Recent BWE get-together in Bordeaux

[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 a non-fancy, salt-of-the-earth kind of place with great local cooking and sizeable portions. I was happy to see that Tom had ordered a salmis de palombe, a small game bird served in a red wine sauce that is emblematic of cuisine in Southwest France. We enjoyed a 1996 Ch. du Glana, Saint Julien with the meal.

Jim joined us for dinner, a blanquette de veau (veal, cream, white wine, and mushroom stew). We had three Bordeaux wines: a 2017 Ch. Raoul, white Graves, 2010 Aria (cuvée prestige of Ch. de la Rivière), Fronsac, and 2010 Roc de Cambes, Côtes de Bourg. The Raoul had a bouquet that was quintessentially Sauvignon Blanc, but with some honeyed richness from Sémillon. The Aria was deep, dark, and brooding, perhaps not quite up to what I had expected. Roc de Cambes was a very different style. There was general agreement that it had a rustic side, but that it was preferable to the Fronsac and a serious wine.
We ended with a 2012 Valpolicella from Guiseppe Quintarelli, a vigorous sexy wine that was quite a treat. Thank you Tom.

Friday was a day out in Saint Emilion. Four of us went in Tom’s rented van, for a morning visit to Ch. Pavie Macquin, after which we went to pick up Tim, who had come down from Paris, at Libourne train station.

It was an absolutely beautiful day and I very much enjoy visits that start out in the vineyard. Pavie Macquin was promoted to Premier Cru Classé status last year. It is managed by Nicholas Thienpont and his son, Cryil, both of whom we met. The harvest had just ended there. We were told that there had been a problem with mildew, but early in the growing season and that it did not have a major impact on quality. The Thienponts also manage Ch. Larcis-Ducasse for the Gratiot family, which was likewise promoted to Premier Grand Cru status last year. We tasted two wines, the 2014 and the 2020 Pavie Macquin. The flavor profile is on the big side, with plenty of rich fruit. I preferred the 2020. Indeed, I’d like to have some in my cellar.

We had lunch at La Terrasse Rouge, the restaurant at Ch. La Dominique. The is an easy-going modern type of establishment with a great view through the plate glass windows. Three out of five of us ordered fish while Tim and I ordered duck. What wine to have that would go with both? The waiter was enthusiastic about 2013 La Chapelle Lescours, Saint Emilion, and swore up and down that we had not to worry about the poor reputation of the vintage. Well… we were not impressed and left most of the bottle. We did, however, enjoy the 2016 Les Hauts du Tertre, the second wine of Ch. du Tertre in Margaux.

The afternoon visit was to the two of the six estates belonging to Vignobles K, Ch. Bellefont Belcier and Ch. Tour Saint Christophe, both classified growths. Jim had met the owner’s son, Howard Kwok, in America, but Howard was unfortunately away when we were there. Bellefont Belcier is a beautiful estate close to Pavie and Tertre Roteboeuf. We tasted through 5 wines, starting off with two fun ones from Castillon, 2020 Ch. Le Rey Les Rocheuses and 2020 Ch. Le Rey Les Argileuses. As their names suggest, these come respectfully from stony and clay soils. Packaged in Burgundy-shaped bottles, these are unoaked upfront sensual wines to drink young and everyone liked them. They also have a pure Cabernet Franc version that I would very much like to try one day. We went on to sample the 2019 Tours de Bellefont (second wine) and 2019 Bellefont Belcier (grand vin). The former seemed a little dilute at first, but redeemed itself with a decent aftertaste. The latter had a cherry-vanilla and slightly spirity nose and a palate with blackberry liqueur nuances. The last wine was 2020 Tour Saint Christophe that had a bouquet of refined berry fruit. The tannin melted in the mouth and this was a delicious wine. I was not surprised to see that this was 15% alcohol by volume, but this was mostly well-integrated. We also visited the estate, which is a 10-minute drive from Bellefont Belcier.

That evening we had dinner outside (not bad for the 6th of October) at La Tupina in Bordeaux, a restaurant BWEers know well. They have changed management and improved things in my opinion. The menu is rather short, which is a good sign, i.e. what they do, they do well. The wine list is very good. I was asked to choose the white wine, and opted for Ch. du Champ des Treilles, Vin Passion. This estate belongs to Jean-Michel Comme (winemaker for years at Ch. Pontet Canet) and his wife Corinne. Although the wine is made from Bordeaux grape varieties, it is sold as Vin de France, for whatever reason. We found this to be fresh, fruity, and attractive, but nothing to write home about. The next wine was one I brought, a 2013 La Mission Haut Brion. It was served blind. At the start of the meal, Jim had referred to the 2013 vintage as “the worst in the past 100 years”. So I took perverse pleasure in watching the favourable reaction around the table to La Mission from that year. Tim saw that it was a wine with a great pedigree, but somewhat lacking in depth and length. We next had (blind) a bottle he brought, a 1966 Clos des Jacobins, which was gently gliding down from its peak, but very much alive. We finished with a 2020 Sigalas Rabaud (Sauternes first growth) that was in fine fettle, in the lively, rather than the thick sweet style.

On Saturday, I stayed home while the rest of the crew went to the Médoc, which they will need to recount.

We ended the mini-convention with a wine dinner to which I invited two other friends. Jean-François Bourrut-Lacouture is a retired négociant, and Lori Westmoreland works in public relations at Ch. Léoville Poyferré. The 8 of us tasted 10 ½ bottles (I say tasted, but I see this morning that there was surprisingly little left over…).

The first two were 2012 Veuve Clicquot and 2012 Dom Pérignon. The former was certainly a good Champagne, but did not really float my boat. The Dom was, to my mind, head and shoulders above it and, as opposed to many other vintages of DP, quite enjoyable to drink at age 11. It was complex, yeasty, biscuity, and had a wonderful aftertaste. Thank you Jim.

We had two Sauternes with foie gras on a bed of mâche, or lamb’s lettuce. I see that an alternative name for this is "Lewiston corn salad". Perhaps Jim can enlighten us as to the etymology of that name.
https://www.britannica.com/plant/lambs-lettuce

The first Sauternes (or rather, Barsac), donated by Tim, was 2001 Doisy Daënes, which was delightful and the kind of wine you can love either young or old. We raised a toast to the late Denis Dubourdieu, owner of the estate and Dean of the Faculty of Enology at Bordeaux University. One of the great men of Bordeaux. The wine had the trademark minerality and digestibility of great Barsac.
This was followed by 1997 Yquem. Once again, a toast was raised to the late Count de Lur Saluces, who died earlier this year. As opposed to the red wines of Bordeaux, 1997 is a very good vintage in Sauternes. As this was tasted blind, most people thought the wine was older, from the 1980s. I can see why because the color looked that way. The wine was, to my mind, at peak and a joy to drink.

With the goose confit, duchess potatoes, and cauliflower we transitioned to reds, starting out with a 2019 Siran from Margaux that the guys had been given by Edouard Miailhe earlier that afternoon. This was a promising elegant wine.

Next up were three wines served side by side: 2002 Mouton Rothshild, 2002 Léoville Las Cases, and 2002 Latour. It was fascinating to compare these blind. Everyone agreed that the LLC was not up to the standard of the Pauillacs. I had hoped it would be because many people feel that this estate is on a par with the first growths and the Delon family at one point unsuccessfully tried to price it in that category. So, the duel was between Mouton and Latour. I was in the minority, felling that the former edged out the latter. Mouton was beautifully aromatic and elegant, a superb Médoc entering its drinking window. Where Latour did outperform was in the incredibly suave long aftertaste.

Jim had picked up a bottle of 1986 Talbot when we were in Saint Emilion, declaring this to be a perennial BWE favorite. I can certainly see why. It was beautiful, with any Cordier funkiness pretty much under control. This was meaty, rich Saint Julien in traditional mode, with great acidity and length. The last red wine of the evening was one Tom had brought from America, a 1979 Château Margaux. Although the finish was drying, the wine was graceful, poised, and elegant at age 44.

With dessert, we enjoyed a bottle Tom had also brought with him, a Kopke Coheita Port from 1953, my birth year. I was really touched.
This was bottled in 2012. To say the tannins are resolved would be an understatement. This has moved into another dimension, with a softness and warmth that caress the palate, the ultimate “comfort wine”. In fact, I’m sipping some as I write this, feeling pretty damned good about the time I’ve spent with my BWE friends the past few days.

[JCNorthway]

Thanks for the great BWE report from Bordeaux. Paula and I are currently in France on a 4-week getaway in and around the Lyon region. The past week we have been west of Lyon, just outside of the town Roanne, in a small village along the Loire River. Beautiful landscape and scenery. We've drunk mostly inexpensive local wines from the Cote Roannaise, an AOC region I'd not heard of before; it is only 22 kilometers from north to south and quite narrow. These are mostly red wines made from a variant of the Gamay grape. They remind me of Beaujolais wines. They are very nice food wines and most are around 10 Euro in grocery stores.

