Chateau Tayac

As long time readers of this site know, I tend to prefer Bordeaux wines from the Margaux region. There is something about the elegance and finesse of the wines from the region that I love. Of course, there are twenty six other regions within Bordeaux, all of whom produce excellent wines.

Chateau Tayac is part of the Cotes de Bourg appellation. Cotes de Bourg saw its first vine plantings back in the 2nd century, making one of the oldest winemaking regions in Bordeaux. Located on the right bank, about 20 km north of Bordeaux Cotes de Bourg is known for producing high quality, yet inexpensive Bordeaux wines.

Chateau Tayac dates back to the 14th century when the town of Bourg was annexed by Eouard Woodstock and the land divided amongst the noblemen.




Chateau Tayac has a total of 33 hectares, with 30 of those under vine. From those 30 hectares they produce around 200,000 a year. The vineyard is comprised of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, 25% Merlot and 25% Merlot a queue rouqe (which translates roughly to red tail Merlot).

Corkage Fees to be Legal in Maryland?

I had no idea that corkage fees were illegal in Maryland (for those that don't know, a corkage fee is when a restaurant allows you to bring your own wine and they charge you a fee to open and serve it -- the wine should be a special bottle and definitely not one on their wine list).

Marylander's for Better Beer and Wine Laws is behind the effort, which is being lead by Bryan Voltaggio the chef at Volt in Frederick (which has an impressive wine list and excellent food). From the article:

Some wine advocates hope to make Frederick County the first in Maryland to allow restaurant patrons to bring their own bottles.

Adam Borden of Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws said Tuesday the group has drafted a bill that would allow restaurants in Frederick County to implement a so-called "corkage" policy.

I'll see if I can get more details about the bill from Adam Borden and pass them on to you all.

New Years Jazz Brunch at Notaviva

Notaviva is hosting a Jazz Brunch on New Years. Brunch runs from 11:00AM until 2:00PM and consists of:

Waffles - Swedish pancakes (Grandma Skemp's recipe - mmmmmm...) - Quiches - Breakfast meats - Smoked salmon - Pastries - Fruit - Juice - Coffee Does not include wine, however our new brunch drink will have available - the Notaviva "VIVOSA"!!!

Not sure what a VIVOSA is, but I am sure it will good, or at the very least, interesting :). The cost is only $20, and Stephen and Shannon are always a lot of fun!

Diageo Exits U.S. Bordeaux Market, Joanne Enters

This story is a couple of weeks old, but I wanted to do some research before I posted it (unfortunately, that research has gone nowhere fast). I've mentioned a couple of times that there is a lot of (in my opinion misplaced) pessimism about the Bordeaux 2009 vintage in the U.S. market. No one -- at least no one I have read -- doubts the quality of the vintage, there is simply a lot of concern that it is going to be too expensive and with a lot of Bordeaux inventories still sitting on the shelf large buyers don't see a need invest in 2009.

The latest sign of this is the news that Diego is abandoning the Bordeaux futures market for the second year in a row:

Diageo is exiting the market for first-growth Bordeaux wines in the US due to falling prices and lower market demand.

Diageo's fine wine arm in the US, Chateau & Estate Wines, did not participate in this year's sale of Bordeaux wines from the 2008 vintage and currently has no plans to return to the market, the company has confirmed to just-drinks.

The group is selling off existing stocks of Bordeaux in the US, where market conditions for so-called wine futures have deteriorated.

The company is getting out and dumping as much of their Bordeaux inventory as possible.

Five days later, Eric Asimov reported that Joanne Bordeaux created a U.S. subsidiary:

A leading French Bordeaux negociant is moving to step into a vacuum at the top of the Bordeaux market in the United States. The negociant, Joanne Bordeaux, has formed an American subsidiary, Joanne Bordeaux-USA, that it hopes will fill the role left vacant by the withdrawal of Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, the leading American Bordeaux importer and distributor, from the Bordeaux marketplace.

