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March 2006
Waiting at the Station
Posted: 06:57 AM ET, March 31, 2006
I read this comment from David Hamshere on my blog a few days ago and I continue to go back to it. I think that it puts it in a perspective that we can all appreciate. There are so many other businesses in the world that are being affected in the same way as the small wine growers of Bordeaux. Read more
The Big Event
Posted: 05:08 PM ET, March 30, 2006
One of my last stops in my 2005 Bordeaux wine tour today was L’Eglise Clinet, the highly rated Pomerol estate. The owner, Denis Durantou, was standing just inside the door of his small winery waiting for me. It was about 10 a.m. and lightly raining. Read more
Behind the Golden Veil
Posted: 09:26 AM ET, March 29, 2006
I was tasting some great wines from the Right Bank yesterday, including Pétrus, Cheval-Blanc, Le Pin, Vieux Château Certan and Ausone, and I ran into a grower I know from Graves, and he reminded me of some sad truths about Bordeaux at the moment. Read more
Quote of the Day
Posted: 09:09 AM ET, March 29, 2006
Me at lunch with Fabien Teitgen, technical director of Smith-Haut-Lafitte, discussing why some people seem to be upset that I am writing so positively about the 2005 vintage – especially after all the positive words for 2000 and 2003.
“Hey. Read more
Pricing Therapy
Posted: 01:41 AM ET, March 28, 2006
Before you all start crying about prices, two things. First, no one has released prices yet. Second, even if they are very high, you don’t have to buy the high-priced wines. There are going to be hundreds of good-value Bordeaux with very good to excellent prices. Read more
Kitchen Cabinet
Posted: 01:39 AM ET, March 28, 2006
I am leaving the hotel this moment to taste the heavy hitters in Pomerol and St. Emilion – Pétrus, Le Pin, Ausone, Cheval Blanc…you get the idea. The word is that the wines are amazing. Can’t wait to dip my nose into them!
Yesterday was a solid day of tasting Right Bankers, not to mention a detour to Haut-Brion. Read more
All Cream, No Milk?
Posted: 03:38 AM ET, March 27, 2006
I am in the process of tasting a range of Right Bank wines--from unknown names to stars--in a blind tasting this morning in my hotel, and the quality level is incredibly high. Everything seems to be starting at 89 to 91 points--very good to outstanding. Read more
Out of the Woodwork
Posted: 05:49 AM ET, March 26, 2006
Where are all these new wineries coming from? I keep on tasting 2005s that I have never heard of before -- mostly St. Emilion. And they are very good quality. But will they sell?
Read morePalm Readings
Posted: 04:39 AM ET, March 26, 2006
I am looking at my hands this morning after blind tasting about 40 wines from the Right Bank at my hotel Les Sources de Caudalie. My fingers on my right hand, with which I hold my Riedel tasting glass, are stained purple. The hands of my tasting coordinator Jo Cooke are also stained from opening bottles. Read more
Sticky Alert!
Posted: 12:39 PM ET, March 25, 2006
I just tasted 10 Sauternes. And I nearly fell out of my chair. It looks like something very good. I have heard the 2005 vintage compared with 1988, which was excellent. I have heard 2001, which was the bomb. Wait and see!
Read moreLet the Genie Free
Posted: 11:47 AM ET, March 25, 2006
Tasting barrel samples can be a bitch. I started off today tasting dozens of Right Bank wines, and they all didn’t taste right. It’s wasn’t that they tasted bad, but they tasted a bit flat. They were sort of like listening to some great music on a bad stereo. Read more
Quote of the Day
Posted: 09:30 AM ET, March 24, 2006
Me at 9:30 a.m. at Calon-Segur with Denise Capbern-Gasqueton, the 70ish owner of the well-known St.-Estèphe estate. Jo Cooke, my colleague, said she reminded him of his grandmother!
