Saturday, February 20, 2010

Thanks to Challenges

Issue number 200 of the famous magazine Challenges just came out. This financial magazine, focused on free market, had the following title, in this week’s issue : The 200 who make France !

Page 51, in the Aquitaine section, I am included as one out of the 10 selected from the region, with these 2 titles: Jean Luc Thunevin, winemaker-wine merchant and Saint Emilion trouble maker. The article speaks about my adventure, my consulting role with Vignobles Clément Fayat and of Bad Boy.

That's good, I like this magazine which I buy regularly, and it is undoubtedly outside traditional wine press that PR is the most effective today. Nevertheless, the RVF is unavoidable ... it should explore new angles for their articles with some imagination. I enjoyed the editorial by Denis Saverot entitled Corbières Amor.

The dinner last night was nice and friendly. It reminded me what a friend of mine said, a famous Belgian baron who came to my home on a Saturday and for who I opened one of my best bottles of Champagne Salon 1988, I believe; he said: "But what can the Thunevin drink on Sunday!? "
So, Thursday evening, in our corner, our hosts opened Roederer brut, Pommard from Château de Pommard 2002; hard to make up our mind, maybe that’s how a Pommard should looks like, pretty bottle with this smoky green glass.
Following, we had serious, even very serious things: no right bank, just left, Medoc – even here, we know that there are other wines than Pomerol and Saint Emilion.

1st wine: Lynch Bages 2001, a very young wine at the beginning of its carrier. I like this wine and its owners and one of the sure values in Bordeaux. Being consistent is not incompatible with pleasure.

2nd wine: Impossible to guess: we said Pomerol, great Pomerol, we looked in Graves, Margaux, but this ripness, exotic side… it was Cos d’Estournel 2001. It is the first time I taste Cos so sexy, easy and complex, soft as well as powerful. A real surprise. I have to visit the new cellar. My colleagues, famous owners, were ready to go immediately. Goes to show.

3rd wine: I guessed Pauillac (it happens), and in Pauillac, Pichon Baron who is run by a discreet manager who does miracles; this wine is for me a sure value and I am rarely disappointed. Less famous than others, but always full, with aromas of tobacco from Havana, a real elegant bottle from 2000 vintage.

Phew, the last wine, finally, I have to wake up early tomorrow, but at least a bit later than usual…

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