Bordeaux Matchmaking

Sorry everyone, this is not a dating service centered around Bordeaux. Instead it is a series of events designed to match you to a Bordeaux that best suits your palate. They are hosting events in Boston, New York City, Chicago and Miami and the first one looked like a lot of fun.

So far, no events planned for DC, but I've e-mailed them to see if they are going to plan any.

Cru Bourgeois Label In Bordeaux

Sometimes I feel like a broken record. All of my really good Bordeaux news entries basically start with "Jane Anson has a really good article...", well, this is no different. Jane Anson has a really good article in Decanter about the newly ratified (or is it re-re-ratified) Cru Bourgeois designation in Bordeaux.

The Wine Doctor has a great summation of the history of this designation, including the 2007 nullification. The approach to the classification is slightly different this time:

But this time it is an assurance of quality, rather than an actual classification.

Chateaux have to apply every year for the right to use the term, and will be checked by Bureau Veritas, an independent organisation.

Wines with the new designation could hit the shelves with the new designation as early as 2010. I think this is an excellent opportunity for Chateaux out of the existing classification system to get recognized, I just hope it goes smoother than the 2003 attempt.

Review: 2004 Veramar Cabernet Franc

Wine: 2004 Veramar Cabernet Franc



Review: 2004 was a good year for for Virginia Cabernet Francs, and this one is no exception. The wine has aromas of blackberry, with hints of vanilla and oak. It also has the strong peppery taste associated with Virginia Cabernet Francs. The tannins have smoothed out nicely over the last five years and leave the wine smooth but with a long finish.

Price: $21

Grade: 95

Review: 2005 St. Francis Red

Wine: 2005 St. Francis Red



Review: The 2005 vintage of the St Francis Red is a blend of 58% Merlot, 25% Syrah, 9% Cabernet Franc, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Zinfandel. A big change from the 2002 vintage, but that is part of the fun of this wine.

The wine is very approachable, with flavors of red fruit, specifically cherries and just a hint of pepper, most likely from the Cabernet Franc. It is an excellent food wine with very light tannins and a medium palate.

Price: $12

Grade: 85

More on Wine Prices

Two really good articles on the price of wine in the last week.

The first article is from Decanter talks about a report from Silicon Valley Bank, claiming that US wineries should adjust their pricing expectations for fine wines. From the article:

'For that segment of Baby Boomers who have seen their net worth drastically reduced and who have been the prime target of wine marketing for nearly 20 years, a US $50 bottle of wine is now permanently out of the question for a normal purchase,' said Rob McMillan, report author and founder of the bank's Wine Division.
and this:
Only modest sales growth is expected in 2010, leading the bank to forecast a 'price reset' with more sub-$50 wines on the market.

People have (in my opinion, unfairly) complained about overpriced Bordeaux for years, now the same is happening to wine in Napa and Sonoma.

Obviously, this isn't going to affect premiere wineries in any region. But I do think it is time for a lot of wineries to look at their pricing structure, and adjust their expectations accordingly. At the same time, it is important for consumer to appreciate the work that goes into a fine wine. Grapes that are harvested by hand, manually sorted, cold fermented and barrel aged produces a more expensive wine and will always cost more. In my opinion it is worth the extra cost, but it may not be an every day wine for most people.

On a related topic, I think what drives the market for fine wines is an educated population. According to this article in the Huffington Post, US consumers are drinking more cheap wine. From the article:

The International Organization of Vine and Wine predicts that world wine consumption should rise by 4 percent to 246.3 million hectoliters (6.5 billion gallons) in 2009 from an estimated 244.9 hectoliters last year.

"People who want to keep drinking are buying cheaper wines," said Castellucci, noting that holiday season purchasing has not been tallied, and consumption could yet fall.

He said that the United States, second only to France in terms of wine consumption, has "continued to import but with a strong attention to prices."

It is interesting that two reports, showing essentially the same data, came to two different conclusions. In the first report McMillion is encouraging wineries to lower their prices. In the second, Castellucci is encouraging wine producers to hold firm. I don't think Castellucci's advice is realistic. If there is room to cut pricing wineries should do, in the short term.

But, I think the bigger point is that wine consumption in the US is on the rise, which will eventually increase demand for fine wines. There are a lot of $10 wines that I like and drink regularly, but as much as I like my St. Francis Red, it doesn't compare to a Chateau Marojallia or Breaux's Meritage. The more someone knows about wine the more they can appreciate a good wine, so if US consumers continue to drink more cheap wine, eventually they will want to move to the next levels.

