End of the Year

Happy New Year with this video we posted on Facebook of Andreas Larsson, best sommelier of the world, tasting and commenting Virginie de Valandraud 2007. Thank you Andreas, thank you Youtube.

Thank you also to Dmitriev, for posting his tasting of Bad Boy 2007, which was viewed 1278 times in 10 months, compared to the video of Bad Boy which has been seen 920 times in a year and the video of Mövenpick’s wine of the year 2011 and had a big hit with our Star of the South, a special cuvee from Thunevin-Calvet, who was seen by 2,400 people!

Thunevin-Calvet's new cellar filmed by the architects and titled “The architects - The angels' share” was viewed 1803 times in 5 months!

Lots of videos shot here in Hong Kong, Brazil, the United States, all potentially seen by thousands of people who would also see Valandraud, the race horse, a 10 years old gelding born from Albizzia and Lady Nashamaa, earned his owner more than 500 000 euros! (Let me point out that I don’t own this horse and get no royalties!)

Construction

Murielle & I drank Chateau Fleur Cardinale 2005 with our meal; this wine was very young, black and had a fresh nose and a very fine texture. Its power was contained with a beautiful harmony. It should be at its peak in 10 years. What a great vintage 2005 is! It was even better the next day for lunch.

A lot of construction is taking place right now in properties on the right bank, some known others lesser: cranes, masons, craftsmen, all building or rebuilding wine cellars, aging facilities, reception areas... This is the effect of good vintages as well as competition.

In Saint Emilion, we also have the classification system, which requires respecting the rules promised during the last classification, upgrade to current standards and improve areas to reflect the status already acquired or asserted. The primary beneficiaries of this construction are, after the artisans, the wines which will be even given more attention and Saint Emilion who will attract even more tourists.

I wonder how many tourists visited Château Faugères in Saint Etienne de Lisse? How many will visit Cheval Blanc, Soutard? And what will be the financial benefits for wine shops, restaurants, the bakery, etc…

L’Auberge Saint Jean

We were invited for lunch on Tuesday by a supplier and friend. We were 5 people and drank with the meal Valandraud Blanc 2007 and Domaine de l'A 2007 (very good)
The restaurant L’Auberge Saint Jean is located in Blaignac and overlooking the Dordogne River, 10 minutes from Saint Emilion; pleasant surroundings, attentive service and charming owners.

The cuisine is creative, original and contemporary and the wine list has a good selection. 2 forks in the Michelin guide – it deserves more. Bravo Manuela et Thomas L’Hérisson

At the table next to ours, Murielle recognized Mr. Jean-Claude Bireau, mayor of Sablons de Guitres who married us in 1976, and became a House Representative for Libourne from 1993 to 1997; he would have liked to marry us again if he was still mayor!

For the love of taste

Bravo –bravo –bravo! Or a good reason not to despair of French TV.

France 3 broadcasted a program on young people passionate about working in gastronomic cuisine, and despite the Evin regulation, they included a young oenologist in charge of several properties in Lalande de Pomerol, Pomerol and Lussac during her work, tending vines, green harvest and then harvesting, tasting with her bosses this beautiful 2011 vintage, particularly Clos du Clocher and Bonalgue, according to Peter and Jean-Baptist Bourotte.

Christmas

This Christmas, I was not in good form so didn’t do any excesses, except for the lobsters a friend supplier gave us. We paired them with Présidial white 2010 a great value and Virginie de Valandraud Blanc 2010, large format.
We also enjoyed a good and rare bottle: the 3rd label from Cheval Blanc AOC 2007, I have no idea how much this bottle costs.

The play “La Vérité” (The Truth) in which Mr. Arditi headlines will be broadcasted live on television Tuesday 27. I really want to see this play we recently saw in the theater.

Story of crosses

I read Pierre Lucu’s book, published by Editions de l’Entre Deux Mers titled “Guide des Croix de la Juridiction de Saint Emilion” (Guide of Saint Emilion’s crosses).
And there are many crosses.
Everywhere.
We see them on churches, in cemeteries, at cross roads, on the road to Compostela and in beautiful chateaux.
There are many ways of living in Saint Emilion. Pierre Lucu, recently retired, devotes part of his time to research and write about our local history.
After crosses, will it be mills?

