Also, just a quick note on pricing.

Chateau Rieussec 2007 (Sauternes, owned by Domaines Rothschilds - they are at least majority shareholders, not sure if now 100% owners) has come out at a terribly reasonable price rise of 29.5% from 2006.

I am not joking... give these guys a few good reviews and they can't help themselves... let's hope the rest of Bordeaux watches how well this has gone down with the London merchants, one of whom said today, 'I have been buying Rieussac for the past 15 years en primeur. Not this year.'

Met today with two winemakers in Entre deux Mers (the large area of Bordeaux between the two rivers of the Garonne and the Dordogne, an entirely white wine appellation). According to Chateau Landereau, just outside Creon, the syndicate has asked INAO for the right to make red wine as well as white wine within the appellation.

Currently, you can of course make red wine in the area - but you have to call it Bordeaux or Bordeaux Superieur, as there is no 'village' or 'area' appellation name to make it under, so it switches to the generic appellations of Bordeaux. But why would they want to introduce a new confusing permutation into an already fairly little known appellation?

Entre deux Mers whites have got the potential to be better known, I'm sure (the Landereau wines are excellent, and the visit after this was to the always superb Chateau Thieuly), but adding red wine into the mix is I am sure not the best way to go about it.

Interesting video on the guardian today... not sure how popular this restaurant would be with the anti-alcohol lobby...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/video/2008/apr/24/wine

Put this story up on Decanter today, but it's so good I thought I would reproduce it here. Good old Bernard Magrez, never one to be uncontroversial unless absolutely necessary.

Great day gettng this out aswell, because my friend and fellow journalist Sophie Kevany (who frequently contributes to http://bordoverview.blogspot.com/ ) was researchig the same story for Wine Business International, so we had a (good natured and mutually useful!) rush to get our stories in first... unfortunately neither of us got a Cartier watch for completing the task...

http://www.decanter.com/news/253458.html#

Wine magnate Bernard Magrez has outraged a group of journalists by offering each of them a Cartier wristwatch worth EUR1,650 (£1,322/$2,641).

The watches were distributed after a press lunch hosted by Magrez and French actor Gerard Depardieu on 26 March. The lunch was held at the Alain Ducasse restaurant at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris. Around 50 journalists attended � including wine critic and ex-Revue du Vin de France editor Thierry Desseauve, Philippe Bidalon from L'Express magazine and Gérard Muteaud of Le Nouvel Observateur.

Upon leaving the lunch, journalists were offered a bag that contained a press kit and a box that most did not open until after leaving the restaurant. The box contained the watch, and a certificate of authenticity signed by a Bordeaux jeweller.

One journalist, who requested anonymity, told decanter.com> that many journalists discussed the situation and agreed among themselves that keeping the watches could be misconstrued. It is understood that the majority have been returned.

In response to the gift, Desseauve wrote a letter to Magrez, detailing that he had donated the watch to French homeless charity Restaurants du Coeur.

'Together with my colleague Michel Bettane {also ex-Revue du Vin de France}, who was not there, we wanted to show Mr Magrez that his gesture would not change our professional attitude towards him, nor our way of judging wines. We felt the most judicious response would be to give an equivalent sum to a relevant charitable body,' Desseauve wrote in an email.

'At 72 I've been around the block a few times, and I know what you should and shouldn't do with respect to journalists,' Magrez told decanter.com.

'I am not so stupid as to think I can buy them. This lunch was held to commemorate over 1,700 vintages [collectively] at my three greatest vineyards, and I chose to mark the occasion by engraving a watch. If a few of the invited journalists choose not to keep the watch, that is of course their prerogative.'

The head of Cartier is Alain Dominique Perrin, a friend of Magrez who recently commented that Bordeaux pricing was immoral, and that first growths could not cost more than �15 (£12/$24) per bottle to produce.

The incident was first published on political blog site bakchich.info, with the comment, 'When you produce an average-quality wine, nothing works better than a pretty present in order to get the specialist press onside.'

The Bernard Magrez Group has an annual turnover of EUR40m (£24m/$48m), with over 35 wine estates around the world.

Brace yourself, Bordeaux...

Edward Burns, of Armit Fine Wines, ‘We literally haven’t offered anything that has come out so far. Even with Sauternes having a good year quality-wise, we can’t see customers being interested at these prices. In previous years, we have offered wines with a proven history, this year we are only going to buy wines that have had specific enquiries from our customers.’

