Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Technical Difficulties, But at Least There's Great Wine

Unfortunately, the Internet connection in the farm house I'm staying at has been spotty at best. I have connectivity for a few minutes at a time before it re-sets itself, which pretty much makes it impossible to upload the videos I'm taking with any regularity. Once I'm in Paris, though, I'm hoping that my hotel room has better service. In the meantime, I thought that an update on what's been happening so far would be appropriate.

Each day, we've focused on a different part of Bordeaux and explored its wines and its terroir as much as possible. Monday was Margaux, with tours and tastings at Chateau Brane-Cantenac and Chateau Rauzan-Segla. Highlights included the 2006 Brane-Cantenac (flowers, leather, smoke, sandalwood, cassis) and the 2001 Rauzan-Segla (flowers, cedar, powerful fruit, and a silky texture).

Yesterday we hit Pomerol. I'll post my tasting notes in the coming days and weeks, but perhaps more fantastic than the wines themselves (Le Bon Pasteur was great) was the standing around and feeling the soil beneath my feet in the vineyards of Petrus and Cheval Blanc. If loitering can ever take your breath away, then this was it.

And today I had the privilege of driving around St.-Emilion and Pomerol with the winemaker at Chateau Ausone, Philippe Baillarguet, and his brother, Bruno, who owns the Wine School of St.-Emilion and an amazing wine shop called Vignobles & Chateaux. I tasted a number of 2008 barrel samples, and am thrilled to report that that vintage on the Right Bank was magnificent.

Keep checking back for those videos, which I'm trying desperately to post. In the meantime, I'll be sharing my tasting notes from the week, as well as a bit of detail about the region itself.

Until tomorrow, then, I'm off to enjoy a bottle of red from Margaux and some foie gras that we purchased this morning. Hopefully that'll take some of the stress out of this whole Internet situation. At the very least, I'm sure it will be tasty.

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