Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Viva Korea

We had an important visit and tasting from our Korean partner and our client – a Bordeaux wholesaler, the Bordeaux broker, the Korean buyer and his boss.

We visited our properties in Saint Emilion, our warehouse in Saint Magne, tasted at L’Essentiel wines which could interest them and ate at our house where, in addition to the very well made Clos du Beau Père 2006 and rare cuvee Axelle de Valandraud 2000, I served 2 wines blind:
Decanted just 20 minutes before serving, no one guessed the vintage except the Korean boss. Goes to show why he is such a wine lover.
Hard to guess, but it was a 1998. Was Valandraud the wine on the right or on the left? 3 said left, 2 right. It was the carafe on the right. Every one said that the other wine was from the right bank… it was from the left bank: Mouton Rothschild 1998!
Blind tasting are quite difficult! Fortunately, both wines were good. My goal wasn’t to prove that Valandraud was the best. Most blind tastings organized at my home, as opposed to others (which I won’t name…), are not meant for Valandraud to come out first, which is easy if the tasting is properly organized – but only to prove that even tasted blind, Valandraud holds up and can be compared to first growths and even can also often be rated amongst the best. Today, the price of Valandraud is below first growths, making it attractive. As our friend wholesaler present said, make Valandraud a statutory wine, quite rare and expensive offering an alternative to cult first growths and often very expensive.

The presentation of Valandraud in Korea will neither refer to “Cinderella Wine” used in Japan, nor “garage wine” used in the USA, but “Boutique Wine”. Viva Korea!

No comments: