... flash, bang, wallop; stones, is it,
pinging on the metal table in the garden? No; hail! At first light – heart in
mouth – out to check the vines. Very, very wet BUT … no damage I could
see.
So … Day 2. Our group of 24 sets off, over the 'seas'
(rivers) for Pauillac in the Médoc, and a
producer who perfectly exemplifies what our Company is all about.
Yesterday was mostly about the wines we make in Castillon and where Laithwaite's
began. Today it’s about the sort of producer we love to work with.
Pascale Peyronie and her 88-year-old father have 20
super-prime hectares in Pauillac. They are not super-wealthy like their
neighbours and last month Pascale herself loaded our order on to the lorry. In
her big heels, probably. Grandfather
managed the estate for the Rothschilds of Mouton and kept the estate going
through the war. (So guess he was in charge of making the legendary Mouton
1945)!!!
He invested his salary in the small bits of 'workers' or
Crus Artisans vineyard that lie in and around the greats; Mouton, Lafite,
Latour and the others. Today Pascale's vines are not just near those of Mouton
they are actually intermingled. She takes us to see some frequently confused
rows up to the great gravel plateau of Pouyalet to the north of Pauillac.
Her
property here is called Château de Roque Milon, it covers 14 hectares of prime
land. There is no finer wine terroir. Period. This is where Mouton has bought
several bungalows just to demolish and plant vines. Crazy? Not when Mouton is
£600 a bottle. We sell Pascale's Roque Milon for a twentieth of that. I'm not
knocking Mouton and the others. Without their efforts wine would just not be
what it is today. They invented 'Fine Wine' for the world. I just feel its a
pity they are now 'Millionaires and Investors Only'. Who can open a £600 bottle
of wine? I certainly couldn't. Just couldn't. So I must be mean? What I open
and pour a lot are wines like Pascale's 'The unknown wines from next door,
the Cleverer Buys' are my obsession. Thankfully our customers like them
too. You just have to spend your life out there tracking them down. But there
are worse jobs.
This wine makes total sense. Not all wine makes sense. Across
the road the ex-property developer new owner of Château Pedesclaux is busy
encasing his Château in a big glass box. I haven't quite got my head round …
why the … That makes better wine?
Back to Pascale's other Château; Fonbadet, for a tour and
tasting. She's so lovely and straight and open. Everyone falls for her.
Especially the girls. She's a star, their heroine. No Bull at all. She will soon
come over to Theale and Glos – then Connecticut – to talk to all who can't come
here.
Finally to Rauzan Segla the other 'Chanel' Château for final
tour and tasting. Very excellent and reasonably affordable Grand Vin. Another brilliant new cellar design; both
functional and beautiful by my old mate John Kolassa who, like me, came out to
Bordeaux from Britain as a student in the 60's and like me got hooked. Stop
talking retirement John. It's not possible.
But … a tip … I just wouldn't let Karl Lagerfeld design any
more 'special' wine labels. Stick to the frocks, Karl.
Grand final dinner/reward for all my lovely young people is at La
Tupina; Jean-Pierre Xiradakis' (that's Basque not Greek) unique temple to traditional Gascon country
cooking. Lotsa meat, blood, guts and stuff. Glorious megacalories … but scary
for some. The sight that greets you on arrival reminds me so much of Madame
Cassin's kitchen where I was taught all about traditional French country food
for over thirty years. The fireplace and all.
 |
| La Tupina |
The group were surprised to see me embraced and kissed on
both cheeks by Le Patron … he'd seen
my French TV debut last night!! Je suis
un star!
He put out the bottles of his Blanc Limé for all. When I was
a penniless cellarhand "un blanc limé, SVP" was what I bought in
bars; 20 centimes or 2p, white wine and lemonade. Sort of a Bordeaux spritzer.
Done right, lovely on a hot night like tonight.
 |
| Me and the group loving Jean-Pierre's Blanc Limé. Customers still clamour for it ... perhaps we should supply it again? |
Then 'Pacherenc de Vic Bilh' unpronounceable delicious
slightly sweet white from deepest Gascony. Good with duck. And then Domaine de
Chevalier 2011. Great Graves. Good with duck. Not much point ordering anything
not good with duck round here.
 |
| Anne is overcome ... flowers from the group |
Riotous round a big table. Noisy crowd are we. Anne given
flowers. These staff trips were Anne's idea. She invented them and has led them
all for decades. She was our head buyer for many years and so has the contacts
that get us into châteaux no-one else can. She also gives up a helluva lot of
her time. Great night. Great trip. Hope
we manage to catch the plane home.
No comments:
Post a Comment