Saint Préfert

The Credit Agricole leads to many places... as long as you get out of there!
A former executive of Crédit Agricole, Isabel Fernando, created a cult wine which I had the pleasure to drink.
Domaine Saint Préfert 2007, collection Charles Giraud, Chateauneuf du Pape : a powerful wine, balanced, with spices, cherries, chocolate, a nice color, really good.

The charm of the owner is shown in the wine, her energy too. I plan to go with Jean-Roger, Marie and Murielle, to visit and taste at the domain, having had the chance to meet Isabel during the New York Wine Experience. We need to learn how to produce Grenache like in Chateauneuf du Pape and also how to deal with our Mourvèdre the best of the best

Meals we recently had in restaurant in Saint Emilion

Lard et Bouchon : the setting, service, quality of the dishes and wine selection, all at a nice price. The Lirac 2009 from Mordorée was delicious.

Le Clos du Roy : near our house, service and gastronomic menu, creative cuisine. Wine Elian Da Ros Chante Coucou 2006, good.

L’envers du Décor of course, the setting, service, a meeting place, I forgot the name of the wines, but they must all have been good!

Dinner with friends

We were invited to a dinner with friends, owners of Château Mangot
Below is the list of dishes prepared with flair by Anne Marie and Isabelle (hurrah for the scallops and the desserts!)
Amuse-bouche: Foie Gras Trilogy (Warm Oyster with Foie Gras, Foie Gras capuccino, Foie Gras Millefeuille)
Paired with Francis Boulard Champagne, Cuvée Petrae

1st Appetizer: Scallops with chorizo gratin and arugula emulsion
Paired with Puligny Montrachet "Garenne" 2007 from Olivier Leflaive

2nd Appetizer: Roasted lobster with Riesling and puree of chard and 4 spices
Paired with Trimbach, Cuvée Frédéric Emile 375ml. 2001 vintage

1st Entree: Sweetbreads, Soubise sauce with cherries, red wine reduction, on a bed of white vegetable
Paired with Volnay Clos des Chênes 2006 from Bouchard…
And a Chinese wine, Cabernet Sauvignon Tônhwua.

2nd Entree: Saddle of lamb with potato crust in truffle oil
Paired with Lynch Bages 1996 and Valandraud 2001

Cheeses, Sheep milk trio from Jean D'Allos… Spring Ossau d'estive, and manchego
Paired with Rouget 2000 and Quintessence 2003

Pre-dessert: Nage of exotic fruits and Vanilla Panna Cotta vanilla

Dessert: Coconut custard, simmered mango and mango Espuma
Paired with Chateau Haut Bergeron Sauternes 2007

All the wines were interesting, Boulard’s Champagne was very good, especially the Petrae cuvee. The others, worked well with the dishes served, except (for my taste) for the Burgundy, for I prefer the style of Trapet or Dugat

Rouget 2000 and Mangot’s 2003 Quintessence had their moment of glory and were divine. The right temperature, food, and fine atmosphere, are all important elements.
Haut Bergeon 2007 was Jacques Luxey’s favorite wine with Raymond Lafont.

Luxury Wine Tourism

Bernard Magrez doesn’t do things half way. He created a Wine Tourism agency focused on luxury, prestige and sophistication.
Visit of chateaux, fine dining, receptions, concerts, original modes of transportation (Rolls-Royce, Falcon 50 private jet, Pinasse or Hacker-Craft boats), spa, golf, Grand Theatre, etc...

What’s good for Bernard Magrez is good for us. This luxury clientele may also want to drink a first Grand Cru or Valandraud and also notice that there are ultra-luxury wines reasonably priced such as Tour Carnet, Fombrauge and many of Bernard Magrez crus which are sold at very affordable prices. Besides Valandraud, we also offer Domaine Virginie Thunevin Bordeaux or wines from Pomerol or the Roussillon.

A taste of cork

On Friday, Murielle, Rémi, our attorney Maitre Magret as well as experts, lawyers and tasting group met for a damage assessment and review our complaint about a batch of Bordeaux and determine if it was a little, a lot or not at all, infected, either by tainted corks, or by the cellar, or both, or.. nothing!

Our customers today are so precise that what could have passed for a normal taste of barrels, being too old, is now rejected by them. As soon as a customer reports a problem we didn’t detect, despite our use of advance techniques, we launch a review and even consider filing a claim. The formalism of the ISO certification helps our investigation to find, understand and possibly solve problems.
Unfortunately, our suppliers responded to our amicable request with “it's not us, it's the other ...” and... maybe it’s true.
I hope that it won’t take 3 years to resolve this problem; in the meantime, we are still customers of these two suppliers.

