Fun times in Bordeaux during Primeurs 2010

Pictures and memories of a busy week of tasting in Bordeaux in early April. I was tasting with a team of buyers, journalists and enthusiasts from all around the World. We were studying and assessing the barrel samples of the much lauded 2010 Bordeaux vintage.




Action shots in the tasting room at Chateau Pavie in Saint Emilion. A suspicious Steve(right), a talkative Chip and Bill(at the back) and poor Ken looks like he has just gobbed in his eye.
These are serious wine pros. The chap called Chris(far left) from the Caribbean is the only one who seems to be tasting!......(later in the week Chris thanked me for tooting at him at the traffic lights. He was unused to traffic lights as most Islands did not have them.)




The magnificent inner courtyard at Chateau Canon, Premier Grand Cru Classe Saint Emilion. The glorious flowering Wisteria seemed to be evident everywhere we went. The growing season was roughly 10 days advanced with warm temperatures. However there is a risk of frost right through until early May. We were lucky with the beautiful sunshine and warm evenings.









The cool and relaxed Alexandre Thienpoint(right) at Vieux Chateau Certan explains his mighty fine merlot that he produced in 2010, whilst the hazy Bill Blatch (in perpetual motion) writes notes, tastes wine and also organizes us lesser mortals.












Although we did not taste at Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte (this time) it is always fun to pop in to the magnificent 5 star Les Sources de Caudalie. Especially on a sunny day with flowers blooming. The 2010 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte was tasted at another Chateau....the white was absolutely delicious. The red was great too.








Elegant lady at Chateau Phelan Segur in Saint Estephe. We were treated to a mini vertical of this excellent Chateau. We tasted in the galleried ballroom. Yes the 2010 was hearty and rich and dark as a dark thing. But the 2009 was delicious, the 2008 approachable, the 2007 savoury and the 2006 tight.







The solitary tower marking one of the most famous landmarks of the Bordeaux area(picture taken from teh terrace of Chateau Pichon Lalande)....Chateau Latour. We did not taste Chateau Latour during the first week of Primeur tastings, but I managed to make a seperate appointment the following week. The 2010 Chateau Latour was a monster of a wine. This will probably be one of the most long lived wines of the vintage. Immense fruit, incredible dark cassis and blackcurrants and thick, rich tannins. A joyous wine if you are going to be around in 30 years.



This is probably the other iconic view of Bordeaux....the avenue leading up to the magnificent Chateau Margaux. They even opened the gates for me this time!!
It was great to see Paul Pontallier again...he was almost lost for words describing the 2010 after using up all the superlatives for the 2009.
There is always an air of slick professionalism at Chateau Margaux. It is good to see young Aurélien Valance coming through the ranks. The new story at Margaux is that there will be a third wine released from the 2009 vintage. This will be below the current second wine (Pavillon Rouge). The third wine will only be available in the UK, USA and Japan. An interesting initiative. I was amazed when I heard last year that 26% of the crop had been declassified.....but now it all makes sense. It will be very interesting to taste this wine and als0 hear what the new name is.



Dave, Dan, Dean, Chris, Rob and Christina deep in thoughts and concentration in the magnificent tasting room at Chateau Pape Clement.











Another treat was a mini vertical offered by the delightful Berenice Lurton at Chateau Climens.
The 2009 and 2007 are hefty botrytis styles. I adored the 2005 for its weight and balance. The 2006 and 2008 are not far behind either.
A truly amazing place to taste wines from the barrels.





We can all talk about how great Climens, Guiraud, Suduiraut, Coutet or Rayne Vigneau are showing in the 2010 vintage. But for many people Sauternes IS Chateau d'Yquem. I was fortunate enough to taste it twice in a week. Once at Chateau Cheval Blanc (a nice way to frehen up!) and once at Yquem. This wine is very different to the exceptional 2009. It will be interesting to see whether it lasts longer. I would be happy with both in my cellar.





