– tailor-made visits that focus on the vineyards Don’t worry when you visit premier grand cru classé Troplong Mondot, they provide you with all you need even rubber boots so you can get to the grass roots of wine production. Photo Yves Samuel Just as well as the vines are the subject here and a … Continue reading
Come to Bordeaux in-between Christmas and new year in 2019 and enjoy a series of food and wine tasting sessions and cooking classes with your own chef! Here is some text from my book about the region’s specialities to whet your appetite”Bordeaux Sip by Sip – getting to the heart of Bordeaux.” Bordeaux’s Food Specialities … Continue reading
This text comes from my book which is about to be published ‘Bordeaux Sip by Sip – getting to the heart of Bordeaux Wine’. The label is almost all wine enthusiasts have to go on. They look for any clue that might lead them to a good wine, something that they have heard of, or … Continue reading
Bordeaux’s Châteaux open at the weekends After breakfast on the Sunday quayside market in Bordeaux (fancy oysters and a glass of white wine?) head off to the vineyards for a visit and tasting and some of Bordeaux’s most famous châteaux that are open all hours (but make sure to pre-book by email in advance!). ST … Continue reading
Good yields of concentrated ripe fruity wine with good structure. Those that did not suffer from too much loss from the Mildew which was prevalent in the wet spring, have nothing to complain about in 2018. Piles of purple crumbly skins are starting to appear outside the ‘chai’ of the region. There are smiles as … Continue reading
Bordeaux is not California or anywhere else in the wine world where cheapest prices are found at source. In Bordeaux the châteaux do not sell their wine around the world, they sell it on exclusively to a specialised wine merchants based in the city of Bordeaux (négociants) who do all of their commercial work for … Continue reading
Ex-cellar master and wine writer François Martin invites you into his private tasting area where you can learn about the intricacies of the wines of Bordeaux before you head out into the vineyards. Over two hours he explains how to decipher the Bordeaux wine label and gives you lots of tips on what to look … Continue reading
It’s a very wet spring and early summer for the 2018 vintage and the mildew that everyone is suffering from is even heavier in properties that are biodynamic with their only defence copper and sulphate (allowed as they are ‘natural’ but in tiny doses) and infusions of nettle and Horsetail. Cellar master/vineyard manager Nicolas Cosse … Continue reading
For the last year or two it is now the fashion to plant plants in between the rows of vines and on land that is fallow that replenish the soil (as they did 100 years ago). Many of these are leguminous (clover, pea such as vetch, bean, alfalfa, lupin – the Fabaceae family) which naturally … Continue reading
Thoreau said “the price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it”. Well prices for 2017 seem to be about equal to ‘good’ vintages that have already matured in bottle and are closer to the exciting time when they are ‘ready to drink’ and you can pull the cork such as 2006 … Continue reading
