Bordeaux 2009 according to Simon Staples

This is the first time that I will copy a complete text from someone else into a posting. And why not if it's interesting? I received the message per e-mail from the world's biggest en primeur buyer Berry Bros. & Rudd in the United Kingdom. Besides that they have many great names from Burgundy in their portfolio, and I am proud to share with them the import of Arnaud Ente (Meursault) and David Clark (Morey-Saint-Denis).

Berrys' Vicky Williams sent out the following update on Bordeaux 2009 and I don't think you will mind that I share this with you:

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9th February 2010 ... Early indications show Bordeaux 2009 could be a spectacular vintage, says Berrys’ Sales Director Simon Staples, who has had exclusive access to some of the wines.

Simon Staples and Berrys’ Bordeaux Buyer Max Lalondrelle tasted some “brilliant” finished wines and barrel samples, but will leave their final verdict on the 2009 vintage until the main en primeur tastings next month.

Simon says: “What is clear is that we are onto something spectacular again. What we have tried so far are all superb, rich, powerful, sexy beasts with great structure, depth and almost magical promise.”

Simon says the wines they tasted at Ch. Giscours were breathtaking and those from Cos d’Estournel were as good as 2005.

“Both the Grand Vin and Pagodes de Cos were sublime. Cos itself was every bit as spectacular as the magnificent 2005, perhaps a tad fatter but with brilliant balance. Pagodes, with almost half the Grand Vin declassified into it, is off the scale. Without question the most impressive Pagodes I have ever tried and if you didn't have the Grand Vin to compare it with you'd say it was a great Cos!!” says Simon who adds that General Manager, Jean-Guillaume, believes his second wine could rival many of his Grand Vin from years gone by. “And Alexander van Beek of the ever improving Chateau du Tertre and the very famous Chateau Giscours, proclaims his 2009 wines are the finest he has ever produced in his 13 years of managing them,” explains Simon.

Reluctant to speculate about pricing, Simon says it’s already clear to him that 2009 won’t be cheap.

“The ‘market’ dictates what prices the wines sell for and with an ever increasing demand, especially from Asia, Bordeaux 2009 won’t be cheap,” he says, adding: “The wines look to be brilliant and we will find our customers some great value wines, so turn off the heating and sell the car to save up and sign up with us for the rollercoaster ride that will be Bordeaux 2009.”

This year’s team of six Berrys’ experts will kick off the week-long tasting on 29th March. A further nine salesman from Berry Bros. & Rudd in the UK will travel to Bordeaux on 11th April. The following week another nine staff from Berrys in Hong Kong and Japan will also taste the wines.

For the inside track on Bordeaux 2009 follow Simon Staples on Twitter and visit Berrys’ Wine Blog www.bbr.com/blog for news, information, images and videos from Berrys’ team of experts and Bordeaux producers.

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It won't surprise you that I am looking forward to tasting the wines myself during the Bordeaux 2009 primeurs week (29 March - 2 April). Nice detail: that week we will be staying at the guest house of "the very famous" Château Giscours!

Another trip to France

Last Tuesday we returned from a more than 2,500 km round trip to Champagne, Burgundy and the Loire. We (Jan van Roekel and I) could have driven all the way to Turkey. Well, that's the effort you make in order to find the best and most interesting wines.

I've always described our previous travels in detail on this blog. This time I won't.

By now it will not surprise you any more that besides wines I have been hunting French offal specialities like Andouillette (be it for dinner at the lovely Bistrot de la Cathedrale in Chartres, or for lunch at L'Arche), Pig's Trotter (this trip I found the best I ever had, for lunch in Le Bistrot le 7 des Berceaux in Epernay - washed it down with Champagne, makes it even better) or Tête de Veau (Plat du Jour in a Beaune restaurant that for the rest wasn't really special). Of course we went to Caves Madeleine as well, our favourite restaurant in Beaune.

Bolomey Wijnimport is growing. Two years ago I had the time to describe every visit, every wine and so on, and it seems that is not possible any more. The company is getting bigger and I am more and more running out of time. Of course I am delighted that people are picking up the 'Bolomey wines'. It's really been a sort of snowball the last half year.

This last trip we visited 13 domains and 2 salons (bio-salon Greniers St Jean in Angers, and the Salon des Vins de Loire). Some visits did not bring what we were looking for, and those I will simply leave out here. The wines that I will start importing will be presented later, one at the time, once things have been arranged; again there are some wines that are fairly 'hard to get'.

Let me conclude by saying that the ride was worth every kilometre. If you want to know why just follow this blog and the Bolomey Wijnimport website. There are some truly new exciting wines heading North!

2009 Icewine harvest; how's it going?

Dwayne Perreault − Here in Europe, we are experiencing one of the coldest winters in recent memory. All this snow and ice makes me think... of icewine! 2009, by all accounts, should be an excellent year for this highly prized (and priced) nectar.

I assume you know what icewine is, and how it’s made. If not, I wrote an article (in Dutch) which you can read here. I also wrote a piece for this blog on a Canadian sparkling icewine.

It’s not easy to make icewine. More than anything, you are dependant on the weather. You need to have healthy grapes which are untouched by botrytis, and you may only harvest when the temperature reaches -7° C. At this point, the water in the grapes is frozen, which results in a much lower yield but a higher concentration of sugars, acidity and extract. Rot and predation by birds and animals are major problems, and vinification is difficult and lengthy, This helps to explain why real icewines are never cheap, but a good one is worth every cent. I sell the delicious 1999 Eiswein by Weingut Debus in the Rheinhessen for €35 per half bottle.

Although icewines are apparently made all over the globe including Hong Kong and Australia, there are four major producing countries: Canada, Germany, Austria and the United States. These are the major wine producing countries that are cold enough to produce icewine on a regular or semi-regular basis. This may change if global warming continues. I’ve always wondered what an Icelandic icewine from volcanic soil would taste like!

But back to 2009: I contacted various producers around the world to ask how the harvest went. I was specifically interested in the recorded must weights, but it is important to note that the minimum must weight legally required to make icewine varies from country to country (it is much higher in Canada than in Germany or Austria), and this is further complicated by the fact that different countries use different units of measurement. In Canada, the minimum must weight required to make icewine is 35° Brix. Where necessary, I have converted from Oechsle in Germany or KMW (Klosterneuburger Mostwaage) in Austria to Brix, and from Fahrenheit to Celsius for comparative purposes. Here are the responses I received:

Nicolas Quillé, the winemaker at Randall Grahm’s Pacific Rim winery in Washington, had this to say: “We had a great two weeks of solid cold weather in early December (night time at -13°C and day time at -9°C). We've handpicked on December 10th in one pass, 6.5 tons total yielding 500 gallons at about 36 Brix. It was -8°C that morning and the grapes were frozen solid. It was so cold that our tank froze as well! Should be a very very solid ice wine from our Selenium Vineyard in the Yakima Valley.”

In Canada, things were going less well for the famous producer Inniskillin. PR Manager Deborah Pratt reported on January 5th that while some Canadian wineries like Strewn and Henry of Pelham had already harvested, Inniskillin was still waiting at both its Okanagan Valley and Niagara Peninsula vineyards.

This was followed up by a second message on January 14th where she reported the following: “We did not pick at either place yet. While we were poised to proceed last, frigid, weekend the mechanical harvester broke down, temperatures rose and they are still on the vine. Again, this years volume is very limited. The longer we wait the more the birds eat even with bangers and the netting.”

In Germany, a funny thing happened this past year: there were two eiswein harvests. First, the grapes from 2008 were harvested in January 2009 and according to this press release the 2009 harvest took place from December 17th to 19th with temperatures ranging from -7° to -15°C. Must weights varied from 140 Oechsle (about 32.5 Brix) to an astonishing 200° Oechsle (45 Brix!) measured by Weingut Jörg Trossen in Traben-Trarbach.

Nicolas Quillé says “I can believe the 45 Brix number from the German Winery. The yield must have been low. When we press our icewine (the real one, not the Vin De Glaciere), we start at 55 Brix of the press and go down from there. We get only a few gallons per ton of the uber sticky stuff.”

In Austria, Susanne Staggl from the Austrian Wine Marketing Board wrote “For Lower Austria: about 75 vintners made an icewine this year, with about 20-25.000 kg - so these are around 12.000 litres of icewine. The harvest-date was around 19th/20th of December. The must weight was about 27-35 KMW (roughly 31 to 39 Brix). The most "popular" grapes this year were Grüner Veltliner, Sämling 88 (Scheurebe). This icewine-vintage is very good for vintners, because the last one was 3 years ago.

And here (is) the information for Burgenland: 80-90 vintners made icewine, the harvest-date was also 19th and 20th of December, the must-weight was around 30 till 34º KMW (about 34 to 38º Brix), the grapes were very healthy. in the region around Eisenstadt (which is the regional capital of Burgenland), the most popular Grapes for ice wine were Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt. In the Seewinkel-Region (it's the right shore of lake Neusiedl), they harvested both - red and whites.”

On both continents, now begins the long process of vinification. But generally speaking, 2009 is looking to be a great year for icewine.

Jane Anson on Bordoverview

Since this month English wine journalist Jane Anson has her own column "JA" on Bordoverview, an interesting addition to this Bordeaux primeurs overview.

Jane Anson, Bordeaux correspondent for decanter.com, offers a fresh view besides the more established names such as Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson.

To illustrate that I will pick out two interesting ratings:

Château du Tertre 2008, Margaux. Despite the developments (since 2007 Frédéric Ardouin is making the wines at Du Tertre, before that he was technical director of Latour) Parker obviously doesn't like the wine (83-85/100). Robinson is more positive "(...) Very pretty texture – not forced. Reminds of du Tertre’s style. Neat. Complete, but a bit forward. (...) (16/20)" But Anson is truly enthusiastic: "Rich, deep, velvety at every stage. Lovely weight of fruit, and this has managed to extract the firm blackcurrant and blackberries without being harsh or overly tannic. Like this one enormously. 92/100"

Château Bellevue-Mondotte 2008, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru. This is a blockbuster style wine from Pavie's Gérard Perse. Robert Parker is in heaven − "a compelling wine of great depth, richness, and aging potential" − but Anson sings a different tune: "You need a hacksaw to get through this, an ice pick to begin to claw your way up its sides. It has been cropped to 18 hl/h and you can tell! Probably a wine that Perse is very proud of, and it certainly packs a punch, but it is fierce and not for me, I’m afraid. 86/100"

Especially this last tasting note shows Jane's 'slightly more British palate'. Check out her Bordeaux 2008 pages for many 2008 tasting notes. And there's interesting information on the upcoming Bordeaux 2009 vintage as well.

Looking back on the year 2009

A new posting after a short break. I enjoy blogging, but it takes a lot of time. And with the growing importing business it is sometimes hard to find this time. Fellow (ex-)blogger Peter Liem recently quit his great Besotted Ramblings blog after 333 posts, saying "it has become too much to keep up with" (see his last posting). I'm only at 140 postings so will have to continue for a while.

And I have to: the Bordeaux primeurs frenzy will arrive soon, and like previous years I will write about that. By the way, if you wish to follow the Bordeaux 2009 developments even more closely, follow me on Twitter.

