http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PL9yOSXuYc

Alex R.

I visite Bonneau du Martray in January.
I had heard that his reds were not on par with his whites, but tried to keep an open mind.
Still, I came away agreeing with the conventional opinion...

Alex R.

Hi Nic, Sounds like a wonderful evening. I went to a dinner last night with 18 wines, none of which were Bordeaux. The best was Quorum, a super Tuscan. I love your description "just too good", which reminds me of the "c'est trop bon" young people use all the time here. I'm glad t...

I have a magnum of this, and hope it shows better than your notes.

By the way, Harry, I really enjoy your contributions to the forum and am always glad to read your notes.

All the best,
Alex R.

Glad to see you guys have an open mind about the 2007s :-). I went to a large tasting this spring with many of the great growths, each showing their 2007 plus another recent vintage. http://www.wga-ugcb.com/?lang=en I tasted quite a few. Yes, the quality was uneven, yes some of the wines showed gree...

This estate has since been taken over by a Dutchman and has pretty good press.

I somehow think the price has not stayed the same, though...

Alex R.

Many thanks for sharing your notes.

Us non-millionaire Bordeaux drinkers like to know about such wines .

I have a LOT of time for Durfort Vivens in recent vintages, especially in terms of value for money....

All the best,
Alex R.

At Haut Brion. For their white wine. 2009 is going to be a tough act to follow. And, as we have seen, there was some consumer resistance to the the 2009s, so Lord knows how the 2010s will be marketed. It will be interesting to see what the well-oiled Bordeaux spin machine will crank out :-). All the...

La Fleur Cardinale is quite close to Valandraud. It is one of the wines promoted a Grand Cru Classé in 2006, then demoted, then re-instated... The family who now own it are very go-ahead and energetic. Personally, I find the wine a little "overworked", i.e., pushed to far with extraction a...

Michael,

Sounds like a fascinating evening with old wines 6,000 miles from Bordeaux...

BTW, does anyone have news of James Grandison?

All the best,
Alex R.

Was this a Montagne-St Emilion as my reference books say?
The Féret says its a second label of Ch. La Maison Blanche.
Sorry you got burnt...

Alex

Hi Michael, I've been thinking about your dilemma :-). First of all, Domaines Clarence Dillon are now pricing LMHB at the same level as HB. This means that the price has shot up tremendously, and your wine has appreciated greatly *despite* the fact that a certain number of people will snub all wines...

Hi Michael, Pétrus Desbois is a friend of mine, and he will be happy to hear that his 82 was much appreciated going on 30 years down the line... Ch. St. George (in Bordeaux's smallest appellation) is a good wine, and very good value for money. The château itself is one of the most beautiful in the e...

Hound, Great notes. On other wine forums, I am regularly raked over the coals for championing affordable Bordeaux. I am told that great Bordeaux is, in effect, great, but also fiendishly expensive and that all the rest (minimum 6,000 estates) is crap. A lose-lose situation, unless you belong to the ...

Hi Jim, As far as I know, a book is not copyrighted, it is registered with the Library of Congress. This garish link is to a broker who does this: http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/index.asp I am not sure whether or not a broker is strictly necessary. Under certain conditions, apparently, and ISBN ...

Chateau des Sours AC Bordeaux: English owned. Very good for its appellation. Crisp, modern winemaking. Chateau Daugay Owned by the de Boüard family of Angélus. Good middle-of-the-road wine Hortvie St Julien For many years the exclusivity of the very old (like 2 centuries old) firm of Nathaniel Johns...

A true gentleman.

Alex R.

Stefan, Of course there's a market for those wines as long as they're good value for money! Heck, I'm not in full agreement with Asimov's list either. And Jaugaret would indeed need to be something very special to justify that sort of price!!! But, I ask you, what does a decent entry level Burgundy ...

http://events.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/dining/reviews/25Pour.html?pagewanted=1&ref=dining God, do I love it when journalists wake up to the fact that 95% of Bordeaux wine are *not* classified growths :-). And that there are some great wines out there at competitive prices. I would contest the impr...

I am normally suspicious of those machines that serve fine wine by the glass, replacing dispensed wine with nitrogen gas. However, I finally gave in and went to a place I would now recommend to wine lovers who come to Bordeaux: http://maxbordeaux.com/index.php?lang=en Max Bordeaux is located in a be...