Special moment, instant of grace...

In this period where PRs from chateaux are suspected of having multiple conflicts of interest, I still believe that one can do a good job of journalist and love people.
Well, I did not find another title to describe an amazing meeting I just had; proof that this industry is really exciting.

This subject came up because of an interview I had with two well-known journalists I knew very little about.
It’s hard to believe that I can still be surprised by journalists, their way of being, living and working, but in this case, something more made it special... they live in the Gironde.
Originally from Switzerland and Germany but true francophiles.
Rolf Bichsel and Barbara Schroeder just opened their PR agency Vinmédia and came to my place to ask me a few questions and shoot an internet film (I guess).
The style was Rock and roll, even disco; I don’t think that the German magazine Vinum would publish such article.
Barbara Schroeder’s questions were “sharp” and “fresh” I didn’t even understand one of them:
“Do you like art?” – it was only after searching on the internet that I realized she was an artist, Rolf Bichsel was holding the camera and enjoying filming us and directing our 1st encounter. I asked them: Why didn’t we meet before?
Barbara's answer was half-serious, half-teasing: “You did not need it!”
Fortunately, Rolf knows that a cat, even from the gutter, needs daily caresses.

I look forward to seeing the final film of this time we spent together at L’Essentiel on YouTube.

Saint Emilion

Lots of good things are taking place in Saint Emilion.
Domaines Clarence Dillon, from the Prince Robert de Luxembourg, was wise to buy one of the most beautiful properties in Saint Emilion, Château Tertre Daugay and the famous Chinese actress Zhao Wei just bought Château Monlot.

These purchases, plus those of other motivated investors, even if less famous, demonstrate the vitality and reputation of our beautiful appellation, and I hope the new classification will reinforce our new neighbors on the merits of their choice.

Paris - Saint Emilion connexion

The Jules et Jim Hotel opens its doors on December 19, 11 rue des Gravilliers 75003 Paris. It was created by Goeffroy Sciard who owns with his family Château Faurie de Souchard in Saint Emilion.

On the web

On Monday, I typed the word Valandraud in the search engines; it appeared in several languages including English, Indonesian, Russian, German, Chinese and French.

In Chinese an article listing the 10 most celebrated, rarest and most expensive wines in the world included Valandraud 1995.

In German, René Gabriel gave 20/20 on, again, Valandraud 1995, in Russian they mention the arrival of Andrea Franchetti in Kiev, in Ukraine, and its relationship to Valandraud and Pingus; in Indonesian the same article is written on the 10 wines that it must be drunk once in the life, etc...

Praises

I cannot resist sharing with you Gilles Berdin’s lines, who visited us at the beginning of last week:
"A week ago we met and the two wines we tasted are still haunting me. I’ve been talking about them to everyone!
Frankly, it's rare that I react that way as I often have emotions in tastings, but in this case...

While writing down the content of our conversation, I realized that at the time, I didn’t say a word, shocked by this great discovery and then, eureka, I knew:
Blanc de Valandraud 2010 is the revolution of the sun during an unforgettable summer day which began with a soft and silky dawn, a crescendo ending in an explosion of light which finishes subtly its run on an endless twilight. This delicate attack, explosion of fine aromatics mid-palate and long finish make it an e-x-c-e-p-t-i-o-n-a-l wine.
As for the 2009 red, it is simply the little Bacchus in velvet breeches. It was so good! Again I would have much to say but I refrain.

I should not drink such wines because they trigger a nonsensical gibberish that I cannot control. Nevertheless, I hope to find the right angle to share this experience with readers. "

Thanking him for this enthusiastic post, I asked him permission to transcribe his email here: "No problem, you can even mention my name if you feel like it - I must learn to accept my delusions.”
Thank you Gilles.

The 2007 Classification of Bordeaux wines

The 2007 classification of Bordeaux wines, published by Rémy Poussart, who also owns the Grand Jury International des Vins, is a bit of a megalomaniac project from a true wine lover who wants to rewrite the laws and the classifications of wine, either historical ones, or drawn by well-known media like Decanter, Robert Parker, etc... A funny blend of contrarians such as Dussert & Gerber, who I never speak about, or sites such as La Passion du Vin where amateurs remake the world.

