Although it doesn’t feel like summer I have just checked my calendar and it is indeed July. In recent weeks the weather outside seems to have lurched from rain to a thick, grey, swirling fog, before swinging back to rain again, so it made sense to double-check just in case I had accidentally slept through summer and woken up in winter.

But no, it’s definitely July, and that means it is time to take my summer break. For three weeks I will sleep in a little later in the morning, as I take a temporary hiatus from updating Winedoctor and jet off to a sunnier clime. Well, it should be sunnier; to be fair it would surely be difficult to find anywhere with worse weather than we have had in the UK this summer. This really has to be the most miserable, dampy and foggy June and July that I can ever recall.

I’m off to Bordeaux in a few hours. Well, I try not to stray too far from the vine if I can help it. I’m really looking forward to it; the break will be very welcome, and the family time valuable. But so close to the vineyards of Bordeaux it’s only natural that I might want to do a little exploring and investigating, and so there are one or two appointments in the mix of holiday activities currently planned.

My appointments are a mix of familiar friends and new faces; the former domaines I know well, the latter estates with which I’m less familiar. I will be kicking off in a couple of days with Jacques Guinaudeau of Château Lafleur (pictured above), definitely a new face. Although I have met Jacques before, and visited Lafleur before, my time there was short, and I’m hoping to acquire a richer knowledge of the domaine on this visit. I’m also off to Tertre-Roteboeuf to meet François Mitjavile, another estate I am not particularly familiar with, and although I’m well acquainted with the wines of Château Teyssier, I am not so experienced with the rest of the Jonathan Maltus portfolio (Le Dôme, Les Asteries, etc.), so I’m looking forward to meeting Jonathan.

My other visits are to estates with which I am more familiar, and some I have visited before. These include in Sauternes Yquem, Coutet and Clos Haut-Peyraguey (and I have some free time there, so other suggestions are welcome), and in Pessac-Léognan I’m off to Château Brown (hopefully for a retaste of the 2010 Château Brown Blanc, which seems to have cleaned up in the UK-based wine competitions this year with a white Bordeaux trophy in the Decanter World Wine Awards and the International Wine Challenge). And between France’s two great rivers lies Château Bauduc, run by Gavin Quinney, who I will also be visiting.

I’ve avoided the Médoc because the location of my accommodation is best suited for the right bank appellations and Graves & Sauternes. And I suspect I will be returning to the Médoc before the year is out anyway. So far I haven’t made any appointments during the third week, but I’m sure that will change. And if you think the timetable looks light, don’t forget this is meant to be a holiday as well! Tasting and visiting every day just isn’t an option. An evening at Au Bonheur du Palais, the restaurant I mentioned in yesterday’s Cheval Blanc & Brown report, is an option though. If only I could remember the time and date of my reservation……

Depending on internet access I may pop up here on the Winedr blog from time to time, or on Twitter, otherwise until Winedoctor updates resume on August 6th it is au revoir from me.

Filed under: Bordeaux
Posted by Chris Kissack on July 14, 2012 at 5:44 am
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Château Le Thil (more formally known as Le Thil Comte Clary) is not the best known of châteaux in Pessac-Léognan, but it does have a following among Bordeaux acolytes keen to seek out good quality wines that also offer good value. Sadly, due to an inability to deal with the inheritance of the estate (not uncommon under French law, the crippling inheritance tax the usual key to any failure in passing the estate on from one generation to the next) the de Laitre family have now been forced to sell. And what is worse, the estate is being carved up, with two near neighbours each taking a share.

The lion’s share goes to Daniel and Florence Cathiard, who have done so much to reinvigorate Smith-Haut-Lafitte (pictured below), both in terms of its wines – now picking up maximum scores from the Big Boy in Baltimore – and also the estate as a whole. There have been renovations aplenty, as well as the creation of restaurants, hotel and a spa at Les Sources de Caudalie, run by one of the Cathiards’ daughters. They take 11.6 hectares of the vineyard, the château and parkland. By all accounts the Cathiards have been after the estate for several years; this suggests they have something specific in mind for the estate. The Le Thil vineyards were once part of Smith-Haut-Lafitte, when it was owned by Lodi Duffour Dubergier, onetime mayor of Bordeaux; it was, notably, Duffour Dubergier who signed off the 1855 classification. This suggests to me the vineyards will be absorbed into Smith-Haut-Lafitte; although there is a historical precedence, this seems a shame. If this comes to pass, a once good-value estate will now generate increased volumes of increasingly expensive Smith-Haut-Lafitte instead.