Another reason for my short break was the last posting, the backstage view on Bordeaux 2009 written by Belle-Vue technical director Vincent Bache-Gabrielsen, which I wanted to keep in the spotlight as long as possible. If you are reading this, you've probably seen it. What makes it interesting is that it talks about Bordeaux 2009 in - technical - detail, and not just in general praise.

Let's look back at the year 2009 and see which postings were most popular:

1. Vintage report Bordeaux 2008 (14 Jan)
2. Robert Parker & Bordeaux 2006: the final verdict (5 Mar)
3. Bordeaux 2008: Parker has spoken (30 Apr)
4. Bordeaux suffering from hail storms (14 May)
5. Bordeaux 2008: greed returns in tilting market (20 May)
6. Champagne Barnaut (19 Jan)
7. Dom. Leflaive: Bienvenues Bâtard-Montrachet 2000 (16 Feb)
8. What about the primeur 2008 campaign? (26 Jan)
9. Bordeaux 2009: a backstage view (20 Dec)
10. ProWein 2009 in 15 favourite Bordeaux's (30 Mar)

Two remarks:
- The postings early in the year had the biggest chance to be read, and with that realisation look at the striking number 9 position of the year's very last posting! Another 6 months and Bache-Gabrielsen's story will be the most read posting of this blog.
- The various stories about the Bordeaux vintages are popular. But that is also because many people actively search for that information on the Internet.

That's it for now. Back to work: preparing the next trip to France!

Bordeaux 2009 – a backstage view

Bordoverview Blog invited Vincent Bache-Gabrielsen to share his insider's view with us on the Bordeaux 2009 vintage. Since 2003 Bache-Gabrielsen is technical director of Château Belle-Vue and Château de Gironville (both Haut-Médoc) and neighbouring Château Bolaire (Bordeaux Supérieur).

In addition, since the 2009 vintage Bache-Gabrielsen is also in charge at Pauillac classed growth Château Pédesclaux, and Château Lilian Ladouys in Saint-Estèphe. Both estates were acquired by Jacky Lorenzetti in 2008.

It will be worth following the developments at these two châteaux. Pédesclaux is known as a notorious underperformer since long, and with the change of ownership the future of this classed growth is shining.

With the malo ended, and in some cases still in progress, it is a good moment to take a closer, and detailed, look at the much talked about Bordeaux 2009 vintage. Bache-Gabrielsen's experience is focused on the Médoc, yet spans this area from south (Belle-Vue, De Gironville) to the north (Lilian Ladouys).

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Vincent Bache-Gabrielsen − In September 2008 Jacky Lorenzetti asked me to take charge of the winemaking at Château Lilian Ladouys. The aim was to revive the château's glorious past of the late eighties. A lot of hard work began in order to make this wine as good as possible. After having finished the 2008, we began to prepare the 2009 vintage. Pruning was redefined in order to have the best spreading out of the grapes. All interventions that can help create the best ripening of grapes are done. Unwanted branches and leaves are removed.

In May 2009, I also started at Château Pédesclaux, which was bought by Lorenzetti as well. We had the opportunity to put in place a very qualitative preparation of the vine for harvest. In both Lilian Ladouys and Pédesclaux, it was the first time that such work was done.

Weather in 2009 was quite perfect to make a great wine. Nevertheless, some rain in May and June allowed mildew to become a bit aggressive and we had to be watchful in order to protect leaves and grapes against this disease.

We also have to remember the hail that destroyed some vineyards in Entre-deux-Mers, Saint-Emilion and Margaux. The village of Labarde, where Belle-Vue has one plot, was affected. Luckily, we were at the edge of the cloud and we didn't have any damage.

In July, August, September and until October the 20th, we had very dry weather (only 19 mm in august - one third of the normal rainfall, and 20 mm in September). From the first of October to the 20th, we had no rain.

At the end of August, we waited for a little bit of rain, because some Merlots vines in gravelly soils showed some signs of thirst. The berries were very small and some grapes began to shrivel. Luckily, some rain arrived around September the 19th (15 mm) and allowed ripening to continue in good conditions. But the berries were still small. The juices would be very concentrated but the yields would probably be lower than expected. In Saint-Emilion and the Graves region, the rains were very important and reached nearly 100 mm, which allowed some vintners to accelerate their harvest while others waited longer in order to concentrate the grapes.

When we made the first samples of grapes at the beginning of September, we found an incredibly high level of sugar and quite low acidity. The question of when we have to harvest rises and will be the center of every conversation with others winemakers. Some want to harvest early, some want to wait.

The berries tasting, using the method that we created at Château Belle-Vue in 2003, will give the answer. While there is a lot of sugar and the color is very dark, the skins still are very tough, releasing some green aromas and tannins. We chose to wait until the end of September, but some prestigious neighbors in Macau or Saint-Estèphe began between September the 14th and the 19th. This period is always very difficult because there's a lot of pressure on our shoulders. A lot of owners or winemakers concede and harvest rapidly, in order to reduce risks. But I am convinced that decisions at this stage determine the quality of the future wine and that calculated risks are indispensable to make great wines.

An enormous amount of work of tasting berries begins at Château Belle-Vue, Lilian Ladouys and Pédesclaux. Lilian Ladouys has more than 170 plots and we have to taste the berries 2 or 3 times to settle the good harvest date.

The weather is still perfect for ripening. Days are hot and dry, nights are cold. Therefore, we have a good synthesis of aromas and tannins.

We started harvesting the plots of Merlot of Château Pédesclaux and Château Lilian Ladouys on September the 30th. We waited until October the 2nd for Château Belle-Vue. We harvested in order to protect integrity of fruit and conserve all the aromatic potential.