'We have picked out 40 wines we are keen on, another 20 that if prices are good we will buy. We have culled a whole load off our list. Campaign seems to have started, but even from customer end things are quiet. Head of private clients has had some interest, but it will be purely for drinking wines. The Bordelais have the opinion that Asia is going to save them, but I can't see it.'

Alan Rayne, chairman of Magnums: ‘We have been one of the biggest buyers of primeurs for the last 23 yars in Bordeaux, and unless the prices are realistic we are just going to opt out of the vintage. We have bought ever year since 1988, and the problem is that all the sellers and all our private clients are saying unless they see value, they don’t need to buy them. And similarly we don’t need to buy them. We are vibrant buyers, but still reckon that if the chateaux are not realistic, 80% of the end consumers will back off.'

'There are only going to be a few exceptions this year. We couldn’t care less about allocations the following year - with exception of about 10 chateaux, allocations don't exist anymore, as long as you have a good reputation, you can find the wines you want.'

'The little chtx coming out now can't be selling – the sauternes are good, but what people have got to look at is they can buy the 2001 for a better price than the 2007 today, so why buy an 07 when you can buy a better vintage for less?'

'Again with the 07 reds, you can buy the 04 cheaper, so why wouldn’t you??'

'Realistically, prices have to be down by 20% to start with for exchange rate, then down from last year by 10% = 35% lower ex-chateau. That means, with margins added, if you see a 15% discount selling price from last year, it could be worth buying, if less than that, unlikely to be worth it.

'1997 was a worrying precuror of this - the chateaux came out at much too high a price, and went down 30-50% afterwards. They didn't care as they sold their wines, but a lot of merchants got stuck with low value wines and pissed off customers. And we don't want that to happen again.'

'On the other hand, there are some very well-made wines out there, there have been some great cabernet franc and good cabernet sauvignon, as ong as winemakers concentrated on terrroir. Over-extraction this year was bad, need instead elegance and terroir. Anything else forget it; in five years it will dry up like a prune. '

Simon Staples at Berry Bros: ‘We have a list of 45 wines that we really want, had 82 last year, 180 in 2005. I know how difficult it is to make Sauternes so don’t have a beef with their prices. But I don’t adhere to the idea that it is close to 2001 in terms of quality. We will be buying for our mixed case, Liquid Gold, in halves, but not other Sauternes.

We have just had our biggest 24 hours of the year, however, selling 2005 Bordeaux. And Parker's scores are coming out on April 30, with 2007 Bordeaux and final 2005 Bordeaux scores. That should make for uncomfortable reading for many chateaux.'

'You cant beat them to death with the euro stick, as it's not their fault. But most have made simple, drinkable wines, and a lot of second wines are pretty awful, really quite unpleasant. So on quality alone, discounting the euro, prices should be 20-30% lower'.

'Exceptions were Pontet Canet, Haut Bailly, Lynch Bages who all made rigorous selection, and have made far less first wine than usual = already a significant drop in potential revenue for them. But at the end of the day, if you want to keep the same customer for your wine each year, like Barton, or Cazes do, you need to give a nod towards the market. I think many negociants are going to be stuck with stock for the next few years. And it’s a dangerous tack to take to think they can ‘dupe’ asian buyers.'

Private customers in the uk will buy a few gems, probably Domaine de Chevalier red and white, Haut Bailly, Lynch Bages, that’s about it... people shouldn’t fill their cellars with this, because it's going to be the same price when it comes out, particularly if the euro swings back.'

Just wrote this piece on how to maximise your press relations, and thought it might be of interest. Very much for winemakers who are looking to get coverage, but the points about how to write a good press release are true for anyone.

Wine properties worldwide can get hung up on 100-point scores. What did the major critics think of that particular wine on that particular day? It’s easy to forget that there are so many other ways to reach the media – and of course their readers – than just relying on competitions and panel tastings. Specialist wine magazines have small readerships, but national newspapers and lifestyle magazines reach a far bigger, more diverse spread of readers. And unless you are a very prestigious name, those scores are hard to come by, or have less of an impact.

It’s also worth remembering that your average young wine drinker would never think of picking up the specialist wine press, but will look at wine stories in their local or national paper and magazine, or more likely read a wine column on the internet, via blogs or news sites. They might even be writing their own.