The remaining 5.6 hectares goes to Patrice Pichet, proprietor of Les Carmes Haut-Brion. Pichet only bought Les Carmes in 2011 (which reminds me, I have yet to update my profile to reflect that). He takes 5.6 hectares to augment his vineyard. This is at least a slightly reassuring message; when he acquired the château last year, some expressed concerns that Pichet – a property developer by day – had no intention to continue with viticulture on the estate, and instead develop the property for housing or something similar. This is of course always a concern with those Pessac estates that sit right on the edge of Bordeaux, or indeed are already swallowed up by the suburbs. One year on, with Pichet buying more vines, the concerns raised seem less of an issue today.

I will update my profiles of Smith-Haut-Lafitte and Les Carmes Haut-Brion as soon as possible.

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Posted by Chris Kissack on July 8, 2012 at 8:28 pm
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This week I learnt of the death of the proprietor of Château Olivier, Jean-Jacques de Bethmann, reported first by – as is often the case with news out of Bordeaux – Sud-Ouest.

Château Olivier has been in the hands of the de Bethmann family since it was acquired by Alexandre de Bethmann in the late-19th century. The de Bethmann family are descended from German nobility, and grew into a successful banking dynasty, and so probably didn’t have any great shortage of funds; the acquisition of an attractive and ancient property such as Olivier was probably not much of a fiscal challenge, especially if we consider the family also owned Gruaud-Larose at one point, and their bank made a significant contribution towards the financing of the construction of the Eiffel Tower. Today the bank they created lives on as the Bethmann Bank.

From Alexandre Château Olivier was passed down through the generations, eventually coming to Jean-Jacques. Despite being an absentee landlord, entrusting the winemaking to director Laurent Lebrun (who I have met many times at tastings in London and Bordeaux), Jean-Jacques was a huge figure in Bordeaux. The region has not just lost a respected proprietor; he was also président of the Union des Crus Classés de Graves (the local union, which is distinct from the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux) and was a member of the Technical Commission of the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux.

In recent months the estate has been run by his son Alexandre de Bethmann, along with Laurent Lebrun of course, and this will continue in the future. I am hopeful that the handover of control will perhaps see the full potential of Château Olivier realised. There is no denying de Bethmann’s fine work in and for Bordeaux, but the wines of the cru classé Olivier are – despite some breathless reports describing the estate as “the most important property in Léognan” – clearly outshone by those of Olivier’s nextdoor neighbour, the unclassified Château Brown.

I will update my profile of Château Olivier as soon as I have the opportunity.

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Posted by Chris Kissack on July 7, 2012 at 6:31 pm
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Rumours about the sale of Calon-Ségur have been circulating for months now; it has always been a possibility, mooted on and off, following the death of Denise Capbern-Gasqueton in September 2011. But in the past couple of weeks, prompted by a short article reportedly printed in La Revue des Vins de France, the intensity and frequency of the rumours increased, to the point at which confirmation – which came today though Sud Ouest – seemed inevitable.

The new owner is yet another insurance company, Suravenir Assurances. The company, which was only created in 1996, is an affiliate of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, a major French bank based in Strasbourg but operating throughout France and abroad. Suravenir Assurances is a small component of this financial group but is clearly in a strong position. Speaking on behalf of Arkéa, Jean-Pierre Denis – who served in Chirac’s cabinet – has already indicated that the acquisition is part of a diversification of assets and that there is strong potential for investment, upgrading and, in words unspoken, there is no doubt a plan for firmer prices and increased revenue generation as well. Purchases of Bordeaux châteaux at this level have long ceased to be foibles I think; the return per bottle for wines that sell at the price of the first growths, as well as notable seconds and thirds (and one or two fifth growths too, before the Pontet Canet fans complain) is absolutely phenomenal.