The grapes were healthy and the sorting was not hard to do before destemming. But it is hard to separate berries from stems. It is probably because of the small berries and the pretty hard skins. We put in a lot of work sorting after the destemmer and we are really happy with our new system of optical sorting, using a new machine that separates the green parts from the berries, using cameras and compressed air.

September weather concentrated grapes and sugar levels were very high. Some Merlots were higher than 16% alc vol and some Cabernet Sauvignons were higher than 14%! Luckily, the acidity was good (pH between 3.6 and 3.8) and the average of each vat was not higher than 15% alc vol. The Petits Verdots were perfect, with high sugar levels combined with big acidity and a huge color. These big levels of alcohol are moderated by freshness and intense tannins.

After harvesting the Merlots, we waited some days until starting the Petits Verdots and Cabernets. While walking along the vines, we found a few berries attacked by rot so we decided to continue harvesting.

We chose to use cold maceration before fermentation in order to extract fruit and soft tannins in aqueous phase. We succeeded in keeping the must at a temperature under 5°c for more than 10 days (until 28 days on a vat of Merlot).

Considering the high level of sugar, we think that it is imperative to use selected yeasts. We chose bayanus on Merlot (more security) and more qualitative yeasts on Petit Verdots and Cabernet Sauvignons that do not have so much sugar.

We were a bit surprised by the color which appeared slowly, even during the long cold maceration. On gravelly soils, it will be the same for the tannins. The first fermented vats of our neighbors analyzed by the laboratory show a light color and few tannins (IPT* are about 50). The 2009 vats need considerable work.

We use the technique of délestage exclusively at Belle-Vue and Lilian Ladouys and alternate with pigeage at Pédesclaux. Tannins are very soft and we extract very late in the fermentation. While we should have stopped extraction very early in the fermentation because of the alcohol levels, the numerous tastings indicated that we could continue our work.

We also have to be careful with fermentation temperatures. We control temperature to be under 25°c in order to have good conditions for yeasts.

After fermentation, we chose to empty a vat in order to fill the others. We want to have a long maceration in order to harmonize this big structure (some vats have IPT* between 100 and 141). The wines seem to be sensitive to oxidation.

We finished the pressing on November the 25th, about 2 months after the beginning of harvest.

Malolactic fermentations are finished at Pédesclaux and happening now at Belle-Vue and Pédesclaux. We have to be careful with brettanomyces that can develop during this period.

Ageing will have to respect fruit and the high quality of tannins. The high alcohol level in our wines will make them extract the tannins of wood and we have to be very careful on preserving these wonderful wines. We made a drastic selection of new and old barrels (one and two wines) in order to eliminate any imperfections.

Bordeaux 2009 is very special. Even with a high percentage of alcohol, they are not hot. They have freshness, density and are very expressive. They have the combined qualities of 2003 (aromas) and 2005 (structure). They present chalky tannins. Only the best vats of 2005 had this quality of tannins. They are already smooth, without aggression.

The challenge will be to preserve all these qualities and stabilize them with ageing. Cabernet Sauvignons show a very long mouth and will once again be the stars of the Médoc. Bordeaux 2009 is again an excellent year for Petit Verdot (and we are thinking about planting some at Château Pédesclaux).

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*The IPT (Indice des Polyphénols Totaux) is a measure of total tannins (including anthocyanins and therefore reflecting color) in grapes. The average in Bordeaux was 70 in 2000, 73 in 2003, and 78 in 2005. This shows a significant increase over time: in 1982 it was between 62 and 63. This means that total phenol levels have increased from 5 g/l to 6 g/l over 20 years [source].

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Follow the future updates on the Bordeaux 2009 vintage on Twitter, Bordoverview Blog, Bordoverview (from April 2010) and – for Dutch and Belgium readers – www.bordeaux-2009.nl.

On lunar golfing, Jefferson, Mozart and wine

Dwayne Perreault − It's one of those useless questions, sort of like asking "What is it like to play golf on the moon?" but sometimes when I'm drinking a great wine, like a Hermitage or a Bordeaux grand cru classé, I can't help but wonder, "What did this wine taste like hundreds of years ago?"


Well, guess what? During the Apollo 14 mission to the moon in 1971, Alan Shephard strapped the head of a six iron to a sampling instrument and purportedly drove a golf ball several kilometers in the direction of a crater, the largest sand trap ever. So that's what it's like to play golf on the moon.

As for how wine tasted in the 1700's, that's a little more difficult to determine. Obviously we can't taste the wines today, so we have no point of reference to compare them to contemporary wines. If wine is to be considered an art, it is like an ice sculpture which melts in the sun: temporary, fleeting, to be enjoyed before it disappears.

There are exceptions. I think of the 1811 Chateau d'Yquem Robert Parker tasted in 1996. He awarded it 100 points, his absolute bench mark. But most wines never live that long, and it is the privileged few indeed who get to taste such specimens.

But there are historical records of great wines which give us an idea of how they tasted. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, was a fine wine lover and while French ambassador from 1784-9 he travelled extensively throughout France, Germany and Italy noting his impressions of the wines he tasted.

According to James Gabler's book Passions: the wines and travels of Thomas Jefferson, "Jefferson considered white Hermitage and Champagne the two best white wines of France. He held white Hermitage in such high esteem that he called it 'the first wine in the world without a single exception.' During his presidency he purchased 550 bottles of white Hermitage from the House of Jourdan. The Jourdan vineyards were eventually inherited by the Monier family who, because of their ancestry, revived the name Chastaing de la Sizeranne. The Jourdan vineyards presently belong to the house of M. Chapoutier who calls his red Hermitage, La Sizeranne and his white Hermitage, Chante-Alouette (Lark's Song). To drink a white Hermitage from the same vineyard, and made from the same grapes that Jefferson shared with dinner guests at the President's House, one need only buy M. Chapoutier's Chante-Alouette."