Bruno Borie is a slightly alternative character in the rather classic and staid Bordeaux. He owns the stunningly beautiful Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou in Saint Julien (the Chateau with masses of flags out the front). He has transformed the tasting room in to a graffiti lined tube train.......but my oh my he produced a stunning 2010 wine. I thought his 2009 slightly optimistic on the hefty price, but if the 2010 is priced the same it will be clearly one of the best wines produced in Bordeaux in the vintage.
Bruno also always fronts up and explains the vintage and is a great communicator. Top man.





Its tough work all this wine tasting!!!

Thank goodness you can not see my teeth. The tannins were very full and strong (as they should be for young Bordeaux).










The hectic week of tasting and travelling ended with a magnificent tasting at Chateau Lafite Rothschild. This Chateau has hit stratospheric price levels in the last 5 years. Even the second wine Carruades is pushing upwards at a staggering rate.

I love tasting wine and I have worked in wine all my life, but I could not feel that I was side tracked and distracted by the money element to the Lafite situation. Undoubtedly the Carruades 2010 and the Lafite 2010 are stunning wines. The Carruades had a soft sheen and plushness, whilst the 'Grand Vin' was the complete wine. Not clumsy, not too tannic. A perfect poise and balance. True defined linear tannins with fantastic deep purple colours rolling with dark blackcurrants and cassis. An incredible experience, but blighted by the darker market forces. Whatever I think about this wine, it will be traded at £1000 per bottle in 6 months time....and probably £1500 in 3 years time. The wine is good.....but it is a wine.

UGC Primeurs week 2011

Today I set off bright and early for one of the most interesting week's work of the year. It is the week of tasting in Bordeaux organized by the Union des Grands Crus as well as various Chateaux and other syndicats and negociants.
The week is an opportunity to taste and evaluate the 2010 harvest in Bordeaux, which was picked 6 months ago. The wines have finished their alcoholic and malo lactic fermentations and will now be aged for another 12-14 months in barrels before bottling. Therefore this week is a good time to get a snapshot of the quality and style of the 2010 vintage. However the wines are mere babies and far from the finished product. So it can be quite difficult (and not always pleasant) trying wines that have high tannins, alcohols and searing acidity.
It is a fun time to be in Bordeaux, as there are many international buyers and journalists. It is a great time to meet new and old friends. Every year there seems to be more interest in these tastings (which are for members of the wine trade). A few years ago there seemed to be hundreds of Russian buyers and more recently there seems to be many Chinese and Far Eastern attendees. It just adds to the wonderful diversity and reach of the Bordeaux wine market.
Many of the Chateaux will receive between 1-2000 people in the next week....mainly with pre planned appointments. So it is a big logistical exercise to accommodate everyone. Certainly the top Chateaux (First Growths) need major planning and appointments from many months ago.
A few years ago I started working alongside Bill Blatch of the negociant Vintex. They have an association with Chateau de la Riviere (with whom I have worked for many years as an agent). Bill is a delightful English man who has lived in Bordeaux for many years. He started his own negociant business in 1982 and he is a great authority on the wines of Sauternes and Barsac as well as most other areas. Bill is a charming chap and widely respected throughout Bordeaux.
Here is my working schedule for the next week:


Sunday: Big Tasting at Vintex...over 200 wines on show from dry whites, reds and sweet whites. A great entry point for immersing oneself in to the style of the vintage. This tasting always shows the good, the bad and the ugly.

Monday: Several Tastings to attend in Saint Emilion and Pomerol. The fantastic Salle des Dominicians in Saint Emilion is a great bright airy venue to taste virtually all the top Saint Emilions. Top wine consultants/oeneologists Michel Rolland and Stephane Derenoncourt also host different tastings, as well as an interesting event in Pomerol.

