2015 Bordeaux Caribbean Summer, Indian one to follow?

Temperatures are set to hit 36°C today as everyone prepares for 'la rentrée'. The summer has been long, dry and hot with a break a week ago  with some rain. We are about two weeks in advance of a 'normal' year. The grapes are ripening with levels of sugar higher than normal at this point. Heavier bunches …

Brief Rain Relief in Bordeaux

After three months of no rain, we have had two days of non-stop rain (8th and 9th August). The vines needed particularly the Younger vines whose root systems do not go too far down. Veraison has finished (chaging of the colour) but No 'arret de croissance' yet (when the vine stops growing leaves and switches to …

Long Hot Summer pronounces early good vintage for 2015 Bordeaux

Grapes are changing colour after six weeks of températures in the 30°s (with just the occasional light rain showers). Berries are small with little juice. The dry conditions are starting to stress the Young vines. The harvest will start around 25th September this year. Fingers crossed for a good vintage. Normally vintages with a five are …

Bordeaux Vineyard Map and where to go first?

Bordeaux Vineyard Map and where to go first?.

The 13 Different Aroma Families in Wine

Why do wines smell and taste like other natually ocurring substances like fruits or spices? Because they are made up of the same chemical compounds. These come from several sources. Primary aromas – come from the fruit, within the various grape varieties these aromas exist as non odorous elements that are transformed by fermentation. Each …

Bordeaux 2013 starts late

The unseasonally cold and wet weather in April has held back the vine's development in the early stages of 2013. Normally at the time of the Primeurs the vines are in leaf. This year, despite the Primeurs being a week later (due to an early Easter) the vines were hardly budding and around a month …

Bordeaux 2012: let’s see what we have

Franck Moureau, Château Béard La Chapelle, St Emilion Grand Cru, tasting his 12 vats Aromas of black fruits, deep colour, good acidity (will reduce after malolactic fermentation)...tannins to come The grape juice has now turned into wine which is slowly extracting the tannins, aromatics and colour from the skins. Now is the time for lots …

Spring is here; bud burst in the vines in St Emilion

The vines have burst their buds in the vineyards of St Emilion and the new year, 2012 starts (while producers prepare to show their latest baby, 2011, to the world's press and buyers). The young leaves uncurl showing the a small green growths which will turn into the flowers. It is about average timing but infact …

Robert Parker Article Bordeaux 2009

L'Amateur de Bordeaux Fall, 2010 Bordeaux 2009 You firmly undertook on the greatness of the vintage 2009. Yet in 2000, 2003 and 2005 had already been judged as vintages of the century. How is 2009 compared to those vintages? 2009 is the greatest vintage for Cabernet Sauvignon I have ever tasted in Bordeaux. It is a …

First wine bloggers’ “off” meeting during Vinexpo 2009

Monday, 22 June 2009 11am to 7pm Château Luchey Halde (Mérignac) Winemaking and vine growing bloggers from across Europe will step onto the other side of the screen, and for the first time they will meet their readers for a tasting of their wines, in a friendly and passionate atmosphere. "Wine and the Net" tasting …