http://www.thewinedoctor.com Winedoctor: The Loire, Bordeaux and beyond. In-depth articles and profiles by Chris Kissack. This is the RSS feed for the original Winedoctor site, linking to my detailed profiles and in-depth tasting reports. I occasionally link to new Winedr blog articles as well. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/bordeaux/pedesclaux.shtml You can imagine the scene. Or at least I hope you can, because I wasn't there, so we are going to have to imagine it together. We are in a very clean-and-clinical tasting room, all stainless steel sinks and white laminate worktops, somewhere in central London. Gathered together within this sanctuary are some of the great and the good of the Bordeaux-interested London-based wine scene, some of them Masters of Wine, all of them deeply familiar with what Bordeaux has to offer. The task in hand? A blind assessment of the 2005 Bordeaux vintage for Decanter magazine, all finished now, with only the labels to be revealed. The tasters had swirled and slurped their way through dozens of wines, and were now eager to see the identities of the five-star wines, an unprecedented 25 of them. Of these wines, only three were unanimously ranked as five stars by everybody present. The covers are slowly removed. Wine number one....... Mouton-Rothschild. Murmurs of appreciation fill the room. Wine number two....... Pichon-Baron. Sighs of mutual admiration can be heard. Maybe a back or two received a gentle pat. And wine number three....... Pédesclaux. Huh?! What? Pédesclaux?! http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/latabledelabergerie2012bergerie.shtml There was a still a soft blanket of snow cushioning the vines at Domaine de la Bergerie when we arrived. France had, until late into January at least, been enjoying a relatively mild winter, drier than the norm in many parts, with hours of sunshine much higher than expected. But no more. It was mid-afternoon on the first Saturday in February 2012, and for the first two weeks of this month - the date of this year's Salon des Vins de Loire - the 'Hexagon' had been plunged into a mini-Ice Age. Despite warmer temperatures later in the month, this was France's coldest February since 1986, and the fourth coldest since 1947. That was a great vintage of course (for Bordeaux, as well as the Loire). A portent of good things to come perhaps? Well, we can hope. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/weekend/valedamatareserva2008.shtml I find keeping abreast of what is going on in Bordeaux and the Loire is hard enough. Trying to keep a broad overview of the entire world of wine is near-enough impossible, and it is countries like Portugal that really rub salt in the wound in this respect. Twenty years ago any keen student of wine could, once he (or she, of course, please take that as read) had managed to become acquainted with the principal styles of Port (and of course Madeira too - we mustn't forget this sub-tropical island remains under Portuguese jurisdiction today), have peremptorily ticked Portugal off his 'to do' list. Now, what's next, our student would mutter under his breath. Hmm, South Africa. Not much there except rubbery Pinotage and Steen. Shouldn't take too long..... http://www.thewinedoctor.com/bordeaux/boydcantenac.shtml Take a look down the list of 'famous' names within the 1855 classification and you will quickly realise that, actually, not all of them are famous. Looking at Margaux in particular, it soon becomes clear that for every Palmer, Issan or Brane-Cantenac there is another estate almost unheard of and rarely seen or tasted. Some are really quite obscure. Few, though, are quite as obscure as Boyd-Cantenac. This estate, which sits on the edge of a patch of woodland just south of the village of Cantenac, has maintained a very low profile for many years. In part this is because the proprietor Lucien Guillemet works without the support of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, and thus Boyd-Cantenac - as well as Guillemet's other equally obscure classed growth estate, Pouget - will not be encountered alongside the UGC tastings in Bordeaux (during primeurs week), London, the USA or the Far East. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/bordeaux/clercmilon.shtml Château Clerc-Milon is a property with which all lovers of Pauillac should be familiar. Although in illustrious ownership (it is part of the Rothschild stable that also includes Mouton-Rothschild) it hides at the fifth growth level, one of the dozen Pauillac properties that dominate - in numbers at least - this rung of the 1855 classification. But wine buyers interested in quality know that this ancient classification cannot be wholly relied upon, and that there are many châteaux outperforming their rank. Lynch-Bages is a classic example, consistently ranked as the equivalent of a second growth, and as a consequence prices are higher than one might otherwise expect. The recently rescued Pontet-Canet is another under-rated fifth growth. And, while I accept that it does not challenge the super-seconds by any stretch of the imagination, based on my assessment of the wines I have long been content to recognise Clerc-Milon as another over-achiever. With recent reinvestment and new facilities put in place by the Rothschilds, however, things are set to only get better here. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/loire2006a.shtml As my review of the Loire 2006 vintage makes clear, the Loire vignerons - from Muscadet right up to Sancerre - did not have an easy time this year. This was a vintage which saw weather that swung from baking hot drought to tropical deluge, and touching on every possible type of weather in-between. This meant that many vignerons had to deal with significant problems both in the vineyard and winery; vine diseases such as mildew and uneven and questionable ripening of the fruit are just a taster. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/loire2006.shtml Take a look at the reports from the French meteorological service (otherwise known as the Météo) for 2006 and you will find a story of summer heatwave, of extreme temperatures in July to match any that had gone before. This is of course surprising; after all, we're all familiar with the record-breaking temperatures that were experienced in Europe during 2003....but in 2006? Surely not? http://www.thewinedoctor.com/weekend/hureausaumurfoudre2010.shtml Take a straw poll of wine drinkers on what Saumur means to them and you will probably receive, in the main, one of two answers. The first answer, from the Saumur tourist perhaps, will be sparkling wine. Indeed, the inattentive traveller visiting Saumur might be forgiven for thinking, on scraping the town's surface, that this particular style of wine is the region's vinous apogee. Giant hoardings advertise wine from the likes of Gratien & Meyer, Louis de Grenelle or Ackerman, with offers of visits and tours. And on the crest of the tuffeau slopes that march alongside the Loire, above the troglodytic dwellings and the caves à champignons, buildings such as Gratien & Meyer's art deco headquarters seem to boast of wealth and success akin to that found in Champagne. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/loire2010c.shtml Having not long completed several days of judging the Loire category in the Decanter World Wine Awards, during which more than a few wines from the 2010 vintage cropped up, I was reminded of these notes which I made at the Charles Sydney portfolio tasting in January this year. Although the focus at Charles' tasting was undoubtedly Loire 2011 (as indeed it was at the Decanter event - I've never seen so many Sancerres, Pouilly-Fumés and Muscadets gathered together in one place before), there was also quite a handsome showing of wines from 2010. And in some quarters this is a very attractive vintage; I am thinking particularly of the sweet wines, which did very well in the Decanter awards this year. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011primeurpicks.shtml This not-quite-final instalment of my guide to Bordeaux 2011, based upon my experiences in Bordeaux tasting the barrel samples en primeur, completes my collection of tasting notes for the vintage - at this stage at least. As has been the case in previous years, these last few tasting notes describe a rather diverse collection of styles and appellations, taking in what are potentially great, as yet inadequately exploited terroirs such as Fronsac and Castillon, as well as more generic appellations such as Entre-Deux-Mers and the catch-all Bordeaux of course. There is no hard and fast rule to where the quality lies, of course, as lovely wines can be found at all levels in Bordeaux. As, indeed, can majestic flops. So 'minor' appellations, as I have chosen to refer to them (for want of anything better - I'm open to suggestions) such as these should not be discounted out of hand. There are often wines here worth buying. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011minors.shtml This not-quite-final instalment of my guide to Bordeaux 2011, based upon my experiences in Bordeaux tasting the barrel samples en primeur, completes my collection of tasting notes for the vintage - at this stage at least. As has been the case in previous years, these last few tasting notes describe a rather diverse collection of styles and appellations, taking in what are potentially great, as yet inadequately exploited terroirs such as Fronsac and Castillon, as well as more generic appellations such as Entre-Deux-Mers and the catch-all Bordeaux of course. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/loire/brunocormerais.shtml Dining out one evening at Le Relais, surely one of Angers' best known restaurants, I was offered a glass of wine with a bright, shimmering, mid-gold hue. It's not uncommon to be challenged in this way when dining with wine-interested friends and colleagues, the glass of wine pushed your way with hardly a word - and certainly with no clue as to its origin or identity - for a blind assessment. The hand behind the glass belonged to David Cobbold, wine consultant and educator. The gauntlet was thrown down, although as gesture of goodwill perhaps, one clue as to the wine's identity was provided. This was a wine of the Loire. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/weekend/secderaynevigneau2010.shtml My notes on Bordeaux 2011 come to an end this week; as far as my communal reports go I only have my 'mopping up' to do, a rather fractured report which serves as a home for my opinions on everything from Castillon and Fronsac down to Entre-Deux-Mers and generic Bordeaux. As a consequence I didn't think it would be overkill to stick with Bordeaux this week, with a look back one year to Bordeaux 2010, especially as it brings our focus to bear on one of the more niche aspects of Bordeaux; the dry whites. