Grenache from Maury. Amazing. Funny how so often a winemaker's first-ever wine is one of the best he ever makes! Then a lovely Burgundy: Givry from Bernard Derain, who's sent me some Summer drinking, then a velvet melting cushion of a sweet red: the 2009 Maury by Daniel Laffite at Domaines des Soulanes. Daniel is the man Mark says inspired him to buy vines and make wine in Maury.

At least I think that was what he said, but by then things were confused. Right next door, 3000 people were roaring away at the Battle re-enactment and fireworks were going off. Libby was telling us behind-the-scenes stories as she goes and dresses up as an English soldier most nights. She poured me in a taxi when Mark fell asleep …

And today something similar happened at Anne-Marie and Vincent's, with bottles culminating in the 'O9 wine called 'Ad Francos.' He's made this gorgeous wine under Michel Roland's tutelage for his Belgian owners over at Francs – the almost-forgotten region next to Castillon.

Ye Gods! My old teachers here would never believe – were they able to come back on earth – that such a glorious wine could be made in little old Francs. The secret is – mostly – new-barrel-fermenting, apparently.

Our lot have been talking about doing this. They really, really should.

I need Barbara to get here and cut down these excesses

Castillon

End of tour photo at le Presbytère after today's trip round our Castillon World. La Clarière for explanation of how it all started here; Le Comptoir for lunch of grilled duck hearts and free choice of Castillon wines from the display; Le Chai for tasting talk by Mark and Le Presbytère for a rest! They didn't want to go. Great bunch!

Little snooze then to Mark and Libby's cottage to bbq and listen to La Bataille show guns and fireworks going on next door.

The power of advertising

The most interesting thing I learnt driving round Bordeaux with a busload of Laithwaites staff was about communication.

I have always thought I must be the most self-advertised man in wine. So was surprised to hear of a recent discussion at Windsor Tennis Club where all but one were of the opinion there was no Laithwaites wine shop in Windsor! Only since 1970 has there been a Laithwaites shop in Windsor!

Fair way to go on the advertising front then!

We had a sunny day driving through the great Medoc Chateaux, wining and dining at Lynch Bages before crossing on the ferry to Blaye and wandering by the backroads of Blaye, Bourg, Fronsac, Pomerol to Saint Emilion for drinks and dinner. A lovely bunch of young people (only one was born before I came to Bordeaux in '65!) Nice to have people from the US as well as UK.

Sitting on the terrace …

… by my La Clarière vineyards, enjoying a glorious sunset and a beer. Just arrived. I'd normally mention the feeling of peace at getting here after another year. Except, clearly, the neighbour's boy has been given a trumpet. The noises might please a passing whale but don't promise quite such a peaceful summer this year.

However this is me back in French mode. For 46 years I have mutated into a Frenchie every summer. Zut alors! Oui, I can feel it embrassing moi.

Flying just now over the Bordeaux suburbs - unusual approach due to tarmacing the runways - got the unique sight of lots and lots of little villas - the sprawling suburbs - then suddenly, like, as it were, in the middle of Surbiton or Ruislip … this huge, immaculate vineyard and Chateau. Haut-Brion!

Bordeaux is special.

Somebody has taken the trumpet off the kid. Now it’s a cap-gun. But that's quite bearable. And over. It’s bedtime. I can hear St Etienne bell sounding 10pm in the west. Now St Magne … east . Now St Genes I think … north. Ste Colombe church doesn't have a clock. Being only about 50 feet away I'm glad of that.

Another beer, then bed. Not holidays yet. Tomorrow I've 'un staff'; 40 of our glorious young crowd to collect and show round the vineyards, banging in viticultural facts before the wine gets too far into them.

In Windsor Great Park …

… to see the vineyard and discuss with Philip the fate of the decrepit old shed there that they call The Boathouse. Odd, because it’s on top of the hill. Decrepit it may be, but it is an important part of this magical place and we want to save it. Work parties need shelter. And visitors too. And I expect this place will have a lot of visitors when it’s in its full glory.

Actually, it’s not looking too bad even in its first year … three months old. The rain was a blessing and the vines have shot up. The weeds have, too … so there's a fight on. But we will win.

The geese honking away on the Great Pond appear not to have done any damage and the keeper got a few rabbits that breached our security. So though I am not uncrossing my fingers, I have raised hopes!


Now, off to Gatwick Hell.

Scribblings were thankfully abandoned …

… for a while by a surprise visit from a retired Royal Marines Major bringing me a print of a painting depicting the launch of Operation Frankton in 1942. Better known by the film name of 'Cockleshell Heroes' this was an attack on shipping in Bordeaux harbour by ten Royal Marines in kayaks.

In March there was a ceremony to unveil an overdue memorial at the Pointe de la Grave; where the operation began; off the tip of the Medoc where the Gironde Estuary flows into the Bay of Biscay. We gave them some wine from Le Chai to help the ceremonials.

This visit was to thank me. For nothing at all by comparison with those young men who must've known they would not come back.

The painting shows them paddling their tiny craft away from their launch submarine, the Tuna, under the stars, December 8, 1942 a real low point in the war. Impossible to paddle against the tide or in daylight they had a gruelling journey up the estuary.

The four men who reached the target successfully crippled five merchant ships, running the allied blockade, transporting vital war supplies between Germany and Japan. Of the ten men only two survived, Hasler and Sparks. Two died at sea after a capsize in a treacherous and wholly unpredicted tide-race just hours after the launch, and the other six were later captured, as they moved overland, and faced, without any trials, German firing squads.

'Blondie' Hasler their leader and his crewman sparks only got home thanks to the French Resistance. Next year is the 70th Anniversary and I hope to be there. With some wine. As much as they want.

These men are held in some esteem in Bordeaux. The alternative to their raid was bombing and then Bordeaux would not be what it is today; beautiful, and the most Anglophile city in France.