September 2006
Posted: Sep 29, 2006 8:40am ET
I am leaving in 30 minutes for Pinar del Rio, the tobacco region of Cuba, to visit the world’s greatest tobacco grower, Alejandro Robania. The 84-year-old is to tobacco what Robert Mondavi is to California wine.
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Posted: Sep 26, 2006 3:45pm ET
The dusty streets of Havana are a long way from the vineyards and cellars of Bordeaux, but I was thinking this morning over a café con leche about the Merlots I tasted from barrel last week while in France.
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Posted: Sep 25, 2006 10:07am ET
My buddy and colleague James Laube came to my house for dinner last night with some of his friends. They are in Tuscany for a couple of weeks to chase the Tuscan sun. Unfortunately, it was raining this morning as I poured myself into my car to drive to the Rome airport for a trip to North America.
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Posted: Sep 22, 2006 11:45am ET
I never thought I would be dancing shirtless at Château Pétrus. Mykonos or St. Tropez, yes..but Pétrus? I went to the harvesters’ party last night at the famous Pomerol estate, and the 50 pickers, along with the owners, were rocking.
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Posted: Sep 21, 2006 1:32pm ET
I just finished tasting the 2005 Mouton-Rothschild at the château, and I am impressed. The wine is much better than when I tasted it in late March. It has serious concentration of fruit and super well-integrated tannins.
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Posted: Sep 20, 2006 2:22pm ET
I had a winemaker in Bordeaux ask me today if I felt that the expensive prices for 2005 were my fault? I laughed. But I was slightly annoyed too. “Don’t shoot the messenger,” I told him. I tasted the wines.
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Posted: Sep 19, 2006 4:54am ET
The weather is not looking good for the harvest in Bordeaux. It’s been raining on and off since I arrived here on Saturday, and it just started raining again as I sit here and write this blog this morning and begin to blind taste a range of 1996 and 1995 Bordeaux.
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Posted: Sep 17, 2006 11:46am ET
I sat this morning in my hotel in Bordeaux, Les Sources de Caudalie, and tasted a range of 1996 and 1995 reds. It was a perfect day for tasting. I was in a good mood. The weather was sunny and bright after three days of cold and very wet weather.
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Posted: Sep 15, 2006 10:55am ET
Went to a friend's house for dinner last night in Arezzo, and in addition to inviting a beautiful leggy brunette from Atlanta for the evening, he also pulled out two pretty 1996s for dinner – La Mission and Latour.
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Posted: Sep 14, 2006 5:23am ET
I had dinner last night at Osteria Le Logge Restaurant in Siena with Roberto Guerrini and two other friends. Roberto runs his family’s winery, Eredi Fuligni in Montalcino, and it’s one of the best in the region.
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Posted: Sep 11, 2006 5:14pm ET
I am sitting at Zafferano, the best Italian restaurant in London, with Gildas d’Ollone, general manager of Château Pichon-Longueville-Lalande. We just finished tasting 14 vintages of Pichon-Lalande during a Farr Vintners' tasting.
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Posted: Sep 8, 2006 2:10pm ET
Just got done evaluating 65 Left Bank Bordeaux from the 1996 vintage in a blind tasting organized in London by wine merchants Farr Vintners. All I can say is that I am not surprised with the results. There were some exciting wines, such as the first growths, Cos-d’Estournel and Léoville-Las-Cases, but in general, it was not a great day of tasting.
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Posted: Sep 6, 2006 5:06pm ET
It’s really hot here in Tuscany. It’s still in the high 70s tonight, and it was in the mid-90s today. Thank God for the air-conditioning in my office. It’s really strange. It’s humid as well. My assistant Rosanne said it reminded her of Australia in the summer, and she grew up near the seaside.
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Posted: Sep 5, 2006 5:34pm ET
I'm back at home after a couple of weeks on the road. I was happy my two dogs, Archie and Annie, still remembered me. The cat, Monty, was meowing at my door at 6 a.m. for food. I guess my local restaurant wasn’t throwing him tidbits.
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Posted: Sep 5, 2006 4:29am ET
Went to a Jewish wedding in Brussels over the weekend. I felt like an actor in Wedding Crashers ! From the moment the bride and groom arrived at the reception from the synagogue, it was a non-stop party.
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Posted: Sep 1, 2006 1:55pm ET
Tel Aviv never sleeps. I left a subterranean club called Breakfast at 4 this morning, and it was just getting started. When I reached outside, the streets in town were gridlocked with people and automobiles.
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