So I did (see the picture of the bottle above). For tasting notes, please refer to my posting, Visit to M. Chapoutier.

Meanwhile, at the same time Jefferson was whetting his wine appetite in France, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was in Vienna composing the operas The Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787). Unlike Jefferson, Mozart was not a collector of wines, but he was an avid drinker. It would appear that his favourite wine was the Marzemino from Trentino, for in his opera, Don Giovanni, just before being delivered into hell, sings "Versa il vino! Eccellente Marzemino!"


It may be that Marzemino was widely available in nearby Vienna at the time, or it may have to do with the fact that Roverto, the second town in Trentino, hosted Mozart several times; in fact, the thirteen year-old Mozart gave his first public performance there. But today, Marzemino is a relatively obscure varietal wine with just a handful of producers in Trentino.

What does good Marzemino taste like? Well, I happen to sell one: the Eugenio Rosi 'Poeima' 2003. This is an outstanding example of this variety, worthy indeed of some bottle ageing despite possessing medium tannins; this is perhaps due to the good acidity in the wine. Silky in texture, the focus here is on wild berries, plums and dark fruit, a balanced wine that accompanies both white and red meat dishes, or simply drinks itself away. If it tasted like this in the 1780's, I can understand why Mozart enjoyed it.

What we've been drinking lately

Busy times for a wine merchant, December, but a blog needs to be fed. Perhaps my postings will be a little shorter these days. In this one I briefly mention some of the wines we've been drinking − some interesting, and some great.


These first two bottles both unquestionably belong to the category "great". I love Barnaut, but I hadn't tasted their Millésimé yet. Wow! This is a different world − another dimension added, an extra depth, call it complexity. You smell this champagne from a distance. The wine is ripe but there is - still - plenty of freshness in this 1999. Bread and some yeast in the nose, and a certain creamy touch. A very soft champagne, and simply delicious. Then the Dauvissat, another experience! Tight and intense, mineral. Ripe and somewhat spiced, plus a hint of honey. These are two wines I do not mind waking up for.


One evening we opened two Chassagne-Montrachets from Domaine Ramonet, one white, a Villages from 2004, and a red, the Premier Cru "Clos de la Boudriotte" 1999. I didn't take any notes, only a picture. The evening was very good, and these Ramonets without doubt contributed to that. These two wines simply prove (again) that Ramonet is a great producer. Both wines were very 'drinkable', digestible, elegant and characterful. This is the style of Burgundy I like.


David Léclapart is a purist. Organic, to start with. And no liqueur d'expedition after dégorgement. But not just that: the little bit of champagne that is lost with the dégorgement is not compensated - the bottle is not topped up. So Léclapart takes "no liqueur d'expedition" very literally - simply nothing is added. At first we had to get used to the taste of this champagne; it is truly very dry, like chewing on stone. But very pure and fresh too. And the further we got (towards the bottom of the bottle) the more we liked it. Always a good sign, but I wouldn't really call this a "commercial" champagne. Something for devotees for sure.


Finally some Bordeaux 2006 samples crossed our path. They were very young, so I retasted the day after. My final verdict: I prefer La Parde de Haut-Bailly. The first evening it was the Labégorce-Zédé that came across best, for it is more approachable - a slightly lighter structure with more obvious oak (and fresh leather and mint). What I was wondering also: am I sensing the hand of the new owner, is there a bit more make-up (and modernity) in this wine, compared to the 2005?

La Parde de Haut-Bailly especially showed its beauty the second day, when the tight fruit had opened itself somewhat. It is a powerful wine, energetic, with healthy and tough purple young fruit. It has a bright future.

Taste Champagne and Sparkling 2009

Dwayne Perreault − There were plenty of corks popping, and that is always a happy sound. Proef Champagne en Sprankelend (Taste Champagne and Sparkling), Holland's largest sparkling wine trade show, took place at the Mövenpick Hotel in Amsterdam on November 22nd. This event used to be called "Champagne aan Zee" and indeed used to be held on the beach at Noordwijk. The reason for moving it indoors is unknown to me, but given that Dutch weather is unpredictable at best, plus a windy, sand-strewn beach is not the best venue to seriously taste wines, it seemed like a logical decision.

The event was held in two large rooms: one for champagnes and one for other sparkling wines. To say it was busy would be an understatement: at every table a large group was gathered, champagne glasses in hand, eagerly waiting to be served.

I managed to taste about 40 different wines; here are some of my impressions, starting with the sparkling non-champagnes: the Ferrari Spumante Maximum Brut, Chardonnay (imported by Vinites) was my favourite in this category. Soft and elegant with good persistent fruit and healthy acidity, this was actually better than certain champagnes I tasted. The cava Giro Ribot Tendencias, Brut Extra 2008 (imported by Cava.nl) is very creamy with spicy notes of cinnamon and the lesser acidity cava is known for. The biggest surprise here was the Deutscher Sekt Weingut Am Stein, Silvaner 'Winzer Sekt' Brut 2006 De Wijntherapeut), with notes of pepper and spice above a bed of apples, with a very light sweetness in the aftertaste.

As for champagnes, it seemed to me that Taittinger (imported by Oud Reuchlin & Boelen) simply blew the competition away. The Prélude Grand Cru Brut has flinty gunsmoke in the nose with beautiful autolysis, bread and yeast notes with a chalky, mineral undertone. The Comtes de Champagne Rosé 2004 is sublime. Priced at €260 per bottle, it has a beautiful salmon-pink colour and is very soft and full in the mouth with lower acidity and a delicious hint of red fruit, a rosé champagne with real character. A special mention goes to the Gosset Grande Réserve (imported by Résidence Wijnen), showing some autolysis and a very clean and strong attack, with great mineral character.

