Bordeaux Archive

An Evening of Lafon Rochet

Karel Röell What’s with the yellow’ was the first thing coming to my mind thinking of Lafon Rochet’s bright yellow and red labels when I met the Château’s proprietor Basile Tesseron, who answered with the usual emphatic French shrug and a cheeky smile: ‘Just bad taste...!’ Given the intellectual flexibility of...
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Bordeaux 2010 En Primeur Tastings – Day 1

Having arrived in Bordeaux on Sunday evening and had a quick dinner at Le Noailles, Alison (Buchanan), Paul (Marus) and myself set off early for Latour. The day was one of Châteaux visits as the big Union des Grands Crus (UGC) tasting did not start until the Tuesday. Wherever possible,...
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Château Phélan-Ségur Vertical Tasting

The C&B tour bus pulled into Château Phélan-Ségur’s gravelled courtyard with a cloudless blue spring sky as a backdrop. Phélan-Ségur was our first stop of the day, so we were on time for once and had a few moments to take in the rows of vines stretching away from the...
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A Medieval Tasting at Château de Lamarque

With the inspirational philosophies of François Mitjavile ingrained in our thoughts, we headed to our next appointment. Château de Lamarque, a gem of a property in Haut-Médoc with whom we have enjoyed a long and strong vinous relationship. The drive from Saint-Emilion would take a while but as a South...
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C & B descend on Bordeaux for a very spoiling 48 hours…

21 of of the C & B sales and Marketing team gathered from far & wide, early on Monday morning destined to meet some of the great and the good of Bordeaux.  We boarded a Bordeaux-bound plane at the crack of dawn, full of anticipation - wondering what to expect...
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Notes from Hong Kong : A dinner demonstrating just how much fine wine is being drunk and enjoyed over in Asia

This is short and to the point - the line up does all the talking: On reception: Henri Giraud, Fut de Chêne, 1998 Champagne in magnum White Wines: Le Montrachet, Henri Boillot, 2000 Le Montrachet, Domaine Ramonet 1988 Red wines: Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1989 Château Haut-Brion 1989 Clos des Lambrays 1949 in magnum Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Château Rayas 1990 Clos St Denis,...
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On Bordeaux 2009 prices

The barrage of releases tend to render blogging instantly out of date so rather than give my thoughts on every release - that’s what the email offers and twitter are for - I thought I would summarise at what I guess is the moment when things are about to go...
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Last weeks Bordeaux 2009 activity, Olivier Leflaive 09′s and Edouard Moueix Tasting Dinner

  A quick update following the first week of releases (not many of them!). Last Tuesday saw d’Angludet out at £219, demand seemed steady, it’s a wine that tasted well this year and has a good following. The other three wines we offered last week were all quite different “beasts” –...
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Bordeaux 2009 day 1

Exciting but tiring day.....6am - Flight from Gatwick, everyone arrived, two Scots, one German and three Englishmen. Landed safely met up with driver for the week and off we go. 10.15 - Les Carmes Haut Brion was delicious, lovely fruit-driven style, elegant and beautifully balanced. 11.30 - Haut Brion and La Mission Haut Brion...
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two 2006′s in bottle

With the big tasting of 2006 Bordeaux in Southwold recently (it has been variously written up by Jancis Robinson and more) I thought it would be a good idea to serve - blind - two Bordeaux 2006's from two of our strong Bordeaux connections, there was another reason for one...
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