This 1st classification is the result of real hard work and as anything that comes out of wine tasting, regardless of skill or commercial interests; some part is good and others debatable like any human endeavor. I agreed to present some of the wines from my properties and many of them did pretty well, especially Domaine des Sabines, who arrived in 1st place out of 7 in Lalande de Pomerol wines; unfortunately many well-known crus were missing. Too bad. Still, many of our customers like it despite the bad reputation of the vintage. In the Margaux appellation, more amazing is the good place reached by our Chateau Bellevue de Tayac which was ranked 8th out of 40 wines and received a better note that the famous Chateau Margaux and many classified growths.
In Pomerol, Clos du Beau Père 2007 was ranked 12 in front of crus I know are better. Even if our wine deserves it, let’s remain sensible, otherwise it could become an issue…

The 5th place in Saint Emilion may seem correct if you look at the wines ranked 1st which are behind. Again, it seems odd, for me - to see 3 de Valandraud 2007 ranked in front of Clos Badon 2007, especially when you see well-known crus which are seriously better than my wines, and which were ranked behind. This is either due to this collegial blind tasting which mixes ratings from industry professionals and amateurs, where erratic notes have been deleted like Le Guern does.

I like “crazy” ideas and that's why I talk so much of this grand classification of Bordeaux wines, which, unfortunately for its creator, may not have an impact, or shift the current lines. I like this quote: when trying too hard to prove a point, you end up proving the opposite.
In any case it is a beautiful 1st place, overall, for Beauséjour Bécot 2007; I hope that this will have as much influence on this wine as the 1st place reached by Sociando Mallet in François Mauss’ Grand Jury Europeen.

Business lunch (or almost)

The lunch was part business, part pleasure, as it is often the case in our industry.
It’s hard to behave only like machines, the world of wine is made of encounters and we can be friends with our customers, our critics, our suppliers while maintaining our freedom. Anyway, that's how I try to live a job which is also my passion.


Before the meal, we tasted 4 wines from our property in the Roussillon: Thunevin-Calvet, so we could get a professional opinion from the Rhone wines.
2008 Constance is good, fresh and neat; it’s not surprising that at that price, this wine works well with our clients. Then, 2007 Dentelles, really good, easy to drink, structured, balanced, nothing over the top in this wine, also a great value price. What are my staff and my customers missing?
Then 2007 Hugo, a great wine, powerful, almost Spanish in style, or Napa, or Australian, but again sold at a good price for customers who like this modern Mediterranean-style wine. 3 Marie 2007 is simply a great wine and if it wasn’t labeled Roussillon, it ould sell for 200 to 300 euros, but unfortunately word Roussillon is on the label and except for Petite Siberie, there are almost no wines able to claim such status from this beautiful region.

For lunch, we were 7 including Xavier, Rémi, Murielle and myself. To start, we drank Valandraud Blanc 2008, which was really good, even though we didn’t taste it blind

Then, blind paired with an omelet with black truffle from last Spring: on the left, everyone's favorite, a wine with finesse, length and truffles aromas recalling great Pomerol and its iron rich terroir. On the right we had a powerful wine, much younger, austere, no one guessed it. One of our guests found the vintage which was 2000. L’Interdit de Valandraud (the forbidden Valandraud) was on the left, Leoville Las Cases on the right.

2nd wines paired with a delicious sirloin and Joel Robuchon‘s truffled mashed potataoes:
On the left, a sexy wine where the vintage was found by half of the table: 1998. The suggested appellations were: Pomerol, Old Certan? No, it was Valandraud 1998, a beautiful bottle with a perfect cork, preferred by 5 out of 7. On the right, a more powerful wine with a beautiful terroir. Both wines were relatively similar for some of the guests, less sexy, it was Latour 1998, 1st growth from Pauillac.

Following, and not blind, the Basque cake from Chez Lopez (I thought we would have the chocolate cake  !) : Maury 2007 Thunevin-Calvet, good but not a match for this Basque cake; the elegance, race and harmony of Yquem 2005 was the perfect pairing for this dessert.
Coffee and nap… hard to get back to work again; for this is also my life as a winery owner and negociant.

What’s a good pairing with chocolate : Thunevin Calvet Maury

What’s best to drink with chocolate?Thunevin Calvet Maury! Often it is question of pairing between food and drink, wine in our case. Misconceptions, meat and red wine, cheese and red wines, are often viewed as facts in France.

