the new bordeaux

When I heard that one of the world's most famous all-male choirs was coming to the Medoc, I have to admit I was besides myself at the thought of seeing the London (or San Francisco for the matter) Gay Men's Chorus...

Unfortunately, that wasn't to be (but please some friendly chateau owner be the first to offer them a berth). Instead, it is the Yale Whiffenpoofs, who are celebrating their centenary as a group of all male acapella singers from Yale University.

They will be singing at Château Kirwan in Margaux on Wednesday July 22nd, as part of a world tour that started last month. The choir was formed in January 1909 - originally as a quartet who met for weekly concerts, but today there are 14 of them, who will be singing things from Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and others.

They are singing as part of the Musique au Coeur du Medoc programme that is held every summer, and will also be appearing at Rauzan Segla.

The concert starts at 8.30, with a tasting of course afterwards. For info call Kirwan on 05 57 88 71 00

http://www.yale.edu/whiffenpoofs/history/

This iconic Italian wine, the Petrus of Italy as it is known, is owned by Tenuta dell'Ornellaia and is made from a single vineyard of seven hectares. It is 100% merlot, and has been gaining in notoriety ever since its first vintage in 1986 - when it was decided to vinify this particular plot of merlot separately, from mineral-rich clay soils, because it was showing such promise.

The reason that this large tasting was taking place at Vinexpo is because Masseto has just started being sold through the Place de Bordeaux. To celebrate this, the winemaker (Axel Heinz), general manager (Leonardo Raspini), and oenologist (Michel Rolland), held a tasting of 14 vintages, attended by many of the negociants who will be selling it, and a few journalists. The order is slightly unusual - the winers were presented first went by year, and then those wines ready to drink now, then finished with four Icon Vintages.

The gathered Bordeaux palates may have been expecting a merlot that they recognised from Pomerol, but Masseto is very different, with an opulence and fleshiness to it that comes from the hotter weather (the average alcohol was 15%, although the balance was such that you barely noticed). They were keen to acknowledge this: 'Our wines are born under the sun and we don't want to hide that,' said Heinz. 'We know that our merlot is not in Bordeaux, and we want to show the warmth in our expression of the grape, but no great wine works without balance, and we hope this tasting shows that balance and great acidic backbone that makes Masseto a wine for ageing aswell as for pleasure.'

Each year, between 30,000-32,000 bottles are produced. The cost upon release varies from around 90 euros up to 160 euros, depending on vintage, and quickly gains secondary value. The 1998, for example, was 114 euros on release, and is now worth over 500 euros.

http://www.ornellaia.com/en/prodotti/vini.htm

1987 Wonderful tertiary aromas in the wine, of white truffles, bracken, lots of warm autumnal flavours, but this is at its plateau I would say. A lovely powerful finish, but one to enjoy today. This was the first vintage to have the name Masseto on the label - the previous (inaugral) year, 1986, simply called this wine 'Merlot.'

1990 Again a lovely open nose, still good fruit and good acidity, some spicy undertones, nice dryness and gorgeous layers of flavour. Masseto usually spends 24 months in new oak, but by this stage it is fully integrated, with melted tannins and very flattering.

1994 - I tasted this right at the end of the tasting (had arrived late), so after I had been drinking the big, concentrated wiens of later years. It was a lovely contrast, still well structured but the texture was silky, gentle and very warming, open nose, leather and roses.

2002 - Heinz on this year 'we had to have the courage not to make a wine that the vintage didn?t allow. The weather didn't give naturally great concentration, so it spent shorter time in new oak than usual'. The wine in this year is delicate and fresh, but underneath the initial delicacy there is real impact and great length.

2003 - No rain at all during this growing season, so early ripening of course. Difficult to get the correct ripeness so as to keep freshness. They have never not produced a Masseto since its first vintage, but in this year did only make 40% of normal production (so around 22,000 bottles), so as not to have any merlot that was raisiny and over-ripe. There are touches of over-ripeness, but still good aromatics and some smooth tannins. Rolland said, 'very pretty, cigar box.'

2005 Also a difficult vintage in which to manage the heat, but great wine. This being Bordeaux, of course everyone expected the 05 to be stunning, but the 2004 and 2006 were apparently better in this region. This was the first vintage that Heinz arrived at Masseto. The vintage started well, but rain in mid-September threatened the grapes. Lots of liquorice, very powerful ' we listened to Michel Rolland who was advising us to wait, and he was right as the sun returned and there was no rot. We picked on September 30, which was very late for Tuscany'. Rolland 'You can't have perfect grapes every year of course, but this is still an excellent drinking wine, very good with food, still another five years before it will really be ready to start drinking.'

1995 Rainy early, then very good weather. One of the first Massetos that is really coming to fruition right now. There is opulence and ripeness but not over-ripe and with a nice spiciness. Gives a good impression of how the great Massetos taste when they are at their peak. Rolland, 'This is not a blockbuster, but a wonderfully balanced wine that is getting ready to drink. Tobacco, chocolate, cedar all coming through.'

