the new bordeaux

Highly loyal readers of this blog might remember that I put together a wedding case of six specially-selected bottles of wine last year for my friends, Andy and Tony, who got married in London last year (they couldn't do that in California right now of course).

I was asked to do something similar a few weeks ago for another couple, and was very happy to repeat the exercise. It takes a bit of time choosing the right wines, but it is such a personal and unusual wedding present that I think we should all be doing it!

The Wines (I used the Wine Society as I often do, because I really like their choice of wines), and chose one wine to be opened on their anniversary for the first 10 years, and then a special one for their 20th anniversary.

Year 0 (2009) - for the honeymoon, champagne of course. I chose Pol Roger pure brut (£35) but can always swap for whatever your favourite is!
Year 1 - (2010) - An organic wine from Chile, making great syrah. Matetic EQ Syrah, San Antonio, 2005 (£15)
Year 2 (2011) - As they got engaged in Pisa, chose a Tuscan red for this year. Gianni Brunelli Brunello di Montalcino, 2003 (£29)
Year 3 (2012) - Third anniversary is leather, so chose a Rioja which is often described as strawberries and leather. Roda Reserva, Rioja, £20.
Year 4 (2013) - Olympic Year; English wine... Ridgeview Merrit sparkling wine from Sussex.
Year 5 (2014) - Fifth anniversary is wood!! So has to be a well-oaked wine... a barrel-fermented white Burgundy. Chose a Chablis, at £42 - Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots, Domaine William Fèvre, 2004 (expensive but seriously seriously good!!)
Year 6 (2015) - Wine mentioned in the new Sebastian Faulkes James Bond book!! Château Batailley, 2001, Pauillac, £27.
Year 7 (2016) - For something different, a very good port that can be kept until 2030. Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira, 1998, £29.
Year 8 (2017) - Portugese dry wines are getting better and better, so an unusual but hopefully really nice choice. Vertente, Douro, 2004 (Niepoort), £17.
Year 9 (2018) - An amazingly good Napa wine that will drink until at least 2020. Stags Leap SLV Cabernet Sauvignon, 2003, £75.
Year 10 (2019) - Sauternes ages so well, and this was an amazing vintage. Clos Haut Peyraguey, 2001, Sauternes, £39.
Year 20.(2029) Save one that will still be really great in 20 years! So of course has to be a Bordeaux... Chateau La Tour Figeac, Saint Emilion 05 at £48 that looks pretty good aswell!

I had a very busy (hence no blog) but great week last week, taking Grace Chen from Araujo Winery in Napa ( www.araujoestatewines.com )around various estates in Bordeaux.

We started on the Left Bank (Haut Bailly, Malartic Lagraviere, Yquem, Raymond Lafon, Margaux, Mouton and Lynch Bages) before crossing over the river and visiting Vieux Chateau Certan, Le Pin, Angelus, Ausone and Petrus.

I don't normally take a whole week out to visit properties, and I did have some stressful moments trying to cover both the hail and the en primeurs for Decanter, but it was really an amazing week to visit so many great properties back to back (although have to admit that we finished off having lunch at the lovely Cafe du Port back in Bordeaux, and what would normally have been a delicious glass of Provence white wine tasted decidedly uninteresting).

There were a number of new projects going on; new cellars and/or vinification equipment planned at Lynch Bages, Margaux, Le Pin and Petrus, plus new reception rooms at Ausone (talking of which, Ausone came out today at almost 30% under the 2007 price, 360 euros per bottle. Of course very expensive, but tiny quantities as ever, and I finally got to taste the 2008 while at the chateau and just a stunning wine).

I have so far put up a profile on the website on Le Pin ( http://www.newbordeaux.com/documents/lepin.html ), and updated Haut Bailly ( http://www.newbordeaux.com/documents/chateau_haut_bailly.html ) and am going to do my best to get Ausone up in the next few days.

As Haut Bailly celebrates its success this week, of first 95-97 points with Parker equalling Haut Brion, and selling out 90% of its 2008 wine within hours of releasing its price, I thought I would post a photo of a great gift idea I found in the Haut Bailly boutique this week...

A Father's Day box that has two bottles of La Parde de Haut Bailly (the very good second wine), and the Rose de Haut Bailly, and one bottle of Haut Bailly itself. Complete with the essential dad accessories of barbeque utensils!!!

