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December 2007
It Can All Begin in a Garage
Posted: 06:21 PM ET, December 28, 2007
I went to the Apple Store yesterday at the Grove in Los Angeles with my children – Jack, 13, and Isabel, 9. They just arrived from England for their annual holiday visit with their grandparents and great-grandmother. My daughter’s i-book had a sticky keyboard, so it needed replacing. Read more
The Christmas Spirit
Posted: 05:17 PM ET, December 26, 2007
I had to laugh at myself yesterday as I sat down to Christmas lunch in Palm Springs, Calif., with my 99-year-old grandmother, mother, stepfather, sister, brother-in-law and nephew. We had a beautiful turkey with all the trimmings, but there wasn't a good bottle of wine to be found in the house!
My nephew, who works for Wally’s wine shop in Westwood, said that he was bringing wine for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Read more
Thoughts on My 2005 Bordeaux Tasting
Posted: 10:37 AM ET, December 19, 2007
I have to say that I am glad it is over. I finished tasting all my samples of 2005 Bordeaux last Friday and spent the weekend in Paris not thinking about Bordeaux. In fact, I drank mostly Beaujolais during my free time with friends in restaurants and at parties. Read more
Pipeau, Pipeau, Pipeau ... All the People
Posted: 12:03 PM ET, December 12, 2007
Château Pipeau is like many small chateaus now in Bordeaux. Until a few years ago, it was producing pretty ordinary wines and paying very little attention to what it was doing in its vineyards or cellar.
“It wasn’t until about 2000 that we began to manage our vineyards well and use better winemaking methods,” said Richard Mestreguilhem, one of the owners of the St. Read more
The “Little Wines” of 2005
Posted: 12:38 PM ET, December 10, 2007
I had dinner last night at Table du Lavoir, which is the relaxed restaurant at the hotel where I am staying to taste the 2005s – Les Sources de Caudalie. I invited some hipster winemakers from the Right Bank, whom I consider some of the best in the business, including Denis Durantou of Pomerol’s Église-Clinet, Alexandre Thienpont of Pomerol’s Le Pin and Vieux-Château-Certan (VCC), and consulting enologist Stephane Derenoncourt, who works at Canon-La-Gaffelière, La Mondotte, Petit-Village and many others. Read more
Yquem for Breakfast?
Posted: 01:51 PM ET, December 07, 2007
I was thinking this morning as I was getting into my first few 2005s in the tasting room of Les Sources de Caudalie that I probably won’t be tasting 1,000 reds in a couple of years when the 2007 Bordeaux are coming into the market in bottle. I don’t want to say that the region’s most recent harvest is bad, but let’s just say it isn’t going to be easy to find outstanding wines like in 2005. Read more
Just Another Day in Bordeaux
Posted: 03:14 PM ET, December 06, 2007
I wrote this first thing this morning when I started tasting a range of wine, before going to a tasting and lunch at Léoville Las Cases, the second growth St. Julien:
"It’s always a bit difficult for me to get started in the morning. Read more
2005 Bordeaux and Fort Knox
Posted: 02:23 PM ET, December 05, 2007
I had dinner last night at what might be considered a Fort Knox of old Bordeaux, the wine merchants of Mahler-Besse in city of Bordeaux. The small firm has become the torchbearer for fine old bottles from the region. If an old bottle of Bordeaux has the Mahler-Besse strip label on it, you can be assured that it has been kept in perfect condition in its cellar and, more than likely, it was bought from the château, shipped to its cellar, and never moved again until being sold. Read more
Good All Over: 2005
Posted: 12:33 PM ET, December 04, 2007
I just had lunch with Fabien Teitgen, who is the technical director of Smith Haut-Lafitte, the well-known white and red wine producer in Pessac-Léognan. Fabien is a hip dude and a very good vineyard guy and winemaker. He is understated and relaxed yet serious about his winemaking. Read more
The Big Tasting
Posted: 11:49 AM ET, December 03, 2007
Looking at close to 1,000 samples of 2005 Bordeaux that you have to taste in about two weeks is a daunting experience. I had to take a deep breath when I arrived on Saturday at the hotel Les Sources de Caudalie, just outside of Bordeaux, and walked into my tasting room. Read more
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