You as winemakers have to respond to these new means of consuming media, and think beyond the traditional wine outlets – and wine tourism is a great way to do that, as the stories appeal to a far wider audience than just a list of latest releases. It can also mean wider exposure – a full page article on your visitor programme or your local wine route, for example, rather than a two-line wine review.

This is not to discount specialist press – it remains a powerful way of reaching influential readers, but there are so many other ways to touch not only potential customers, but potential importers also. Good press coverage means convincing arguments to take to wine buyers. And whichever type of media you choose to target, getting editorial coverage is certainly cheaper than a traditional advertising campaign, and it is also more believable and ‘authentic’.

However, deciding to target a type of media, even a specific journalist, and getting them to take your story is not always simple. Press releases sent out without thought to dozens of addresses rarely get results. The key is in the preparation. Find something new to say (or to put something old in a new context) and to say it at the right time, when you are likely to be noticed. Bad press releases just state the facts. Good press releases turn facts into stories. Most press releases are badly done – so you have the chance to stand out.

Never send out a press release without checking first if you have put your story into a wider context. This means giving it an angle, making it newsworthy. You might expect the journalist to do this for you, but if you can point them in the right direction of what makes your story stand out from the hundreds of other press releases they receive, then you are halfway to getting coverage – do you have evidence of how your story fits into a wider trend? Or does it reflect a current topic that is being covered in the news? There are always ‘sexy’ topics that journalists love to cover. If for example, you are doing eco-wine tourism at the moment, you have an easy route into a topical and much-desired topic.

Finally, always send press releases to specific named journalists, not just to ‘The Editor’ – which means researching your targets before putting any stamps on envelopes. And if sending press releases via email, make sure they are in the body text of the email, not as an attachment.

It takes a lot longer to do a good press release, but there is no point sending off a badly-thought out one that gets little response.
KEY POINTS TO MAXIMISE PRESS:
• Most journalists are busy... but always need to find new stories. So make it easy for them.
• If they show a passing interest in your region, suggest further stories to them (especially freelance journalists, who are always looking to pitch ideas to other publications)
• Have a stock of ideas at the ready – what is not just your property but your region famous for?
• Find a USP for your property, your appellation and your region, and build stories around that

This is a busy time of year for wine judges - Concours Mondiale finished yesterday, and this week in England both the Decanter World Wine Awards, and the International Wine Challenge are being held.

The competition this weekend went very well, our panel (with five judges from UK, Italy, Brazil, France and Portugal) judged around 150 wines. My favourite flight were the Provence roses, with Clos de Trois Sources from Coteaux d'Aix en Provence coming top. I also loved Domaine du Cagueloup from Bandol.

Felt perhaps it would have been fairer on the wines to know at least the country that they came from before the tasting - we had one flight, for example, from Moravia (east of the Czech Republic). All of the wines were very different in style from each other - different grapes, residual sugar, vinification etc, which made it tough to judge them as a whole flight. Knowing where they came from may have made it a more even playing field for them - but this is one of the debates of competitions of course, and perhaps on the the other hand allows each wine to stand 'on its own' without any pre-conceptions.

Decanter awards judge where the jury members know the region, but of course not the actual wines. Perhaps both have their merits.
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The Concours Mondiale de Bruxelles opened this morning... in Bordeaux, confusingly. They have obviously decided that a good way to raise the profile of the competition is to go on tour, and last year held it in Maastricht, and Lisbon the year before that. The competition itself started back in 1994.

It's being held at the Palais de Congres in Bordeaux Lac, the conference area of the city (let's hope the visiting judges get some time to visit the far prettier downtown area), and is being run like a military operation (as I overheard someone say this morning, more D-Day than Iraq) - around 240 tasters from 45 different countries, in around 40 groups of between five and six. Between us, we are tasting over 6,200 wines (thank god that means split between all tasters) - a maximum of 50 samples in any one morning.

