Bordeaux 2012 Primeurs: Château Margaux
Outside the wind had really picked up. My primeurs trip to Bordeaux this year saw more varied weather than ever before; sometimes it was cloudy and drizzly, at other times it was simply pouring with rain, and yet on one or two days – in particular, right at the end of the week – sunshine was beating down in a manner more akin to Mauritius than Margaux. On the day I visited Château Margaux, Château Palmer and Château d’Issan, however, there was a firm wind blowing, causing the fabric of marquees to rustle and flap with each new gust, and occasionally thumping and rattling windows, such was its force.
Inside the reception room at Château Margaux there was a fire lit in the huge fireplace, and it was doing a fairly good job of warming the rather chilly space. I gathered here with other primeurs acolytes, which this year included huge numbers of Asian tasters, not just here at Margaux but at every tasting I attended. Which nations or provinces they all originated from I don’t know, as it wasn’t my place to quiz each and every one, so they might have flown in from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan or elsewhere, but when chatting with Winedoctor readers who introduced themselves (and thank you for that – always a pleasure to meet a reader) I was introduced to inhabitants of all these corners of the globe. Reports that Asia’s interest in Bordeaux is on the wane seems strangely out of synchrony with my experiences during the primeur tastings. China and friends are here to stay, I am sure. And quite right too.
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