I have not been able to get in touch with anyone at Joanne Bordeaux-USA to get information about their plans, but as soon as I do I will share with you all.

More on The Winemakers

For those of you who are local, the season finale is airing on WETA tomorrow at 8:00AM and 2:00PM. Julie Nadezna, from Doc City Productions, also let me know there will be a marathon on January 30th.

Le Nez Du Vin

As a wine taster you learn a lot about the sense of smell. In fact, one of the first things you are taught in any introductory wine course is that the sense of smell is the one most closely tied to memory.

Smell is a chemical sense, aromas are simply a chemical reaction that creates a vapor, which is then detected through the mucous membranes in your nose and that information is translated by the brain. The human being is capable of recognizing over 10,000 different smells. Now, I realize this an over-simplification of the sense of smell, but the link above goes into a lot more detail.

Jean Lenoir has made a career out of isolating the various scents in wine and bottling them so people can better appreciate the aromas in their wine.




A friend of mine got me the red wine kit for Christmas, and I have spent a lot of time playing with it. Its weird, it is almost like learning a new language. Isolating the smell of pepper, vanilla, smoke, or truffle is much more difficult than it seems, but training my nose I think will help with my wine tasting. I've read that some of the best wine tasters can reliably isolate 4 aromas in a wine (which means when you see reviews that list 7-8 different scents they may be full of crap ;)). I can usually differentiate one or two, hopefully, I can improve this.

The Winemakers

How did I not know about this television show? The Winemakers is a reality show on PBS where contestants compete for the opportunity to make their own wine.

I know several producers have attempted to get a show like this off the ground, glad to see someone finally did it! Sadly, it is not being broadcast in my area, so I can't comment on how good or bad it is. However, it did get picked up for a second season (sorry, it is too late to submit your application). It looks entertaining from the few clips they have online.

I will look for episodes online and post them here -- if they are any good :)

A Christmas Miracle

Jean-Luc Thunevin is another one of my favorite Bordeaux winemakers. Famous for being a garage winemaker. His properties have, sadly, been deprived of a garage, until now (English version.

That's right, he recently acquired land from his neighbor in Saint Emilion that includes an actual garage! Just in time for Christmas :).

On that note, I wish all of you a great Christmas (except for the comment spammers ;)). Blogging will resume next week.

Loudoun Valley Vineyards Soup Days

I love wineries that host unique events to attract customers, especially when those events encourage people to savour their wine and spend time together. Loudoun Valley has accomplished this for several years with their Soup Days, which run from November through the end of March.




For a very reasonable price you get a glass of wine and whatever their soup of the day is. Alternatively, you can trade in the glass of wine and split a bottle. It makes for a very nice afternoon, especially this time of the year when everyone is running around. Its great to take a break for a couple of hours.

The soups are always very good, and the tasting room staff can always recommend wines to pair with them.

Dr Vino's Wine Person of the Decade

Dr Vino is running a poll where you can vote for wine person of the decade. The list includes such wine notables as: John Casella, Fred Franzia, Paul Giamatti, Robert Parker, and Gary Vaynerchuk. Oddly, it does not include Randy.

Chateau Marojallia

The only big disappointment I had during my trip to Bordeaux was not being able to visit Chateau Marojallia. My schedule just did not match up with any availability on their part. I did get some pictures of the Chateau.



I have repeatedly heard Chateau Marojallia referred to as a "garage wine" so I was expecting a small, unassuming building in the middle of town. As you can see from the pictures, the French have a very different idea of what a garage is than I do :). All joking aside, it is a surreal experience to see row after row of meticulously tended vines in the middle of town.

The vineyard is small at only 4 hectares, with the average age of the vines at 32 years, and Chateau Marojallia only produces 500 cases a year. The vineyard is made up of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot.




Chateau Marojallia is the name Ausonius, a Roman philosopher, gave to what is now called Margaux.

The property is beautiful, hopefully when I return to Bordeaux I will be able to make time to visit the Chateau.

