The Laithwaites Wine Merchants Arrive!

The five lucky Wine Merchants finally arrived in Bordeaux yesterday and to blazing sunshine and 35ºC heat! After an afternoons rest we threw a BBQ in the evening to welcome them and I did a tasting and explanation of some Chai wines. We tasted through the following:

Grand Chai Bordeaux White 2009
CY 2009
Condrieu 2008
Grand Chai Bordeaux Red 2007/08
St Emilion Grand Cru 2006 Cuvée Elegance
Un Vent de Folie 2008 (red)
Côte Rôtie 2007
Font Del Bosc 2005 Maury VDN

So after a good tasting and half a cow cooked up on the fire by Chai cellar master Petit Denis, everyone was ready and raring to go for tomorrow morning.

It was torrential rain this morning but I think it was just Castillon making the English Wine Merchants welcome! However the Chai was bustling like never before and the Wine Merchant team had changed their BBQ seats for Chai office desks and telephone head sets, and away they went selling Chai wines that they tasted first hand last night!

Meanwhile the 2009 Syrah de Folie was running right under their feet through our overhead stainless steel pipe which starts right of the door in the Grand Chai…..

……and exits to the left of the door in the Dordogne Chai connecting the two cellars together!

The Syrah from the overhead pipe was slowly flowing into the NASA vat from where Denis was rapidly filling barrels to begin the barrel-ageing process.

Today is also my mum's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM! And have a great day!

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