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/otherresources/friedrich.shtml Can there be any more hotly awaited title in wine than that of Jacqueline Friedrich's updated text on the wines of the Loire? The original, A Wine & Food Guide to the Loire (reviewed below), is perhaps the only comprehensive work in existence which systematically explored the Loire, region-by-region, domaine-by-domaine, reviewing and rating all from Muscadet up to Pouilly-Fumé. Throw in some information on local delicacies, restaurants, hotels, street markets and the like and we had, in Jacqueline's original work, the ideal guide for not only the wine drinker, but also the wine-orientated traveller. It has, though, long been in need of an update, an update that has been long-promised. Here, at last, is that update. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011sauternes.shtml Having some knowledge of the vintage, by which I really mean having some knowledge of the weather during the growing season, is key to understanding the wines. In case reading this statement induces a feeling of déjà vu, please rest easy; you have not fallen into a Matrix-style time slip. This is something you have read before; it was a statement I made in my introduction to Bordeaux 2011. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011pomerol.shtml And from the broad complexity of St Emilion we now come to a commune both smaller and stylistically, to my mind, somewhat easier to define. And it seems in some way fitting that we come to it now, as we approach the end of my Bordeaux 2011 reports; because sometimes you do have to save the best for last. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011stemilion.shtml Knowing just where to start with St Emilion can be something of a challenge. The appellation itself is huge, with thousands of hectares eligible, dwarfing the classic left-bank communes. Hand-in-hand with this we have several distinct terroirs here, giving us a variety of styles of wine; the largest and least exciting are the sandy soils (these alone account for 3200 hectares!), whereas centrally we have the clay and limestone around St Emilion itself. And at the very far western end on the border with Pomerol we also have the gravels which, if appellations were truly based on terroir, would surely be more at home within Pomerol than in St Emilion? On top of this diversity we have a range of varieties, with some wines focused on Cabernet Franc (Ausone, Cheval-Blanc, Le Dôme) and some on Merlot (the majority of the estates) and some throwing a distinctive proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon into the mix (Figeac). http://www.thewinedoctor.com/weekend/pierregaillardasiaticus2010.shtml This week's antidote to Bordeaux 2011 comes from the Rhône Valley, and is one of a number of wines from Northern Rhône vigneron Pierre Gaillard that I have been fortunate enough to taste this week. My little selection of Gaillard wines came from London merchant Bancroft Wines, and are all from the 2010 vintage; these wines have yet to be bottled - the "tiré sur fût" scrawled on the label of this wine told me as much. The standard across the range is high, and I will be writing a little more on the wines later in the week. This wine, however, piqued my interest on so many different levels that I just couldn't help but feature it as my Wine of the Week. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011medochautmedoc.shtml This year I headed out to Bordeaux a day earlier than I have done in previous years, in the hope that I could expand my coverage of some of the less exalted communes and appellations. It is increasingly a problem - for me, and perhaps for you - that wines I once bought and drank without consulting my financial advisor first are now priced well beyond my reach. As such there is a necessity to find wines which are still quintessentially Bordeaux, which clearly show a genetic link to the wines that I used to buy to accompany my seared ribeye or traditional roast beef (Pontet-Canet, Pichon-Baron, Léoville-Las-Cases, Ducru-Beaucaillou), but which are priced in a much less ambitious fashion. Finding exact replacements is clearly impossible, but we can at least look for wines with similar traits, true to the region and to the communes, wines that have freshness, substance and perhaps even some suggestion of elegance, despite their perhaps lowly - if I may use that term - origins. An obvious place to look, for those of us weaned onto the wines of the left bank rather than the right, are the Médoc and Haut-Médoc appellations - which are of course the focus of this instalment of my guide to Bordeaux 2011. So, was I successful? http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011margaux.shtml The weather gods were smiling that day; the bright sunshine illuminated the stone work all around me, lighting up the gravel of the path and feeding the vines through their just-budded leaves in the vineyard mere metres away. It was the first week of April 2012, and Bordeaux was enjoying clear skies and bemoaning - after long periods of on-off drought - the continued lack of rain. Despite this it did not feel particularly warm, unlike the spring of 2011 which had been rather more like summer, with a primeurs week of t-shirts and shades (although not quite the sun tan lotion). Nevertheless, warm or not, the vines were certainly responding to the wonderful sunlight, their nascent leaves unfolding. And I was enjoying it too! http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011stjulien.shtml Following on from my review of Pauillac 2011, we come to the other great commune of the left bank, St Julien. And there is no doubt in my mind that it is here, in St Julien, closely matched by Pauillac, that the true left-bank successes of this vintage are to be found. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011pauillac.shtml It is about three years since I ditched my notebook and pen in favour of a laptop when making tasting notes. I found few activities to be as tedious as typing up handwritten notes; just deciphering what I scribbled was a challenge, the process of typing up itself very time consuming, and by the time I finished I had no energy to write anything original. The effect of typing as I tasted was nothing short of miraculous. It was at Pichon-Lalande that the inevitable happened. I drew up a seat, opened the laptop, and made a move for the first 2011 barrel sample, before returning to my seat. I placed the glass down, followed by my camera. Somehow I fumbled the camera strap, thinking back I'm not sure how or why. But the result was the camera - or was it the strap itself - made contact with the glass. Time slowed a little at this point. Sadly, so did my reactions. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/weekend/caillouxduparadisquartz2008.shtml This week I will be continuing my focus on 2011 Bordeaux. Carrying on from my 2011 Pessac-Léognan and 2011 St Estèphe reports posted last week, next up are Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux. I like to provide something as a complete contrast as my Wine of the Week, and with the Loire being my other passion that isn't always that difficult. A stalwart in this respect is Claude Courtois of La Cailloux de Paradis; he's given me plenty of interesting bottles to consider in the past, including his Romorantin and Racines cuvées. This week another of his better known wines, Quartz. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/restaurants/brasseriedelagare.shtml We squeezed into our booth in the already-crowded back room at the Brasserie de la Gare. The restaurant was heaving; it is a popular venue, and this being the week of the Salon des Vins de la Loire it was busier than ever, and this allowed for a little Loire star-spotting. Look, two booths away; that's Noël Pinguet of Domaine Huet and his wife Marie-Françoise. And over there, by the far wall - is that Jo Landron's moustache I can see twitching in the distance? Possibly. One of our party went off to investigate (it has to be done) while the rest of us stuck our noses into our menus, large brightly-coloured cards, laminated yet well-worn, each corner rolled up, allowing the layers to peel and separate. "I think I'll have the oysters," says one. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011stestephe.shtml If the story of 2011 already seems sufficiently dramatic - with reversed seasons, grape-scorching heat waves in June, vine-drenching downpours in August, all culminating in the Cabernets eventually dehydrating on the vine as they ripened - then spare a thought for the men and women of the St Estèphe appellation. They endured just as much as any of their left-bank peers this year, plus just that little bit more. Although many communes experienced a little hail during 2011, the most devastating was surely that which was visited upon the vineyards along the southern stretch of the St Estèphe appellation, on the evening of September 1st 2011. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011pessacleognan.shtml Every time I go to Bordeaux for the primeurs my programme of tasting changes. This year the Pessac-Léognan syndicat tasting came early, a heaving, sweaty affair (doing nothing to suggest a lack of interest in the vintage - but subsequent tastings of other communes were certainly more muted affairs this year) hosted by Château de Fieuzal. In fact, after Sunday's négociant tastings (which should not be overlooked, as in fact I tasted an incredible number of wines there) the commune of Pessac-Léognan was my first concentrated tasting of the vintage. And, unlike the communes of the Médoc where you have to work quite hard to gather up tasting notes for all those estates that are just too important to participate in the respective UGC tastings, here just about everybody participates. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/bordeaux2011.shtml The crump! was unexpected but I knew immediately what had happened. It doesn't matter what make of vehicle you are driving, or what sort of material it has just unintentionally made contact with, when you point your car at something you shouldn't, the collision always leads to that same, slightly sickening crump! My heart sank. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/weekend/senechalieremissterre2010.shtml Looking back to see when I last featured a wine from Marc Pesnot of Domaine de la Sénéchalière I discovered it was about this time last year, with his 2009 La Bohème. This was right in the midst of my 2010 Bordeaux reports, which seems somewhat fitting as tomorrow I kick off with my commentary on Bordeaux 2011. As I did with my write up of the 2010 vintage, I will try to provide some contrast each Monday with my Wine of the Week; organic Melon de Bourgogne which, as Marc describes it, is "vin naturel sans intervention vulgaire", seems as good a contrast as any. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/villeneuve2012.shtml It's been too long since I last reported on the wines of Jean-Pierre Chevallier, and in fact it might be said that it is too long since I last reported on any wines at all from the Saumur and Saumur-Champigny appellations. This region of the Loire is too easy to overlook, its wines often good but rarely the best; the white wines are often eclipsed by more focused and complex styles from Vouvray and these days Montlouis, the reds frequently paling into insignificance behind those from Chinon or even Bourgueil. Nevertheless, among the small number of domaines of interest here there are some that might easily upset this little piece of dogma. Vignerons such as the Foucault brothers of Clos Rougeard or Antoine Sanzay clearly enunciate what high quality is possible here. Jean-Pierre Chevallier, doyen of Château de Villeneuve is another important figure in the region. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/bordeaux/tronquoylalande.shtml The story of Bordeaux through the early years of the 20th century is littered with failing châteaux, any suggestion of success always punctuated and tempered by the twin insults of war and economic depression. Towards the end of the century, however, the region was most certainly making an about turn. From St Estèphe down to Sauternes, and in Pomerol and St Emilion, all the major communes saw once-great châteaux returned to their former glory, bolstered in almost every case by outside investment, usually backed by big business although on occasion by independently wealthy individuals. It was a time of great recovery for the region. A time of healing, reassessment, reassertion perhaps. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/pierreluneaupapin2012.shtml Having lived in Scotland for a few years now I have become accustomed to, on occasion, waking up to find a blanket of snow thrown across the world outside my window. But when that happens, I'm usually in Scotland; waking up to a couple of inches of snow in Angers, in the Loire Valley, was not something I was expecting. But that was exactly what I found one Sunday morning in early February this year, and as my second cup of coffee chased down my morning croissant I wondered whether I was going to be able to honour my morning appointment at Domaine Luneau-Papin. In terms of their ability to launch a co-ordinated, organised and timely response to a sudden snowfall, the French lag behind the Scots by some considerable distance. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/weekend/lariojaaltavinaardanzareservaespecial2001.shtml My wines of the week have been really Loire-heavy recently, with wines from Muscadet, Savennières, Vouvray, Quarts de Chaume, Bourgueil and Sancerre. Nothing wrong with that of course, but this week it's certainly time for a break. And with my departure for the 2011 Bordeaux primeur tastings imminent, meaning a strong weighting towards Bordeaux in my updates from next week, I think that region should be avoided also. And so this week I'm looking further afield, to Rioja. http://www.thewinedoctor.com/otherresources/goode.shtml Have you ever felt behind the loop on something? You know what I mean; the realisation that although you have finally reached a target or discovered some truth, and should be filled with a sense of achievement and satisfaction, you're actually only doing what everybody else was doing last month, or even last year? It feels a little like that with finishing this book; having been slipped into my reading list beneath Terry Theise and Alice Feiring I have only just turned the final page, but I know it has already been extensively reviewed elsewhere, online and even in print publications. I'm going to roll out my standard excuse, that I'm busy, and I spend my days trying to keep too many balls in the air. I've a feeling that might not wash with the authors though.... http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/jolandron2012.shtml Draw up a list of the top names in Muscadet and it probably won't be long before someone mentions the magnificently moustachioed Jo Landron. Generally regarded as one of the leading vignerons of the region, alongside Guy Bossard, André-Michel Brégeon and Pierre Luneau-Papin, Jo can be found residing in Les Brandières, a little hamlet just to the east of La Haye-Fouassière, on the banks of the Sèvre. This is Domaines Landron, and visitors to the domaine will find it sits on a sliver of land sandwiched between the Chemin de la Louvetrie and the Impasse du Fief du Breil, names which will both be very familiar to fans of Jo's wines; many (although not all) are sold under the Domaine de la Louvetrie label, and the best known is perhaps the Fief du Breil cuvée. I recently met up with Jo to find out what was new at Domaines Landron, and to taste the 2010 vintage.