The flights of wines are drawn up according to:
• grape varieties or characteristics such as `still wines of red vines: Merlot’, `white sparkling wines of aromatic vines’, `dry rosy wines containing less than 4 reducing sugar gr/l’, etc
• according to geographical origin: `red wines of Bordeaux’, `sparkling appellation wines: Asti Spumante, etc

And so you know what the final medals mean:
• Grande Médaille d’Or : from 96 to 100%
• Médaille d’Or : from 87 to 95,9%
• Médaille d’Argent : from 82,5 to 86,9%
Usually around 30% of all the wines sampled are awarded medals.

www.concoursmondial.be

You'd think they were planning to overthrow the government, the amount of secrecy involved in this new venture, but I can finally 'go public' on the building of a new hotel in Cantenac Brown.

The chateau, located in the appellation of Margaux, has been talking about this for years, and preliminary planning permission has now been granted. I know Jose, the director, fairly well, and he has sworn me to secrecy for well over 18 months, which I have abided by, because french planning permission is anyway notoriously difficult to get, and there's no story if it doesn't happen.

However, some (far more enterprising!!) journalist from the local newspaper went to the mayor's office in Margaux and looked at the plans, and now it's out of the bag... such is life behind the scenes of a story.

The chateau, a 3rd cru classé, has been owned by Syrian-born British investor Simon Halabi since 2006, when he bought it from previous owners AXA Millesimes, owners of Chateau Pichon Baron in Pauiilac and Chateau Suduiraud in Sauternes.

Plans lodged with the local town hall in Margaux reveal that Halabi is hoping to open a four star luxury hotel with 102 bedrooms, including 11 suites. The hotel will comprise both part of the existing structure – with its red brick exterior that has been famously compared to an English boarding school – and a new structure that is yet to be built. There will be a restaurant housed on the current terrace area, a pool, spa and gym, reception area for 500 people and a smaller bar/café.

Even when I called Jose with the fact that it had now been published, he was unwilling to give much more away. ‘The plans have not been finalised and will inevitably be subject to change. We prefer to talk about this when it is reality, not speculation.’... I wrote the story anyway... there is only so far you can go with being nice...

You can certainly imagine this is going to be a great hotel, as Halabi is no stranger to turning around properties. He owns multiple buildings in the UK, including the Shard of Glass on London Bridge and Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, which he is planning to turn into the UK's first 6-star hotel. He ranks 194 on Forbes Billionaire List 2007, and is valued at around £3 billion.

I've just finished a three day wine tourism class, where I teach some 'best practise' principles to wine makers. Had a really good group from Chateau La Louviere (Lurton), Millesima wine merchants, Chateau d'Arche in Sauternes, among others.

They told me that the frost that has devastated much of Muscadet (I talked about it last week, plus it's been widely reported http://www.harpers.co.uk/harvest-report/5542/Frost-hits-Muscadet-harvest.ehtml ) has also been widespread in Bordeaux.

Apparently 15% of the crop at Domaine de Chevalier has gone (this chateau is in a particularly precarious spot, and is often prone to bad frost damage), up to 70% damage reported in the southern Graves around Langon, and large areas also gone in St Emilion and the Medoc. The winemakers aren't talking about it yet because they are assessing the long-term damage, but wine merchants are worried that a smaller 2008 crop will... you guessed it... put up prices of 2007.

Vines can, incidentally, bud again if there is frost at this stage of the growing season, but these secondary buds are not as productive - often the produce green leaves but no fruit, or much reduced fruit. So it really is economically a severe problem.

I selected these wines as among my favourites for the vintage. They will appear in Gourmet Traveller Wine in Australia, with a vintage overview.

Chateau Angelus, Saint Emilion – The high levels of cabernet franc have made this one of the successes of the appellation in 2007, with fresh aromas on the nose of rich ripe fruits. Flavourful mid-palate and soft tannins with long, silky after-taste. 93-94

Chateau La Conseillante, Pomerol – One of the most consistent appellations in 2007, almost every Pomerol I tasted managed to get the rich, fleshy fruit that was so missing elsewhere. This was one of the best examples. 93-94

Chateau Chantegrive, white Graves – Crisp lemony and grapefruit nose, and focused, almost steely minerality. Refreshing and deceptively simple, very flattering – likely to be good value also. 90-91

Chateau La Lagune, Haut Medoc – Supple and seductive, new oak is a tiny bit dominant, but very pleasing ripe red fruits, and a real lilting freshness. 91.