1997 Good to drink now, but again a challenge because of very high temperatures. This is very opulent, plush even, and very soft and smooth. This is out of a magnum bottle so ageing more slowly, still very good flesh. A showy wine, but luscious and enjoyable, very appealing (was early on considered a great vintage). 1997 was the beginning of a new era in Tuscany, and this is a strong and powerful wine. I like the desntiy of it, big concentration of tannins. But for me I thought the tannins were a little rough and dry on the finish compared to some of the other years on display.

1998 Another hot one! But seemed easier according to Heinz coming straight after 1997. Masseto is located in coastal Tuscany and this was a very good vintage for the properties that benefited from a coastal breeze. Rich and chewy but more refined tannins, and a minty freshness that adds a lovely skip. Again the slightly dry tannins of a hot year, but there is better balance and freshness in this, and it is very lively. Balsamic and spice, can wait a long time to drink this. Very good quality - my favourite so far in the tasting.

2000 A textbook interpretation of a hot vintage, and according to Raspini 'so pleasant to drink now that I find it hard to wait. Not because it doesn't have potential, but because it is just so pleasant'. I was fully in agreement w A hint ofover-ripeness and dry tannins, but one of the most approachable of all Massetos, giving immense pleasure straight away, very balanced, very Mediterranean. I loved this one, gorgeous ripe damson plums, rich and spicy, good flesh and little punches of freshness sending waves down the palate. 94.

The Milestones
Rolland A fantastic vintage is when everything comes together, when mother nature is very generous and winemaking becomes easy.

1999 Rolland 'so alive and moving in every sense'. True aromatic complexity, density, complexity, longevity. Integrity of the fruit and the tannins are still very closed.

2001 Another great vintage. Thomas Duroux (now of Palmer) was winemaker at the time, as he joined in July 2001, so he stood up at this point to talk about it. 'Winemaking is very different at Ornelaia and Masseto. You have to have nerves of steel, and be prepared to wait. Alcohol is more than 15% and you can worry about balance, but it is there and you have to trust the wine. There is very good balance because the acidity and tannic structure fully balance out the alcohol.' This is incredibly deep and intense in flavour, but no hint of heaviness, not out of balance, all rich and lush but all in check. Power and elegance.

2004: Interesting vintage, this time with Axel Heinz as winemaker. Natural balance in this wine, perfect growing season, meant the wine is well in balance, there is a thickness to the texture, it is heavy and still very very young, but smooth. The grapes were perfectly ripe an everything went well - this is clearly going to age very well, it is strong, a big wine right now, but plenty of potential for serious ageing.

2006 Very dry growing season, no rain from April to September. But that was probably key to the quality because natural concentration, then had the warm winds in September that further concentrated things, then one weekend of very hard rainfall (close to 200mm in one weekend, when Rolland happened to be visiting!). Apparently having a short, intense burst of rain like that is less damaging to the vines than having a little bit fall every day or two for a long period, because much of it runs off immediately, not the same dilution effect. This again has very long ageing ahead of it dry tannins and the en, almost resinous. Very big tannins, but good ripeness, high acidity.

Vinexpo finally ended last night, after five days of non-stop walking, working and socialising.

Any attempts during the opening Lafite press dinner to keep things understated were definitely thrown to one side at Chateau d'Issan, where the Fete de la Fleur was held last night.

Over 1,500 people gathered at the beautiful Chateau d'Issan in Margaux, where owner Emmanuel Cruse is the Grand Maitre of the Commanderie de Bontemps. This commanderie host the Fete de la Fleur evening, and last night was their 60th annivesary. Among the guests were Sophie Marceau and Christophe Lambert, along with Bordeaux mayor Alain Juppe and pretty much every major wine buyer who had spent the week at the fair. I was next to a very nice wine buyer from Korean Airways who told me they are currently pouring Leoville Poyferre and Pontet Canet 2002 in first class.

Last night we were served Haut Bailly 2003 to start the evening (after white Graves cru classes on the lawn, where I had Larrivet Haut Brion), then Lagrange 2001, Chateau d'Issan 2000, Mouton Rothschild 1988 and finally 1986 Climens. All the wines were brought into to either opera music or songs by Placido Domingo, the highlight for me being his duet with Frank Sinatra of My Way.

Oh, and then Bollinger champagne after we had watched the fireworks and moved into the brilliant vaulted cellar that had been turned into a nightclub. It's hard to beat the sight of Olivier Bernard, Dominique Befve and various other chateaux owners letting off steam after a week of Vinexpo by dancing to the Eurthymics and - of course - lots of Michael Jackson.

The news broke for us at around midnight, when Marina Cazes' sister called from New York. Previously, the main celeb entertainment had been watching Sophie Marceau and Christophe Lambert getting very cosy at the next table to me, but the Michael Jackson news spread through the room very fast.