By the way, am I only person to be feeling a bit annoyed that Robert Parker has now 'discovered' Haut Bailly? For years he gave it at best very average scores (usually around 87-90). It's definitely the opposite of a usual Parker wine; subtle, restrained, elegant. But a few years ago he turned up for a tasting at the property (giving them five minutes notice) because he said he wanted to understand the wines better. The vertical seems to have convinced him that he was missing out, and since then he has been enthusiastically trumpeting the property. His 2006 score was initially 91-93, but he retasted it again earlier this year (after his 'discovery' at the chateau), and upped the score to 94, and a few months later put the 2008 at 95-97.

I know it is wonderful for the property to be getting the recognition it amply deserves, but I for one rather liked it being under the radar... the insider's Pessac Leognan... don't change Haut Bailly!!

Not just Sauternes in fact, but all the sweet wine appellations of Bordeaux have rebranded from Vins d'Or de Bordeaux to the rather more catchy Sweet Bordeaux.

The 12 sweet wine appellations of Bordeaux are:
Barsac
Bordeaux Supérieur
Bordeaux-Haut-Benauge
Cadillac
Cérons
Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire
Graves Supérieures
Loupiac
Premières Côtes de Bordeaux
Sainte-Croix-du-Mont
Sainte-Foy-Bordeaux
Sauternes

http://www.sweetbordeaux.com/

To launch the new name, they are holding a series of sweet-themed evenings around Bordeaux; at Chez Pompon wine bar last Thursday, and at the CIVB wine bar last night. Not sure if launching in Bordeaux is really ideal, as this is not the market that they need to convince to start drinking sweet Bordeaux, but it was still a good evening, helped enormously by the cocktail they were serving. If you want to recreate it:
Three bottles of a sweet Bordeaux from any of the appellations above
One bottle of cognac
One bottle of crement sparkling wine (from Bordeaux of course!) - you might want to substitute soda water or tonic water here...
Chopped fruit

Also some good ideas for tapas to match these wines are on the site, created by Jean Baptiste Depons, a Bordelaise chef who has worked at Hotel Crillon and the Tour d'Argent:
http://www.sweetbordeaux.com/categorie/tapas/

There are unusual restaurants, and then there's Kinette Gautier.

When I received the invitation to this evening of rosé food and wine matching from Bordeaux Oxygene, I almost said no because I am on too many deadlines at the moment, but I couldn't resist for two reasons. Firstly because I am always looking for genuinely good Bordeaux rosés, and secondly because I had heard such interesting things about the venue, Kinette Gautier.

Many people don't even realise that Bordeaux makes rosé, but more and more good chateaux do... even if they have only just realised that it can be more than a by-product of their reds.

In fact, the Bordelais have been making this style of wine for almost 1,000 years. The original wine that was exported to England back in the 12th century was a version of today’s rosé. Known as clairet, (the origin of the word claret) it was a light red wine that would most likely have been undrinkable within about six months of production, because there was no clever technology at the time for preserving wines in ways that allowed them to age. With the addition of sulphur and other anti-oxidising tricks, this of course is no longer a problem, but the Bordelais still make both clairet and rosé wines.

Traditionally, it is made in Bordeaux largely by ‘bleeding’ off some liquid from the red wine barrels at the start of fermentation in order to concentrate what remains behind. Rather than just chucking it out, they bottle and sell it, but there is rarely the idea of treating the grapes differently to specifically make a quality rosé.

This is changing, however, as the market for this style of wine increases. And last night was a reflection of this increased quality: Kinette Gautier (the name of the 'restaurant', but also of the legendary woman who owns it, rarely seen without an extravagent hat and a keen turn of phrase) has recently had a revelation, after, as she says, 'a long time when everyone knew rose was not my favourite wine... until tasting Clara 2007 Bordeaux Clairet Clos Dubreuil from Benoit Trocard ; once tasted...'

Kinette and her husband Michel Gautier (a Maitre Cuisinier de la France) used to run a Michelin-starred restaurant on Cours du Chapeau Rouge in central Bordeaux, but now run what can only be described as a bespoke dining service with a bit of theatre thrown in. They cook in this very private place for clients who are invited by word of mouth - usually either through the CIVB bordeaux wine bureau, or through individual chateaux. Located in their private house, on a forgotten street of the Bordeaux Bastide (when they first moved here around 20 years ago, the Bastide was 'like the Bronx' as they said last night... 'but everyone wanted to know who was crazy enough to create a restaurant over there...'). You enter into the garden, then walk through into the kitchen, where there is a long table that can sit up to 12 people (we were 10 last night). And then just let them take over...

The evening was really so interesting, and I'm sure even the owners of these wines learnt new things about the flavours and nuances contained in their roses from the brilliant choice of foods that the Gautiers had chosen to accompany them.