Boxwood on Facebook

Most Loudoun County wineries have a presence on Facebook, Twiiter or both. Some are managed/updated better than others, but it is good to see that most of them at least make an effort. Two wineries that are noticeably absent are Swedenburg and Boxwood.

Well, it looks like that has changed. The Boxwood Tasting Room has started their own page on Facebook.

Review: 2005 Breaux Nebbiolo

Wine: 2005 Breaux Nebbiolo



Review: In honor of the Breaux Sneaux Sale I thought I would offer my review of the 2005 Nebbiolo. I've reviewed the the 2001 Nebbiolo and found it to be excellent. The 2005 is heading along that path as well. Nebbiolo is a wine that needs to age to bring out its full potential.

In that regard the 2005 is still a little young, but progressing nicely. It has more fruit on the nose than the 2001 does, specifically raspberries and even some chocolate. This vintage is blended with a little bit of Barbera, which I think makes it different than the 2001 and 2002 vintages.

This is a wine that is very drinkable now, but if its older cousins are any example will be even better if you lay it down for 2-3 more years.

Note: If you take advantage of the Sneaux Sale at Breaux you can pick up the 2001 Nebbiolo for $60, the 2002 for $44 and the 2005 for only $30 (all three are excellent values and only being offered today).

Price: $48

Grade: 95

Dear Online Wine Merchants

Dear Online Wine Merchants,

Sometimes you come to a point in a relationship where you realize you have drifted apart. When you reach this point you can either try to repair the relationship, or end it.

Unfortunately, I have decided to end it, or at least severely restrict it. Beginning January 1st I am letting you go.

I'd like to tell you that its not you, its me. But, the truth is, it is all you. This is going to be hard for you to hear, but I think you need to be made aware of your shortcomings, so you can improve future relationships:

Number one: If you are going to sell wine online, keep your online inventory current. I don't like buying wine only to be told it is out of stock...especially being told this several days later.

Speaking of that, as a group, you all are lousy at communication. Many times I have ordered something and not known when I can expect it to arrive. If you have a weather policy tell me upfront, if a vintage is out of stock let me know right away, and if the store is closed for a few days an automated email would be nice.

While we are on the topic of email, STOP sending me so much of the stuff. It makes you seem needy. Once you have sent me your specials assume I have read them, I do not need twice daily follow up (I'm looking at you wine.com). Also, when you do send me your specials at least make an attempt to cater to my shopping habits, I don't care how many people scored a Chardonnay 100 points, I am not going to buy it.

Finally, if you offer next day shipping, and I order something and request next day shipping it is okay to assume I want it NOW! If you take 3,4 or even 5 days to process my order, then it is not really "next day" is it? If it does take you a few days to process an order you should let me know that before I hit submit.

I hope this advice helps you in future relationships. Maybe in a couple years we'll run into each other on a street somehwere, grab a cup of coffee and talk about the good times.

For now, I must bid you a fond farewell...

Love Always,

allan

Update on 2009 Bordeaux

There has been a lot of talk about how well the 2009 Bordeaux vintage is coming along. With the Primeurs just over three months away, I imagine there will be even more talk. Stephane Derenoncourt recently conducted an interview on the topic. Among other things he had this to say:

It’s undoubtedly a great vintage. Now that the fermentations have finished, we can observe very promising balances in the wines. They combine power with fresh fruit aroma, though without much exoticism. It’s always tricky to decide which vintage it resembles most, but the closest to me would be the 1989.

The interview is a quick read, and worth it.

Jane Anson also has some into this vintage. She and Derenoncourt both remind readers that 19.000 hectares of vines were lost to hail in May, which will mean less production than in previous years.

Anson also goes on to speculate about pricing for this vintage, especially if continues to develop as well as it has. Many argue that producers in Bordeaux were slow to drop their prices as the global economy collapsed, but 2007 to some extent, and most definitely 2008 have seen pricing more in line with the economy. The question becomes will producers continue to reduce their pricing, even if the vintage continues to surpass expectations?

