April 2007
Posted: Apr 30, 2007 1:20pm ET
A cute, petite blonde was staring at me at the Grand Tour in Atlantic City. She obviously wanted to say something to me but felt embarrassed, so I walked over and said hello. “Hi,” I said to her. “You having fun tonight?” “How do you figure out what to taste here?” she asked with a pretty smile.
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Posted: Apr 27, 2007 6:15pm ET
I am in New York, on the way to the Grand Tour in Atlantic City on Saturday, but I am thinking about an amazing dinner I was lucky enough to attend at a friend’s house in London. Canadian Philip Renaud is a big time wine lover, with an extensive cellar, and he is a great lover of Sassicaia , the blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from the Tuscan costal area of Bolgheri.
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Posted: Apr 25, 2007 11:51am ET
I am breathing Pomerol at the moment. I went to a dinner and tasting of La Conseillante last night in London put on by wine merchants Farr Vintners, and I was really impressed. I have to say that I have always liked La Conseillante, but it has never really turned me on that much.
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Posted: Apr 24, 2007 12:58pm ET
I was lucky enough to drink -- not taste -- a number of other impressive wines during my 2006 barrel tasting marathon in Bordeaux about a month ago, besides the 1961 L’Église-Clinet that I blogged about yesterday.
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Posted: Apr 23, 2007 12:04pm ET
I was looking through one of my notebooks this morning for something. It was the same set of notes that I took during my trip to Bordeaux this spring to taste 2006 from barrel. And I saw written down on one of the pages: "You don’t need new barrels to make great wine.
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Posted: Apr 20, 2007 5:46pm ET
I had a quick pasta carbonara with my children tonight, Jack and Isabel. They are over in Tuscany for spring break from England. And I popped the cork on a 2005 Schiopetto Collio Pinot Grigio to go with the pasta.
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Posted: Apr 18, 2007 12:38pm ET
I just received an e-mail from a London wine merchant, offering a nice selection of cases of trophy 1982 Bordeaux— Latour , $25,680; Mouton , $17,200; Lafite , $30,060; Margaux , $16,050; and Haut-Brion , $11,500.
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Posted: Apr 13, 2007 5:30pm ET
Just had the last glass of a decanter of 1963 Cockburn. Yummy. After three days, it was still fresh and sweet with lovely cherry and crushed berry character. I think it was best, though, just after I decanted it and served it to Giacomo Neri of Casanova di Neri and Vicenzo Abbruzzese of Valdicava , the two 100-point Brunello makers.
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Posted: Apr 12, 2007 11:11am ET
I just heard from a wine merchant friend that some people in the wine trade who deal in Bordeaux said that 2006 is much better than I have reported , and that a least 20 wines are even better than their 2005 counterparts.
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Posted: Apr 11, 2007 11:44am ET
I have tasted about 150 Bordeaux from 2004 in the last couple of days, in between writing stories and various other things. And I am pleasantly surprised with the wines. These are not the big names, or trophy labels, that auction houses, merchants and, yes, wine writers all coo about.
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Posted: Apr 10, 2007 4:26am ET
Someone with the moniker "Old_Winyards" posted the following on the Wine Spectator Online Forums : *** START BORDEAUX AVERAGE VINTAGE REPORT TEMPLATE *** Average vintage, but weather caused some inconsistency throughout.
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Posted: Apr 9, 2007 10:37am ET
I tasted about 50 Right Bank wines from 2004 over Easter weekend. There are always more wines to taste, and I want to bring you the most up-to-date information I can on what’s out there in my designated areas for tasting.
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Posted: Apr 5, 2007 1:32pm ET
Just got back from hanging out at Laurent Ponsot 's cellar in Morey Saint Denis. Ponsot is a cool dude. He was getting ready to leave over the weekend for Santa Rosa, California, to begin an across-the-US road trip on a Harley with his wife.
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Posted: Apr 4, 2007 4:29am ET
I went to a lively birthday party last night at a small restaurant in the village of St. Julien-Beychevelle for LA wine merchant Steve Wallace. They had taken over the restaurant and it was full of wine producers, merchants and friends.
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Posted: Apr 3, 2007 12:39pm ET
Let’s not forget Sauternes. I tasted about two dozen samples of 2006 Sauternes and Barsacs at the offices of the well-respected négociant Joanne. The company had a half-dozen or so individual tasting rooms for customers from around the world which were extremely well-equipped with tasting glasses and samples.
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Posted: Apr 2, 2007 1:23pm ET
Today I was walking along a small road in front of the vineyards of Lafleur in Pomerol, munching on a sandwich for lunch after tasting about 30 wines in various châteaus on the right bank, and I started to think about something Alexandre Thienpont said to me as I was tasting his 2006 Vieux-Château-Certan.
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Posted: Apr 1, 2007 4:38am ET
It’s been a long week tasting in Bordeaux. The tannins of the 2006s are very strong. Most are slightly austere due to their being slightly unripe or overextracted. However, the best wines of the vintage have managed to maintain ripeness in their tannins, giving them a silky texture and light sweetness of fruit on the end.
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