The last major land transaction in St Estèphe that springs to mind was the sale of 22 hectares by Phélan-Ségur to Montrose, a deal agreed in 2010. There the land changed hands at a price of €900,000 per hectare; at the time this was the most paid per hectare for any St Estèphe transaction, although such figures are much closer to the norm in Pauillac or St Julien. Suffice to say that the sale of Calon-Ségur wipes the floor with such measly sums. The deal, which purportedly has been brokered with the help of Jean-François Moueix (as he did with the sale of Montrose by the Charmolüe to the Bouygues brothers) will be signed off at a price somewhere between €170 and €200 million.

This transaction is slightly different, as this is not just land but a château, winemaking facilities, stocks of wine in barrel and of course whatever bottled stocks are currently held, and we should not forget it also includes Château Capbern-Gasqueton as well. Even so, the price as it stands, wherever it falls in the possible range, is getting on for €2 million per hectare. Even if you were to say half the money to change hands is for the château, stocks and Château Capbern-Gasqueton, this is still the most expensive transaction in St Estèphe, in terms of price per hectare, by some considerable margin. Hélène Capbern Gasqueton and her husband, Alain de Baritault, are reported by Sud Ouest to be “heartboken” at having to make the sale. I’m sure the €200 million will go some way to easing their pain!

Now that rumours appear to be fact, I will update my Calon-Ségur profile as soon as possible. Although I have some other reports of sales and acquisitions in Bordeaux to work on yet. It seems to be transfer season at the moment!

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Posted by Chris Kissack on July 3, 2012 at 12:59 pm
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A month or two ago, during the primeurs, I noticed something very curious regarding one of the ‘bundling’ deals which, in case you are unfamiliar with the term, is where the sale of one popular wine is tied in with the sale of another less popular wine. The first example to spring to mind is the Rieussec-Lafite relationship, whereby the sales of Rieussec (a high-quality Sauternes, but still a difficult sell in today’s sugar-averse market) are tied to sales of Lafite and Carruades. If you’re a merchant looking for some of the latter wines, which should turn a handsome profit, you have to take some of the Sauternes as well. Bordeaux négociants deny the tie-in is that strong, but the British merchants I have spoken to about it are pretty adamant the system exists as described.

During the Bordeaux 2011 primeur campaign Nick Stephens wrote of the Lafite bundles “to receive any sort of allocation of Lafite UK Merchants are being asked to commit to buying Rieussec, L’Evangile and Dassault“, Initially I suggested to Nick on Twitter that he meant Duhart-Milon (another Rothschild property) rather than Dassault, which is owned by the Dassault family, who made their considerable wealth in aviation engineering. But as it turned out nick was correct, and I was wrong; there seemed to be an unexplained relationship between the Dassaults and the Rothschilds, although no-one quite knew why or how.

Suddenly, all has become clear. It’s all down to a business deal of course, in this case relating to something I wrote in my recently published Dassault profile. There I wrote “rumours that circulated in 2010 that he was about to buy La Croix de Gay and La Fleur de Gay from Alain Raynaud seem to have amounted to nothing“, but it is now clear there have been developments. Alain Raynaud, seeking an exit from his part-ownership of the Croix de Gay/Fleur de Gay properties, has sold his 6-hectare share in the estate to the Rothschild family, leaving just 4 hectares in the hands of his sister. The Rothschilds, however, faced some competition from Laurent Dassault, who was keen to acquire a Pomerol property, but the Rothschilds gave him a sweetener to secure the Croix de Gay vineyards (which will be absorbed into L’Evangile, the Rothschild property in Pomerol). Dassault gained a 5% stake in L’Evangile and Rieussec (he already owns a 5% stake of Cheval Blanc, L’Evangile’s neighbour) and……the clincher perhaps……tied distribution of his own wines with those of the Rothschild family.