Sauterne can be served with roast chicken and be a perfect pairing, goat cheeses served with sweet white or dry white are often better than red wine, etc... One of the easiest pairing for me is to serve our Maury wine with the chocolate desert from Lopez (the pastry chef from Libourne).

So, the question often asked about what to drink with chocolate, is easy to answer: Maury, and especially our own 2004 or 2007, a perfect match with chocolate cake, by the way Nicolas de Rouyn agrees with me 

Murielle

Murielle was interviewed by entrepeneure.fr and despite what she said; I think she did very good in the piece which was intended to highlight the role of women in society, the economy, companies. Of course, the wine world seems quite like a man’s world.
Of course, there are more properties whose image is exclusively represented by its owner, rarely by a female owner and even more rarely by a couple, although the Cathiard from Smith Haut Lafitte are the exception.
Murielle gave her name to Valandraud and is 100% responsible for several years for the whites, planted in 2000, and the latest vintages of Valandraud as well.
This is not a role for the occasion, but a role of a woman executive!

We drank a bottle of Domaine de la Tour du Bon 1998 Cuvée Saint Ferréol from Bandol; I read that it is a blend of Mourvèdre (90%) and Carignan (10%). In any case the wine is all there, as strong as a Bordeaux, with a bit of brick color and hints of brown, a true “southern” nose and a pleasant palate, in my opinion, however the style a bit too “classic” for me.
Baby Bad Boy 2009, quite a different wine; it will be ready to drink wine in 2 / 3 years served cool like a “claret”, for the texture of this wine is between red and rosé, its aromatic nose makes this wines enjoyable to drink after the aperitif with tapas. Merlot 70% and 30% Grenache, vinified without looking to extract tannins for cellaring.

Grand Tasting

We traveled to Paris to participate at the Grand Tasting organized by Bettane & Desseauve in the Carousel du Louvre. A lot of people attended except on Friday morning. It is true that this year our table was a bit out of the way, at least we had more space. It’s not easy to know what a good location is in a trade show like this one or Vinexpo. Should we aim for a lot of people or only to those who seek us?

Our team of Terre de Lisse, including Pressac, Faugères, Rol Valentin, Fleur Cardinale and Valandraud has since added Sansonnet and properties in Pomerol or Castillon from Faugères and Rol Valentin. For my part, we poured Fleur Cardinale 2008, Sansonnet 2008, Bad Boy 2009 and 2009 Valandraud red and white.

We ran out of bottles of Valandraud and should have had 14 or 15 bottles, while 10 bottles where sufficient for the other wines?

It was also an opportunity to meet friends, colleagues, Italian, French or from other countries as well as direct and private clients or customers of our cutomers restaurant or wine shops. This year, our booth was tended by David, Didier, Murielle and I for our wines, Marie Bénédicte and Christophe for Sansonnet and Matthieu for Fleur Cardinale. I had no time to attend any Master Classes but they were packed and had high profile guests. We had a nice meal at the Brasserie Ruc opposite the Carrousel du Louvre, with its beautiful setting and attentive service, and we were fortunate to find a good 2009 Réserve Perrin at a decent price for this kind of place.

For a long time, we wanted to see Pierre Arditi in the theater, and we finally did it. This play performed in the Théatre Montparnasse with three other actors will remain as one of this year’s highlights. Mr. Arditi’s enhanced our happiness and privilege to meet him after the show and to sign pictures of all of us tasting Valandraud during another trade show.
During this meeting, Pierre Arditi mentioned a shop located Boulevard Saint Germain who carries most of our wines. Thank you Thomas

Friday night, nothing, we were exhausted and had bad dinner in a brasserie close to our hotel Scribe, which actually was a nice place.
On Saturday, we had dinner at friends of ours, film producers, who were celebrating their new house near Beaubourg with one of our most loyal private client (thank you Cecile). During the meal we started with a producer champagne which I did not write the name, followed by a 1948 Haut Bommes Sauternes our friend François Audouze would have loved, it was very good although not too sweet, paired perfectly with foie gras. We then had a 2008 Hermitage white from Chave which worked well with scallops and Fall truffles, with the meat we had a very good bottle which I had not drank for a long time: the famous Chateau Montrose 1990; a magnum might have been more suitable for friends who are true "lovers." After, Petit Village 1990 Pomerol, difficult to follow Montrose, still very young and with a good number of years ahead and because we wanted him to taste one of our wines: Virginie de Valandraud 2007 to give us the strength to take a taxi and go to bed after 1 am.