Bar a Vin

While I was in Bordeaux I split my time between the left bank, right bank and the city itself. In the city I stayed at the Hotel des 4 Soeurs which is perfectly located in downtown Bordeaux. Almost everything I wanted to see was within walking distance from the hotel and the staff was very pleasant.

The best part of the hotel was that right across the street is Bar a Vin. Bar a Vin is sponsored by Le Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB) and is close to a perfect wine bar.

Bar a Vin is decorated in a very modern style, there is a lot of wine art and bottles everywhere. There is also a lot of light, making it feel warm and inviting. There are a few tables set outside, which is where I spent most of my time.

They have a good selection of wines from the different regions of Bordeaux (the list is updated regularly), and they tend to focus on Chateaux that you might not have heard of -- at least that I had not heard of ;). The sommeliers on staff are friendly and very knowledgeable about the wine.

My only complaint is that they do not offer wine by the bottle. I realize drinking by the bottle is antithetical to the purpose of Bar a Vin -- getting people to try a lot of different Bordeaux wines -- but , the wine bar is perfectly located for people watching, so it would have been nice to grab a bottle, sit outside and just enjoy.

Thanksgiving Wine

Last year there were 2600 articles about which wine to pair with Thanksgiving, this year there are 3063.

I like this article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer because it has the coolest picture.

Whatever you choose, I hope you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Chateau Giscours

Chateau Giscours has been around since the 1300s. Initially, it served as a dungeon. The earliest record of it containing a vineyard was in 1552, when it was sold to Pierre de l'Horme for 1000 pounds.

One of the neat things about the vineyard, shown below, is a display of the Chateau Giscours soil. The sign at the top of the display reads:
Texture du sol
Grand Poujeau
Coupe sur 20 meters
So, this is what the first 20 meters of the Chateau Giscours soil looks like: lots of gravel and then clay. No wonder Bordeaux vines are so hardy, they have to fight through all of that if they want to grow.



Chateau Giscours has 80 hectares under vine. 53% of the plantings are Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% are Merlot and the remaining 5% is split between Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It is also one of the few Chateaux in Bordeaux to be ISO 90002 certified. The grapes are all harvested by hand, and then manually de-stemmed.

The tasting room is inviting with a mixture of old world and modern styles. On my tour I was able to taste the Chateau Giscours as well as the second wine La Sirene de Giscours and, as a special treat, they had a bottle of Chateau Dutheil available.

New Release: 2007 Doukenie Petit Verdot

This past weekend was a big weekend for new releases in Loudoun County.

On Saturday, Doukenie Wintery released its Petit Verdot. The winemaker and vineyard manager, Sébastien Marquet, describes the wine as, "This wine is a 100%, 2007 Petit Verdot Estate coming from Doukénie's vineyard, and aged 23 months in French oak barrels (40%new)."

The wine had a deep garnet color with good aromas of black fruit and a hint of molasses. On the palate I tasted leather and vanilla and just a hint of cedar was starting to show through, give it some more time in the bottle and I think the cedar will become more prominent.

It is a well-structured wine with good aging potential. I want to thank Sebastien for inviting me out Friday night for the preview party, it was a lot of fun!

New Release: 2008 Corcoran Malbec

On Friday, Lori Corcoran released the 2008 Corcoran Malbec. I got invited to a private tasting between release parties to talk to Lori and try the wine.

The wine is 95% Malbec, 2% Tannat and 3% Cabernet Franc. The Tannat is an unusual choice in blending with Malbec but it adds a spiciness to this wine that sets it apart from most Malbecs. The wine has strong chocolate and vanilla aromas and a long palate. I think the flavors will intensify with aging, but it is a very drinkable wine now.

2009 Beaujolais Nouveau

The Beaujolais Nouveau celebration at the French Embassy is always a lot of fun. This year it was sponsored by the French American Chamber of Commerce of Washington DC and featured the wine of Georges Duboeuf.

My apologies for the poor pictures, the battery in my camera died so I had to use my cell phone. Tom Willcox has some great pictures of the event.

In addition to good wine, the night featured some great French cheeses, sausages, pates and fabulous desserts. The Maison Francaise was packed with people and everyone had a great time!

The Pleasure of Bordeaux

I like the magazine feel of The Pleasure of Bordeaux website, I do wish the magazine was available in the United States, but it is interesting to contrast the Bordeaux marketing campaign in the UK versus the US.

