Visits and tastings

Last Saturday and Sunday, we received several groups of visitors which also means that we had several lunches, dinners and tastings.
Jeffrey Davis organized a blind tasting for a group of winemakers from Napa Valley. Several crus from Saint Emilion as well as Napa from an exceptional vintage were served.
The 2005 were very good, and as usual some Bordeaux were mistaken for American wines and vise versa. Valandraud tasted good. At least the group seemed to like it, which is a good sign.
Murielle and I had lunch at home instead of the restaurant, and drank the perfect match to a fresh river bass cooked to perfection. This Meursault Les Cras 2005 1er cru from Domaine Buisson Charles was ripe, extravagant, with the kind of ripe fruit I would love to equal with our wine. It was so good that the two of us finished the bottle. We took a mandatory nap!

Saturday evening and the next day, Béatrice Decout was in Saint Emilion to show and sell her collections of books, post cards, etc… To her surprise, she ended up in our home with Chloé, Léa, Fabienne and Fabrice. It was great to have the children and grand-children of our late friend from Montpon (Daniel Decout).

Our friendship held-up despite taking separate roads and we don’t have to see each other often to have a good time when we get together. Their world is education and ours wine, but we are bonded by our memories.

For dinner, Manu and Linda gave us again the opportunity to discover this young and passionate couple. Restaurateurs like we were, they are full of energy and ambition despite their demanding job, as we experienced when we arrived in Saint Emilion. A great and rare bottle of Grand Echezeaux 1992 from René Engel made this a Burgundy weekend, and our Valandraud 1992 was opened in great company.