I left at around 3.30, but I hear the very last guests made their way home around 5.30 this morning. A really wonderful Fete de la Fleur, and a magical setting.

A few other Vinexpo highlights:
The enormously oversized glasses on Bernard Magrez’s stand. By far the weightiest and largest glassware on display in Hall One, so many congratulations to him.

Two 100% malbecs were launched from Chateau Magdeleine Bouhou in Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux, an interesting development that I'm sure we will see more of.

Of course, the wonderful couldn't-have-been-scripted spat between Vinexpo and Italissima – having an oversized marquee too near to the site ‘it’s obvious they want to make the most of vinexpo without paying’. For full details of this story, read Oliver Styles excellent news stories on http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=285010

The final press release claiming that the drinking in moderation wine and health forum was well attended and one of the most popular events. I know that is politically expedient to show how committed vinexpo is to this subject, but I was there and believe me it was far from well attended. I counted maximum of 40 at any one time, while the same conference room the next day for the wine tourism forum was bursting at the seams.

The wines of course - among the highlights were the wonderful Masseto tasting (tasting notes asap), plus at dinners Yquem 88, Haut Brion 88, Lafite 78. And an excellent tasting with Viniportugal yesterday.

And finally, a vinexpo success story; sometimes the walk between stands and especially halls is distinctly annoying, but a friend told me that he met new a client, talked about establishing a contract and finally shook hands on deal while walking from one end of Hall 1 to the other - great example of how we should all be maximising our time at these events!

I went to an excellent tasting at Vinexpo yesterday, showing the wines that French winemakers have made at their own estates in other parts of the world.

Over 13 different countries were represente, with wines such as Opus One from Napa, Chapoutier's wines in Australia and Portugal, Michel Laroche in Chile and South Africa, plus Francois Lurton, Bruno Prats, Louis Roederer.

I asked David Pearson, director of Opus One, whether he thought the idea of the tasting was sound - was there really such a thing as a French-influence wine?? His reply was, 'There are certainly cultural styles that impose themselves on the winemaker, and he or she inevitably brings things from their upbringing to their role, so yes I think there is an influence. It may be heresy in France, but I believe that there are things beyond the terroir that influence the quality of the wine, and the winemaker and his philosophy is very much one of those things.'

It was a fascinating tasting, and I wish I had managed to get round all of them, but was mainly concentrating on Portuguese wines for my Hong Kong article. However, did get round a few, a few tastings notes below:

Bodega Diam'Andes, Uco Valley 2007 (approx 40 euros)
Owned by the Bonnie family of Malartic Lagraviere in Pessac Leognon, this is 70% malbec, 25% cabernet sauvignon and 10% merlot. They have planted some syrah in the vineyard so expect to see some in the wine in the near future. Diam'Andes is part of the Clos de Los Siete project with Michel Rolland. Rich and smooth on the palate, with plenty of coffee and toasty oak. Good crunchy fruit, with the power of an Argentinian malbec, but some good restaint shown also. According to owner Severine Bonnie, they shipped out the same small trays used to harvest the grapes in Bordeaux, and many of the same vineyard practises are followed in the two estates.

Opus One, Napa 2005 ( www.opusonewinery.com )
As of this vintage, Opus One has been an entirely independent entity, although still owned by 50% Baroness Philippine de Rothschild and 50% Constellation Brands. What a pleasure to get to taste this wine; velvety, very intense fruit but with a rich mocha sweep through the mouth, with beautiful structure and length. Very impressive. 88% cabernet sauvignon, 10% merlot, 3% cabernet franc, 1% malbec. This year had a late harvest that finished on November 2nd, bringing full phenolic ripeness and depth to the fruit. Barrel aged 18 months in new French oak. It is of course always interesting to taste these 'icon' wines in a general lineup, but I think they can be quietly confident that they acquitted themselves well!

Francois Lurton, Quinta do Malho, Duoro 2007, www.francoislurton.com
Francois bought Quinta Beira Douro estate in 2006, set on the banks of the Duoro river and just 10 hectares of vines. This Quinta dp Malho has now been establishe at the same place but at a higher altitude, in middle terraced vineyards that has vines dating back to pre-phylloxerra. It uses unusual varieties such as Souzao, Tinta Amarela and Tinta Francisca - good spiciness to the wine, very well structured and intense, but nothing harsh about it, no let up in mid-palate.

Duas Quintas 2007, Duoro Red www.ramospinto.pt/
Quality collection of wines from the Ramos Pinto port house, that is today owned by Roederer hence the French connection, but run by an entirely Portuguese family, and same family that has been running the estate since its inception. They were among the very first to make still wines in the Duoro. This has Roriz 50%, touriga national /touriga franca 50%. A lovely tempranillo nose, quite high in alcohol so slightly unbalanced on the finish, but lovely sweet fruit in the mid-palate.

