Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

AlexR

OMG, 19 vintages, including some legendary ones. And such good tasting notes! What strikes me is that the "first of the firsts" only garners one score above 94 (for the 1986 vintage). What gives? I'm a tough grader myself, but even so... I have tasted Lafite en primeur for a few years with...

AlexR

Hi, Dinner at my house last night. Apéritif: Grand Cru blanc de blancs “Les Aventures“ from A.R. Lenoble. Blend of 2002 and 2006. Bottled in 2017. Rope capsule! A little oxidation there, but not very bothersome. Clearly an older Champagne that to me was past its best. Nevertheless enjoyable. 2005 Ch...

AlexR

Harry, Château Talbot is indeed in Saint Julien. But when I wrote “1986 Talbot: Jim bought a bottle of this in Saint Emilion”, that was not a mistake. Jim, Tom, Tim, Gail, and I visited Etablissements Martin in Saint Emilion, and this is where Jim found the bottle, in the underground cellar where th...

AlexR

It's funny. The Québécois défend the French language far more than the French do themselves. It is very common for English words to be simply adopted in France whereas their use is monitored according to à set of laws ln la Belle Province. I bring this up because Jim used the term "week-end&quo...

AlexR

I had never been to Latin America until last month, so I was pretty excited about a trip to Argentina, a country five times the size of mainland France. My wife and I arrived on the eve of the presidential elections there. Despite a massive campaign budget (funded, it seems, by the government in pow...

AlexR

Thanks for posting Jim. It was great to see you and the others even if your trip was short. There are an infinite number of things to discover in Bordeaux! Yes, by all means come back and we'll continue where we left off! I might add that visiting châteaux with just a few people is easier than with ...

AlexR

i have taken part in Guide Hachette tastings for years, so I'm kind of biased about them :-). As opposed to one critic's opinion of a wine he has not tasted blind, 4-member juries are totally impartial. Jurors are almost exclusively wine professionals There is no way of knowing what the wines are (d...

AlexR

The tip of the tip of the iceberg.

What a bunch of fabulous wines!

Seems impossible to drink any better.

Alex R.

AlexR

My Christmas bottle was 2009 La Tour Figeac, which exceeded my (already high) expectations. Great wine.

AR

AlexR

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your notes and best wishes for the New Year.

I am also grateful to you for letting me know that there is a Château Lagrange in Saint-Emilion!

All the best,
Alex

AlexR

Nic, You said on a previous post that you were dispirited that people didn't react to your posts, or reacted very little. I read each and every one. I was very interested to read you comments about the Italian wines and I think that Destieux is a dark horse wine that is quite good, which seems to be...

AlexR

Hi,

I'm presently in the wine country of Argentina (Mendoza) and Ian Amstadt and I have exchanged photos from other sides of the world.
The brotherhood of wine is truly international.

Alex R.

AlexR

Izak,

That is twice the average size in the Beaujolais:

https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles ... nd-figures

Burgundy is so much smaller!

I also seem to see the wine everywhere.

Alex

AlexR

One of the very reliable large producers in Beaujolais.

I intend to spend a week in the region next year and fill the trunk with affordable wine.

Alex

AlexR

Hi guys, Ian posted this message earlier today, so I decided to use it to start a new thread. ================================================================================== “A poignant interview with Jim. I am sure many of us were shaken as much as I was about what happened in Jim’s hometown, wh...

AlexR

Nic, You wrote, "but i feel my posts are just mostly ignored". Please, please don't feel that wasy! I, for one, read everything you post on BWE, even if I don't post a comment or reply. I'm sure I'm not alone in this! Keep up the good work Nic. I particularly like your posts about wines fr...

AlexR

Does anyone here believe that incidents like this won't happen year after year, inexorably? Those who govern us stick to a literal interpretation of the US constitution purely in order to be re-elected by conservative voters. They are like the people who do harm in the name of religion by invoking s...

AlexR

Hi, I did as blog report about Chai Mica two years ago: https://bordeauxwineblog.com/chai-mica-or-where-to-buy-burgundy-in-bordeaux/ Your question is a very involved one touching on many fields of science (geology, climatology,chemistry, viticulture, etc.). Here are a couple of books on the subject:...

AlexR

Depends on how wine savvy your guest is, or how much you respect him.

The Pichons are on the downward slope.
If pushed, I'd serve the 83?

Alex R.

AlexR

This past weekend Tom and Gail Wheltle, Jim Howaniec, and Tim Mc Cracken converged on Bordeaux. Tim and Gail arrived first, on Wednesday evening, and on Thursday I went with them on a walking tour of Bordeaux. We had lunch at a restaurant that is overlooked by most guides, le Cochon Volant. This is ...

AlexR

Can you believe this?

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/18/poli ... index.html

This man must NOT be te-elected!!!

Alex R.

