Friday, January 12, 2007

Wednesday, busy day in the Médoc

We left at 9 am for Clément Pichon for a tasting planned for 10 with Patrick Daney, who is in charge of the property and Guillaume Quéron. We tasted 2005, with each batch kept separately: the Merlots, good, the Cabernets Sauvignons, superb and the Cabernets Francs a bit less (they will go in the second wine). These wines are developing well and this reinforces my opinion of this great 2005 vintage.
Patrick is planning to do the bottling in June, but Guillaume and I will recommend to do it 3 months earlier to preserve all these beautiful fruit.
The 2006 batches prove that the work put into it is already paying off: for instance, the Cabernets Francs are excellent (certainly low yields, but a with a 1st wine as a reward) and even the other batches we ran some of the juice off (or saignée) to get more concentration are good. I think that blending we will do in March will not be to difficult. The unusual concentration in the ripe Cabernets Sauvignons will be the backbone of this Cru Bourgeois Supérieur.
The upgrade of the cellar and the new reception room are done. Christine Dupart and Laetitia just need to reopen it for business. I am not worried, especially if Jean-Pierre Wagner succeeds in his trial period.

After this visit of Clément Pichon, we went to Saint Estèphe to start a new challenge. We had a nice meal at Château Pomy (nice place) and studious atmosphere with Guillaume and a future great Saint Estèphe, if god is with us.

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