Gary Vaynerchuk Video from

This is the video I mentioned the other day. Its 25 minutes, but worth watching. I think he is wrong on some points, but they do merit discussion.

Wineries and Social Media Part I

Rebecca Gibb has an article in Decanter discussing a talk Gary Vaynerchuck gave last week at Winefuture basically saying winemakers should be more involved in social media. From the article:

Gary Vaynerchuk, the relentless host of of US Wine Library TV, told the Winefuture conference in Rioja that wine producers are 'lazy', leaving retailers to talk to their consumers rather than doing it themselves.

He also slammed producers for failing to take advantage of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to communicate with their consumers.

I have not seen the whole talk yet, just bits of it (I'll post the full talk as soon as it is available online). Clearly, Vaynerchuck is generalizing, a great number of wine producers have blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. But, I question the underlying assumption that all wine producers need to have a social media presence. Rather than lurching from new idea to new idea it makes much more sense for wine producers to understand their customers and have a comprehensive marketing strategy.

If your customer base is a demographic that uses Facebook and Twitter and it will drive sales, then, of course it is a good idea. On the other hand, if there is no benefit, then why do it? Does Opus One really need to Tweet to attract new customers (there is an OpusOne Twitter account, but it is not run by the Opus One Winery)?

What I think is glossed over in the rush to move to social media is that there is a real cost in using these services. Setting up a Twitter account doesn't cost anything. But the person who has to update that account, who has to respond to questions, who has to monitor the brand on Twitter costs money and money spent doing that takes away from other, potentially more lucrative, marketing venues.

If you don't incorporate social media into your marketing strategy and just start a Facebook page or create a Twitter account you run the risk of creating a social media ghost town: accounts that sit there unused or not updated are potentially worse than not having any presence at all.

If you want to find a list of wineries on Twitter this web page is a good place to start. It is not anywhere close to complete, but you'll see most of the wineries listed on the page follow other wineries and so on...so you can expand your list pretty quickly.

The thing is, neither Gary nor I own a winery. So, while we can pontificate as much as we want, it boils down to what do the winery owners think. For the second part of this post, I am going to ask for opinions from different winemakers. Assuming any of them respond I'll put the opinions into a coherent post and get the perspective from the real experts.

Hunters Run Wine Tasting Barn

The great people at the Hunters Run Wine Tasting Barn have set up their website. They even have a quote on the page from some random Virginia wine blogger....who will remain nameless :)

How well do you know Terroir?

I've talked about the concept of terroir before. Terroir is a French term that describes how environmental factors -- such as climate, soil and methods of farming -- influence grapes and create a unique, regional, signature for different grapes. This translates to the same grape often producing very different wines depending on the region.

Here is a fun little game. Below are pictures of three different vines and their surrounding soil. One is from Brane Cantenac in Bordeaux, one is from Kunde winery in Sonoma and one is from North Gate Vineyard in Loudoun County

Can you determine which one is which? Leave your answer in the comments section.

Review: 2006 Vampire Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine: 2006 Vampire Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon



Review: Vampire Vineyards wines used to come from Romania, unfortunately, that is no longer the case. The wines are now sourced from two regions: Paso Robles and Vin de Pays.

Obviously, this is primarily a gimmicky wine, but it is surprisingly good. It is a fruit forward wine, lots of berry, but not a lot of depth. It has very light tannins and does not linger on the palate. Treat this wine as a fun wine and you should enjoy it.

Price: $10

Grade: 80

The Tasting Room at Reston Town Center

I've written about the Boxwood Tasting Room in Middleburg. Now Boxwood has opened Tasting Rooms in Reston Town Center and in Chevy Chase.

I recently visited the one in Reston Town Center and had a great experience. The Tasting Room has a modern feel; it is sparsely decorated with lots of gray and black. I think this style works much better in Reston Town Center then it does in Middleburg. Middleburg tends to focus on the old and the cozy, so the Tasting Room there is slightly jarring in its contrast to the rest of the town.





The wine selection was great and they seem to have expanded from offering just the wines of Stephane Derenoncourt to offer a wide variety of Bordeaux wines. In fact, I was very excited to see that they are offering a Henri Lurton (owner of Brane Cantenac) wine!

They also offer light faire, such as olives and almonds and, of course, and excellent selection of cheeses.

