Gold Again in Paris

Early La Clarière harvest scene.
L to R: Monsieur Cassin, me, old Labrut, even older Marthe, young Olivier with his brother

Old Monsieur Cassin who taught me all about wine, eventually asked Barbara and I to take over La Clarière – his Bordeaux vineyard in Castillon – and prove to the world that it was actually a very special place.

That was over 30 years ago and we knew nothing about making wine. But I'd been buying wine for ten years so I knew people who did. With their help we began the long learning curve. 

La Clarière winemaker Henry Laithwaite started young

 

It’s a family thing; our son Henry, born the year – 1980 – we took on the vineyard has been the Château La Clarière Laithwaite winemaker in recent years. Olivier Delage, our farmer, is the son of Guy who tended our vines before him, and Bernadette who has always cooked for the harvest team. Hélène Dupin has always run the place and welcomed visiting customers, especially the many 'Confreres' who like to take their case of La Clarière  every year.

  

Today we heard we'd just won our seventh Gold medal in the great 'Concours de Paris'. One of only two in our district. This takes our total medal tally in all competitions to SEVENTY FIVE! Interestingly, since we began in 1984 we have won at least one medal EVERY VINTAGE … except 1991, when our crop was decimated by both frost and hail.

But the big Paris competition is where we now dominate in a way I don't think any other château has ever come close to emulating: 2006 Silver; 2007 Gold; 2008 Gold; 2009 Silver; 2010 Gold; 2011 Gold.

As a happy Henry says; 'we OWN the Paris'!

I feel sure Monsieur Cassin would be satisfied that we've proved his point; La Clarière truly is a special vineyard.     

The 2011 will not be bottled till next month, but we have the last few bottles of 2010 and 2008 if anyone would like to find out what Gold tastes like.

We will not expand La Clarière, as so many successful Châteaux. It is a small vineyard and will stay small.

However there are new excitements. Henry with his wife Kaye now has a similar-sized vineyard almost next door; Château Verniotte.  He has his own cellars and likes to be a little more daring in his winemaking there. He doesn't enter the Paris competitions, just the London. Doing very well.