The TGV is always nice, we ran into many colleagues from Bordeaux on the way to Paris and back.

Clos du Beau-Père

Tastings have many surprises: wines known to be good are not rated or even badly rated. For example a higher note was given in the UK to Virginie de Valandraud than to Valandraud 2007. This was already the case a few years ago in a tasting at Dupont Grisol at Rolland’s place, where Virginie – which at the time really tasted like a “2nd label” - was not, however, what this wine became today...

In the last issue of the beautiful magazine Fine Wine, is not noted Valandraud 2007 was not rated but Clos du Beau-Père 2007 was noted among 15 others already famous Pomerol.

Being able to get 15.5 for this property is rather a nice recognition of the work undertaken by us since 2006.

Our Lalande de Pomerol Domaine des Sabines will be our success story for 2011.

Excerpt from the article:
Clos du Beau-Père ( 13% ABV )- 15.5

MB : Excellent, full, Merlot-like nose ; classical Pomerol texture, structure, and taste, picked at the right moment, with an excellent, firm finish.16.5

TD : Dark color; a smoky nose; dark fruit on palate, with intense, ripe, solid tannins, but good balance and classic, powerfull Pomerol personality.

MS: Light nose, with wood currently dominating the ripe fruit a bit; nicely balanced, lighter style of Pomerol, slightly dry-edged for the available fruit. Fresh, ripe and straigforward, with moderate complexity and length. Drink 2013-2028. 14.5

It’s not because we talk that we don’t have anything to say, nor to drink!

For lunch, we drank with Gilles Berdin : Valandraud Blanc 2010, with small scallops, a perfect pairing. The wine had fresh aromas of flowers from fruit trees, pineapple, litchi, mangos, peaches, super fat, silky, concentrated and still with enough acidity to be light with persistent aromatic finish. The famous Caudalies are the privilege of fine wine. Following, chicken with Valandraud 2009 which we will open more often as the wine is big and without a doubt the best we made for the past 20 years, since the beginning of Valandraud.

On the site of the Wine Spectator, readers ask James Molesworth to recommend the best values of the 2009 vintage. His response is:
« Don't worry - I'll find some value for you. Look for the names profiled back in the April cover store - chateaus like Dalem, Rollan de By, Brown, La Tour Figeac, Jean Faux, Domaine de l'A and Jean-Luc Thunevin's Bad Boy (Mauvais Garçon) bottling...I've also uncovered some other interesting, off-the-radar properties so far in my '09 tastings and will report back on them as well... »

The Grand Tasting starts tomorrow, December 2 at the Carrousel du Louvre, stop by our stand: 131!

Saint Emilion

The bar of the CIVB in Bordeaux is a busy place with another book signing event for a new book on Saint Emilion, published by Editions Feret (who will soon translate the famous "Feret" in Chinese) put together by the painter Philippe Dufrenoy and many pictures from Jean Marie Langery and Jean Bernard Nadeau. It is a beautiful book and great gift for all Saint Emilion lovers.
Plenty of Saint Emilion locals (40?) made the effort to cross the river. I'm certain that more people will attend the next presentation in Saint Emilion.

Some of the guests met-up afterwards for lunch at the famous brasserie Le Noailles where we had the pleasure of welcoming a few Québecois well known in the wine world.
It’s a pity that the wine list doesn’t feature more affordable wines (between 40 and 80 euros). There are certainly enough affordable wines available to sell while making a decent margin...

Terroir

Michel Bettane wrote in the famous newspaper Le monde, an article titled: “Terroirisme, the politically correct thought of the moment”.

Michel Bettane redefines, analyzes and comments in this article the word terroiriste he invented. It is also useful and interesting to read comments from different people, for or against, their thoughts, improving our understanding of the word terroir, its meaning, hidden secrets and what it suggests or reveals.

I am certainly very close to Michel Bettane thoughts. Every time I am somewhere in the world to promote my wines, the word terroir is often mentioned and I answer with examples: 1975 Margaux produced by Bernard Ginestet and Margaux 1977 signed by Metzopoulos with the advice of Emile Penaud. Equally telling are the revelation of the terroir of Pingus or La Mondotte.

The example of La Mondotte is the most telling, before and after the decision to make a great wine, same terroir and yet totally different.
Following the creation of this word by Michel Bettane, I wanted to show-off by inventing scatovinophile, necrovinophile and one of the speaker created pédovinophile...