Bordeaux En Primeur 2016 was my first, verging-on-excellence En Primeur campaign. The top end turned out wines that were easy to be choosy about. So much the better when you’re forking over big digits two years before you receive the wines. The vintage also allowed for plenty of charming wines that will be pleasant to drink as well as ones that are overly ambitious. Regardless the appellation, it was exciting to see who teased out just a bit more of everything in their expressions of the vintage through their terroir.
Read MoreAnother year, another en primeur campaign. How long this system can sustain itself? It seems every year the fuse gets shorter. What 2015 offers is a highly mixed bag. There’s something for everyone, but without careful research, everyone may not love what he or she purchases.
Read MoreThere’s a sad misperception that Bordeaux is either utterly unaffordable or really, really bad. It’s true that most of us don’t buy much of super fancy stuff these days as their prices are, indeed, dizzyingly high. However, even in difficult vintages, Bordeaux – like the rest of the world – generally makes darn good wine today.
Read MoreThe 2010 and 2012 show vibrantly rich fruit with tendancies toward the blacker end of the fruit range. The 2011 shows the most perkiness, both in its redder fruit character as well as its refreshing acidity and lower alcohol. The 2014 white is fresh and highly drinkable.
Read MoreWhen I see Pomerol, I envision one of those old school cash registers, the ones with dollars popping up one after another on metal blades behind a glass window. Pomerol is a sort of insurance policy for high quality wine. You pay extra for the name, but you sweat less as you wait for your dining companions’ verdicts.
Read MoreWith 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, this blend is particularly generous in Cabernet Sauvignon for an Haut-Médoc. The Bordelais eat lots of meat with their husky reds, so I naturally turned in that direction.
Read MoreMerlot isn’t a grape that particularly moves me, except when it comes from Saint-Émilion. Yes, those wines are blended with Cabernet Franc and sometimes Cabernet Sauvignon, but Merlot almost always predominates in both flavor and structure. From Saint-Émilion comes Merlot in all its svelte, not hefty, glory. That’s a style I can relish.
Read MoreIt is such a shame that the wine world these days makes a proclamation on a vintage just as it slides out of its fermenter into an aging vessel. (In fact, it’s often done well before.) Dialed-in wine lovers know it’s absurd, but many still dose-up on the fear of buying the wrong vintage. A fine example is Bordeaux’s 2011 vintage, which is still a bit tight and wound-up, yet it is opening up now to offer some excellent, mid-term drinkability.
Read MoreChâteau La Grande Métairie 2014 Entre-Deux-Mers: Youthful, fresh and exuberant, this 56% Sauvignon Blanc, 35% Sauvignon Gris and 9% Muscadelle blend is the epitomy of bang-for-the-buck, true-blue Entre-Deux-Mers. Its producer is neither trying to make it a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc nor is it “oaking-it-up” to try to make a flashier, less characteristic wine for the appellation.
Read MoreThe 2009 vintage was a killer year in Bordeaux, appealing particularly to those palates that love blockbuster wine styles. Declared the vintage of the (still-very-new) century before the grapes were even off the vine, the prices rocketed into the stratosphere. Yet, relative bargains from well-known appellations can be found. Here are two I recently came across.
Read MoreIt’s rather interesting to have a partner at home that takes on the challenge to rate wines, seemingly for the sake of figuring out where his palate stand versus mine….
Read MoreChâteau Tanesse 2012 Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux: Nuanced, if hardly subtle, the wine smells of blackberries, loganberries, blueberries, briar patch and smoked beef. This wine is one of many that proves that the various “Côtes” appellations of Bordeaux make for excellent drinking while sparing the wallet.
Read MoreChâteau de Portets 2011 Graves: This deep, scarlet-colored wine is a sultry one. Its bouquet is smoky and briary and has a sexy, rawhide intrigue.
Read MoreComptoir Cuisine sits on Bordeaux’s grand, central square across from its ornate and brightly-lit opera house. Classically Bordelais, its wine list is a compendium of the region’s well-known names with vintages mostly extending back across the last decade. Diners need not worry about picking a lemon from this smartly-curated list.
Read MoreVintage 2005 was among the best Bordelais vintages in the last 20 years. This wine epitomizes its force. Nine years on, it isn’t showing a hint of development. It’s belligerently youthful.
Read MoreBordeaux was incredibly calm during this year's en primeur campaign. Winemakers and châteaux owners seemed more doting and a few almost seemed to be pleading for the thinned crowds of visitors to give the vintage a chance.
Read MoreBeginning a wintery Friday morning with Château d’Yquem certainly brightens the day, whether it’s the wines or the exclusivity of such an opportunity that does the cheering up. This despite the fact I am one of those rare folks who don’t particularly love Sauternes.
Read MoreHaving bought for restaurants and a retailer and being someone who attends trade tastings regularly, I have a good feeling for wine mark-ups. Naturally, I want to pay as little mark-up as possible. I do most of my wine shopping online.
Read MoreNot a member of this simultaneously très sérieux and bon vivant group, I engaged them in two radically different seminars. First came the fun stuff – a competitive blending seminar using the components of the 2006 Lynch-Bages to try to reconstitute the grand vin. Second came the stinky stuff – a presentation on wine faults. After all, the last thing you want is to be uncertain whether your Cru Classé is in top form. The group sniffed cautiously through their glasses, trying to suss out the faults exhibited
Read MoreGiven the spirit of the holiday season leads to many shared meals and festive moments with friends, I’ve not surprisingly encountered plenty of pals hesitant to offer me a glass of wine. I can see it in their eyes and hear it in their pre-calculated verbal presentations. They seem to be pleading with Dionysus that I will want one of their small batch beers. Each time, I guess that they feel more confident on their beer choices than their wine choices.
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