Ramos Pintos Collection 2006, Duoro
40% touriga nacional, 40% touriage franca, plus others. Better balance here, more weight of fruit, lovely depth and a very pretty wine. 14.5%ABV, but less intrusive than in the first wine, the alcohol sits very well against the fruit and the structure - an easy-drinking wine, but with punch.

Duas Quinats Reserva, Duoro 2005 (25 euros)
80% touriga nacional, 5% roriz, plus others. Evidently up the quality scale, lovely crisp fresh fruit, excellent structure and aromas, really a good wine and no harsh edges or difficult tannins. An excellent example of why the Duoro is rapidly gaining notoriety for its reds.

Ex Aequo, Domaine Bento and Chapoutier, Vinho Regional Estremadura 2006
A joint venture between Rhone legend Michel Chapoutier and Portuguese winemaker Domaine Jose Bento Dos Santos. The estate was apparantly a 'coup de coeur' for Michel Chapoutier, located just south of Lisbon towards the Altentejo. Chapoutier is of course a syrah lover, as his family has made syrah in the Rhone for over 200 years and he makes some of the best examples in France, all farmed biodynamically. This wine is 70% Syrah, with the balance made up by Touriga Nacional. Gorgeous and soft, very silky, a lighter structure than the Duoro reds not suprisingly, giving a gossamer structure, but with a core of juicy ripe blackberries and an excellent structure. This is the first year of their joint venture, and I'm looking forward to trying others.

Laroche – L’Avenir Grand Vin Pinotage 2006 (20 euros)
Famous for his Chablis, Laroche is now making very good wine in both Chile and South Africa. I tried an excellent 100% Chenin Blanc also from Stellenbosch, but am including this one review here because I have a very hard time finding pinotages that I like, so was genuinely surprised and happy to taste this wine. I usually find with the pinotage grape that the ‘earthy’ (they say), ‘medicinal’ (I say) side of the grape dominates over the fruit, but they have worked this one sufficiently that it is very much the spicy, ripe black fruits that come through. Seriously good wine.

Quinta do Tedo AOC Duoro 2007 (14%), www.quintadotedo.com/
Won the Decanter Trophy under £10 northern Portugal trophy at the world wine awards, this is made by Vincent Bouchard of Bourchard Pere et Fils and was bought in 1992. 55% Touriga Nacional, 25% Tinta Roriz and 20% Touriga Franca. 12 months in 225-liter French oak barrels, 35% new oak and 65% 1-year old oak. Enjoyed all of his wines - they combined being very easy to drink with a real sense of personality, and presence. Use traditional lagars with foot-treading, malolactic in rotating steel tanks (40%) and in barrel (60%).

Quinta do Tedo Reserva, 2006
Only made in good years – after the initial nine months in barrel for all the wine, he decides on best barrels and keeps for further 13 months approx (two years in total). Lovely intensity, prunes, great length, mouth-watering crunchy fruit, very nice wine.

Quinta do Tedo, Gran Reserve 2005
No difference in ageing between Reserva and Gran Reserva, more the quality and intensity of the wine. No legislation governing the use of these words, but he selects the years that are richer and more intense to go into his Gran Reserve.

Day three of Vinexpo, and it already feels like I live in the press room. Although have made four trips over the wobbly bridge already today, so at least they are letting me out for a bit of air.

This is also the third 'morning after' a Vinexpo party - Sunday was at Lafite for the press dinner, while last night I somehow managed four parties, which I am paying for today.

But during the day there are lots of interesting stories. I just interviewed Robert Madelin, Director of Consumption at the European Commission for a Decanter piece, but thought I would share a wine tourism story: that Bordeaux Fête le Vin will be going to Hong-Kong.

There's already a good link here, because Vinexpo is now held in Hong Kong every year that it is not in Bordeaux (wonder if it is quite such a marathon out there aswell???), and the two cities signed a cooperation accord in October 2008 (the Hong Kong government and the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce).

The Bordeaux Wine Bureau will now be doing a partnership with the Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival to put together a Wine Festival in Hong Kong looking at Bordeaux's wine, food and culture.

Laurent COURBU, President of the chamber of commerce, said they were looking at doing similar things in other countries around the world also. They are also looking at opening an office in China to promote investment in the region.

A tasting of some of the best sweet wines of the world was my first vinexpo event yesterday. It was held at Chateau La Tour Blanche in Sauternes, and was the fifth edition of the tasting. Organised at this chateau because there is the school of viticulture at La Tour Blanche, and part of its mission is teaching.

I have meant to go for the last two editions, so was determined to actually get there this year, and it was very busy (particularly around the non-Sauternes stands). There were some drawbacks - no seeming order to how the tables were laid out, and only one table for a laptop in the whole place (but this was not a journalists tasting of course!!). More annoying was that there was a distinct lack of spittoons (as Robert Joseph said, ‘when did they put a tax on spittoons?’).