“It is really balanced,” she said, tasting the 2005 Calon herself. Read more
The Freedom of 2005
Posted: 09:27 AM ET, March 24, 2006
One point that all Bordeaux wine producers have been emphasizing to me is that the great 2005 vintage is a year when all the appellations show their distinct style, or character. The reds from St.-Estèphe have racy tannins and spicy character. Read more
Quote of the Day
Posted: 01:40 PM ET, March 23, 2006
Me talking with Jean-Michel Cazes, the owner of Lynch-Bages and a number of other châteaus, about the quality of 2005. He has been making excellent wines for decades now.
“Everyone is talking about 2005 as if it is another 1982,” I said. Read more
Médoc Madness
Posted: 12:33 PM ET, March 23, 2006
Just got back from restasting the three first growths in Pauillac, and I noticed that I have a big spot of purple wine on my beige cords. Good lucking getting that out in the wash! I may as well throw them out now! It was sloppy spitting in the cellar of Mouton. Read more
What a Job....
Posted: 01:00 PM ET, March 22, 2006
I am sitting here tasting a range of 2005s from crus bourgeois to crus classés in a blind tasting at my hotel in Pauillac, and it makes me think about what I do. Read more
Quote of the Day
Posted: 04:51 AM ET, March 22, 2006
Me having lunch with Bruno Borie, owner of Ducru-Beaucaillou, in his kitchen and discussing the potentially outrageous demand and high prices for 2005 Bordeaux.
“I guess prices are going to be high for 2005,” I said.
“We are not going to cry over that if they are,” he said. Read more
Purple Haze in Bordeaux
Posted: 03:14 AM ET, March 22, 2006
I am feeling slightly hazy this morning. I tasted 60 wines yesterday, and I have another 60 to face this morning in blind tastings at my hotel Cordeillan-Bages in Pauillac. I also feel like I ate a ton of lead last night at dinner with Michel Rolland. Read more
Margaux Magic
Posted: 11:06 AM ET, March 21, 2006
Great beauty is so obvious—women, art, and wine, whatever. You know when you find it, and I certainly found it today in Bordeaux. I just tasted the 2005 Margaux, and it took my breath away. This is a wine that could be 100 points when it is finally bottled. Read more
Quote of the Day
Posted: 03:22 AM ET, March 21, 2006
Me yesterday at Léoville Barton while tasting the 2005 with owner Anthony Barton:
“Anthony. What have you changed? This 2005 is very impressive. It reminds me of the 2003,” I said.
“I have done nothing different,” he said, looking rather perplexed. Read more
Rumor Mill: Prices
Posted: 02:36 AM ET, March 21, 2006
Great wines, great prices. And I don’t mean cheap. I am already hearing rumors about pricing, and it makes me turn white in fear. How’s 180 to 200 euros a bottle to the wine trade for futures for the first growths? That means the wines would be selling very close to $500 a bottle in the states to consumers. Read more
Hello Bordeaux 2005
Posted: 06:19 PM ET, March 20, 2006
First impressions mean just about everything—especially in wines. And I can say that what I tasted today made a very big impression on me. I visited and tasted at Montrose, Cos, Lafite, Pontet-Canet, Latour, Pichon-Lalande, Léoville Barton, Gruaud-Larose, Léoville Las Cases and Mouton. Read more
A Sure Thing?
Posted: 02:29 AM ET, March 20, 2006
Dinner in Bordeaux at négociant Pierre Lawton’s house was full of excitement. About a dozen vintners were there, from Jean-Guillaume Prats of Cos-d’Estournel to Jean-Hubert Delon of Léoville Las Cases. Even Frédéric Engerer of Latour showed up touting a magnum of white Burgundy. Read more
The Cream of Bordeaux
Posted: 01:50 PM ET, March 19, 2006
I just arrived in Bordeaux a few hours ago. And as I was flying into the Mérignac airport from Nice and looking over the landscape of Bordeaux with thousands of acres of vineyards, I couldn’t help but think that most people in the world don’t give a damn about most of wines of the region. Read more
Sleepless in Tuscany Over 2005 Bordeaux
Posted: 06:06 AM ET, March 17, 2006
It was about 3:30 a.m. when I woke up this morning. It was freezing outside and my bedroom didn’t feel much warmer. Tuscany is cold in the winter, even in early March.
I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about 2005 Bordeaux. Read more
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