The grape harvest is underway in Bordeaux and I thought it would be useful to see how both the red and white grapes are getting along. Gavin Quinney at Chateau Bauduc in Créon (Entre Deux Mers) started picking his white grapes on 10th September and Jean-François Julien of Chateau La Fleur Morange in Saint Pey d’Amens (Saint Emilion) on 21st … Read more
What makes a good vintage? The weather? Well, apparently comets do. I spotted Dwayne Perreault’s blog on Comet Vintages over at Bordoverview and was fascinated. There is a legend amongst wine makers that comets create great vintages – and strangely enough it seems to be correct. Comet Vintages are years during which a comet is visible to the naked eye … Read more
After a good week in Bordeaux its now back to the real nub of the issue surrounding the success or failure of the 2008 vintage – the price! The Chateaux Owners must be firstly congratulated on achieving a remarkable success with this vintage bearing in mind the inclement weather they had to contend with during … Read more
The world’s oldest giant wine barrel has been refilled for the first time in its 400-year history and will be filling glasses with red wine at a festival on 31st July and 1st August in the town of Halberstadt in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The oak barrel measures 5 metres in diameter and holds about … Read more
According to the Daily Mail the credit crunch is having an effect on our Christmas turkey as Christmas turkeys will cost an astonishing £70 for a 22lb (10kg) bird this year – that’s 75% more than last year. However the British Turkey website says that the average weight of a Christmas turkey is 12lb (5.5kg) so the £70 headline … Read more
You can compare Olive Oil with wine. Its quality and taste is influenced by geographical factors such as soil and region, similar to the terroir in Bordeaux. You also have good and bad olive years, depending on the weather during a certain season. The quality depends much on the care of the growers and producers. There … Read more
Jane Anson has reported on Decanter that aviation millionaire Laurent Dassault (the maker of Dassault Falcon business jets), owner of Chateau Dassault and Chateau La Fleur, has made an approach to purchase both Chateau La Croix de Gay and La Fleur de Gay from Dr Alain Raynaud. Both Chateaux Dassault and La Fleur are located in Saint Emilion’ whereas Raynaud’s properties are in … Read more
The 2008 harvest in Bordeaux will be another test of craftsmanship for the vintners with the late summer ripening the grapes right up to the last minute. Jean-Luc Thunevin (owner of Chateau Valandraud) told decanter that “If the weather continues like this for the next three weeks, we will be calling 2008 the miracle vintage”. Well, it’s 22ºC in … Read more
It looks as if both Bordeaux and California’s harvests are going to lower yielding this year after difficult growing conditions. The weather is to blame – both wine producing areas have suffered from frosts which have damaged the buds and caused uneven flowering. California has not had enough rain and Bordeaux has had too much at … Read more
With the sad news of Thierry Manoncourt’s passing away last week I thought there could be no more a fitting tribute than to write about his château and the great wines he produced. Thierry Manoncourt took over the Saint Emilion First Growth Chateau Figeac in 1947 with his wife, Marie-France Duboys de Labarre. Figeac had been deserted by … Read more
