Bordeaux Bound

On September 15, 2013December 9, 2013 By Bob WattIn FranceLeave a comment

Next week, my wife and I head to Bordeaux, sans children – for a highly-anticipated trip of wine tasting (a big thank you to my in-laws for staying with our kids!).

Although those in the industry would call our tour a “death march,” we’re quite excited by the itinerary we have lined up. The extraordinary team at Bordeaux Saveurs has helped us put together this remarkable tour, complete with a few cooking classes on estates, as well as numerous great meals.

Over roughly two weeks, we will visit:

Chateau Phelan Segur
Chateau Cos d’Estournel
Chateau Pontet Canet
Chateau Leoville Barton
Chateau Lascombes
Chateau Mouton Rothschild
Chateau Lynch Bages
Chateau Haut Brion
Chateau Pape Clement
Domaine de Chevalier
Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron
Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Chateau Palmer
Chateau Suduiraut
Chateau Y’Qeum
Chateau Guiraud
Chateau Haut Bailly
Chateau Smith Haut Lafite
Chateau Troplong Mondot
Chateau Angelus
Chateau Figeac
Chateau Soutard

We will stay at the Cordeillan Bages hotel for the first part of the trip, then in a private apartment in Bordeaux proper over the weekend, and finish out our stay at les Sources de Caudalie, which friends tell us is heavenly. A big thanks to dear friend and awesome travel agent Kelly Bonewitz at Woodside Travel for her assistance pulling things together – we can’t wait to give a full report on our adventure!

Speaking of which, we have never blogged remotely before, so we’ll have to see how it goes. Given how much we’ve packed in, the updates will probably happen once we return, jet-lagged and happy…and dreaming of our return!

Daily Drinkers: Good Whites

On September 15, 2013February 4, 2014 By Bob WattIn FranceLeave a comment

From time to time we’ll review low cost wines in search of the ultimate value bottles. Here are reviews of a few recent wines:

The 2011 Les Hospices Sancerre white wine from Sancerre, France was purchased from Costco for $14. It was a very nice floral white wine, aged in stainless and with crisp acidity for summer drinking. It went perfectly with our lemon chicken pasta that had capers, pine nuts and olive oil (88pts.)

I purchased another $15 bottle of summer white from Costco, the 2010 Olivier Leflaive Bourgogne Blanc – Les Setilles. This wine was 100% Chardonnay from the Burgundy region of France. Even though this wine was a low end village wine, Olivier Leflaive is one of the best producers of white Burgundy and it showed in this $15 bottle of wine. This wine had nice clean Chardonnay fruit, with good body and a hint of spices and acid coming through on the medium finish (89pts.).

Cellar Gems: 1982 Mouton Rothschild

On September 15, 2013October 22, 2013 By Bob WattIn FranceLeave a comment

I’m just catching up on some back posts now. A few months ago, we had a bottle of 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild from our cellar (Bordeaux – Pauillac, France). The bottle was uncorked at 9am and poured at 6pm. Great fill, into the neck. Very dark reddish black color, very slight lightening at the rim. Complex nose of dark fruit and some forest floor, but it was all very subtle. In the mouth, again subtle sweet dark fruit with a great balance of tannin and acid. It ended with a medium-long finish. Towards the end of the bottle (1.5 hours later), the nose was still subtle but more sweet fruit was coming through, with some forestry secondary characteristics and the smooth finish was getting longer. The wine seemed like it was still just trying to wake up from a long hibernation period and could have used more air time to show it’s stuff. Nice wine, but a little disappointing on the showing of this monumental legend of a wine. Next time, I will let it have more air time. (92pts.)

Cellar Gems are reviews of bottles aged in our cellar.

Dinner with Friends

On September 15, 2013February 4, 2014 By Bob WattIn Argentina, California, France, WashingtonLeave a comment

We had a very nice evening with two couples over a salmon dinner a few weeks back. It was a great time to share some nice wines and catch up from what had turned into a busy summer.

We started the evening with two refreshing summer wines, a 2012 Round Pond Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley and a 2012 Miraval Rose from Provence, France. The Sauvignon Blanc was a nice light and crisp wine with decent fruit (86pts.).

I was curious to try the Miraval Rose – I kept hearing about it, but admit to being a little skeptical. The wine is being produced from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s property in Provence and this was their first release. I wouldn’t generally think about buying a wine that some celebrity endorsed, but in this case the wine was made in partnership with the Perrin family, who are good long time producers in the southern Rhone region. The wine was nice and dry and had a good body of fruit and acid (88pts.)

Now on to the reds. Our friends Jeanne & Will brought a nice aged bottle of 2003 Woodward Canyon Merlot. The wine had some great mature fruit and was drinking very well, with a lot of secondary nuances(spices) coming through on the long smooth finish (94pts.). Woodward Canyon’s wines will age very well over a decade or even two for the cabs.

Next up from Brian and Laurie, was the first release of the 2010 Hand of God red wine from Mendoza, Argentina. This wine was a blend of 55% Malbec, 35% Syrah and 10% Petit Verdot. The winemaker is Santiago Achaval, who also produces the wines for the award winning Achaval Ferrer winery in Mendoza, Argentina. The 2010 Hand of God is a nice wine with good dark red fruit, good structure and a medium-long finish (92pts.).

Next, I pulled a bottle of 1996 Leonetti Cellar Reserve Seven Hills Cabernet, from Walla Walla, Washington. I have not had this particular wine in a long time, but I bought this wine on release and this was my last bottle of it. The wine was a very dark red color and surprisingly youthful. The fruit was really singing, but it also still had some decent structure and good acidity. The fruit with a little bit of spice and chocolate followed through to a nice long finish. Blind, I would have never guessed the wine was 17 years old, it tasted more like 5-7. This wine could have aged another decade or more without trying and possibly still improve. But what the heck? Why wait? It’s drinking beautifully now (95pts.).

Everyone was have such a great time catching up, so we needed one more bottle to taste. I pulled a bottle of 2001 Cadence – Tapteil Vineyard red wine from Red Mountain, Washington. The wine was a deep red color and drinking very well. The dark red/black fruit combined with subtle baking spices really came through on the medium-long smooth finish. This wine is still youthful with another 10 years ahead of it (93pts.)