The Pied Piper of Hamelin
The bets are placed. The treatments finished 2 weeks ago, the grapes are delivering their true colours even in the most retarded terroir. As every year, it thus becomes urgent….to wait.
Before becoming a ‘vigneron’, I was always making fun of these hurried ‘vignerons’ who thought, once September arrived, to bring in their grapes as [...]
Time for jam
Each year, at around the same time, I get out my copper preserving pan and start my «jam week».
This pan has a history. My wife gave it to me, just a few months after we arrived at Vingrau. I understood that day…that she understood me. Because, to give a preserving pan to the man [...]
Summer Tasting Group News
This past summer saw the end of the first year of my first official tasting group, the 12 Angry Men. They said it wouldn’t last, but we made it, nonetheless. All the politics, all the extra effort and all the coordination of doing a group like this seem well worth it after looking at all [...]
Mondovino in the open air
Last Saturday the doors were open at Vingrau.
The goal? To permit the village inhabitants to discover the cellars of their village, cellars which strangely, most of them have never visited.
A good-natured day, a light lunch in the village square, once night fell, a free open air projection of Mondovino.
Well, despite the tiredness and the late [...]
The vultures circle-
Received this evening a fax-mailing from a merchant of wines name of DEPOT STOCK. Over and above the poetry that this name inspires, I give you the best passages:
« Specialised in the de-stocking of wine, we buy significant lots of all qualities../..We only buy lots “CRD’ [capsule reprèsentatives de droits], destined to be resold in [...]
An Evening of Lafite-Rothschild
First of all, I’d like to thank all the concerned readers who constantly remind me how I’m slacking off and not writing enough tasting notes. I am a bit backed up, I must confess. There has been no shortage of great wine events over the summer, albeit at a bit of a more civilized pace [...]
People in Wine now available on iTunes
‘People in Wine’ is now available through Apple’s iTunes software. If you have iTunes, simply go to the Podcasts section and look under ‘wine’. We’re near the top of the list.
The Four Seasons of Yquem “Les Quatre Saisons d’Yquem’
A film by Jean-Paul Jaud (French / English)
2002 J + B Sèquences
“The all-conquering sovereign of beverages.’
The film charts the course of the seasons during the year 2000 at Château d’Yquem in the company of Alexandre de Lur Saluces and his friend, journalist, John-Paul Kauffmann. Part of a series of four films each looking at part [...]
“Vigneron’ or orchestra player
OK, let me tell you about the last few days- since Monday, Claudine and/or I have:
1 Tried to understand with the mechanic and Serge, my extraordinary head of viticulture, how better to maintain our beautiful tractor.
2 Discussed with Frèdèric, my apprentice, our attempts to redress the deficiency of manganese in a parcel.
3 Made a tour [...]
People in Wine
Preview a new radio programme / podcast on wine - ‘People in Wine’: interviews include Carole Bouquet on her wine Sangue d’Oro, a Passito from Pantelleria. Rod Phillips author of A Short History of Wine (Penguin Books) on Ontario Wines and the misuse of ‘terroir’. Michel Bettane on Burgundian wines and his views [...]
Brands for whom, brands for why-
Confined to the house by bad tonsilitis, I finally find the time to listen to a little Radio France Inter. Replay of an excellent programme on the «Rue des entrepreneurs [the road of the entrepreneurs]» about brands. They talk about lots of intelligent things in as much as they weren’t talking about wine.
Several opinions come [...]
The Four Seasons of Yquem “Les Quatre Saisons d’Yquem’
A film by Jean-Paul Jaud (French / English)
2002 J + B Sèquences
“The all-conquering sovereign of beverages.’
The film charts the course of the seasons during the year 2000 at Château d’Yquem in the company of Alexandre de Lur Saluces and his friend, journalist, John-Paul Kauffmann. Part of a series of four films each looking at part [...]
A long silence
«Not to speak unless one has something to say» is a wise rule that I have trouble imposing on my mouth:) but which I swore to respect on this blog. Two weeks of silence, it was maybe two weeks of holiday, maybe two weeks of too much work to be able to write anything. The [...]
31 not out
On 4 May 2005 I celebrated my 31st birthday. However, I had to wait until 7 May - a Saturday! - to have a celebratory drink. I was joined by my friends Lucy Rundle, Linden Wilkie and his girlfriend Aiko. It was a long night…
We began with Krug rosè - easily the finest rosè Champagne [...]