However, logistics apart, the wines were very interesting - from eight different countries, 22 differnt producers and around 50 different wines. Fascinating to see so many different styles of sweet wines, some from botryised grapes, others late harvest, ice wine or from stopping fermentation to retain residual sugar. There were a few that were too syrupy or lacked complexity, but on the whole it was a great selection of wines. A few tasting notes below.

Domaine Pierre Bise, Coteau du Layon, Quarts de Chaume 2007
This appellation, in the Loire valley, uses chenin blanc. The sweet wines are made by pallisserage (drying out the grapes so they effectively turn into raisins), and are aged for 18 months. This example was very sweet, with low acidty or acidity masked by very high residual sugar. Attractive orange marmalade flavours, but really too syrupy to be completely successful.

Chateau Laville, Sauternes 2003
I didn't try all the Sauternes on offer, as was here to taste wines from other regions than Bordeaux, but I enjoyed this wine. Good complex nose and structure. Almost dry undertones, really like this, although still needs more lift and freshness to really stand out, no doubt because it is a 2003. 85% semillon, 12% sauvignon, 3% muscadelle.

Tokaj Oremus 2002, Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos
Shame that there was only one Tokaj producer, but still wonderful to taste (this region is getting increasingly popular in the UK and giving Sauternes a run for its money). The flavour and taste profile is very different from the others on display, has a lovely sweet and sour thing going on. 70% furmint, 30% harslevelu – and could never mistake this for a Sauternes. Great length, no dip in mid-palate, and like the dry finish. This will be almost entirely noble rot berries, but not all.

Tokaj Oremus 2000, Oremus Tokaji Eszencia
The richest of all Tokaj styles, and I'm afraid for me this is too sweet. But that's not to do down the quality - it has wonderful mouthfeel, you could have a satin blindfold in your mouth a la Kim Basinger, or rather less dramatically drinking honey. It’s certainly different, and very distinctive. But you would need to have a thimbleful of this. The sugar concentration of eszencia is typically between 500 g and 700 g per litre, although apparantly the year 2000 vintage produced eszencia exceeding 900 g per litre.

Domaine des Tilleuls, Malvoisie Vetroz 2004
Above the Rhone is heart of Swizz Alps, the Valais producers 75% of Swiss wines. Noble rot, or late harvest, or mix. This has much less obvious sweetness, and I like its almost restrained, subtle feel. Not exactly high acidity either – more aromas of hay and straw, with sprinkling of lime blossom. Good length. Pinot gris.

Domaine des Tilleuls, Amigne, Vetroz 2005
Enjoy the very silky mouthfeel of this one – you can feel the weight, it is almost slippery in your mouth, and clearly has high sugar concentration. But the texture is again satiny, and there is a good lightness to it, so not too sweet. These don’t feel like showy sweet wines. Grape variety Amigne.

Azienda Agricola Maculan, Acininobili 2004
Region Bianco Passito Veneto
Northern Italy, from the village of Breganze just above Venice. This one is lovely, very different again and was a popular choice around the room. Softer and more gentle than many of the wines here, it floats along. Perhaps lacks some acidity and certainly lacks complexity, but it is very charming. The wine is made from passerillage of the local Vespaiola grapes, which can also make dry wines.

Canada Inniskillin, Icewine Vidal 2006
This ice wine wine was draw enough to get me to the tasting. From the Niagra Peninsula, Grape variety Vidal, kept on the vine until December or January in the heart of winter. The effect of alternative frost and thaw dehydrates the grapes and concentrates the sufar and acidity. On the nose straight away this is unctuous and has an enveloping aroma. It has this wonderfully almost dry, sour edge to it that counterbalances the enormous sweetness. Gorgeous. Beautifully clean finish, very well defined, but intense, sour oranges, sour lemons.

Austria – Burgenland
Weinlaubenhof Kracher
Chardonnay Trockenbeerenauslese No 7 ‘Nouvelle Vague’, 1999
Grape variety chardonnay. Totally different taste profile and unusual to get a noble rot grape from chardonnay. I think it lacks the acidity to be a truly successful sweet wine for me – it has good flavours of honey and walnuts, and some wholemeal toast, but it needs crisping up.

Welschrisesling Trockenbeerensauslese No 8 Zwischen den Seen, 2005
Burgenford, Neusledlersee. Much more interesting than the chardonnay. This has a delicacy, yet the intensity creeps up on you.

Scheurebe Trockenbeerenauslese No 11 Zwischen den Seen
Wonderful nose, cloves and Christmas oranges. Warming and spicy, and exciting. I would rather a little more freshness on the end, but this is sweet and supple and very seductive.

Chateau Yquem 2005
There's a subtelty and lightness to this that is surprising. It is closed (not surprising for a 2005 at this stage), but you can feel the depth and how the aromas gain in intensity ib the mouth. One to stay with for a while, and then revel in. Good for them to be here also, you don't often get Medoc first growths at open tastings like this.