Chateau Serilhan, Saint Estephe – A real surprise this year. Very flattering, fresh and easy to drink, highlighting many of the early-drinking qualities of 2007. 90

Chateau Giscours, Margaux - In an underperforming appellation for the vintage, the quality for (expected) price is bound to be excellent. Elegant but powerful. 92

Chateau Pontet Canet, Pauillac – As always, this is a reliable bet for excellent quality. Smoky and complex, with deep rich flavours that roll around the mouth. 90

Chateau Leoville Las Cases, Saint Julien – Over-performing super second. intense, yet very fragrant with clean dark fruits on the nose, this belies the general truth that 2007 is not a year for laying down. 92-93

Chateau Climens, Sauternes – A very good year for Sauternes, where the noble rot loved the slow sunny days of September and October. This has great concentration and complex fruits, both exhilaratingly acidic and deeply creamy at the same time. 93

Domaine de Chevalier white, Pessac Leognan – Subtle, floral nose, with soft white flowers and candied lemon on the palate. Very pretty wine. 92

This formed part of an interview for Decanter's Bordeaux supplement with Hubert de Bouard, the owner of Saint Emilion's Chateau Angelus, to be published in June this year, but is particularly interesting right now:

'2007 is a different year, as they all are. It’s part of the charm of Bordeaux. We shouldn’t call it difficult, but different. The climate has always been very important in determining the style of individual vintages in Bordeaux. 2007 was all about good decision-making, and was good for early-ripening terroir.'

The exchange rate is very hard, the global economic crisis, the US elections, all of these things contribute to a global instability that we can’t ignore. There are always two people in a purchase – the person doing the selling, but also the person doing the buying. If enough of the buyers are constrained by global conditions, the Bordelais will have to take note.'

'I believe this year in particular, but also more generally, the usual bankrollers (that means the Bordelais negociants and also to a large extent the UK merchants) will be more resistant. They have been prepared to bankroll the chateaux for many years, but may be less willing to do so now.'

'The pool of serious brands that will be able to sell easily this year may shrink to around 30, who can sell at prices close to, or the same as, 2006. But I believe there will be others who will release too high and then find merchants saying, ‘at that price, I am not buying.’ Perhaps there will be some reappraisals of prices if they do not find buyers.'

'Many owners are too disconnected from the rest of the world, many will think they can decide the price, but the question is will the next step in the chain be prepared to take the risk? I believe we are in a worrying period where less and less of them will be prepared to do that.'

'I also don’t think consumers will be prepared to spend as much this year, and at the end of the day, we can forget that these are the people who count. Perhaps critics will have less influence than usual because not creating a stir, so consumers will take less interest in them.'

'Ten years ago, it was all about whether the Americans were going to buy or not, but today this is less important as there are other markets.'

I heard an (unconfirmed) rumour today that one of the Rothschild Paris family homes was broken into a few days ago, and 66 bottles of Lafite 1947 were stolen. Apparently these would be worth around 1,000 euros each - but unfortunately for the thieves, if they had managed to get their hands on 1947 Mouton, or 1947 Cheval Blanc, it would have been closer to 10,000 euros.

They have asked Bordeaux merchants to be on the look out for any suspiciously cheap bottles surfacing over the coming week.

I visited last week a very interesting chateau in the Entre deux Mers region of Bordeaux, just next to the wine syndicate in La Sauve Majeure.

This property used to belong to the abbey in La Sauve and dates back to the 12th century (hence the Saint Mary), and made the wine purely for church use. Today, not suprisingly since the abbey is in ruins, it is owned privately, by Steffan Dupuch. Much of the chateau was devastated by fire centuries ago, and only the giant 400 year old sequoias remain, but it is still a very attractive property, with beautiful views, even if the chais could do with a lick of paint. As Steffan's father said, 'We put all our money into the vineyards, planting to high density, selecting the best terroirs in the area for new purchases, being out in the vines ensuring everything is meticulously cared for. We can always put a new roof on next year, but the vines won't wait.'

It is notable for its white wines - particularly their top selection, Cuvee Madlys, that comes from 100% sauvignon vines, planted at 10,000 vines per hectare on a clay and chalk vineyard on one of Bordeaux’s highest hills. This density of planting is certainly a record in Bordeaux for whites (the Despagne family, and a few others, do this for their red wines - Despagne particularly for their excellent Girolate red), but this is the only one I know of for whites.