Tuesday: Chateau 'hopping'...tastings at specific Chateaux..Pavie, L'Arrosee, Larcis Ducasse, Canon, Cheval Blanc, Vieux Chateau Certan, L'Evangile and La Conseillante as well as the large (usually 30-40 wines on show) UGC tastings at Ch. La Couspaude (Saint Emilion), Ch. La Pointe (Pomerol) and then a zoom over to Ch. Malartic Lagraviere to taste a selection of Graves.

Wednesday: early start at 8am tasting Ch. Calon Segur followed by Phelan Segur, Montrose, Cos Labory, Cos d'Estournel, Mouton Rothschild, Grand Puy Lacoste, lunch at Pontet Canet, then afternoon at Pichon Lalande, Leoville Lascases, Ducru Beaucaillou followed by large tastings at Branaire Ducru (Saint Juliens) and then a monster tasting of Cru Bourgeois at Ch. d'Agassac....with finally a tasting at Ch. Citran

Thursday: another early start at 8.30am tasting La Lagune, then Giscours/du Tertre, d'Issan, Brane Cantenac, Margaux and Lascombes followed by more Margaux wines at the UGC tasting and a quick visit to Lafite in the afternoon.

Friday: tasting Haut Brion at 8am! then Pape Clement, Domaine de Chevalier, Climens, Yquem and Suduiraut...then home to a cup of tea and a lie down.
An interesting, fun and challenging week ahead.

Chinese buying Bordeaux vineyards

What started as a trickle might turn in to a full on flow! In the past 12 months at least 3 Chateaux in Bordeaux have changed hands to Chinese buyers.
The emphasis seems to be that it is better to control the production at source rather than just buying through the established trade.
This is excellent for the Bordeaux region as any inward investors should be welcome. The Irish, Scottish, Americans and English have very strong links with Bordeaux and have either owned or currently own many top Chateaux.

My only slight hesitation is that this latest purchase of Chateau Laulan Ducos by Richard Shen Donjun (a Chinese diamond tycoon) has revealed that Mr Shen plans to stop selling the estate's wines in all markets and solely supply wine to China. This would not be great for established markets and is a worrying trend if we suddenly see Cru Bourgeois wines or Cru Classe wines disappear.
This was reported in the Sunday Telegraph today but more extensively written about on Alex Hall's excellent website Vineyard Intelligence a while ago. This proves the world of blogs and tweets is some way ahead of the old style newspapers!
The question is who will sell next to the Chinese? Will a more well known Cru Classe estate entertain the wealthy people from the East? We shall see.

Bella Wines 12,000 page views. Good or bad?

I have been writing this occasional blog for a couple of years now. The focus is clearly on wine and wine tourism. This is a good window to see what is happening with Bella Wines and also Bella Wine Tours or for me to communicate future events. However I need and value a bit of feedback from time to time. What do you think?
Do you have suggestions for what you want to see or read?

Bella Wines Ltd www.bellawines.co.uk is a UK registered company that I started over 13 years ago. We have worked closely with wineries from Australia, South Africa, Bordeaux, Rhone and the Languedoc Roussillon in order to introduce exciting wines to markets. We sell wine in the UK, Ireland, USA, Singapore and China. We normally work with regional wholesalers and retailers and occasionally we supply multiple retailers or supermarkets. But that depends on the wines and the size of the winery. Sometimes there is no point linking a small winery to a large distributor, as someone inevitably suffers.
We are currently working with a select group of growers in the Languedoc Roussillon, Rhone Valley and Bordeaux. We have ceased working with Australia and South Africa, as we feel that there are some greater wines still to explore in France at better value. Languedoc and the Rhone are still undiscovered in so many ways, whilst Bordeaux has some pure class.
If you own a wine business, a shop, wholesale, or internet business we would be very happy to send you our latest wine list.