Weingut Dr Loosen
Urziger Wurzagarten, Auslese Goldkapsel, Mosel 2007
Grape variety Riesling. This is just so wonderful – light and fresh and delicate, very floral, white flowers, there is a sweetness but it is barely caressing your palate. And you know it is light in alcohol, and will not cloy after a glass, as so many of these would do.

Graacher Himmelreich, Beerenauslese, Mosel 2006
These are what sweet wines should be for actually being drinkable in a meaningful and regular way by consumers – expertly executed, a barely there sweetness that is so perfectly balanced by very crisp, well defined acidity. Riesling (as they all, Ernst being Mr Riesling).

Bernkasteler Lay, Trockenbeerenauslese 2005
On the nose, there is blue cheese and a definite whiff of old socks, but the palate it is crisp and fresh, with fresh elderflower – amazing for such a sweet, intense wine... this is a great, but my favourite of the Loosen wines was the first.

Domaine Cauhape, Quintessence of Petit Manseng, Jurancon 2005
Passerillage again, drying out the grapes traditionally, on the petit manseng grape. I like this appellation, and this particular wine is full of rich rich oranges and lemons, very clear citrus. Underneath that, there almost petrolly, Riesling edge to it, and it has a lightness and deftness that is enjoyable. A good sweet wine, but doesn’t soar above everything else.

Domaine Zind Humbrecht
SGN Niesling Brand Grand Cru, Alsace
Riesling. That’s better. As soon as you go this far north, and add in the Riesling grape, you get these soaring acidities, and the proper balance between alcohol, sugar and freshness. Clean, fresh, but powerful and the aromas persist, revealing a spice in your mouth.

SGN Gewurztraminer Hengst Grand Cru, Alsace 2007
This one is very sweet, high sugar content with real spice and a very silky mouthfeel. That very enjoyable if slightly disconverting gewurstraminer blend of sweet and sour, with lots of minerality coming through also. Very good, and the acidity keeps the whole experience lively and refreshing.

I wrote this story for Decanter yesterday, but there has been a lot of interest, and I thought I would write a fuller version here:

http://www.decanter.com/news/284790.html

'A bonded warehouse, that will enable overseas buyers to store their wine tax-free for an unlimited amount of time in a secure controlled environment, will be launched in Bordeaux next week, the first of its kind in France.

The venture, Bordeaux City Bond, has been made possible because of a change in the law which is due to announced at Vinexpo next Monday by Jerome Fournel, the director of the French customs service. The current laws state that no wine can be stored for longer than two years (with one year’s grace period) in a commercial warehouse in France, but this is due to be scrapped, allowing storage for unlimited time under certain conditions.

Bordeaux City Bond will be a private independent company, but has investors from key sections of the wine industry. The main investors are the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce (41%) and Vinexpo (10%); between them representing 51% of the board. The other 49% is shared between 12 negociant companies, four supply chain companies and one bank - Credit Agricole d'Aquitaine.

The negociant companies are:
Maison Sichel
Yvon Mau
Joanne (who incidentally have their own bonded warehouse also, called Chateaux Bond, that will also benefit from the new laws)
Bernard Magrez
Johnston et Fils
Dubosc
Millesime
Compagnie Medocaine
JJ Mortier
Veyret Latour
Duclot
(hmmm, and one other, sorry!)

Bordeaux City Bond will be ready for business from June 22nd, 2009, headed up by Philippe Dunoguier, who comes from a background of both chateaux and negociants including Bernard Magrez and Chateau Loudenne, and Jean Claude Lasserre, the former head of customs in Bordeaux.

‘This is not just for storage of Bordeaux wines,’ Dunoguier said, ‘but for Bordeaux investors in particular it will provide an excellent guarantee of provenance which is increasingly important when trading wine through auction houses.’

Customers of Bordeaux City Bond can be private individuals from outside of Europe, or wine merchant businesses from anywhere in the world, Europe included.

‘With the difficult economic conditions right now,’ said Lasserre, ‘it seems even more important for us to show our faith in the future of Bordeaux as a fine wine centre, and in the future of fine wine as a whole.’

The exact location of the warehouse is being decided upon today. They hope in the future to build a 'Fort Knox of Wine' specifically for the company, but for now it is being outsourced into an existing facility that will follow their quality charter of temperature control, traceability, privacy, security and so on.

The official translations of Bordeaux 1855 Classified Growths is going to be launched next week at Vinexpo.

The initiative has been launched by Poh Tiong Ch'ng publisher of The Wine Review in Singapore (southest Asia's oldest wine publication) and the Chinese Bordeaux Guide ( www.chinesebordeauxguide.com )

The text accompanying the launch reads:
'When we first revealed the initiative, it was with a view to standardising the Chinese names of the 61 classified chateaux.

