Ok so let’s get one more entry about wines, this is my passion even if seldom writes on it. I am beginning to get the knack of telling you about wines. You can see in my other posts, my credentials and experiences and get to know a bit of my cellar. Just waiting my latest lot from the de Rothschild (of the Mouton Rothschild family for the novice). More here, they have a wonderful museum as well we love: Museum Mouton Rothschild
And to order theses wonderful wines the site is La Baronie where I do my shopping : La Baronnie
There is a new event coming up from an old one. THE chamber of commerce and industry of Bordeaux, the main shareholder in the Vinexpo Bordeaux will expand to do a biannual event in Paris too, Vinexpo Paris. This event will be done in the even years and the first one will be January 13-15 2020 in the Porte de Versailles convention center. The next Vinexpo Bordeaux, that will be done in the odd years is schedule for May 13-16 2019. In 2017, about 2300 exhibitors attracted about 40 000 visitors and gave the event a healthy sales number of 16 million euros. News from le Figaro Vin, the webpage for Vinexpo is here: Vinexpo
Another article from my favorite place Le Figaro tells of the corks! In 20 years of battling the pros now said the incident of TAC or odors in the cork that makes taste like an old wet cardboard are below 1% . The incident comes from a molecule oxygenate that in contamination with the air outside gives the taste humid rotten links to the humidity. The Portuguese branch of the French group Laffitte acquired machines capable of control 12 000 corks per day where the air around the cork passes in a compartment humid proof. If it has more than a nanogram of TCA the cork is thrown out. This is for high price wines because the extra cost is substantial according to spokesman of the group; count 15 cents euro extra for a cork where the price varies from 40 cents to 1,50€. And fight continues with higher technology.
François Pinault (the seventh richest person in France according to Challenges Magazine, and the world’s 65th most wealthy individual, according to Forbes) purchased the historic, Burgundian gem Clos de Tart for an undisclosed sum. Across the wall, LVMH boss Bernard Arnault (France’s wealthiest person and the world’s 11th, according to the same sources) owns the Domaine des Lambrays. The question is, Will Burgundy go the way of Bordeaux with outside investors buying the region’s land and heritage? It seems inevitable. It is not just the price of land that is the issue; it is also the succession taxes. The two go hand-in-hand. While the calculation of France’s onerous succession taxes supposedly do not include glorified one-off purchases like Clos de Tart . François Pinault is now the fourth owner of a Burgundian property that – astonishingly, considering the Napoleonic succession laws – has never been divided in its 876-year history. Meanwhile, his rival across the wall is missing a tiny piece of the Clos des Lambrays. One can’t help but wonder what the value of that parcel of 0.004 hectare, now in the hands of Domaine Taupenot-Merme, might be worth?
The now famous wine fairs in France happening all over and in all types of establishment. These are the foire aux vins a heavy duty event with around 100 millions euros in sales!. The leaders are the hypermarkets Carrefour and Leclerc (who created the trend of fairs 44 years ago and the one we like best). These fairs provide about 15% of all wine sales for the year for most of the stores name. The French take 70% of intention of going to them and 80% is done in hypermarkets according to a survey by Toluna. Most folks in France like me received catalogues of the sales ahead of time, where we see 30-50% more choices from last year and even more in reference to 15 years ago with more famous names on it. The most shown in these fairs is the Bordeaux wines with a mix of regions that has nevertheless reduce their control from 41% to 36% in 10 years period. The reduction help bring on wines from the Rhône and the Languedoc-Roussillon.
To help difference amongst the big name stores, Leclerc and Auchan keeps to the grands crus, while the coops like Intermarché or Système U talks about more autonomy in the choice of bottles according to regions. Monoprix keeps to their normal clientele more urban ,city center in their bottle selection. The internet sites are better stock which allows firms like Millésimes to offers rare bottles to bring in the amateurs. Something new, the Chatbot, high tech is a software of artificial intelligence that give a dialogue with the client and or a store. Carrefour took it out on their site je me serve ma foire aux vins Carrefour, eventually they will take it out to all their webpages; the webpage has bottles that are usually only found in the cellars master stores . For instance my Leclerc site here: Ma Cave Leclerc
Some recommendation ups my sleeves or rather down my cellar.
Denis Vacheron of the Domaine Vacheron has 48 hectares around the area of Sancerre, practicing biodynamic winemaking. The lable Denis Vacheron 2015 is in the perfection level. It is an all terrain wine ,perfume nose of notes of passion fruit and citrics giving it a great energy and absolut precision. Price here at 19€ Domaine Vacheron
Domaine Vincent Delaporte offering a wonderful Chavignol 2015. This wine is a blend of sauvignon blanc issue from about 20 parcels with different soil composition. It’s a wine with nose, mineral identity and aromas of lemon , and rose grapefruit. In the mouth great juice pure and simple with a long finish. Price here at 15€ Chavignol 2015
I always preferred the dry whites over the sweet whites and the revolution is catching up even in the venerable region of Sauternes. The production of dry whites have triple in the last 7 years according to the Chateau Guiraud, Premier Grand Cru Classé of Sauternes. It has 120 hectares of vinyards on the bio regime producing about 180K bottles of dry whites G de Guiraud agains 90K of the first wine Chateau Guiraud, and according to the year about 60-120K bottles of second wine Petit Guiraud / This is typical of the whole region. And as the region two main grapes for Sauternes the Sauvignon and Sémillon are well into the white wine world it gives a strong commercialization force for the dry white wines as well in the export market. One of my favors here is the Chateau de Rieussec, sweet wine of course. This wine is done in the vineyards of the sweet wines flowery perfumes, in the mouth lemony aromas and can be kept in cellar for a few years for the 2015 version. More here:
You can come to my favorite area where family lives, Gaillac. One of two best properties there and we love it are the Domaine du Moulin, 6st generation winemaker by Nicolas Hirissou; planting tannat grapes to complement the Syrah and Braucol (aka Fer Servadou), local variety. The winery is open from 9h to 12h and 14h to 19h closed Sundays in Jan, Feb, and Mar. More here: https://ledomainedumoulin.com/en/
and , Domaine d’Escausses closer to Albi. Overlooking from the road the nice town of Cordes-sur-Ciel. Very good tastings and welcome here even a sparkler with the method Gaillacoise. The best wine is the La Vigne de l’Oubli, an oak aged, sauvignon dominated blend a match for the top whites of Bordeaux. Open from 9h to 13h and 14h to 19H. More here: http://famillebalaran.com/
And a picture of me on my favorite wine house in the Loire near Amboise ::) And photos found around my computer lately lol!!! Enjoy wine in moderation but do drink it, it is good for your health. Cheers!!
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