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Archive for the ‘Bordeaux’ Category

The bell tower @ Ch Angelus

Posted in Bordeaux, French Red, Wine Tour, tagged , , , on August 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

ImageWhat is marketing? Ch Angelus is definitely a master of this!

Angelus means Angel in Latin, but there wasn’t any bell tower to back the nickname of the label.  So why the reference to bell tower?   The legend is the workers in the field could hear bells from three churches around the Chateau during the day reminding them to pray.

In 2012 Ch Angelus was promoted to Grand Cru Classe A in the St Emilion classification with the ranks of Cheval Blanc and Ausone.  In celebration of the promotion, the Chateau is undergoing a massive renovation with a bell tower to live up to their nickname finally. (more…)

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Bordeaux with style … Cos d’Estournel

Posted in Bordeaux, French Red, Wine Tour, tagged , , , on July 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

ImageAfter the third visit to Bordeaux in four years, one could easily tell the money is pouring in from many wine connoisseurs, and the Chateaus are competing to build the most extravagant estate with this newfound wealth.

Of all the vineyards we visited during this trip, I was most surprised with the visit at Cos.  (more…)

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Riedel and the art of the glass tasting

Posted in Bordeaux, French White, New Zealand, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Wine Tastings, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »

For anyone who has spent any time or effort getting to know the different grape varietals and their characteristics when turned into wine, the concept that different wines should be drunk in different glasses should come naturally.

Either through experience or study, we all know that white wine glasses should be smaller than red wine glasses, simply due to the intensity of the bouquet from reds, which requires, perhaps deserves, more room to breathe and manifest itself.

We all know this simple rule, but few of us take the time to explore the idea further and find out how different shapes and sizes of glasses impact the actual experience of drinking different wines. More importantly, few of us ask the question: What is the best shape and size for a glass that is best suited to maximise the qualities of a particular varietal? (more…)

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Bordeaux 1961 Tasting

Posted in Bordeaux, French Red, Wine Tastings, tagged , , on June 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

What makes a great vintage?  In 1961, one of the greatest vintages in the 20th century, it was down to nature and wine making; modern technology definitely didn’t play a role.

Nature took its course and pruning happened naturally.  A very wet August followed with a sunny September produced small concentrated grapes with thick skins.  The end results were complex, aromatic and tannic wines with long aging potentials.

“But then,” the instructor Stephen Mack added, “the wines are 50 years old and let’s hope they are still drinkable!” (more…)

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Ch Palmer Tasting

Posted in Bordeaux, French Red, Wine Tastings, tagged , , , on June 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Oak Barrel @ Ch Palmer

My first encounter of Chateau Palmer was at the Robuchon restaurant in Macau, picked a bottle of 1999 Palmer from the well known extensive wine collection.  It was so aromatic, the tannin was very soft, and I felt in love with the wine ever since.

When the invitation came for a wine tasting of Chateau Palmer and also the chance of meeting Bernard de Laage from the Chateau, how can one resist?!  (more…)

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Something simple, something light

Posted in Bordeaux, French Red, Wine Dinners, tagged , , on April 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Home-made French Onion Soup

Something simple …… black pepper ham with French bread
Something light …….. home-made French onion soup

After having a heavy brunch, something simple and light for dinner sounds very tempting.   As always a bottle of wine is a must to enjoy with the meal.

(more…)

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1855 Classification – 1995 Horizontal Tasting

Posted in Bordeaux, French Red, Wine Tastings on December 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Do you know the 61 wines that are now the renowned 1855 Classification of Bordeaux, what was the basis on the classification?  It was strictly based on price!  It would be interesting to test if the quality and price are still in line with the classification these days.

Well, that was the basis of the horizontal tasting I joined this weekend.  It was a very small group, only 6 people and the instructor.

We were given 5 Parker scores in the beginning and at the end we were to guess what did Parker give to each wine. (more…)

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Ch Grand Puy Lacoste 53′

Posted in Bordeaux, French Red, Wine Makers, tagged , , , on December 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Ch Grand Puy Lacoste Wine Dinner

I guess the chance of tasting the 1953 vintage from a classified Bordeaux already got my attention for the wine dinner, and the rest were just details I didn’t really care.

Emeline Borie, the 3rd generation of the owner was hosting the dinner organized by BBR.  At dinner she told us her grandfather bought the vineyard in 1978, but the previous owner took all the wines from the cellar.   So they have to buy back the wines in the market, including the 53’ we were going to taste. (more…)

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Bordeaux in June

Posted in Bordeaux, French Red, Wine Tastings, Wine Tour, tagged , , on July 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Morning Mist

Bordeaux in June, what was it like? It was cool in the morning and hot in the afternoon, the perfect micro climate that vines thrive for.

The blue sky was exactly what I remembered as last summer. This time, instead of joining a tour, I wrote to a few vineyards ahead of time and confirmed private tours & tastings at 4 vineyards – Ch Haut Brion, Ch Palmer, Ch Pichon Lalande & Ch Lynch Bages. (more…)

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Chateau d’Issan

Posted in Bordeaux, French Red, Restaurants, Wine Dinners, tagged , , , on March 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The lights were on; we looked around and realized we were the last table at the restaurant.  We looked at the two glasses of Chateau d’Issan -1979 and 1995 and thought what a shame! The wines were still closed and it would be nice if they had served the wine at the beginning of the wine dinner.

The dinner was at the Bostonian restaurant organized by Watson’s Wine.  It was a week’s events highlighting Chateau d’Issan and the owner Mr. Emmanuel Cruse was in town to host the dinners and tastings around town. (more…)

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