While every chateau has the same name in French and English, it has an average of 5 to 10 different Chinese names.

This is because a journalist in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan or China will translate, for example Mouton Rothschild, differently. Multiply that with 20 different wine retailers, importers, restaurant wine lists and the potential for confusion in extraordinary... Too many than are necessary to confuse the wine lover in China (and Chinese reading people elsewhere)...

One of the unofficial Chinese names for Mouton Rothschild, for example, is a translation that calls the First Growth Chateau Wu Tang King. Wu Tang here is the same Hubei Province Daoist martial arts sect particularly renowned for its swordsmanship.

As you can see, the need to have official Chinese names for the 1855 Medoc classification is not only very important, it is urgent.

(The) Chinese Bordeaux Guide can not give the official names (they) are only the messenger... although only 14 chateaux have so far confirmed their offical chinese names, (we) shall not be deterred from this imporant work...'

All the names will be published in the Chinese Bordeaux Guide, and the iniative will be officially launched next week - and no doubt drum up a few more properties at the same time.

Yesterday, the Senate in Paris rubber-stamped the use of the internet for alcohol advertising.

Although we had been told it was coming, you're never quite sure until the Senate give their final approval, so this is very good news. Until now, the Evin law listed the media (tv, magazines, radio, posters etc) that were allowed to advertise alcohol under certain strict conditions, but made no mention of the internet - so by omission it could be seen as illegal (just ask Heineken, who had a site closed down in February 2008).

The reason was the Evin Law was written in 1991 when (certainly in France) the internet was a fledgling technology that pretty much noone was using. The Senate has ended this anomaly, except on websites that are aimed at young people, sport and other pysicial activities.

Quoted in the press release I received yesterday, Nicolas Martiquet, founder of website http://www.eccevino.com, made a good point, 'It is much easier to avoid young people looking at alcohol advertising on the internet than it is via a poster campaign that will be displayed in the Metro.'

Full details (in French):
http://www.eccevino.com/fr/content/communique-de-presse

The Bordeaux wine trade fair, VinExpo, starts this coming Sunday, June 21. Although there are likely to be far fewer people this year than normal because of the credit crunch (estimates are closer to 40,000 rather than the 50,000 who came in 2007), it is still bound to be a fascinating week.

The difficulty can often be how to plan your time - the halls are huge, and there are hundreds of workshops, conferences and tastings on offer. It really does pay to plan ahead, so I thought I would highlight a few particularly interesting things that are going on...

Malbec Day - Monday June 22nd, a comparative tasting of malbecs from Cahors and Argentina.
Official launch of Bordeaux City Bond - a bonded wine warehouse, first in Bordeaux, Monday June 22nd.
French owners of overseas vineyards - Tuesday June 23rd
Nicolas Joly talking about organic/biodynamic winemaking - Tuesday June 23rd
Solutions to the economic crisis in wine - Wednesday June 24th
Benefits and Challenges of wine tourism with the Great Wine Capitals, Wednesday June 24th
Chablis Grand Cru tasting, Wednesday June 24th
John Duval (formerly of Penfolds) will also be there with his new wine, Songlines, that has been called the 'Latour of McClaren Vale' by Stephen Spurrier, so will be very interesting to taste that.

The Bordeaux/Bordeaux Sup are also offering free cookery classes matching various world foods with Bordeaux wines...

Once you have registered on www.vinexpo.com, you can then register for any of the planned events.

A short book was published in Bordeaux last week by a group of winemakers who are pretty unhappy about the future of their profession.

The winemakers are all AOC Bordeaux producers, and have formed an association called Collectifs des Viticulteurs de Gironde. It is run by a winemaker called Didier Cousiney, who I met when the association was set up about five years ago (this is a Decanter story I wrote in 2004 http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=56387 ). It has no official link with a syndicate, or still less the CIVB, so is highly unusual in Bordeaux, created because they felt that the smaller winemakers didn't have a voice.

The book has been officially written by Jean Renaud, but in collaberation with other winemakers, and questions whether there will even be winemakers in AOC Bordeaux in the future, since noone can survive on the money that they make in this appellation (which represents, along with AOC Bordeaux Superior, about half of the production of the region).

The heart of the problem, they say, is the sale of bulk wine. 'A tonneau (900 litres) of wine is today being sold at 700-750 euros, and even at that price no negociant wants to buy it! Castel, who are typically the biggest buyers, are getting rid of their stock and not buying any more.' The price is below the cost of production and winemakers are losing money simply by turning the fruit on their vines into wine. 'There is a whole group of winemakers who have traditionally lived by selling their wine in bulk under the regional appellation of Bordeaux - and this is now dead,' says the book.

Cousiney has told the local Sud Ouest newspaper that hundreds of winemakers are in great difficulty across the Gironde and that, 'for years we have been either selling off buildings or pulling up parts of our vines. But there is only so much we can do, and noone can work indefinitely without making the slightest profit to live, let alone reinvest in the property.'

