Europe 2013 - Bordeaux Left Bank

We took a day to visit the world famous left bank of Bordeaux - home to such famous wineries as Mouton, Lafite Rothchild, Latour and many others. All the wineries in the original ranking of 1855 are located on the left bank. Here, the world's best Cabernet Sauvignon is grown - most left bank Bordeaux wines are contain a majority of Cabernet Sauvignon. We drove through the City of Bordeaux then up through the suburb of Blanquefort which was much longer than I thought: I expected a beautiful country road but had to be patient until we were almost in Margaux.



We had an appointment at Leoville-Poyferre (2nd growth 1855 designation) up in St.Julien.  Leoville-Poyferre was part of the larger Leoville Estate until the the French Revolution and was later divided into Leoville-Casas, Leoville-Barton and Leoville-Poyferre). There is  a great history of the Estate on their website.



The Estate is now owned by the Cuvelier Family who were also our hosts when we visited their property Cuvelier Los Andes in Uco Valley south of Mendoza, Argentina - I felt this trip helped us to  close the circle.  The Cuvelier Family were wine merchants before the bought they bought the property in 1920...they also own the estate of Chateau Moulin Riche (1920) (their second label) as well as Chateau Le Crock (1903) up in St.Estephe. Our host was the charming Mrs Anne Cuvelier who showed us their property - which is interestingly all still built together but owned by the 3 separate estates of Leoville.




The winery recently bought a cutting edge sorting machine that has three built-in cameras  that allows them to determine what size, and color of grape will be sorted, additionally they just invested in brand new, conic stainless steel fermentation tanks - the  top of the line of, course. Their barrel room was simply gorgeous - and when one counts how many barrels there are (at the cost of about  $1000 each) it is understandable why real good wines are simply more expensive than others.Anne explained that investment in the winery is essential to keep producing top quality wines.


 




  


After touring the estate and the cellars Anne invited us to their tasting room. There we had the opportunity to taste several vintages of Chateau Le Crock and La Croix then tasted their Chateau Moulin Riche 2007 against their 2004 Chateau Leoville-Poyferre 2004 - well...... age definitely had contributed to the wonderful aroma and taste of the 07.

Chateau Le Crock

 



After the visit and the tasting we headed further north toward Pauillac and St.Estephe.

The Chateau's are very beautiful and simply too many to visit; I guess we will have to plan another trip there in the future.

We had one of our unfortunate 'tourist' experience in Bordeaux. Around 2:00 we decided to stop for lunch. As is turns out all the restaurants are closed from 2-5. We stopped at an outdoor cafe where some customers were lingering and asked if they had any recommendations. They directed us to MacDonald s! Needless to say we waited.  

Clos de Estournel

Clos de Estournel

Lafite Rothchild

Chateau Rauzan-Segla

Chateau Palmer

Chateau Pichon-Longueville

Branaire Ducru

Europe 2013 - Fun in Bordeaux

                                                                                                                                                                                          It's very difficult to have fun in Bordeaux that is not connected to wine.We met our Friends Jean-Christoph Meyro (whom I first met on my first trip to Argentina) and his business partner Alain Gourdis; owners of Domain Select in St.Emilion. JC took us out to dinner where we met his lovely family and on the way back we took a night drive through Pomerol and St. Emilion passing famous vineyards like Cheval Blanc, Chateau Figeac, La Fleu de Gay, Petrus, Angelus, Ausone and Pavie Maquin.



Saint Emilion is a lovely town in Bordeaux, VERY old, founded by the Romans. Again, free advice....have lunch BEFORE 2 pm otherwise all the finer restaurants will be CLOSED. However, there a some really nice bistro's open on their beautiful  market places that will serve you pasta or huge pots full of delicious steamed mussels. The town is very pretty with little shops and wine stores 'caves' with huge selections almost on every corner.