We leave Wednesday for the east side of Lyon near Aix les Bains, and are there for 11 days. There is something to be said for the flexibility freedom that comes with retirement!

[dstgolf]

Alex,

Thanks for that wonderful review with good friends, wine and a few meals along the way. Glad that some of you finally reached La Tour Christophe. They've put a lot of work into terracing those vineyards and the wine has been beautiful since the take over along with good QPR. Jim must have been very happy to be there but disappointed that Howard was not present. Can't have everything. A little jealous from this side of the pond but thanks for sharing the experiences.

[DavidG]

Wonderful report Alex, I really enjoyed hearing about the group getting together in Bordeaux.

[JoelD]

Great writeup, Alex. Glad you all had a good time.

I was lucky to taste a lot of those wines recently, thanks to BWE. I'm surprised but glad that the Latour showed so well. I found it to be a clenched beast.

It feels like almost every 2001 Sauternes is very good-great. I was also very impressed by the 01 Doisy Vedrines last summer.

Hope to come see you in Bordeaux next year!

[tim]

The lineup

[Tom In DC]

Greetings from Ravello on Amalfi coast! We've been adventuring in southern Italy for a while, so I apologize for my tardy trip notes.

First off, thanks again to Christine and AlexR for thelr wonderful hospitality! We had a great time touring the city, enjoying too much great wine and food, and sharing stories, laughter, and the good life.

On Saturday, Jim, Tim, Gail and I set out for a day in the Médoc, starting with a visit to a personal favorite of mine, Branaire-Ducru. I apologize for not taking notes, but I was determined to relax - is that any oxymoron? - and enjoy the ride on this trip, even if I was doing the driving!

We tasted 2016 Duluc de Branaire-Ducru and the 2012 first wine. The '16 reflected a solid vintage and is close to its drinking window. The 2012 Branaire was hitting its stride - ready to go and well worth buying at US$60 or so.

After a pleasant lunch at La Salamandre at the quayside in Pauillac, we headed for Chateau Siran in Margaux. This house has had a lot of discussion here recently and we thought we needed to get boots on the ground there.

Upon our arrival, we did some wandering around inside a huge courtyard looking for the tasting room before a friendly gentleman came out and showed us the sign for visits. In our defense, the sign was small and behind a large bush.

We proceeded into the visitor center, whereupon the aforementioned gentleman revealed that he was Edouard Miailhe, the current owner of the estate which has been in his family since 1859! What proceeded was certainly one of the most entertaining winery visits of my life.

We went up to a huge patio where we overlooked all of the estate's vineyards, including a patch of unclassified Bordeaux vines between the estate and the Gironde. Like many other wineries we have visited, Siran takes a sensible, flexible approach to organic/biodynamic growing - adhering as much as possible but doing what they have to in circumstances such as this year's early mildew onset. We also saw a cruise ship heading towards the sea and laughed that it was like a small town moving down the river.

We visited the winemaking facilities and some retired winemaking rooms where they have an extensive collection of wine related ceramics and objects d'arte - worth a stop on its own.

We then headed to "Le Bunker", a cold war era bomb shelter that now houses the wine library back to at least the early 1920's. Here, we laughed and gossiped about friends and acquaintances in the wine business and in the fake wine business.

So finally, to the wines... We tasted a very good 2019 Saint-Jacques de Siran Grand Vin de Bordeaux from the vines near the estate, a well-structured but fruit-driven 2019 S de Siran Margaux, the estate's second wine, and the 2019 Chateau Siran, a serious wine with all the hallmarks of a medium-long ager along with Margauxberries a plenty. All three wines are great values at their current prices.

On a packaging note, Siran was known for its annual art labels from 1980 through 2005. After a special gold painted bottle in 2019 to note the 160th year of family ownership, the art labels have been restarted from 2020 onward. Unlike Mouton-Rothschild which commissions an artist and gives the artist completely free rein to paint whatever they want, Siran includes the subject of the art in the commision.

All in all, a fun trip and a great time connecting with our long-time friends in BWE!

[Nicklasss]

Nice stories, Alex and Tom. Time in Bordeaux area is always a great time, especially if many BWEers are there!