Quiet weekend

Like every Saturday and Sunday, we visited our vineyards and cellars. Yesterday, Murielle and I went to see the progress on the roofing of Virginie’s cellar in her Lalande de Fronsac property. We had a long chat with Auguste, an 80 year old ex sheep herder from the Pyrénées, who was taking a walk with his dog. He told us that he kept 200 ewe on the property for their organic fertilizer. The owners of this property were from Paris and used to come in August, way before seaside resorts became popular. They installed running water for the whole village (in 1880). They had a tennis court, guest houses and before WWII, organized parties in the little oak forest (nicknamed “Bois de Boulogne”!) which the old people still remembered.
In the meantime, this property has to be entirely rebuilt, the vineyards of white and red grapes (20 hectares – around 40.5 acres) and the meadows are still in bad shape, but we will see the difference in a couple of years.
Yesterday for lunch we drank a Chapelle Chambertin 2002 from Rossignol-Trapet. Thanks to Patrick, I had the pleasure to meet the owner, in tune with organic agriculture and I liked the wines I tasted from the barrels. This wine, which without any doubt is very good, is not powerful enough, modern for our taste… Still the two of us almost drank the whole bottle, which is usually a good sign.
I read that the wine of the Pays de France is finally coming. Well it is not too late. I am part of those who think that this will be a good thing. The Spanish example, once again ahead of France, will have forced our leader to think.

Wednesday, busy day in the Médoc

We left at 9 am for Clément Pichon for a tasting planned for 10 with Patrick Daney, who is in charge of the property and Guillaume Quéron. We tasted 2005, with each batch kept separately: the Merlots, good, the Cabernets Sauvignons, superb and the Cabernets Francs a bit less (they will go in the second wine). These wines are developing well and this reinforces my opinion of this great 2005 vintage.
Patrick is planning to do the bottling in June, but Guillaume and I will recommend to do it 3 months earlier to preserve all these beautiful fruit.
The 2006 batches prove that the work put into it is already paying off: for instance, the Cabernets Francs are excellent (certainly low yields, but a with a 1st wine as a reward) and even the other batches we ran some of the juice off (or saignée) to get more concentration are good. I think that blending we will do in March will not be to difficult. The unusual concentration in the ripe Cabernets Sauvignons will be the backbone of this Cru Bourgeois Supérieur.
The upgrade of the cellar and the new reception room are done. Christine Dupart and Laetitia just need to reopen it for business. I am not worried, especially if Jean-Pierre Wagner succeeds in his trial period.

After this visit of Clément Pichon, we went to Saint Estèphe to start a new challenge. We had a nice meal at Château Pomy (nice place) and studious atmosphere with Guillaume and a future great Saint Estèphe, if god is with us.