There were of course many other great wines to try; there simply isn't enough room to include them here. The following is a list of the winners, chosen in a blind tasting by the Perswijn panel:

Winners Sparkling Wine
1. Ferrari, Giulio Ferrari 1999, Trento (
Vinites
)
2. Codorníu Reserva, Reina Cristina 2006, Cava (
Intercaves/Vos & Partners)
3. Bellavista, Satèn, Chardonnay, Franciacorta (
Vinites)

Winners Rosé Champagne
1. Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne 2004 (
Oud Reuchlin & Boelen
)
2. Bollinger (Verlinden)
3. Laurent Perrier (
Kwast)

Winners Millésimé Champagne

1. Charles Heidsieck, Blanc des Millenaires, Chardonnay 1995 (Goessens
)
2/3. Bollinger, La Grande Année 2000 (
Verlinden)
2/3. Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne 1998, Blanc de blancs (
Oud Reuchlin & Boelen)

Drinking Château Prieuré de Cantenac 1929

Yesterday was one of those rare extreme wine experiences. We stepped into a time machine by drinking the Château Prieuré de Cantenac (or Prieuré-Cantenac) 1929, the Médoc 4th classed growth today known as Château Prieuré-Lichine. This bottle was a miracle, superbly cellared, almost 80 years in the same pitch-dark spot.

The label of Château Prieuré de Cantenac 1929

This bottle, and a series of other bottles including Château Brane-Cantenac 1920 which we opened a few years ago, had been forgotten for many decades. Around 1940 these wines had been tucked away safely in a sort of secondary cellar, behind a second wall, preventing the German invaders to find and confiscate the wines. By having done so the historic fate of this bottle changed: instead of being downed by some German officer in 1941, we drank it. In Amsterdam, in 2009.

It is crazy to realise what all has happened since this bottle was put away. World War II, the invention of television, the landing on the moon exactly halfway into the bottle's life, the rise and fall of the Berlin wall, and not to forget my own humble history, going to school, growing up etc...


We imagined the then owner of Prieuré de Cantenac, Frédéric Bousset*, driving by the vineyard in his T-Ford inspecting the harvest, and the harvesters - helpful young farm hands wearing grey caps, and very ignorant of the fact that some wine emerging from the grapes they were picking would eventually be drunk by a hybrid car owner in 2009 (i.e. Jan van Roekel).

About 5 years ago I tasted the same wine, but this bottle presented itself a lot better. The ullage, the gap of air between cork and wine, was not particular big for a wine of such age, and also the cork was in a surprisingly good condition - I was able to pull it out without making any mess.

The ullage, the gap of air between cork and wine, not big for a wine of such age

In general this wine presented itself much younger than what we expected, it really could have been decades and decades younger. This will definitely be related with the exceptional vintage, the perfect storage condition of the bottles, and of course the quality of the wine itself.

What did we experience? The nose is surprisingly lively, a little sweet, and - less surprisingly - ripened. There is a round-deep scent, soft-autumnal, like a fresh(!) forest floor. The intensity of the nose is simply impressive. There is also something metallic there, blood and iodine. And old leather, and perhaps even a hint of chocolate. Once in the mouth the wine comes across soft yet spirited. The level of acidity reveals its age, but the total impression is that of a vital and wonderful wine. A wine with a texture of worn away velvet, bearing secrets that I am attempting to unmask - what a pleasant task.

The beautiful cork of Château Prieuré de Cantenac 1929

The wine has a whispering finish - tender, mysterious. It doesn't have the strength of a young(er) wine that just keeps on going, and you have to listen carefully to what this wine has to say when it lingers in the mouth.

While feeling the wine I kind of dreamt away, envisioning planet earth and its orbit around the sun, thinking that this stuff has made 80 round-trips before it ended up on my tongue. And this image did not arrive at random: it corresponds with the shape of the after-taste of the Prieuré: a gently, harmoniously hovering field of energy, a far voice talking from a dark past.

It was a spectacular time travel, and a wonderful wine experience.

*It was through Chris Kissack's website The Winedoctor that I found that Frédéric Bousset was the owner of Prieuré de Cantenac in 1929. It needs to be said: Kissack's free source of information is one of the very best sources on the web. If you're looking for specific domain information there is no other free website that even comes close to what Kissack is offering.

Labégorce Zédé flung away

Driving over the Afsluitdijk at night, this weekend, Jan van Roekel and I discussed a wine that we had recently tasted, the Labégorce-Zédé 2006. The name will disappear, Jan had read somewhere. It didn't surprise me, but I found the news a little bit sad.

Since 2005 neighbouring Labégorce and Labégorce-Zédé were in the same hands again, after the split in 1795. Hubert Perrodo brought the two domains together by buying Labégorce-Zédé from Luc Thienpont, but shortly thereafter he died in a skiing accident (2006). As Jane Anson now reports, his daugther Nathalie has taken over the property and will start carrying out 'the original plan' of uniting the two châteaux (see Decanter.com).

I said to Jan: and the second wine will then be called "La Zédé de Labégorce". It was nothing more than an obvious, and perhaps even somewhat silly remark. But today I read that this will indeed be the name of the second wine...

Thus: it will be the estate's second wine that will keep the memory of Labégorce-Zédé alive. While Labégorce-Zédé was the better performing estate − thanks to Luc Thienpont, who sold it.

Too bad for the beautiful name (and the beautiful label) but I'm afraid that with this development also the more classic and elegant approach of Labégorce-Zédé will be history.

From my own limited experience: the 2005 has more 'energy' than the 2006. It is difficult to make a firm judgement as the vintage differs, but I would be inclined to say that there is a slight difference in style. The 2006 has a more modern appearance and seems a little bit more oaky. Well, this is walking on thin ice, I should taste the two wines side by side.