So that explains the 2011 Dassault-Rothschild bundling, and we will no doubt see more of this in future campaigns and sales. It also looks like we will also see increased production of L’Evangile in the years to come, and perhaps a lot less Croix de Gay/Fleur de Gay, the Raynaud estate having just shrunk in size by 60%! I will update my Dassault profile as soon as possible. My Croix de Gay and L’Evangile profiles are still works in progress, shall we say!

Filed under: Bordeaux
Posted by Chris Kissack on June 30, 2012 at 11:36 am
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Jean-Pierre Faure, the chef de cave at Château La Tour Blanche, is retiring this year.

After 37 years working at La Tour Blanche, Jean-Pierre has decided that 2011 was his final vintage – not a bad vintage to go out on, I would say. Especially when viewed as one-third of a fine Sauternes triumvirate also including 2009 and 2010.

It is perhaps not well known outside Bordeaux, but La Tour Blanche is home to an agricultural school (alongside the château and wine, and the ‘white tower’ of course, there are buildings that do resemble a ‘school’ – for UK readers think Grange Hill, rather than Harry Potter). Jean-Pierre graduated from this very school with a technical diploma in viticulture and oenology in 1971, prior to taking up work in Blaye, where his family owned some vines.

He then worked at Caillou in Barsac from 1972 to 1974. And on September 15th 1974 he took up a position of chef de cave at La Tour Blanche. He retires this week, on June 30th. After more than three decades of shaping the wines of La Tour Blanche he hands over responsibility to Philippe Pelicano (pictured above, left, with Jean-Pierre Faure on the right), another graduate (from the 1996 vintage!) of the school. The two have been working together at La Tour Blanche for more than ten years, so I don’t expect to see any sudden shift in style or deterioration in quality.

Naturally I will be updating my La Tour Blanche profile with regard to this development; an update was coming soon as part of my current programme of Sauternes and Barsac overhauls.

Filed under: Bordeaux
Posted by Chris Kissack on June 28, 2012 at 12:37 pm
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At last – I can finally confirm that my little 2012 Pocket Guide to Bordeaux is available as an iBook!

This means that my early promises that the book would be available in both Kindle and iBook versions have come true, and I don’t have to backtrack and apologise for misleading people. Phew! The Kindle version is available from Amazon (obviously!), and is more than a quid cheaper than asking price for the old-fashioned printed-on-paper version. Both can be bought from the UK Amazon site. I would also like to thank Liberace0425 (errr….a pianist, perhaps?) who wrote a very nice review on Amazon, part of which I reproduce here:

“The guide contains cut-down info on most major Chateaux as well as Chris’ picks for value etc. I think the vintage guides are very good too and refreshingly honest where most critics get carried away with the hype. It also contains info on the recently released (but disappointing) 2011 en primeur campaign too, so it’s bang up to date, at the time of reviewing anyway. There’s also some info at the back on cellar basics such as storing, buying, serving etc. Again, Chris’s unpretentious style makes these worth reading even if you think you know it all already.”

I was also delighted that Jim Budd reviewed the book a few weeks ago. Jim finishes his review with:

“Dr Kissack’s Bordeaux guide is attractively produced and well written with his customary trenchant views.”

Doctor Kissack? So formal!! Formal or not, both reviews are much appreciated.

Anyway, back to the iBooks version, which is readable on an iPad (not iPhones as far as I am aware – but I’m willing to be put straight if I have this wrong). This can be located in iTunes – I found it simply by searching for “kissack bordeaux”.

Just a quick recap on the book; it’s a pocket guide, covering many different aspects of Bordeaux, and isn’t meant to deal with anything in encyclopedic depth, but is meant to be accessible and easy to dip in and out when the reader has a few spare minutes. I hope it’s a suitable primer to the region for those just getting into Bordeaux, as well as including lots of ‘latest news’ for those already familiar with it. More details on the contents can be found in this previous post.