Of Course Italy

I am familiar with wines from Virginia, Pennsylvania, California, and France and my posts generally reflect that interest. But, I love the opportunity to learn about different wine regions. That is why I was so excited when I got the link to Of Course Italy from Lamberto Livraghi.

The site is an amazing resource for trip planning, and just gaining general knowledge about the often confusing Italian wine regions. For example, take a look at the section on Tuscany. Not only does it offer information about hotels and tours, it has over 3000 words about the region.

If you are a novice to Italian wines and planning a trip, this is a great place to start.

Chateau d'Agassac

Most of the Chateaux I visited while I was in Bordeaux were ones that I was familiar with, but I also wanted to expand my horizons by trying new (left bank) Chateaux. Chateau d'Agassac was one of those.




Chateau d'Agassac is one of the oldest properties in Bordeaux, dating back to the 13th century. It is also one of the few Chateau I visited that actually looks like a castle. It even has a moat (sadly, the moat is not stocked with alligators or pirana). It wasn't until the 19th century that vines were planted on the property and wine was made.





Chateau d'Agassac has won several wine tourism awards and it is easy to see why. The tasting room, housed in an old pigeon tower, is impressive. Before becoming a wine property, the way the owners would make money was to let hundreds of pigeons nest inside the tower (you can see the holes that line the walls of the tower, those were pigeon nests). The pigeons would lay eggs, the owners would take the eggs and sell them.

They also take a very modern approach to marketing -- although, surprisingly, they do not have any social media presence that I could find -- and work to make Bordeaux wines more accessible,




While their marketing approach is modern, their winemaking style is traditional. Wines are harvested by hand, and aged in a combination of new barrels, one year old barrels, and above-ground steel tanks. The wines are are blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

Revisiting Casanel Vineyards

I went out to Casanel last year after they had just opened and had a great time. There was still a lot that Casey and Nelson wanted to do to the winery, so I thought it would be a good time for a follow up visit.

The tasting room is completely finished, including the downstairs area, and it looks really nice. Both the tasting room and the adjacent patio are warm and inviting. Nelson is still recovering from his surgery (we all wish you well) but his daughters took good care of us. The gazebo is almost finished and we were were able to sit under it and enjoy the feeling of being in the middle of the lake while we drank our wine.

As for the wines, they have added a Chardonnay (done in the Chablis style) to their line up, and, as I suspected the Cabernet Sauvignon has aged well. Its a surprisingly smooth wine, full bodied with lots of cherry and cedar.

The vines are also coming along nicely, with at least one section looking like it will be ready to yield good fruit next year.

Enjoy Bordeaux

One of the biggest misconceptions people in the united States have about wines from Bordeaux is that they are too expensive for every day drinking; or simply too expensive in general.

Certainly, there are expensive wines from Bordeaux, just as there are expensive wines from Napa, Sonoma and the rest of the world.

But, the fact is, most Bordeaux wines are are very approachable in terms of taste and price. the Conseil INterprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB) is trying to change this misconception with a new campaign called Life Goes Better with Bordeaux.

Partnering with Michael Quinn out of San Francisco the site is a good start. It allows visitors to find a Bordeaux at almost any price point, and tells them where the closest place to buy Bordeaux wines is. It also has Sommeliers on staff to answer questions.

But, it goes even further. It has listings of Bordeaux tastings around the country, many of them free. And really that is what is going to be the biggest selling point for Bordeaux wines: getting them out to people to taste.

They are doing their first live chat this Monday at 9:00 PM PST.

I wish them luck, this could be very good for Bordeaux and it is certainly good for people to drink more wine :)

Update: Thanks to Michael in the comments for this correction, "...the people behind the Bordeaux campaign are actually Arthur Ceria, Barbara Houdayer and the team at CreativeFeed. CreativeFeed is the CIVB's digital marketing agency in the United States."

Bordeaux Futures

Panos Kakaviatos has an article in Decanter about supposed American disillusionment with Bordeaux Futures:

Wine merchants will buy 2009 Bordeaux futures, but they say that previous vintages are unsold, the economy is uncertain, the exchange rate unfavourable – and they doubt Robert Parker can score it higher than 2008 anyway.

Michael Glasby of the American retailer Premier Cru in California predicts that 2009 Bordeaux wines will have to 'fight for their place more fiercely than all the previous "vintages of the century".'

I know I am not a typical wine consumer, but I like the futures system and usually try to take advantage of it. This is a great way to pick up deals on what will undoubtedly be good vintages. In particular, I think there are some really good deals amongst the 2008 futures.

