Image credit: www.chateauguiraud.com
The team met up in Bordeaux last night for their first tasting of the campaign. Andrew ‘the Rookie’ Ray flying in from London Luton, James Goodhart driving 700 km from Grenoble met with legend restauranter, of Sous Le Nez in Leeds, Mr Robert Chamberlin.
Picking up Robert from our chalet at Bordeaux Lac and then Andrew from the airport we headed south down the Toulouse Road (A46) down to Sauternes with a comment from Robert, “we are almost back in Bradford…” I guess that is where the A46 is? It was a glorious, almost summer evening at a whopping 15 degrees, when we drove down the tree lined avenue into Chateau Guiraud to taste the Xavier Planty, Robert Peugeot, Count von Neipperg and Olivier Bernard wines to start our Bordeaux 2016 En Primeur campaign.
Owner of La Mondotte, Stephan von Neipperg presenting his 2016 vintage
We were not to be disappointed, the wines offered impressive fruit concentration. Chateau Guiraud’s Bordeaux Blanc was our first wine, which oozed character; bags of citrus fruit, pineapple and importantly a lovely harmonious balance. The reds were also impressive with La Mondotte being my star wine, closely followed by Canon La Gaffeliere and Domaine de Chevalier Rouge (no surprises here). My star performer with long odds was the beautifully crafted Chateau Lespault-Martillac Rouge from Pessac Leognon, made by the team at Domaine de Chevalier.
It is always with some anticipation, and then excitement, we commence our first few days of tastings. As many of you know we taste the whole spectrum of the new vintage. From the UGC tastings in each appellation where we will have over 250 wines on offer, to the specialised First Growth tastings at the Chateaux, bringing an experience of a Haute Couture catwalk show for Chanel; it’s a wine spectacular like no other.
We awake this morning to a foggy start, heading to Libourne for our first tasting with Edouard Moueix at 9am…
If you are interested in En Primeur but haven’t yet taken the plunge, read our introduction to buying En Primeur wine.