But I wonder, from a 'branding' perspective: is it smart to abandon a famous name like Labégorce-Zédé? I wouldn't say it is.

The downside of organoleptic development

Dwayne Perreault - Funny thing, the nose. We all have one and tend to take it for granted, but the nose is the most important organ used to judge wine and particularly to recognize wines. Furthermore, what we taste is directly related to what we smell, so the senses of smelling and tasting are connected.

So it is that Robert Parker insured his nose for $1 million, an outstanding feat at the time. Years later, Holland’s own Ilja Gort, maker of such fine supermarket wines as La Tulipe and French Rebel, insured his own facial protuberance for $8 million, a master publicity stunt in its own right. I wonder how much his premiums cost? In any case, Gort seems to be enjoying success.

The nose is like a hyper-sensitive muscle: it can be trained, made stronger. It just takes practice. When you start seriously nosing wines is around the same time you start smelling everything else: vegetables, flowers, cheeses, books, old socks. Not that you never did these things before, right? And this is how you eventually learn to haul the old sock odour out of certain Chenin blancs, though you would never be stupid enough to admit that unless you happened to write for a blog.

Incidentally, I am a smoker. Now some people may say smokers lose something between 20-80% of their sense of smell, but it is my understanding that numerous studies have tried to prove this true in regards to vinology, without success. But I freely admit, I could be wrong. I just enjoy smoking.

But I wanted to talk about the downside to all this organoleptic development. It was quite awhile ago that I recognized that the flip side to being able to recognize the hereditary smells of certain wines was that I could also smell unpleasant odours more prominently. I don’t just mean odours in the wine, I mean odours.

There are smells we all find offensive, like rotting garbage and sewage, then there are those other smells, which one person finds obnoxious and the other is not bothered. An example is patchouli. I think anyone who wants to smell like mothballs needs to be legally restrained, but to each his own.

A few days ago my girlfriend was cooking what the Dutch call snijbonen (translated as “French beans,” you must know them) and I wanted to leave the house. It was like a steady stream of rancid farts was rising with the steam from the pan.

Last evening I met a friend at my favourite wine bar in Amsterdam and upon entering, I was hit by the overwhelming odour of detergents they had used to clean in the morning. This is an unspeakable offense in an establishment where one comes to taste quality wines. No-one else seemed to notice!

I am not squeamish. I’ve backpacked over South America and Asia; I woke up next to a dead rat once in India. It’s when I smell the jenever-saturated sweat of an old alcoholic on his way into the Gall en Gall at ten in the morning that I fully recognize that there is a downside to organoleptic development.

Exploring fine wines at Christie's

Today Jane Anson twittered about Emma Thompson's wine cellar. So I read that in her dream cellar the Meursaults from Arnaud Ente would not be missing. Quite an unequivocal statement.

Yes, I import Ente's wines, since last summer, in The Netherlands. In England Ente is imported by Berry Bros. & Rudd and the wine is better known there; here I still have to do some missionary work, and a publication like this is... supportive.

Another interesting article I came across was retweeted by Amy Atwood: about the relativeness of wild yeasts. There's much to do about using wild yeasts or industrial yeasts, and this Los Angeles Times article at least puts things a bit in perspective.

Any personal adventures this week? Yes, I attended a lovely dinner organised by Christie's Amsterdam. This weekend a big private collection was brought under the hammer, and Friday some lucky dogs were invited to sample about 50 wines from this interesting collection.

In my previous posting I wrote about Anne Gros, and Friday the - simple - red Burgundy 2002 was one of the wines to taste. A good vintage, but still I was surprised by the sheer energy of this wine. Pure, lenient, healthy and balanced, and strikingly youthful. Towards the end of the evening I went back to this wine (definitely not the eye catcher of the evening), and shared it with my neighbour. Her plan was to bid on this wine, with the idea to split the lot between the two of us. At the time of writing this I don't know yet if I will be the new owner of some 2002's and 2005's (part of the same lot).

The most lovely wines that I tasted were the Buisson Renard 2005 from Dagueneau (intense, perfumed, soft, open), the Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru "Les Champs Canet" 2004 from Carillon (velvety, well-balanced, elegant, a modest beauty) and the Corton-Charlemagne 1992 from Bonneau de Martray (vital, convincing, sesame seed, just very beautiful).

Interesting were some older red Bordeaux's, especially two 1978's: the autumnal La Lagune (a little awkward also, and tannic) and the Haut-Bailly. I just consulted Michael Broadbent's Vintage Wine and his only one 1978 Haut-Bailly (in 2001) wasn't very good. He wonders: "Just the bottle?" and perhaps that might have been the case. What I tasted was an open, rather quiet, harmonious and friendly old Bordeaux. Not impressive, but not bad either.

Anyway, I was very happy to be there. And gosh, I hope my neighbour has won those lovely Anne Gros bottles...

Lovely Burgundy!

I still didn't tell you that my wine-web-shop bolomey.nl was chosen 4th best from more than 250 Dutch wine-web-shops. Of course I had preferred to be the number 1, but when I take into account that my company is small and young, and that the numbers 1-3 are big, I am satisfied after all. The only problem is that hardly anyone notices a number 4... but enough about this. In the end it is not the shop that counts, but the wines in the shop.

Meursault "Clos des Ambres" 2006 from Arnaud Ente [ buy ] and Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Les Folatières "En La Richarde" 2006 from Benoit Ente.

One of these wines is the Meursault "Clos des Ambres" 2006 from Arnaud Ente which was my contribution to an interesting Burgundy tasting with Jan van Roekel (burgoholic.com), Karel de Graaf (Burgundy agent & Meursault winemaker), Frank Jacobs (wine journalist) and Job Verhaar (wine seller & Burgundy lover). We compared this Meursault with a 2006 from his brother Benoit Ente: the Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Les Folatières "En La Richarde" 2006. They both persuade, but in a different way.

