Thanks for checking out my blog. I am currently on vacation and will not be blogging during this time.
Please check back when I return in early March. Shortly thereafter, I will be blogging during my visits at châteaus and official blind tastings in Bordeaux during the annual en primeur campaign, as the region unveils its anticipated 2010 vintage.
After that, in April I'll be making my annual run of visits through the Northern Rhône Valley, where I will be tasting the potentially classic 2009 vintage.
St.-Emilion is known for an eclectic bunch of vignerons. A large appellation that’s divided into numerous small properties, the area prides itself on being a foil to the suit-and-tie crowd of the classified growths on Bordeaux’s Left Bank. The garagiste crazes of the ‘90s, when winemakers played a game of one-upsmanship with their wines, aiming for bigger and bolder along the way, was the appellation’s loudest pronouncement of that culture. While things have quieted down a bit today, it still makes sense that Jonathan Maltus would have set up shop here. I caught up with Maltus during my visit through the region this past December, and tasted his range of 2009s.