I will keep you all posted on additional 2009 Bordeaux reports as I come across them.

Pictures from the D2

I made you all not only read, but read in four languages in my last post, so I thought I would share some pictures from along the D2 in Bordeaux. The D2 is the highway that runs through the Medoc. Most of the Chateaux on the left bank have signs along it guiding visitors. It is an absolutely beautiful drive, and I highly recommend it..

These shots are of nothing in particular, just pictures that I took between Chateau visits.

The Winemakers' Essential Phrasebook

I know I promised you pictures. but I just got The Winemakers' Essential Phrasebook and had to share.

This is the type of gift you can get for the wine person who has everything. It contains thousands of common winemaking/tasting phrases all translated into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese!

So, if you were visiting a Chateau in France and wanted to say "We need to harvest these grapes ASAP!" you just look up the phrase in the book and can say, "Il faut vendanger cette parcelle le plus vite possible!"

Similarly, if you are touring around Spain and want to say, "Oak chips will be added to the must then pressed out" (although, why you would ever say that is beyond me" simply refer to the alternate oak section of the book and the phrase is, "Se anadiran chips de roble al mosto y se prensarian despues"

And, one that I know Randy would like: If you are in Italy, and you want to trick your friends into pontificating on cheap wine you can tell them, "Cerchi di identificare il vino quando l'assaggia 'alla ciecca'" (Try and identify the wine when you taste it "blind").

The book is laid out roughly from vine to tasting, so you know where to look for a phrase and it is very thorough.

Fabbioli Open House

Fabbioli Cellars held an open house on the 6th of December where they presented Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

The tasting room was nicely decorated for the holidays, as was the sun deck, where Doug did the tasting.



Doug is one of my favorite winemakers. He is absolutely passionate about the process, and not afraid to experiment. This shows in his wines, which are uniformly excellent and often unique.

The open house tasting included the 2005 Tre Sorelle (his Bordeaux style blend), 2006 Chambourcin and 2006 Cabernet Franc. The Ghosts of Christmas Present were the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2008 Cabernet Franc Reserve. The Ghost of Christmas future was a barrel tasting of the Tannat.

There were two particular standouts of the tasting. The first was the 2005 Tre Sorelle. I reviewed this wine in 2008; it was great then and it has gotten even better with the additional year of aging. This is one of the tragedies of a small winery, like Fabbioli, it is very hard for Doug to let wine sit in a bottle for 2-3 years before releasing it because there are bills to pay. So, while the wine was good when it was first released it hadn't reached its full potential. I purchased a few bottles to lay down until next year, when it should be fully mature.

The other standout was the barrel tasting of the Tannat. You can see the color of this wine in picture below, it is a deep, rich purple color to it. It also had strong tannins. This is a grape winemakers in Virginia flirt with, it grows well here, but can be finicky, especially trying to release it as a stand alone wine. I think Doug has gotten this vintage right and the wine could be released as a standalone, or perhaps blended with just a bit of Merlot.

Either way, I am anxious to see what he does.

Chateau Kirwan

I realized that the last four posts have been all text, which means you all have had to actually read and not just look at the pretty pictures. I promise to make it up to you with the next few postings :).

Chateau Kirwan has been in existence as a wine producer since the early 1700s when the property was purchased by Sir John Collingwood. Collingwood's daughter married Mark Kirwan (another Irishman) who improved upon his father-in-law's winemaking and affixed his name to the Chateau. His hard work paid off and in 1855 Chateau Kirwan was awarded a classification of third growth.




The Chateau has 93 hectares under vine, with an average age of 27 years. They generally re-plant after 50 years. The breakdown of grapes is 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Petite Verdot.

Harvesting is done by hand and the grapes are manually sorted on the conveyor belt (the second image) before being moved into steel vats for fermentation. Aging is done is oak, 1/3 of which are swapped out every year. They use real egg whites for fining.