AlexR

Hi, I have noticed that some of the most famous Port houses bottle a flagship vintage Port as well as a single vineyard vintage Port. Examples of the latter: Dow’s Quinta do Bomfin Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas The price differential is quite significant between the “stra...

AlexR

Izak, I do not doubt your experience with that wine, but I was speaking about the category as a whole. It is only normal that red Loire wines should be lighter in body since they are located 300 km north of Bordeaux. It's colder. I agree that light-bodied does not equate with weak. Yours truly, Alex...

AlexR

Hi, China’s rise is due to a strong belief in their version of manifest destiny. Americans of my generation grew up believing their country was the best, number one in many, many ways – and that this would remain so. Despite political differences, Americans pulled pretty much in the same direction. ...

AlexR

Yes, there is indeed a crisis, but not for *all* French wines.

Rosé wines are doing exceedingly well and despite a brief blip, Chamapgne is going great guns. Burgundy is in huge demand.

The category that is losing out most is red wine which, of course, is over 80% of what Bordeaux produces.

Alex R.

AlexR

Dear Izak,

You are mistaken there. I lived in Saumur for rwo years and sold such wines, which I have enjoyed on countless occasions.

All the best,
Alex

AlexR

Château le Grand Verdus is a well-reputed centuries-old estate located in Sadirac, equidistant from Bordeaux and Libourne. This large vineyard (120 hectares) produces wines sold under the Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur appellations. The château makes a range of wines including an unsulfured red, an...

AlexR

Wow, that's one of the finest Italian wines. I hope it was worthy of its reputation.
This BWEer (yours truly) is in the Douro Valley.
The world of wine is winderful, ain't it?

Alex R.

AlexR

If only understanding and appreciating fine wine weren't so damned complicated! Second wines are a good illustration of this. Some consumers want "only the best" and shun them alogether, perhaps making an exception with regard to the first growths. Others are afraid of getting burnt, of en...

AlexR

The French say "Comparaison n'est pas raison". But... When I think about ageing wine, I think about US presidents. US presidents? Well, if it's a choice between a John F. Kennedy or a Joe Biden, I'll take the former. The young guy full of spirit and punch, as opposed to the old guy who has...

AlexR

:cry: It amuses me to think that a 2008 could be called young ;-). It's all a matter of perspective. And, yes, I know that Barolos need age, sometimes lots and lots of it. That's somewhat of a handicap commercially, and in the same way that there was a turn towards "modern" Bordeaux, winem...

AlexR

Alexandre de Lur Saluces was a great man, and he will have died in the same year as Jean-Michel Cazes, another giant. The count was an ambassador not just for Yquem and Fargues, but also all of Sauternes. He was a true gentleman, and it is only because of undue pressue and manipulation that Yquem es...

AlexR

Hi, Peppercorn's book actually dates from 1981, but an updated edition was later published. It's a good book, with the classic shortcoming of focusing on the great growths. There are few errors, just one that makes me smile: he refers to Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux as Place Royale - which it hasn...

AlexR

My wife and i shared a bottle of 2009 La Croix Boissée on Friday. Thankfully, it did not display the bretty notes I have found in Baudry in the past, as in many Chinons. The wine was very evolved with marked pencil shaving aromas. It was fully resolved, in fact, past its prime from my point of view....

AlexR

I quite like Rioja and wonder why I don’t drink it more often. OK, some of them are seriously overoaked, but if you take a little time and effort, you can find some wonderful wines, and the prices hurt a lot less than for fine French wines… I’ve been to Rioja a couple of times and believed I had mor...

AlexR

Two comments here. All of us are tempted to judge the market by what we see around us, i.e. where we live. But, the market for Bordeaux is well and truly international. This means that generalizations on a global scale are difficult to make, as tempting as this may be. Older better vintages for less...

AlexR

The same sort of article could have been written years ago because it is not exactly new that better, older vintages have been availabe at a lower peice than en primeur. Yet still the system continues.. Its bubblebursting collapse has long been predicted but has never materialized. I'm not really de...

AlexR

Hi Jacques, Thanks for the travelogue. You were in the real heartland of France, where it is said that the purest French is spoken. I lived in a town called Doué La Fontaine near Saumur for a year and a half. In fact, my family and I lived here: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_du_Pont-de-...

AlexR

I wonder why Duhart Milon has such a low profile. It's not a small estate by any means (76 hectares). it's true, I've personally never had one that made me vibrate. When you taste at Lafite, the put Duhart Milno *before* Les Carruades, therefore considering it either less good, or lighter, or all of...

AlexR

Brown is beautiful estate surrounded by suburbs. It is named after the same Scottish wine merchant, Jean Lewis Brown, who had Cantenac Brown in Margaux. Actually, I prefer Brown blanc to Brown rouge (the colors are confusing, aren't they?). The latter is kind of modern in style in my opinion. I have...

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