Wine Stores everywhere

Lunch at Chez Germaine

Saint Emilion

 



We wanted to sneak away and chose the seaside town of Arcachon. Alain made lunch reservation for us at Cafe de la Plage - Restaurant Ches Pierre. this was definitely one of the best - and also one of the most expensive lunches I ever had. Classic French Seafood cuisine (including Fois Gras).
Have a wonderful stroll along the beach promenade and do some people watching: French families, tourists and international visitors from all over the world.

 


We were so full that we decided to get a bit of exercise and headed south to visit the "Le Grand Dune du Pyla" - Europe's highest sand dune. We hiked up, and yes, this was a REAL workout, worthwhile because the view from the top of the dune was really cool.





One evening we took the advice of our hosts and had dinner at the  hilltop Restaurant L'Atelier de Canale. It was located right in the middle of vineyards and served excellent food - away from the tourist restaurants of Saint Emilion.

 





The afternoon we spent with Jerome Aguirre a young and upcoming wine maker - Jerome insists that he is a farmer first (after being a Basque). He has worked with Marcello Pelleriti on the team that recently received 100 points from Parker for their 2010 Chateau LaViolete and and 99 points for their Chateau LeGay both owned by Catherin Pere-Verge (who was my my host in Mendoza, Argentina) and unfortunately just passed away  in April 2013. . Jerome also was the wine maker for Chateau Haut-Brisson and Chateau Reignac (I sold both of these wines in Indianapolis) and is now the wine maker for Chateau St.Christoph which is undergoing a $ 13 million renovation. He showed us the future restaurant and their beautiful cellar. Jerome also took us to the small winery that he and his wife built. He produces Chateau Haut-Musset of Lalande de Pomerol. At both places is was fun to taste the new wines directly from the barrel - using a siphon. We stopped briefly by the house of his mother-in-law who makes delicious Basque cheeses and gave us a small wheel as a gift.

 

Jerome's own  winery- check out the brand new concrete fermenters

 

Barrel Tasting with Jerome

Europe 2013 - Visit at Chateau Haut-Selve, AOC Graves, France

We had been in contact with Denis Lesgourgues over the phone since our arrival at Chateau Peyros. Unfortunately a recent knee kept him in Bordeaux. We agreed to meet at Chateau Haut-Selve, located in Graves- an area mostly known for excellent white wines from Bordeaux. I have been a long fan of these wines, particularly the Chateau Haut-Selve White Bordeaux consisting of 50% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Semillion and 10% Sauvignon Gris (rare)...their reds are excellent too, especially their Reserve Red. All of their wines are available right here in Indiana.
 

This is one of Bordeaux's newer wineries -- thoughtfully planned out with  the location of the  vineyards chosen after lengthy research about the local terroir. In true fashion of the Lesgourgues Family, we were greeted by an    artfully designed gate and two huge statues of ancient gods flanking the       entrance of the winery,  and statues depicting the 5 senses in the courtyard - my favorite one was the head that represented "smell" - look at his nose!    

Fermentation Tanks

 

Most beautiful barrel room I ever saw

 This winery was built with production in mind. Grapes and juice enters the winery through a small pipe and after fermentation and production the wine it is stored in an immaculate barrel cellar, the  only I have ever seen with a wood ceiling. Denis had hosted a  very large reception in this cellar during the recent VinExpo exhibition. We met the assistant wine maker who had to re-arrange and refill all the barrels that were removed for the event!

The barrel room is organized with the red wine in barrels on the ground floor and all white wine barrels are on the top floor to take advantage of the natural temperature variations.  Art work, of course, even here on display.


We were able to taste the wonderful fresh 2012 Haut-Selve White with great lemon and apricot flavors and just a touch a sweet oak. Also, we enjoyed the Chateau Loumelat 2011 a Cuvee from Cotes de Blaye. This Merlot based Cuvee is from their newest acquisition in Bordeaux after they sold the former Chateau Cadillac property.


Denis Lesgourgues was a wonderful host,  He and his brother Arnaud oversee the empire of the Lesgourgues  family which owns Chateau Peyros, Chateau Laubade and Chateau Haut Selve (along with  their newest wine brands of Chateau LaMouliniere and Chateau Loumelat). This is a wonderful family with a long tradition in the wine and Armagnac business in France.