The Meursault comes across younger, with more intensity and energy. It has an imposing corpus with singing acidity, at first on the background, lingering, and then kicking in, structuring a convincing finish. A rich wine with a full and soft-smooth texture. The Puligny is soft par excellence. It is round in the nose, and has a velvety mouth-feel. It seems a little more mature, the oak has blended in perfectly and the wine is balanced and ripe.

Echezeaux "Les Loachausses" 2007 from Anne Gros

Then the reds. My favourite: the Echezeaux "Les Loachausses" 2007 from Anne Gros. This wine is just de-li-cious. Very pure, very forward, very healthy pinot fruit. Very elegant, outspoken and intense. What should I say more? Perhaps that I am glad that there are a few sleeping in my cellar. The wine that follows belongs to different school, but is also from a different time: stil clearly pinot, but this time ripe, rich and mature. And the style is full, round, I'd almost say this wine is 'spherical'. What I am trying to describe: the Corton-Bressandes 1998 from Vincent Girardin.

The next wine was an interesting one as well: the Chambertin 1981 from Louis Trapet. It was not a grand year, 1981, but this Chambertin was still alive. Light and old, matured and modest pinot noir. An elegant old man in a red-brown suit.

The pirate of the evening: the rightfully famous Saumur-Champigny Clos Rougeard 2005 "Les Poyeux". This cabernet franc is difficult to describe, because it is difficult to describe a wine that nears perfection. Also, it was late. My suggestion: taste this very complete wine and you will not be disappointed.

Tonight we will conclude the week (or start the new one?) with... a Burgundy tasting. But this tasting will be work.

Not that it makes any difference....

Bordeaux 2009, and Bordeaux 2006 revisited

Hardly have I gotten over the fuss of the Bordeaux 2008 primeurs - high quality for interesting prices - and the next carnival procession arrives with infernal noise: we can look forward to another grand vintage. The reason: weather has been perfect this year. Dry and sunny, warm but not too hot, and at the right times some rain, just when it was needed for the vines. Sounds familiar? Yes, it does. Bordeaux 2005 was announced in the same way. One difference: Bordeaux 2009 is supposedly even bigger than Bordeaux 2005...

This might sound a little sceptical, and perhaps it is. Okay, weather data are factual, but so short after the harvest it just comes across a little frenzied to state that Bordeaux 2009 will outperform the legendary 2005 vintage. But don't get me wrong: I am not against a good vintage. And I will soon dive into the subject, perhaps when the vinification has been completed.

Also, already quite a few articles about Bordeaux 2009 were published last week. From what I have seen the most interesting, in-depth read is on the Liv-ex Fine Wine Market Blog Bordeaux 2009 - an insider's view by local grower and winemaker Gavin Quinney.

As said, this topic will be continued.

Decanter Award for Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 2006 (Decanter Magazine November 2009): "Very serious, long-lasting, multi-faceted. Fine, tight, long, intense with lovely freshness too. Still a baby, but the real McCoy. Fine-grained, powerful, yet delicious. From 2018." [ buy ]

Next, let's go back three vintages: this year the Bordeaux 2006 vintage has been retasted by various journalists. Early 2009 Robert Parker presented his final 2006 scores, La Revue du Vin de France revisited the vintage in their September issue and Decanter just did the same in the brand new copy of November. For now, let's see if there are any interesting shifts in the RVF ratings. I will look at the new Decanter scores in a later posting.

Up:
Kirwan 2006 from 14-15/20 to 17
Pontet-Canet 2006 from 16,5-17,5 to 19
(isn't everyone enthusiastic about this château these days)
Lynch-Moussas 2006 from 11 to 14,5
La Clémence 2006 from 14,5-15,5 to 17,5
Le Gay 2006 from 14,5-15,5 to 17
Latour à Pomerol 2006 from 14-15 to 16,5
Trottevieille 2006 from 14-15 to 16,5
Domaine de Chevalier rouge 2006 from 15,5-16,5 to 18
Domaine de Chevalier blanc 2006 from 14-15 to 18
De Fieuzal 2006 from 13-14 to 15,5
Bouscaut 2006 from 12-13 to 15
Malartic-Lagravière blanc 2006 from 14-15 to 18
Latour Martillac blanc 2006 from 14-15 to 17

Down:
Du Tertre 2006 from 15-16 to 13,5
(I do not agree but I am not unprejudiced as I worked at Du Tertre in 2006, I like the wine and I see Decanter likes it too...)
Cadet-Bon 2006 from 15-16 to 13
Guadet 2006 from 14,5-15 to 13

Anyway, most châteaux got some extra credits, and some of these could be interesting buys. We see the biggest shifts in Pomerol, and especially in Pessac-Léognan for the white wines. I am not sure if these variations have to do with the wines, or with the tasters involved.

The new Bordeaux 2006 RVF list is led by Léoville-las-Cases, Lafite-Rothschild, Pontet-Canet, Pétrus, Haut-Brion and Laville Haut-Brion (white) (19), Margaux, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Léoville-Barton, Latour, Mouton-Rothschild, Figeac, Pavie, l'Eglise-Clinet, Trotanoy, Haut-Bailly, Haut-Brion blanc and Climens (18,5) and Léoville-Poyferré, Cos d'Estournel, La Conseillante, La Violette, Angélus, Pavie Macquin, Domaine de Chevalier rouge & blanc, La Mission Haut-Brion, Pape-Clément rouge & blanc and Malartic-Lagravière blanc (18).

Nerdy stuff, these lists, but fun every once in a while.