Friday 13

I was born on Friday, April 13, 1951 in Mascara, in French Algeria. I always thought that Friday 13 brought luck and happiness. This year’s birthday is also special because it falls on a Friday.
I don’t like holidays and birthdays, but I learned how to accept with them... I'm getting old!
Thursday, Jean Marc Quarin spent 4 hours to taste 3 or 4 vintages of some wines he was unfamiliar with or that were cheap, distributed or produced by my company. I would really like to thank the few critics who are interested in little known and affordable wines; for it takes commitment considering the wide difference between comments made by amateurs on the internet and reality. Many complain about the prices of 100 well known, classified or famous Bordeaux, but in fact few make an effort to read what Jean Marc Quarin writes or what most media publishes: Bettane Desseauve, RVF, the Wine Spectator or even Robert Parker who spend time tasting affordable and approachable wines by many people: for example, in my case, wines I distribute like: Château Lafont Fourcat and A Nos Amours, our greatest success with Bad Boy, Bad Girl and Baby Bad Boy.
And already for many years, Château de Carles, and recently Château Subilaux and Chateau Bellevue La Randee, Présidial one of our brand wine, Domaine Virginie Thunevin my daughter’s wine, our Lalande de Pomerol Domaine des Sabines, our Southern wines Dentelles, L'Amourette and especially Constance and Calandray, Maro Château de Saint Amant, etc ... Wines that sell at retail, in France, between 6 and 20 euros.
Jean-Marc Quarin pointed out to me that I don’t communicating much about this part of my job, my business. He has not visited my company, my cellars, my stocks and my stores in Saint Emilion, nor seen my sales staff in charge of promoting and selling these wines as well as quite a few others, knowing that in Bordeaux, I am not the only one doing this kind of work, many negocians promote their "darlings" and exclusivities which they rarely do for the easy money famous classified growths, which are in demand. For the record, I would like to point out that 15% of 100 euros is another thing than 15% of 3 euros!

Also Thursday, the bosses and employees of my three partner bankers in charge of our company one paid us a visit. He studied our case and understands it well, which is not so common. In general, the rep in contact with us knows his customers best.

In the evening I didn’t have the courage to go to the Grand Hotel in Bordeaux invited by Gault Millau, the days are too short...

The notes from Tim Atkin, Master of Wine, have been posted on his website: he especially likes our wines for they are not too expensive as our Bordeaux, Domaine Virginie Thunevin (89 points), 3 de Valandraud (91 points), Chateau Bel Air Ouy (92 points), Chateau Prieure Lescours (90 points), Domaine des Sabines (90 points), these notes being greatly higher to many famous classified growths, I’m liking more and more the English