It is an excellent bottle - fresh but intense, and low temperature vinification helps also to concentrate the sauvignon aromas of citrus and grapefruit. There is also a round edge of caramel that is beautifully set against the acidity.

But what will really make this chateau stay in your mind forever, once visited, is that they have two parokeets from the Congo, one of which is over 45 years old, that can perfectly whistle the theme tune from the Great Escape!

Earlier this week, freezing tempteratures in Muscadet destroyed between 20-50% of the emerging buds, which are just now starting to appear on the vines. Similar temperatures were seen in Champagne and Chablis, but these (wealthier) areas have protection systems in place such as burning oil pots, or sophisticated heating systems.
The last big frost in the area was in 1991, when frost hit at the end of April.

Rodenstock might not be a big fan, but a meeting I had this morning with the inventors of E-Provenance, a new method of tracking wines through their distribution and storage chains, convinced me that it is a much overdue idea.

I met with Dr Christian Butzke from Purdue University in Indianapolis, and Eric Vogt of E-Provenance, as they were both in Bordeaux for a meeting with chateaux owners on the progress of trials. Yesterday, they held a small conference at the Regent Hotel with around 20 chateaux, including Latour, Lafite, Margaux, Palmer, Huat Bailly, discussing the concerns of the chateaux, and explaining the benefits of the system.

First of all, the difference with E-Provenance seems to be that is tracks temperature fluctuations, meaning that if your wine, which you have paid several hundred pounds for, has been stored in the sunshine on a dock for a week, you're going to know about it.

My first question was that I can see the benefit of this for chateaux, but surely there must be huge opposition from the shipping companies / importers etc, who have a lot to lose if they dont implement some pretty expensive changes to the way they currently do business. Apparently Robert Parker and Alain Reynaud had this idea about 15 years ago and were told to forget about it by everyone they approached. But with high profile fakes now, and with the price of secondary-market wines going so high, there is a real commercial imperative to develop ways of safeguarding the quality of fine wine.

So, a quick overview, from Dr Butzke,
'Many winemakers now travel around the world for tastings, and have been increasingly disappointed that their wines do not show as well as they do back home - so wanted to do something about it.'

'It was difficult to convince the shippers at first during the trials. Many 'lost' the data when it came time to retrieve findings. For smaller wineries also, it is hard to put pressure on shippers to do the right thing, because they are just so happy to have found someone who is willing to buy their wine. So we decided all trials had to be done with high profile wineries, industry leaders who had the most to lose through bad handling of their bottles.'

'It is similar in many ways to what the first growths did in the 1920s, when they took bottling off the merchants and into the chateaux to control quality. Up til now, they have been very hot on quality in the vineyard, and in the cellar, but there has been this whole other third piece of the picture that has been largely ignored. The aim of E-provenance is to fill in that blank, to really track the wine from the vineyard to the cellar.'

Butzke began researching into the problem, mainly with Robert Mondavi, back in 1999/2000. Vogt started independently looking into a similar problem, and coming up with a technological solution, around two years ago, after a lunch with Corinne Mentzelopoulos of Chateau Margaux, where she was detailing her concerns.

Up til now, they have developed a three-tier system, with tracking on the bottle itself, on the seal (to ensure not only the bottle but the wine itself is unchanged), and a case tag that tracks temperature. The data right now is being protected, because has to be collaberative and non-confrontational until they can see the weakspots in the delivery chain and how to fix it. In the next phase, should have enough data to develop insurance products around it.

'Fine wine is often shipped in worse conditions that ice cream or a head of lettuce. This will add to the cost, but for such high profile properties, that should not be the primary concern.'

They also gave me a few interesting supporting facts:
Too high temperatures can mean the wine is 'speed aged', so two years worth of ageing in one week if heads up towards 40 degrees.

See critical temps of 40 degrees for alterations to sulphur dioxide, and 30 degrees for turbidity (cloudiness) in whites, 35 degrees in red. Leakages, and cork displacements, start at around 30 degrees. And even worse, professional tasters can taste the difference way before there are any exploding corks or big leakages.

The next step for them is to include more chateaux in the trials - they are off to Napa in a few weeks, and more and more in Bordeaux, plus some wine merchants, are showing interest. Can imagine they will meet with resistance, but overall, if you are paying a lot for your wine, why wouldnt you want to be sure that it has been shipped and stored correctly?

