USA Suite: Las Vegas

The trip began with a Gala dinner (600 people) held at the Wynn – we were the only 2 bordelais (Pape Clément and us), and good representation of Spanish, Italians, Americans and Laurent Perrier.
A very professional tasting event took place at Alain Ducasse’s Mix restaurant on the 37th floor of the beautiful Mandalay Bay Hotel. Only top professionals, some fans of Valandraud and supporters of Garage wines (we are not far from Silicon Valley…)
Most were either French or Francophiles, and not surprisingly, Valandraud 99 and 98 were hits. Success also for Blanc de Valandraud No 1 2004, Les 3 Marie 2004, and paradoxally Les Dentelles 2004 which was appreciated because of its Carignan and its “Nature” side and a bit of wildness brought by this varietals. Tasted blind, I didn’t even recognize it.

Here is the complete list of wines tasted by the guests:
N°1 Blanc de Valandraud 2004 Bordeaux Blanc
Lalande Couturier 2005 Bordeaux
Calvet Thunevin Constance 2004 Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes
Le Vin de Bob 2003 Bergerac
Château Haut Mazeris 2003 Fronsac
3 de Valandraud 2001 Saint Emilion Grand Cru
Clos Badon Thunevin 2004 Saint Emilion Grand Cru

Haut Carles 2004 Saint Emilion
Château Haut Mazeris 2003 Canon Fronsac
Virginie de Valandraud 2001 Saint Emilion Grand Cru
Château Valandraud 1999 Saint Emilion Grand Cru
Château Valandraud 1998 Saint Emilion Grand Cru
Domaine Calvet Thunevin Dentelles 2004 Côtes du Roussillon Villages
Domaine Calvet Thunevin Hugo 2004 Côtes du Roussillon Villages
And Les 3 Marie 2004

For dinner, we had a great meal in this beautiful restaurant and were particularly spoiled.
Yesterday, May 29, on Arte (an intellectual French-German television station), a report on globalization of wine was broadcasted. It was difficult to stay awake as it had no main thread and was slow. Still, we were able to see a few interesting pictures. For instance subject like our colleague and friend from Bordeaux Ginestet’s production of his brand wine, American technique to reduce alcohol levels in wine, Mexicans who pick grapes in a rush (at night), the evolution of the major international group Constellation Brands (Mondavi-Corona-Hardy-Tsingtao, etc…) with its target group strategy, and especially the universal taste called here baby taste for sweetness and additives to get vanilla flavors in wine.

Journalists - critics

Monday 28 was a low-key day meeting with a journalist from Decanter to have a serious conversation about Garage, 4 hours. Croix de Labrie 2003 and 1999 plus Valandraud 1995 helped to understand this vast subject which was already covered in last month’s Revue du Vin de France.

Almost all the ratings have been published. While still optimistic on the quality of the 2006 vintage, I hope that the futures campaign will finally begin. Other than that, I regret the lack of commitment from many of my friends journalists who, once again, support well known brands instead of promoting more difficult discoveries or sure values which are harder to sell such as Fronsac: Haut Carles is one of the best wines produced in Bordeaux this year, and still the notes, are only good. La Dominique, which is one of the great successes of Saint Emilion this year was “forgotten” by Parker, few tasters saw the new positioning of Clos Badon, Fleur Cardinal was forgotten by some, etc… As for the prices, it is another story, the high Euro is not helping.
112 wines have now been released.
1) How many offers have been successful for more than 70%?
2) On 38 deals finalized, how many succeed for more than 70%?
3) Why do brokers and maybe wholesalers want to buy 2006 at the price of the lowest wines in the open market? Even if the quality of the 2006 vintage is superior to 2004, 2002, even 2003.

It is hard to believe that the quality and success of a vintage have for the moment no interest to the clients of our clients (there is unfortunately a bit of truth in this).

I regularly read French internet sites on wine (I don’t understand English well) and would like to quote Luc Lavaux: “I like fine wines when they are not thin. I like powerful wines when they are balanced, I find pleasure depending on the circumstance and avoid to fall into the traps of treating some as elegant, others as vulgar, letting people believe that I have the monopoly of good taste.” Bravo, simple to understand.

Still Yves Zermatten ads “Why would a sexy woman would necessarily be vulgar? Does subtlety exclude sensuality?” Phew, at least there is still Croix de Labrie to help.

The futures campaign has started and opinions are all going the same way.. (guess which!)