With the Bordeaux red harvest in full swing, the atmosphere
begins to buzz throughout the region. With more rain due, it’s all stations go
whatever the weather!
Meanwhile, at Le Chai on Tuesday we saw the eagerly awaited,
multi-medal-winning 2011 La Voúte dressed. It’s been quietly laying down in
cages for a few months to recover from the bottling.
On Wednesday we bottled the all-new 2011 Les Cailloux Dorés Chardonnay;
a lovely, very lightly oaked, fresh white from Carcassonne. And our first-ever
screwcap Chardonnay to keep it that way!
Thursday was a big day, starting by my parents saying au revoir. They had a wonderful time and
were heading north to the Loire Valley for a few days to rest those aching
harvesting backs and knees!
Meanwhile, at Château La Clarière Henry Laithwaite was busy
(and carefully) opening 26 vintages of Château La Clarière-Laithwaite for a
historic vertical tasting from 1984 to 2010!
I was fortunate to be able to taste them all along with Tony, Justin,
Clare, Henry, James, Nadja and Guy. Guy was Tony's man in the vineyard right
from the start and only retired when the current vineyard manager, his son
Olivier, took over!
The tasting was held down in the La Clarière barrel caves
where Tony and Guy told some lovely stories of the old vintages as each wine
suddenly jogged their memories. That's the beauty of wine; a living remnant
from that very year, still here to remind you unlike any other artefact,
painting or photograph. Nearly all the wines tasted great and those that tasted
a little old were still amazing thanks to the stories and memories. A wonderful
experience to taste, thank you.
Once more, a fabulous lunch was put on by Bernadette
upstairs above the caves before a blind tasting of 23 wines from St. Emilion
and Castillon was held. A very interesting and exciting tasting indeed, with
many Castillon wines finishing way above the expensive St.Emilions. Results to
be revealed in the near future
Friday morning I was up early and off to the Entre-Deux-Mers
and a place called Castelviel; yet another tiny hidden village which is home to
our new discovery, Château Riffaud. I
was met by the current owner Stephane Delarue, a young vigneron and third-generation
winemaker of the family property.
Castelviel sits high on a mini plateau overlooking the valley towards
Gornac. Stephane has 14 hectares of
Merlot, Cabernet S and Cabernet F situated around the village and the little
winery sits in the heart of the village where he makes beautiful fruity reds.
The weekend was cellar work and warming the barrels for
malo-lactic as the air temperatures finally started to plummet in Bordeaux. However,
Nadja and I were soon back in the cellar but no blundstone boots to be seen as
we were (along with Libby’s direction!) hosting a tour and tasting for BK Wine
Tours who brought along some wonderful Finnish and Swedish people who really
enjoyed Le Chai visit. We were also very lucky to attend lunch at the superb La
Poudette restaurant in Pujols and I matched four wines to Chef Frederic's
excellent dishes including:
2011 Vent de Folie Vermentino with Scallops and Parsnip
Puree
2010 Grand Chai Montagne St.Emilion with Fillet of Beef and
Cepes
2004 Château La Clarière with cheese
2009 Le Grand Chai Sauternes for dessert
The following week started in usual madness and on Monday I
was back on the road to do the rounds in the Midi. Starting in Perpignan, then
to Maury, back to Perpignan, on to Narbonne, Beziers, Montpellier, Beziers
again, Narbonne, Carcassonne and home for a late dinner in Bordeaux Tuesday
evening …
It’s perfect mushroom season right now, so a plate of the
first cepes gently cooked in butter, garlic and parsley allowed me the time to
write the week’s events!