Filed under: Bordeaux
Posted by Chris Kissack on June 12, 2012 at 2:52 pm
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We all love a story of ancient treasures, long-lost, found again. Whether it’s the Antikythera mechanism, or ancient coins (curious coincidence – this report includes comments from curator of archaeology at Manx National Heritage Allison Fox, who was in my A-level Physics class for a year back in the 1980s – it’s a small world) or rare Roman armour, it doesn’t really matter. You don’t have to be an academic specialising in ancient knowledge of astronomy or a military historian to understand the special significance of such finds.

So too with ancient bottles. Occasionally a shipwreck with a few intact bottles turns up. One has been in the news in the UK recently, with the forthcoming auction of bottles found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Opinion on the quality of such bottles can vary. In the last few weeks they have been described by Tom Stevenson as being for “historical interest, not pleasure”, but speaking last year of bottles from the same find, Essi Avellan MW tasted them and declared them to be “very much alive and remarkably fresh”. Whether or not the quality is good, however, we can be reasonably certain that the prices these bottles will fetch are likely to be very high. Old, rare, shipwrecked bottles clearly generate some interest. We are fascinated by the story, and I for one am prepared to ‘buy into’ the story. In other words, part of me understands why people want these bottles, in the same way I can understand why others find ancient coins and other treasure troves to be of interest.

But what about bottles submerged not centuries ago, and not because of some fateful storm and shipwreck, but on the whim of the winemaker? Do these incite the same interest?

Franck Labeyrie, proprietor of Château du Coureau in Bordeaux, already has a track record of selling wine that has been submerged, the cuvée in question a white wine which sees out six months on the sea bed in the famous lagoon at Arcachon. He has been experimenting with more extreme submersions recently though, with an attempt to sink bottles into an Atlantic trench at a depth of 1000 metres. Reading this report (in French) it seems as though he failed at his first attempt, having experienced difficulties, first with the increased pressure at 200 metres dislodging the cork, secondly a technical difficulty with the robot submersible. Not to be dissuaded, he will try again. The ‘experiment’ is bankrolled by Michel Rolland, a family friend, who I assume is content to pay for the second try. In the meantime though, my ‘gimmick’ alarm bells are ringing very loudly indeed. Especially when I learn that the wine he sinks in Arcachon sells for 2-3 times the usual price.

More recently, the team from Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion have been trying, but this time not with bottles, but with a tiny wooden cask, as reported here (in French again). Remarkably, Bruno Lemoine, director of the château, claims he was inspired by stories of wines aging well at sea (Bandol, Madeira, the wines of Cos d’Estournel, etc.). Somebody should tell him the wines were on a ship at the time though, not thrown overboard! The 56-litre barrel seems to have been lined with stainless steel, nevertheless – surprise, surprise – the Cuvée Neptune as it has been named is better than the wine aged on land in a similarly small cask. Naturally it seems to have enjoyed some ‘osmosis’ with the sea, no doubt picking up some delicious salty flavours along the way. Needless to say, my gimmick alarm is going like the clappers at this one.

If you were a winemaker, would any of this convince you to begin aging your wine underwater? And as a consumer, would you be prepared to shell out more for Cuvée Neptune against Cuvée Tellus, the wine from the barrel stored on land?

Filed under: Bordeaux
Posted by Chris Kissack on June 8, 2012 at 9:12 am
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After several days of tentatively watching its listing on Amazon, I was happy (and relieved, and excited) to see this morning that my Bordeaux Pocket Guide 2012 is now available for dispatch. Hurrah!

What is more, there is now a Kindle version available, for the ridiculously low price of £5.14 (about $8 or €6). For those who prefer a hard copy, it’s £6.29 (not yet listed in US, €8.89 in France). I hope this very inexpensive price doesn’t suggest to potential buyers that there is nothing of significance in the book. I put months of hard work into this little guide! Hopefully the contents page on the right will give some indication of what you will find inside, although the Amazon listing gives a very generous “look inside” at the first fifteen-or-so pages.

Here’s what the chapters cover:

Opinion (not listed in contents): an opener – a piece on a controversial topic, entitled Bordeaux: All Money, No Soul?

