| Bordeaux Vinexpo Review |
During Vinexpo, the world’s premier wine trade exhibition from June 17–21 in Bordeaux, Wine Enthusiast will be at the booths, on the ground and in the chateaus. Vinexpo continues through Thursday. So join us and check back daily.
Best barrel bed in Bordeaux
A charged weekend began Friday at Château La Mission Haut-Brion with the Dillon family owners Duchesse de Mouchy (Joan Dillon) and her son Prince Robert de Luxembourg. A new barrel cellar (probably one of the most expensive and sumptuous ones a barrel has ever seen) was the reason for the party. Of course, the wines of La Mission were great but the surprise star of the evening was the white Laville Haut-Brion 1989. For a change of pace, some Napa Valley vintners including Michaela Rodeno of St. Supery joined an informal party in the far eastern reaches of the Gironde on Saturday with biodynamic wine from Jean-Michel de Robillard and a chamber orchestra that is still “in training.”
Tour de France
Despite a lightning and thunder extravaganza, Domaine de Chevalier in Pessac-Leognan, always awarded “best party of the week” by the global select invited, wines from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 2000s were “tasted” with abandon. And who wouldn’t? Jaboulet Aîné, Domaine Leflaive, Olivier Leflaive, Pol Roger, Zind-Humbrecht, Faiveley, Château de Fuissé, Alphonse Mellot and Domaine de Chevalier. In fact, it is called the Tour de France. It’s an informal get-together of friends and wine and Chevalier owner Olivier Bernard’s other passion, jazz. Jaboulet’s La Chapelle 1983 was a big hit with the Wine Enthusiast. Each year the group invites another winery and this year it was Sassacaia. Unfortunately, Marchese Niccolo Incisa della Rocchetta was called away at the last minute. But the whisper was that the marchese had horses running in Milan and opted out. And, as an aside from Vinexpo, though he lost the Derby, Jess Jackson (Kendall-Jackson) got the roses at the Preakness. Does this bring a whole new meaning to “sweaty saddles” as a wine descriptor?
Goliath gutted by the Gauls
This woman is:
1. a martian
2. a martini
3. miserable
Leave it to the French to stymie the power of Goliath. It’s not often that one of the world’s largest and most influential wine companies runs into a brick wall. But, after having spent beaucoup bucks on a prestigious lakeside pavilion at Vinexpo, Gallo’s wines got held up by a single French customs man at the French border. But it wasn’t a Mondovino revenge. Fosters (Australia) and Wines of South Africa were among others that spent the weekend languishing on the French Belgian border. This was Gallo’s first time as a big presence at Vinexpo. Will it be the last?
Just spell my name right
There is the axiom that any press is good press, just spell my name right. Not sure this applies to Alain Juppé, mayor of Bordeaux, who was supposed to make a national political comeback in the French elections on Sunday. President Nicolas Sarkozy had appointed him Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment; he just had to win a Senate seat. Well, dramatically socialist Bordeaux (chateaus excepted) had other ideas, so Juppé got the boot. But, the consummate politician, Juppé still showed up on Monday morning for the official opening of Vinexpo. And then dodged the press with a side door exit.
Wine: the Dating Game
Have you ever considered using wine as a love tool? Who hasn’t. But Soif de Coeur (Thirsty Heart) has gone for the looking-for-love category of wine buyer. A Bordeaux-based company launched a new appellation wine with blue and pink labels and an invitation to sign on to a dating service. The concept, launched this week, is to buy the wine (only in France at the moment, for 3 euros), drink the bottle, revealing the secret log-in code on the back of the label, sign into the dating Web site and find your soul mate (or at least one who likes 3 euro wine). The wine can come from anywhere on the west coast of France. There is no such designation for the date. It appears to be targeting the heterosexual market, and this may be one time when being left out is a preferred option.
Breaking news
At times like these there is an incredible range of wines to taste. And then go to dinner and to drink. Who wouldn’t want to sip a practically unlimited range of 25+/- year old Burgundies, Bordeaux and other wines from around the world? But a Canadian wine merchant revealed the secret at a dinner in Pessac-Leognan on Sunday. Go ahead, get glasses with all the wines you want to taste at dinner. Taste, swallow and then taste again and spit back into the glass. That ends the drinking of that wine (for non-wine fanatics, honestly, it does). Of course, this heretofore never revealed tactic will probably result in heart attacks in some classified growth chateaus.
Despite the fact that the southern French balaclava-clad grape growers had threatened bodily harm if French President Nicolas Sarkozy didn’t make the state give them more money for their grapes, so far, nothing has happened. But security is tighter than in previous years at Vinexpo. Some chateau owners contacted were surprised when asked. Then again, many of their chateaus survived the revolution of the late 1700s that made France what it is today.
| " | Have you ever considered using wine as a love tool? Who hasn’t. But Soif de Coeur (Thirsty Heart) has gone for the looking-for-love category of wine buyer. |