Let me illustrate with one of my favorites, Chateau Brane Cantenac. The 2005 vintage is going for about $100 a bottle. The 2006 vintage, which has only recently started hitting stores in the United States goes for about $70 a bottle. This make sense as the 2006 vintage was not as good as the 2005.

I had the chance to do a barrel tasting of the 2008 vintage while I was in Bordeaux, and I agree with Parker that it is a very complex, classic Bordeaux. Right now, futures for the 2008 vintage are available for around $38. That is a great deal for a wine that will probably retail for double that.

Of course there is risk with futures, just as there is with any investment. You have to rely that the company you purchase your futures from to be around in 2011 when the wine is finally delivered and if you are investor, not a drinker, you have to hope that the wine does increase in value. But, Bordeaux futures have been a strong investment for many years, if you have the money, an investment in futures almost always pays off.

Biodynamic Wine on NBC

Our local NBC affiliate has a good piece on the biodynamic wine process, specifically Montemaggiore (which makes a great Syrah).

In Virginia, Chateau O'Brien produces all of their wines biodynamically, and they make some excellent red blends.

Update: Randy has a very good post on organic/biodynamic wines.

La Maison du Vin de Margaux

Before coming out to Bordeaux I did a lot of prep work. In addition to contacting the Chateaux I wanted to visit, I also needed to get maps, plan routes, figure out places to stay and sites to see. I relied on a lot of tourism books and online information, all of which I will talk about at a later date. But, once I got out to Margaux the most helpful resource was La Maison du Vin de Margaux -- the Margaux wine tourism center.

The women at the Maison du Vin de Margaux were extremely helpful and they had lots of great information about the local Chateaux (Margaux is composed of 5 regions: Arsac, Labard, Margaux, Cantenac, and Soussans). But the most useful thing I picked up was the great map shown below (full size image is here.)

The map is great because once you understand how Margaux is laid out it is actually pretty simple to navigate. You really only need to know D2 and D105 and they will get you to the vast majority of the Chateaux in the region.

Unfortunately, the Maison du Vin de Margaux does not have a web presence, so you cannot download a copy of the map prior to your trip (at least I don't think you can). But, I highly recommend stopping by and picking one up.

8th Estate Winery

Hong Kong is one of the fastest growing markets for high end wine. While I was in Bordeaux I heard quite a few stories about the recent influx of tourists from China and Hong Kong and some of the Chateaux are no offering their websites in French, English and Chinese.

So, it would make sense to open a winery in Hong Kong. The 8th Estate Winery is an urban winery, and the first one in Hong Kong. The grapes are sourced from Washington State and Italy, they are flash frozen and shipped to the winery where they are pressed, fermented and then barrel aged.

The winery has been open for a little less than a year, but they are just now releasing their first vintages, one of which is Bordeaux-style blend.

A World Without Robert Parker

Randy, at the Wine Whore Blog asks an interesting question: What would the world be like without Robert Parker?.

There are two ways to interpret this question, each interpretation has a different answer.

If the question is asking: what if Robert Parker retired today and no longer did wine reviews? Then I am not sure how much of an impact that would have. I think there would be a fracturing of wine criticisms, because it is doubtful that anyone would be able to fill the role he does.

Think of it like late night talk shows. When Johnny Carson was on the air, he was the undisputed king. When he retired and Jay Leno took over, there was a fracturing and now you have Jay, David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel. I think you would see the same thing in wine, each of the competitors to Robert Parker would step up, but none would truly replace him. Which would give wineries some freedom to make the wine the way they are now, because one of the many critics out there would like the wine...and they could still publish high scores.

A more interesting interpretation of the question is: What if Robert Parker had decided to become a cellist?

Robert Parker has had a huge impact on the wine industry not just in the United States, but around the world. To the point that wines with a high concentration of fruit and lots of alcohol are considered "Parkerized" -- because that is the style he likes. Would Oregon Pinot Noir enjoy the popularity it does right now without Robert Parker? More fundamentally, would Pinot Noir enjoy the popularity it has right now without Robert Parker? Would Bordeaux wines be as popular as they are in the United States without Robert Parker? Would every guy/gal with a strong opinion on wine and a website think they were qualified to be a critic?

Some argue that Robert Parker has fundamentally changed the wine industry. Had he decided to become a cellist, would someone have stepped in and been able to do the same thing?

I don't think so.