March 2007
Posted: Mar 30, 2007 12:48pm ET
“The problem is that they believe that their 2006 is a great wine,” said one négociant, with a number of well-known wine estates under his control. The thought is sort of scary. I think a lot of producers have convinced themselves that they have made great wines in 2006.
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Posted: Mar 29, 2007 10:07am ET
I keep hearing wine producers in Bordeaux using the word “great” or “classic” for 2006, and I just can’t understand it. Maybe one could say that his or her 2006 was a great wine or that it was classic in style.
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Posted: Mar 28, 2007 8:54am ET
The beat goes on…. I went to about a dozen wineries yesterday, and blind-tasted a few dozen other wines as well at the Café Lavinal in Pauillac. And I found a number of excellent wines. One was absolutely sensational! I keep thinking to myself how Bordeaux must have the largest concentration of great winemakers in the world.
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Posted: Mar 27, 2007 3:24am ET
While visiting various châteaus in the Médoc yesterday, I was speaking to Bordeaux wine merchant Pierre Lawton of Alias about his customers' perceptions of 2006. He said that many already thought that the vintage was disgusting and too expensive.
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Posted: Mar 26, 2007 10:32am ET
"You can't make a great wine every year, or at least as great as 2005," I said last night to a number of château owners during a cool dinner party at the house of wine merchant Pierre Lawton and his wife, Sophie, in Bordeaux.
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Posted: Mar 23, 2007 2:58am ET
I am writing this from the passenger seat of my sports car with tasting coordinator Jo Cooke at the wheel as we drive toward Bordeaux through the Cote d’Azur. No ticket yet! It takes about 11 hours from Tuscany to Bordeaux.
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Posted: Mar 20, 2007 3:43pm ET
It’s probably going to snow tonight in Tuscany. I am really cold. The central heating system is not what it should be in my house! It made me think about how warm and comfortable it was in Hong Kong last week.
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Posted: Mar 15, 2007 10:38pm ET
This comment, left by Karl Mark on my most recent blog post , made me think this morning over my coffee: "Advances in winemaking technique, vineyard management and several other aspects have allowed winemakers to make good wine in even bad weather.
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Posted: Mar 14, 2007 5:51am ET
I've heard that, tomorrow, Sopexa USA and Cercle Rive Droite are holding a 2006 Bordeaux barrel tasting in New York, and I have to wonder if this is a sign of desperation for some wine producers in Bordeaux.
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Posted: Mar 12, 2007 6:49am ET
Was it a dream? Did it really happen? For some reason, I find it almost hard to believe that on Saturday night, I drank every vintage of Château Le Pin ever bottled (1979-2004), and in Hong Kong no less.
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Posted: Mar 9, 2007 3:48am ET
I think that people seem to forget that the same family who make the ultra-collectible and ultra-expensive Château Le Pin also make Vieux-Château-Certan. In fact, the Thienpont family has been making VCC for a hell of a lot longer than Le Pin.
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Posted: Mar 8, 2007 4:34am ET
I am writing this while huddled on a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong for what is expected to be “the” tasting of the year – every vintage of Château Le Pin ever produced. Owner Jacques Thienpont and his two cousins, François and Alexandre, are coming as well.
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Posted: Mar 6, 2007 10:21am ET
A wine exporter left an angry comment at the end of my previous blog about the mediocre quality of 2002 Brunello. Some of what he said was so inflammatory that it had to be edited by my office in New York.
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