Apparently 38 billion bottles of wine are made each year - they see this system addressing the top 10% of those wines. So a mere potential market of 3.8 billion bottles!

http://www.eprovenance.com/Y0FP4UD9/index.htm?

More on the primeurs as I have time to write up, but sent this over to Decanter this morning, and I think very interesting in terms of the focus of the 2007 vintage.

...

Following reports of the excellent 2007 white wine vintage in Bordeaux, a group of high profile producers have called attention to the potential future difficulties of producing similar wines in the region.

Lauren Lebrun, technical director at Chateau Olivier in Pessac Leognan, told decanter.com about a worrying lack of good quality Semillon vines available both in Bordeaux and worldwide, which is proving a threat when vineyards need replanting, particularly in Pessac Leognan and Sauternes.

‘The problem is that as Semillon becomes less fashionable worldwide, increasingly few clones are grown in nurseries, and finding good quality new vines becomes difficult,’ explained Lebrun.

The grape is widely used in Bordeaux as a mix with Sauvignon Blanc, for both sweet and dry wines, but it is far more unusual outside of the region – 95% of France’s Semillon is grown in Bordeaux.

It was once the most planted grape in the world, particularly in the 18th century with the huge popularity of sweet wines. In the 1950s, Chile's vineyards were made up of over 75% Sémillon and today, although it is still second after France in terms of plantings, it doesn’t even make it into the top 10 most popular varieties. South Africa also has plantings, but where it once represented 93% of all Cape vines, it now accounts for only about 1%. Similar patterns have been seen in Australia, where again it has been replaced in popularity by Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

The concern in Bordeaux is that the character profile of their whites could change if they have to rely too heavily on Sauvignon Blanc. In an attempt to redress the balance, a group of 17 producers have formed an association to grow their own clones. Xavier Planty, director at Chateau Guiraud in Sauternes, said, ‘There needs to be a better clonal selection to keep the quality level of the wines high, because the more diversity you have in a parcel, the more you can protect against diseases. Also of course the greater the aromatic and gustative diversity.’

Planty began his nursery in 2000, and members of the group now include Chateau d’Yquem, Chateau Olivier, Chateau Suduiraud, Chateau La Tour Blanche, among others. Over the last few years, they have progressed to micro-vinifications, and the first new clones have begun to be planted, with the expectation of real advances over the next five years.

‘It’s a private collection,’ said Planty, ‘but we are working with the EU, and there is the possibility that in the future we could but donate some genetic stock for wider distribution.’

Denis DUBORDIEU, 2007 Faculty of Oenology

The characteristics that govern the quality of a vintage are almost always the same.

A successful red wine vintage depends on a chain of 5 essential conditions:
1) rapid and early flowering
2) Beginning of water stress at nousaison (berry set, after flowering)
3) End of shoot growth at approach of veraison (= allow the grape to concentrate on maturing, not using its energy in growing new shoots. In order to stop that, you need water stress, or a low water supply, to stop growth. In an oceanic climate like in Bordeaux, there is a certain suspense each year. But we can do two things to offset this suspense (and our own stress!) – plant on soils that have relatively low water reserves (the greatest terroirs have this), and ensure a large green foliage surface, lots of leaf canopy, which we obtain by planting lots of vines by hectare
4) Dryness and moderate heat during maturation of the grapes to favour production of sugar, colour, tannins and aromas.
5) Clement weather during harvest, without fear of dilution or rot, maximum ripening of late-ripening parcels and varieties. This allows the winemakers to wait until peak ripenss, particularly for cabernet and petit verdot. There is often a threat for these varieties that you have to leave them so late that there can be problems with grey rot. Need ideal conditions to avoid this.

In 2007, conditions 1 and 5 were perfectly met. 2-4 not so good!

To make excellent dry white, you need protection of aromas and acidity:
1) Mild water stress occurring later (after veraison). Need less water stress for white than red, and water stress should happen later.
2) Temperate daytime temperatures and cool nights during ripening. The worst thing for aromas of dry wite wines is torrid heat.

Both of these conditions were perfectly met in 2007.

For great sweet white wines:
Need alternating damp periods and warm dry weather to produce noble rot, and to concentrate the juice and the flavour in the grapes. These are in addition to the conditions for great white wines, because for great noble rot, need healthy white grapes to begin with.