The wines and food tasted were:
Château Thieuley Rosé 2008
Served with Rose petals in lotus leaf form, with avocado, beetroot heart and crevette rose. (I don't think I have ever eaten rose petals before, and they were delicious, possibly my favourite part of the whole evening. The roses were grown in Kinette's parents garden in Langoiran, Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux region)

Clos Fourtet, Rosé 2008
Served with Fliet de lisette (a dark oily fish a bit like mackerel), in a whisky-infused gelée, with raspberries and balsemic.

Clara de Clos Dubreuil 2007
Romeo and Juliette smoked salmon (smoked themselves, in a Demptos barrel), on a bed of smoked gelée, infused with truffle.

Les Hauts de Smith, Rosé 2008
Brochette of Arcachon Oysters, with cucumber vermicelli and 'Perles de France'. These turned out to be snails' eggs, from the Charente Martime, finely salted with fleur de sel. Definitely a first for me to taste snails' eggs (who knew snails even laid eggs??). They were bigger than caviar, white, and tasted really quite good, mushroomy, peaty, a bit like cress - but when you crack them a sweet liquid gets released that seemed good last night but the thought of it this morning was less appetising...

Malartic Lagravière , Rosé 2008
Aubergine tart (in fact it was more like a ratatouille, but food described in English never sounds as good as in French!) with fillet of veal, on a coulis of carrots.

Rosé by Michel Rolland 2008
'Air' of red fruits, with a coulis of strawberries. Served with ginger infused biscuits.

Reviews of each I have put onto the site:
http://www.newbordeaux.com/documents/130.html

And Kinette Gautier website here:
http://www.michel-kinette-gautier.com/

Chateau Cantenac Brown in Margaux announced that it was releasing its 2008 wine at 18 euros ex chateau, a drop of just over 43% from last year.

Parker called it the best wine he has tasted from the property, so well done to them for not letting that go to their heads and raise, or even keep the prices the same as last year (step forward Chateau Clinet yesterday and La Gaffeliere today).

My review during the primeurs said:
Chateau Cantenac Brown, Margaux
Like the elegance on the nose and the lovely restrained but rich colour. Much better than many of the samples in this tasting – good weight of fruit but the lovely acidity makes it seem light. 60% cabernet sauvignon, 40% merlot, and will spent its ageing in 60% new oak. One of the nicest so far. I have now tasted this twice, once at the chateau and once again during this blind tasting, and have been very impressed with each sample. They harvested from October 1 to 19. Now let’s see what they do with the price this year, as it has pretty much dropped off the radar due to its crazy pricing strategy. 92-94.

There are a lot of prices coming out this week after the Parker scores, and a few other interesting ones are Chateau Yquem down 59% at 160 euros, Chateau Figeac 35 euros (42 last year so down 16.67%). Overall, biggest price drops so far Lafite 45%, Margaux 45%, Mouton 50%, Latour 45%, Angelus 41.18%, Haut Brion approx 41%, La Conseillante 28.57% and now Cantenac Brown 43%.

Besides Clinet, others who have gone the wrong way are Chateau Larrivet Haut Brion Blanc 19.30 this year (up from 16.8 so 14.88% rise) and Chateau Forcas Hosten (very unfortunate for them as they brought their price out last week and then got a very low Parker score of 79-81...)

Great story that was picked up in the Wall Street Journal last week about global cheese and wine parties to be held on June 4, courtesy of the French government...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124052234831749871.html

An excerpt here (article by Max Colchester):
'France has long played up its culture of culinary excellence. But now the government fears the country's highbrow food traditions may have alienated the average consumer. So, in an effort to boost sales of wine and cheese -- two of France's more lucrative exports -- it is trying to promote the laid-back apéritif, a moment before dinner when the French kick back with a glass of wine and some finger food.

To get the message across, the French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, along with various wine and cheese producers, is spending around €1.6 million ($2.1 million) to sponsor cocktail parties in 19 countries across the world, including the U.S., Canada and Spain. The French government will cover 60% of the overall cost of the program, and the wine and cheese companies involved are underwriting the rest.

"Some people are terrorized by French gastronomy, especially French wine," says Marie-Noëlle Guerin, head of external relations at Sopexa, a food-marketing company hired to organize the events. "We want to show that French cuisine can be relaxed too."

(... successful applicants...) will receive a hamper of French-themed party gear, including a corkscrew, an apron and a CD featuring pop singer Carla Bruni, wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In return for the gifts, the hosts must hold a party, take photos and blog before and after, in an effort to help create a buzz about French wine and food. After the party, they will have to answer a questionnaire seeking their opinion of the products they tasted.'