In the last couple of years I have gradually developed the wine tourism side of our business www.bellawinetours.com. This has essentially come from demand from our customers as well as a willingness to share some of the excitement involved in the wine trade. During the last 22 years working in the wine trade in Europe I have met some fantastic people. On many of the wine tours to Bordeaux and the Languedoc we meet some of these characters. A real mixed bag ....journalists, artists, wine makers, millionaire Chateau owners, shop owners, restaurateurs, Masters of Wine, Hotel owners, tractor drivers, musicians, negociants, agents, dreamers and lovers! We can not promise all of them, however we always deliver something fun, interesting and unique.
We currently have wine tours organized in April, May, June, August and September. We would be very happy to arrange a trip to Bordeaux or the south of France and see what is really 'behind the scenes'.

But we would really appreciate some feedback! Please feel free to contribute to this blog on the comments section. Likes or dislikes are always worth voicing.
I have some exciting new plans for this blog and our websites, twitter and Facebook accounts. So please keep following, 'friending' or simply being there. We value your interest. Thank you.

Sitt 2011 Tasting Notes and UK observations.

Sitt is the Specialist Importers Trade Tasting and it takes place every February in Manchester and London. I have just finished showing a selection of wines at the London tasting yesterday. It was a fun event and it is always great to see so many trade buyers and journalists. As I spend so much time travelling in Bordeaux and Languedoc it is a rare occasion to see some people! It is an opportunity to re acquaint as well as meet new people.

The UK wine trade has always been a dynamic market place and trading post for all sorts of wines. This specialist trade tasting mainly caters for artisan producers and importers rather than the big corporate companies. The UK economy is not in the best of shape at the moment with various tax rises and impending job cuts. There is a sense of uncertainty and it is a time to be stoic and work hard and clearly focus on the core values of your business. There will be companies merging and undoubtedly companies going to the wall in the next couple of years. But this also leads to a great opportunity to build loyalty and strengthen. If you can survive the hard times......then the good times will be great.
This year I was showing a range of wines from Bordeaux, the Rhone and Languedoc. It was the first time that I was not showing Australian wines at this event. The Australian wines are becoming extremely expensive in the UK due to the exchange rate. Fundamentally Australia is still producing some exceptional wines, however they have various issues to deal with domestically regarding drought and basic vineyard economics. At the moment Australian wines are rapidly becoming less popular in the UK market. I am sure that they will 'come back' but it might take a few years.
This is what I was showing....
From Bordeaux:
Chateau de la Riviere Rose 2010 £9.49 (recommended approximate retail price in the UK.)
A lighter style of Rose from 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. With a screwcap closure this is an elegant fresh crisp wine for Spring/Summer.
Chateau du Pin 2009 £7.99
It is sometimes difficult to find decent reliable consistent claret under £10. This is a lovely fresh juicy style of mainly merlot red. The 2009 was a great year at the top end for Bordeaux, but also at the lower scale there are some delicious wines produced. Elegant, ripe and tasty.
Chateau Bois Noir 2008 £11.99
This is a really beefy style of Bordeaux. The wine is made by Cyril Gregoire and is classified Bordeaux Superieur. It is deep dark and has a roasted mocha character nose. Excellent serious concentrated style.
Chateau de la Riviere 2006, Fronsac £19.99
This Chateau continues to produce excellent quality and value wines. This mature Bordeaux has an intensity of merlot dominant fruit with poise and balance from good oak ageing. This wine is approachable now, but will benefit from further cellaring.
Chateau de la Riviere 2007, Fronsac £19.99
Ironically the 2007 Riviere is developing quicker than the 2006. This wine has a savoury texture and has a brooding bramble and damson cream character. Delicious.

From the Languedoc:
Domaine La Prade Mari Viognier 2010 £7.99 (tank sample showed)
Excellent fresh crisp white with a hint of white peach blossom and apricots. A refreshing white from a small block (1.2 hectare) of vines.
Domaine La Prade Mari Roussanne 2010 £14.50 (barrel sample showed)
We aged this wine in 4 new oak barriques (225 litres). The grapes are from a very young plot (4 years old), which produces a rich nutty character on the wine. The integration of fruit and oak gives a beautiful balance and richness. The vanilla texture from the oak stands up to the quality of the fruit. Very small quantities available. (we only produced 2300 bottles!)
Domaine La Prade Mari 'Rubis des Garrigues' 2010 £9.99 (barrel sample showed)
The first Rose wine produced by Eric Mari. Equal parts Syrah/Grenache/Carignan and Mourvedre harvested by some extremely able pickers (Max and Jasper Wakes-Miller aged 6 and 8). We fermented this wine in stainless steel tanks and then put it in to older oak barrels for 4 months just to add a richness to the wine. The wine is showing very well now. It has a deeper pink/red hue and a nose of summer pudding and strawberries. This will be delicious this Summer as a Rose to be served outdoors with food when Summer arrives.
Domaine La Prade Mari Vieilles Vignes Carignan 2009 £6.50
This wine surely has to be one of the best quality /value wines available. The vines are 80 years old and they contribute to the beautiful elegant rounded ripe juicy style of red wine. Dark cherry characters on the nose and clean balanced palate. The wine has very light tannins from the fruit rather than oak ageing. It is also refreshing at 12.5 degrees alcohol. An absolute bargain.
Domaine La Prade Mari 'Secret de Fontanilles' 2008 £8.50
The word 'garrigue' is hard to directly translate from French. It is essentially the wild shrubby hedgerow that surrounds the vineyards in the south of France. The 'garrigue' has incredible mixture of flora and fauna with thyme, rosemary, fennel, wild garlic, wild onions, sage, gorse and rocket. All these herby aromatic characters are hinted in this delicious deep red.
Domaine La Prade Mari 'Chant de l'Olivier' 2007 £10.99
50:50 Syrah and Grenache aged in 2 and 3 yr old barrels. This has depth, richness and outstanding quality fruit. An international winemaker chose this as one of his favourite wines at the tasting.
Domaine La Prade Mari 'Conte des Garrigues' 2007 £12.99
Same % grapes as the Chant de l'Olivier above, however this wine has newer oak barrels. The influence of the newer oak gives the wine a slightly tighter structure. Very classy deep, dark garrigue characters and ideal with roast beef or roast sanglier.
Domaine La Prade Mari 'Gourmandises des Bois' 2007 £25.00
80% Syrah: 20% Grenache Very pure elegant Syrah. I have always thought that this wine would show comparatively well in a blind tasting of top quality northern Rhone wines.

Domaine Moulin Gimie Merlot 2008 £7.50
Merlot can be overcropped and jammy in the Languedoc but this example is pure class. It has won Gold medals in Paris (for what it is worth) and has a light menthol structure balanced with dark damson and blackcurrant fruits. An excellent everyday drinking red.
Domaine Moulin Gimie 'Les Fossiles' 2008 £10.99
The first showing in the UK for this unusual blend of Merlot, Syrah and Mourvedre. A delicious savoury slight milk chocolate character (probably from the mourvedre) balanced with intense red summer fruits.

From the Rhone:
Kreydenweiss 'Perrieres' 2008 Costieres de Nimes £12.50
Marc Kreydenweiss(16th generation winemaker from Alsace) bought this 19 hectare property in the southern Rhone in 1999. This wine is a beautiful example of Syrah/Grenache/Carignan and Mourvedre which thrive on the iron rich soils. An incredible depth of dark fruits wrapped in a sling of top quality oak. This wine also has a freshness which presumably comes from the biodynamic treatments in the vineyards and cellar.
Kreydenweiss 'Ansata' 2007 Vin de pays de Coteaux de Flaviens £15.00
100% Syrah therefore this wine has to have the rather unusual Vin de Pays classification. However this does not diminish the pure quality.
Kreydenweiss Chateauneuf du Pape 2007
Marc Kreydenweiss works 2 hectares of vines in the famous appellation Chateauneuf du Pape. These 2 hectares are mainly on sandy soils, which have never been sprayed with pesticides (the land was previously worked organically). Now Marc has converted the land to biodynamic principles and produces a sublime quality red wine. This wine packs a punch with 15 degrees alcohol, but it is in perfect balance with layers of elegant ripe cherry and herbal fruit characters. Truly a wine to savour.

