In go the barrels!

The OxO Line guys finished all the frames late yesterday evening so that first thing this morning, I could have a meeting with my cellar master Denis to go through all the barrel types to make a plan in order to allocate them for specific wines and where they will sit. By nine o’clock Denis was already placing them onto the frames!

I then rushed off to check the bottling of our superb little gold medal-winning find, Chateau Roc Pellebouc 2008 Bordeaux red. This is what we call a ‘petit chateau’ – in other words, not a famous chateau but great wine. When you have a great grape grower like Ludovic Roussillon these ‘petit chateau’ can be some of the most exciting and bargain wines of all.

Ludovic is a great winemaker too and certainly isn’t scared to risk leaving the fruit on the vine for optimum ripeness or trying innovative winemaking to make truly outstanding wines that tasted blind, can easily be confused with wines 3 times the price. I certainly will be snapping some of this up and I suggest you do too!

After lunch I headed to St. Emilion to see Stephane Dubes at his beautiful tiny family-run Chateau Rose Monturon. This 3.5ha estate with vineyards next to 1er Grand Cru Classe Chateau Pavie; the Grand Cru Classe Chateau Larcis Ducasse is a Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc blend of outstanding quality. The wine now has its appellation status and I was there to taste and check the wine ready for transport to the Chai next week for some serious barrel ageing. Another wine to keep an eye out for next year.

I was back at the Chai to check Denis’ day’s work and to see the new Dordogne cellar slowly transforming. It’s been a long 5 month wait for this and I am absolutely chuffed to bits – bring on the wine!!

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