They produce about 14,000 cases a year of their first wine and about 4,000 cases of their second wine Le Charmes de Kirwan.

The Chateau suffered from quality issues in the 1980s, but since the early 90s it has been producing good quality wines that have won critical acclaim.

The tasting room has a California-style feel to it with a long tasting bar and their wines prominently on display.

2008 Brane-Cantenac Futures

I think Gary Vaynerchuck is way off in his opinion of Bordeaux 2008 futures. I'll go into more detail in a later post, but 2008 looks to have a lot of bargains and, if you have patience, it might be a good year to collect.

I've mentioned before I had the opportunity to barrel taste the 2008 vintage and I thought it was fantastic, even at the young age I tried it. So, as a Christmas gift to myself I purchased a case of 2008 Brane-Cantenac, which is more than I have ever purchased before from the futures market, but at $37.99 a bottle I couldn't pass up the deal.

I want to commend the staff at J.J. Buckley for making the process incredibly easy. I've never ordered from them before, but I have been following Paige on Twitter, so when I was ready she passed me off to Chris who conducted the whole transaction in a matter of minutes.

And, the great thing about buying a case is that they are able to promise me the original wooden container in which the wine will ship!

Now, all I have to do is wait until 2011 to get my wine, and then wait until 2013 or so to drink it :). Good think I have lots of past vintages to help me bide the time. I've also been looking around at potentially picking up some some other deals as well, the problem is I will very quickly run out of space.

Hmmm...the nice people at Vintage Keeper have asked me before if I would be interested in accepting advertising from them, maybe I can trade them an ad for a VP 250 :).

What'll You Have?

I am reading a great book called What'll You Have? originally written by Julien J Proskauer. What'll You Have? is a bartender's guide written in 1933, just after Prohibition was repealed.

In addition to long forgotten drinks like the Sidecar, the Hong kong Punch and, my personal favorite, the Scandal Maker (two parts Whisky, two parts Gin and 2 parts Bacardi) the book also has an extensive section on wine.

It is interesting to see what has changed and what has remained the same over the last 80 years. For instance the "modern" wines listed by the author are: Port, Sherry, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Madeira, Rhine, Moselle, Tokay, and Marsala. Clearly, some of those wine types have fallen out of fashion. He also lists the average alcohol content for "light wines" (basically, anything not Port or Sherry) as about 7%.

On the other hand, when he lists some of the "varieties" (his term) of Bordeaux he includes, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Palmer Margaux, Chateau Haut Brion, Chateau Brune Cantenac (not sure if that is a misspelling or there has been a name change), Chateau Pontent-Canet, and Chateau Lafite.

He also correctly predicts that wine will become one of the leading industries of California. Virginia gets a mention as well for its production of the Virginia Seedling and Scuppernong (a type of Muscadine) grapes.

Its a fascinating book for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of alcohol in the United States.

Redesigned Brane-Cantenac Website

My friends at Chateau Brane-Cantenac have updated their website. While, I liked the previous design, this one is much cleaner and easier to follow. Two things of note, they have made it easier to get to their blog (which has some nice pictures from the recent Paris tasting) and the more prominent use of the "Just Brane" slogan.

More on Crus Bourgeois Reconnaissance

Back in November, I wrote about the "Crus Bourgeois" Reconnaissance. I contaced l'Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Medoc with some questions about the new label and Frederique de Lamothethe, Director of l'Alliance des Crus Bourgeois, was kind enough to answer them.

First some background about "Crus Bourgeois" Reconnaissance. While it has been in the works for a while, the legislative part started in July of this year with Resolution No. 607/2009 which confirmed European protection of the term Crus Bourgeois.

Then, on October 20th, Decree No. 2009-1265 gave l'Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Medoc the authority to designate chateaux from the eight different appellations of the Medoc as "Crus Bourgeois" as long as a Schedule of Requirements is created and an independent system of verification is set up. For reference, the eight Medoc appellations are: Haut-Medoc, Listrac-Medoc, Margaux, Medoc, Moulis-en-Medoc, Pauillac, Saint-Estephe, and Saint-Julien.

