Miami ... and Clos Badon Thunevin

We left Saint Emilion for Miami at 5 am.

Hurrah for Air France business class even though the 140° seats are not as comfortable as the 180° on BA. Xavier and I rented a car and went to our hotel, the Marriott on Hollywood Beach… Ocean on one side, lagoon on the other, the sea breeze and the humid temperature (pleasant for me) of 27° C (80° F). At 8 pm, local time (6 hours difference with France, so already 2 am for my internal clock), we had dinner with our distributor in one of our customers “Chez André”, a French restaurant Mediterranean style, on the beach (with around 18 employees), serving Présidial 2003 as the house wine. I had a great surprise (the world is definitely small), we only spoke about memories we had in common, the night club in Pizou in the 80s “Le Tackouk”, our life, our stories. Bruno Barnagaud was the owner of a famous bar in Coutras, and was in good spirits this evening, as an American TV channel was playing over and over one of his recipes. Our importer friend is also from the area (Libourne)… Well, I cannot tell you all the silly stories we talked about…;-) In any case, we had a very good meal and drank a Rosé de Provence, 2 bottles of a California wine and even a Haut Batailley. Going to bed at 11 pm was a real luxury.

In the hotel, the office faxed me a big article from the Wall Street Journal about China and wine from the perspective of Yan Xin and our company. In addition, the 2 ratings in the Wine Advocate for Flor de Pingus and Pingus definitely put Peter Sisseck in the circle of icons.

What a nice day!

And in the latest issue of Wine Spectator, James Suckling included CLOS BADON-THUNEVIN in his 50 Great Bordeaux Values:

Clos Badon-Thunevin St-Emilion 2000 91

Plenty of tobacco, berry and mineral character. Full-bodied, long and lively.

Having won much critical acclaim for his first “garage” wine ( made at Château Valandraud, also in St-Emilion), Jean-Luc Thunevin has been on the lookout for other vineyards. In 1998, he bought Clos Badon, a small property with 30-year-old vines tucked in between Pavie and Larcis-Ducasse estates. He produced Badon-Thunevin’s first vintage in the same year and has been making very good to outstanding quality wines ever since. Look for the 2001, which is his best vintage here so far, although the 2005 should be very close in quality.