1. Vintage Guides: a run-down of recent vintages, 2010 back to 2003, with recommended buys – not just the best wines, but wines you and I might be able to afford. Also, brief soundbites on 2002 back to 1990.

2. News from the Region: the latest stories from Bordeaux, bang up-to-date; includes stories from as recent as April 2012.

3. 2011 Vintage Review: more very current opinion; a report on 2011, and some favourite and value picks from the vintage.

4. The Firsts: background info, profiles of first growths and equivalents (I’ve cheated and included two from Pomerol).

5. Top 20 Châteaux: get to grips with the big names in Bordeaux; Pontet-Canet, Cos d’Estournel, Montrose & more.

6. Top 5 Sauternes: Hurrah for Sauternes and Barsac! Glorious wines – I look at five leading estates.

7. Top 10 Value: The holy grail? Maybe…..but in this chapter I look at ten estates providing good value in Bordeaux today. They do exist….honest.

8. Top 10 to Try: Ten estates making waves, though quality, regeneration, revitalisation or otherwise.

9. Understanding Bordeaux: Bordeaux basics; for those learning about the region, information on climate, varieties, organics, biodynamics, winemaking and how the wine is sold.

10. Communes and Classifications: also for the beginner, but good revision for the more knowledgeable too. Details on all the major communes, plus those interminable classifications!

11. Enjoying Bordeaux: You could call this enjoying wine; basics on storage, serving temperature, decanting, glasses, tasting and more.

12. Money Matters: For me Bordeaux should be about drinking, but it’s hard to ignore the financial side. I conclude with information on how to buy Bordeaux, professional storage, tracking value, en primeur and investment.

Hopefully, there is something here to appeal to everybody. Here are some links for that “look inside” facility. I hope you like the map on pages 6 and 7 – I spent a lot of time on it!

• Amazon (UK)
• Amazon (USA) – Kindle only at present
• Amazon (Fr) – Hard copy and Kindle.

If you prefer an iBook, I’m told that should be available very soon.

Filed under: Bordeaux, Wine Writing
Posted by Chris Kissack on May 29, 2012 at 11:39 am
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A Bordeaux château is offering the chance to visit and, alongside the usual tour of the vineyards and walk round the cellars, to blend your own bottle of Bordeaux.

Château Lavergne Dulong sits close to Montussan, on the strip of land that lies between the Garonne and the Dordogne as they wind their way towards their convergence, when they become the Gironde. I guess that puts Lavergne Dulong at the heart of the Entre-Deux-Mers appellation. Looking at their website they bottle a red AC Bordeaux, and a Bordeaux rosé.

The proprietor Sylvie Dulong, once she has taken you on your tour, leads a tutored tasting of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot components of your possible blend, before you decide on your own personal assemblage. This you can then blend (making enough for one bottle!), and once corked and dressed with capsule and your own personal label you take your unique bottle home with you.

The bottle may well be unique, but the same isn’t true of the concept. Nevertheless it certainly makes a change from the usual ‘rent a row’ and other ‘get involved’ schemes; it is more akin to becoming an oenologue for a day than a château proprietor or viticulturalist. Perhaps the next step will be a day out with Michel Rolland, when you visit minor right-bank estates and tell them to micro-oxygenate and use more toasty oak?

OK, joking aside, this blending day is a concept I like very much; it would make for a good ‘corporate’ day out, perhaps? I can just see the current batch of candidates on The Apprentice being sent on a day like this having won their task. And it’s good to see estates in Bordeaux brushing off the region’s fusty-dusty image and welcoming potential customers in this way. Lavergne Dulong has a good track record in this respect, as Sylvie Dulong also offers straightforward visits and tastings, cycle hire, bed and breakfast and day-long guided tours of the right bank appellations.

Having said that, one bottle of AC Bordeaux does not come cheap here, the cost being €55 per person, minimum four people. But you are paying for the day out, and Sylvie’s time of course. Sylvie’s guided tours of the region are €350 for two people.

More information available here: Château Lavergne Dulong website

Filed under: Bordeaux
Posted by Chris Kissack on May 21, 2012 at 7:13 am
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