On November 12th a special assembly of l'Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Medoc ratifies the final changes of the Schedule of Requirements as well as the Verification Plan for "Crus Bourgeois" Reconnaissance.

On November 16th a decree by the Ministers of Agriculture and Consumer protection ratifies the plan submitted by l'Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Medoc.

So, what will the label "Crus Bourgeois" Reconnaissance actually mean? Chateaux that choose to participate will be subject to yearly examinations of their property and their wine. The wine itself will be judged two years after the harvest (the 2008 vintage will be examined in 2010). In addition to the property audit the wine quality will be judged via blind tasting, each vintage will be judged independently rather than over a series of vintages. The audits and inspections will be carried out by Bureau Veritas.

In other words, when the label "Crus Bourgeois" Reconnaissance is attached to a wine, it is a guarantee to the consumer that a certain level of quality has gone into the wine.

According to Lamothethe, the 2008 vintage will be the first to receive the "Crus Bourgeois" Reconnaissance, so we should start seeing them as early as March 2011.

Unlike previous iterations of the "Crus Bourgeois" label, there are no distinctions in quality, and there are no limits on the number of Chateaux that can receive the label, again, from Lamothethe, "We have no numerus clausus: so every candidate could get the 'Cru Bourgeois' Reconnaissance when he is in conformity with the criteria detailed in the schedule of requirements."

I also asked about whether or not the new inspection requirements could potentially cause producers to raise their prices. Lamothethe does not seem to think so, he did think it would help some lesser known producers, "...we can say that the price might increase for châteaux which are not so well know. It will help them to negociate their selling price since they have a recognition of quality through the 'Crus Bourgeois' Reconnaissance."

L'Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Medoc will release a list every year, on September 15th, of the properties eligible for the "Crus Bourgeois" Reconnaissance label. I will be sure to publish it here, but I am sure there will be plenty of places to track it down.

I do want to say Merci to Frederique de Lamothethe for taking the time from his busy schedule to answer my questions and to pass on the press kit to me, his information was greatly appreciated.

Update: Le Journal du Vin has a great summation (in French) of the new process.

Recork Charlottesville

Recork Charlottesville is a great idea started by Carpet Plus in Charlottesville. They have set up recycle centers around the city where people can drop off corks to be recycled.

Cork is a completely natural and renewable resource so it is nice to see a company being proactive in collecting and recycling corks. Kudos!

Chateau Lynch-Bages Wine Enthusiast Top 100

Congratulations to my friends at Chateau Lynch-Bages for making the Wine Enthusiast list of Top 100 Wines of 2009. This is what the reviewer had to say about the 2006 vintage:

Year after year, Lynch-Bages is able to produce sumptuous wines, typically rich, powerful and structured. This is solid, the blackberry ripe fruit enveloping this structure with a velvet sheen. This is developing into one of the successes of the vintage.

Now, I don't want to start any conspiracy theories, but I do find it interesting that last week I discuss my trip there and this week they appear in the Top 100 list :). All kidding aside, I tried the 2006 vintage while I was in Bordeaux and it is well-deserved.

Breaux Open House

Breaux had their open house this past weekend and i got to go out and sample some of their reserve wines. The winery was beautifully decorated for the season, including a fresh blanket of snow.

Bruce conducted the tasting in tank room. Breaux was showing off their Free Run Merlot, 2002 Cellar Club Meritage, 2006 Barrel Select Nebbiolo, a barrel sampling of the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and the newly released 2006 Meritage.

I've had barrel tastings of the 2006 Meritage over the last year and been very impressed. The wine is a blend of 38% Merlot, 24% Petit Verdot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Malbec and 6% Cabernet Franc. The Petit Verdot adds a lot of great color to this wine. It is a full-bodied wine with lots of tannins and a long finish.

I'll post a more detailed review later.