These are background notes and observations on the wines rather than specific tasting notes. I am happy to quote ex cellar prices for UK trade buyers.

UK Wine Tax Calculator New App

An interesting new free App available from Itunes. Quite shocking to see exactly how much duty and taxation is cleared off from a £5 retail bottle of wine in the UK.

Organic, Biodynamic and Egyptian Wines

Last week I zoomed off to my first big wine tasting event of the year. It was an organic wine show in Montpellier, France called Bio Millesime. This annual event is a good starter for the year in January. The tables are completely mixed up between regions and countries, in order for people to browse and move around rather than just pinpoint certain areas. This gives the wine tasting an element of confusion, but also conviviality! IE Lots of people lost at the same time.
I have attended this wine show over the last few years and it has grown out of all proportion. This year it took up 3 halls at the exhibition centre. Organic wines are expanding rapidly.
I have been relatively ambivalent towards organic wines and organic viticulture. I have always tasted a wine and judged a wine for quality and price before categorizing whether it is organic or biodynamic. However one of the wineries that I work closely with (Domaine La Prade Mari) is converting to organic viticulture. The picture here is myself and Eric Mari the owner of Domaine La Prade Mari having a look at some very healthy grapes just before harvest last year.Sometimes organic can mean a price premium when I genuinely think that most people in a wine shop don't really care. They would rather have a delicious wine that fits their price or buying criteria. If it is organic then that is a bonus.
It is noticeable that the organic culture is very strong in the Languedoc Roussillon, as the warm Mediterranean climate and cleansing strong winds make viticulture slightly easier. However up in Bordeaux (which has a higher rainfall and higher humidity) it can be more difficult to be organic. However this is changing as two significant Bordeaux Chateaux have fully embraced biodynamics...Chateau Pontet Canet in Pauillac and Chateau Guiraud in Sauternes.
Here are some figures on organics(courtesy of Drinks Business):
Languedoc-Roussillon’s organic vineyard coverage increased by 51.9% from 2008 to 2009 , Rhône-Alpes by 50.8%, Aquitaine by 45.2%, Burgundy by 43.2% and Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur by 34.6%.
The national growth was 38.9% to a total of 39,116 hectares. Growth is slowest in the North and West, where climate makes organic viticulture much more of a challenge. Organic vineyards in the Pays de la Loire grew by just 7.1% over the same period. Alsace also showed a relatively modest increase of 13.5%.



It is interesting to see how organic culture is increasing. I was truly amazed with the quality and improvement of many wines last week. I tasted over 300 wines and scribbled notes on which wines to follow up. One of the interesting stories was from a gentleman who is the viticulturist for a vineyard project in Egypt. As I had never tried Egyptian wine I was drawn to his wines out of interest. They were particularly good quality. The white was a blend of 90%Vermentino with 10% Chardonnay, whilst the Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah blend worked particularly well on the reds. The wines were called 'Jardin du Nil' and they will soon be appearing in global wine markets. The story about planting vineyards in deserts where the temperature is over 50 degrees in the Summer and there is virtually no rainfall was intriguing. It was also interesting to hear that the University of Montpellier are visiting Egypt to see how the Stem Potential Technique of using water for vines is effective. The principals used in Egypt could well be useful in the Mediterranean countries if global warming persists.
This afternoon I am traveling to the Rhone valley to taste one of the wines that I found at Bio Millesime. An absolutely gorgeous wine from just near Chateauneuf du Pape. I will reveal more later if I get the deal for distributing the wines.