There's no doubt that the financial crisis has decimated the already pretty low price for bulk wine, and many winemakers have large quantities of it in their cellars - and a new vintage will be coming into the cellars in just three months times. And the rain this spring has meant more money has needed to be spent on sprays and other treatments.

The book suggests that official bodies invest more in marketing, that they allow the yield per hectare to be raised in order to lower producion costs (which of course runs totally contrary to the idea of maintaining regular quality levels in this basic Bordeaux appellation), and to allow people to have a Volume Complementaire Individual (VCI) - basically a reserve of wine that they can put aside in good years to bbe able to blend in the following year if there are problems such as hail, as there have been of course in 2009.

The book is called 'Restera t'il des vignerons a Bordeaux (will there be winemakers in Bordeaux in the future?').

I’ve spent nearly a week visiting two very different wine regions – first of all the Alentejo district in Portugal, and then back in France but over to Burgundy.

The Alentejo is halfway between Lisbon and the Algarve and an area that is getting an increasingly good reputation for improving its quality efforts. You can get to the first vines around an hour south of Lisbon, near the gorgeous town of Evora (where I didn’t manage to talk my way out of a parking ticket, but had a fantastic custard éclair that made up for it!), but I went quite a bit further down to Cortes de Cima winery cortesdecima.com, and then to the very modern Herdade de Rocim www.herdadedorocim.com/ .

The Altentejo has been known for years as the cork centre of Portugal (the country produces around 60% of the world’s corks) and it is a very flat landscape dotted with wheat fields, grazing animals and the feathery tops of cork trees. This is cork season right now, and plenty of harvesting was going on. It has always made wine, but has been historically better known for mass produced and low quality white wine.

In recent years, it is the still wines of the Duoro that have been getting plenty of attention (with reason, of course, and it is an area that I have visited and been thoroughly impressed by), but the Alentejo has been quietly attracting new investment and coming up with some fantastic reds, usually based around a mix of international varieties such as Tempranillo (called Aragonez over here) and some that are better known in the Duoro such as Touriga Nacional.

Cortes de Cima, owned and run by Hans and Carrie Jorgensen for the past 30 years, is one of the leading quality estates in the Alentejo, and is currently doubling the size of its winery to respond to growing demand. They somehow managed to whip up a delicious lunch of omlette, salads and of course plenty of wine with about ten minutes notice. Among the range of wines that we tasted, I was particularly impressed by an excellent Syrah varietal bottled under the name Incognito.

Herdade de Rocim was very different - newly built in 2007 with 35 million euros worth of investment, it was like a winery that you would find in Rioja, or Argentina - art gallery, very sleek tapas and wine bar, and designed to within an inch of its life. Good wines also, but far less effortless than those of Cortes de Cima. I'm doing a full tasting of their wines in Bordeaux this Friday, so will be able to make a fairer judgement on them then.

Two of my favourite wines, though, were a white Vinho Grande from Casa Ferreirinha 2006, from the Duoro Valley, and a lovely Vinha Do Contador from the Dao 2007. Both of these were tried over a long lunch in Lisbon, accompanied by some freshly caught fish. A very interesting wine country, and one I am looking forward to getting to know better

I put up my latest Wine of the Week onto the site today, and thought I would reproduce it here, as it really was a particularly gorgeous wine, that is ready to drink up and enjoy right now.

Chateau Figeac, Saint Emilion Cru Classe 2000
This 40 hectare vineyard is owned by Thierry Manoncourt and is a premier classifed wine of Saint Emilion. Aged in 100% new oak barrels which by now, nearly 10 years down the line, have completely melted into the wine. Still very intense, fleshy red fruits with cedar with hints of truffles, this blew away the other wines around the table (all also Saint Emilions, but admittedly not classified ones).

(Tasted at Le Logis de Roy restaurant in Saint Emilion. This wine should cost around £80)

I update this section of the website pretty much every week (not quite as often the heading would suggest!), but rarely put them also on the blog.
http://www.newbordeaux.com/documents/70.html

I also sent off this morning my latest wine column, and also include here my favourite wine of the tasting. A Bordeaux blend, but from Australia...

Blue Poles Reserve Merlot, A$35 (approx €20)
Named after the Jackson Pollock painting, Blue Poles is located in the cool climate Margaret River, where a long ripening season gives delicacy to the wines. This is a truly great example of a Merlot, with softness but no hint of flabbiness, great length and a real structure to it. A key indicator of quality is that winemaker Mark Gifford only make this wine when the grapes are of sufficient quality to merit it – they don’t buy in grapes from elsewhere as is often the Australian model. So in 2009 there won’t be any Merlot or Cabernet Franc as the grapes were not of sufficient quality due to the vintage conditions. Shame, but all the more reason to get hold of this bottle...

www.bluepolesvineyard.com.au