Jim,

Your description pretty much nails the wine.
Shows what fine things can be done in the less flashy parts of Bordeaux.

As you say, this is a "modern" wine, but also a very good one.

All the best,
Alex

Daniel,

There is a world outside America, and a world outside England.
And Decanter Magazine is only the shadow of what it once was.

Alex R.

Sounds like a wonderful occasion!
I'm jealous .
I'm off to the Médoc today for a picnic lunch at Ch. Preuillac, but there will be nothing like the wines you guys had!
All the best,
Alex

Congratulations on your anniversary.

The wines sound as though they were stupendous.

Life is good .

Alex

Chris,

Remarkably well-written notes and apology for "other than blockbuster" vintages. I couldn't agree more!

So many lemmings out there, it is refreshing to find someone who takes wines for what they really are .

It's great to read you on BWE.

All the best,
Alex R.

Last week, I visited the leading estate in Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, Ch. Loubens, and the leading estate in Loupiac, Ch. du Cros, with Alain Bringolf of Wine Mega (and a new commercial site called Boottle.com). This is some of the prettiest wine country in Bordeaux, which puts paid to the idea that Bord...

I recently wrote about two very different bottles from the same case (1982 Grand Puy Lacoste). Same darned thing happened to me again. I had opened a very disappointing 1998 Latour-à-Pomerol last year and posted about this. Well, I had another bottle on Saturday, bought from the same store at the sa...

Pretty general, but here it is: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... EThirdNews

No comparisons...

Alex R.

05 Vieux Château Champs de Mars Côtes de Castillon Cuvée Johanna Congratulations! Now THERE is a true connoisseur's wine. NOT a Léoville Las Cases, but a damned good wine at an affordable price. One that can hold it's head high with competition from ANYWHERE. One that gives a good name to Bordeaux (...

Ian, I'm going to be a pedantic pain in the elbow... Ch. Gazin has 24 hectares of vines, Ch. de Sales has 47.5. Gazin is frequently considered "stolid", foursquare, and unexciting. It has a very earthy, very Pomorol nose and flavor. Recent vintages have got better and better in tastings I'...

Sad news indeed.

Alex

Nic, >>>I have a plan to write a book too, but I think that plan will never be done. Join the club :-). In fact, if I didn't have to contend with work, family problems and the general complications of 21st century living, I'd like to do two (dream on, Alex...). One would be about wine and w...

Claudius, you're one lucky man :-). I've rarely had enough money to buy fine wine by the case... Jim, your notes were lyrical and more than encouraging.... Wines like Branaire Ducru don't have the Parker points or sex appeal of a LLC or a Ducru Beaucaillou, but they're not far off the mark and oh-so...

Nick,

Glad to see you're drinking well.

I'd say that *both* of those wines are well-known for being reliable and excellent value for money.
Wines for wine drinkers rather than label drinkers .

All the best,
Alex

Hi, Wife's away on vacation so I was all on my lonesome to prepare a meal for 4 people, which explains the spottiness of the notes: 99 Carbonnieux blanc: beautiful colour of a medium-old Sauternes. Curiously inexpressive nose (some wax, some lemon but not much), and also lacking personality on the p...

http://blogs.ionis-group.com/iseg/borde ... atrice.jpg

This is not a spoof, by the way.
The wine really exists. I've had it.
But I think the imperial pee must be pretty diluted by now...

All the best,
Have a great weekend,
Alex

Jim,

>>>A store on Long Island has 2001 Lagrange for $46, is that a buy or is it a no-buy?

Is that a no brainer, or what?

Alex

Hi Jono, Looks like you had a nice dinner. I'm fond of 2001 clarets too :-). Funnily enough, I went to an Argentinian restaurant last night too, but had Argentinean wines. One of them was quite nice too :-). Sorry, wrote the name down, but don't have it to hand. The beef this restaurant served was d...

Fair enough Daniel.

All the best,
Alex

Daniel,

How could Claudius possibly know that?

Not a criticism, just goes along with the theme of this thread that figures are impossible to pin down.

Best regards,
Alex R.