Again, these conditions were met in 2007.

The white wines this year are very bright. Of course different expressions depending on the estates, but they are very intense flavoured wines.

Great Sauternes and Barsac. Without heaviness. Power but freshness.
The reds are more varied, but there are some very good ones due to the cabernets.

The faculty of oenology will not tell you every year that it’s a great vintage. And it’s in the proportions of cabernet sauvignon in the wines this year that will allow you to see the benefit of the late season sunshine.

But the most suprising grape variety this year was petit verdot. In early Sept, when we were already picking for whites, the pv had almost not changed colour, and weren’t expecting to be able to use any of it. But the late season was perhaps even more beneficial for the pv as for the cab.

So what will make a difference between the estates is, first and foremost, the difference in vineyard management techniques. Of course terroir with lowest water reserves important, and the painstaking attention given to the summer pruning, leaf thinning and so on. And the best wines will have lower yields than in 06 or 05, or even 04.

It does not have the concentration that you find in the very greatest red Bordeaux vintages. But it’s not a ‘small or off’ vintage. Because there is complexity, freshness and definitely fruit.

Largely therefore you would expect it to be a Left Bank vintage, but there has also been great success in Pomerol – several reasons for this. Of course not all Pomerol is Petrus (ie not all made with 98% merlot)! Believe that the fact that a lot of Pomerol vineyards use a lot of cabernet franc is appreciable and has helped, as that grape did well this year (this - my own aside - is also seen with Chateau Angelus and Cheval Blanc in St Emilion, who both made gorgeous wines).

Plus the iron in Pomerol soils holds less water than many of the clay, alluvial soils that surround it.

And also very small properties, which means they can very carefully take care of their vineyards during the summer.

Most variable vintage since 1999, for both varieties and estates, and cabernet most like 2002 in terms of quality, where perhaps merlot didn’t do so well. But so many great differences b/w estates it is hard to say. O

ne sign of a good vintage is the even quality a fairly stable quality. This is seen in Sauternes and Barsac, but this is not true in many other appellations.

Believe there is a potential for ageing in the 2007. Again with the 2002 can compare, they are ageing gracefully, particularly left bank, and are developing a real ‘bdx character’, whereas perhaps the 2003 are not ageing in a normal bdx character.

Primeur week craziness has set in. I have also just moved apartments and am relying on wifi in cafes until get internet connected, so bear with me...

Press dinner at Guiraud last night, off to Pessac Leognan tastings today.

Seem to be conspicuously less buyers here than usual, but some good suprises about the quality - and there are a lot of French supermarkets out in force, no doubt hoping to take advantage of more flexibility on pricing, no matter what the chateau owners are saying right now.

Go to Decanter.com today for their Parker story... I am sure their annual april fool. last year they did one about Paris Hilton becoming the new face of Bordeaux campaign, and it was their most read story of the year!

I also sent this story over to them yesterday, hopefully will go up today:

The 2007 vintage is likely to be strong for the traditional markets of France and Europe, and for emerging markets such as China, according to initial comments from the en primeur week in Bordeaux.

‘This will certainly not be a speculative vintage,’ assessed Saint Emilion owner and merchant Jean Luc Thunevin at his annual tasting, ‘which means that US and to some extent UK buyers will be less interested. But this opens the market for those looking for drinking wines.’

Fabrice Matysiak, buyer from French supermarket group Auchan, told decanter.com, ‘We are confident that this year they will be room for negotiations. Even if chateaux do not want to bring down their prices, they may be more willing to move on payment terms, or other rewards for buying in volume.’

Chinese buyers in particular are in Bordeaux not just for the purchase of 2007 futures, but also to buy wines that are already in bottle – namely prestigious vintages such as 2005 – that can be delivered in time for this summer’s Beijing Olympics.

Ida Huang, a buyer who sells to high value hotels, restaurants and individual clients in Beijing and Shanghai, said, ‘There is a lot of expectation in China this year across all industries to benefit from the Olympic Effect. We are looking to buy twice as much en primeur as last year, to meet higher long-term demand, but we are also looking for ready-to-deliver wines to cater for the greater demand that the Olympics are creating.’

The Chinese market entered into top 10 for Bordeaux exports for the first time in 2007, both volume and value, an increase of 82% on 2006 in volume and 158% in value to 45 million euros.