Ryan's Bordeaux Blog

On Monday it was back to "levage" ... Work I know all too well, which consists of stapling the training wires to lift the vines for the purpose of more sunlight exposure, and pruning the stock. I was glad that instead of traveling to one of the three other vineyards, I got to work in the vineyards of Chateau Camarsac, and just directly beside my house. As Habier is now retired it was Jacqueline, Jacqueline's daughter, and Sebastian that I was working with. The working day at Chateau Camarsac often seems miraculously shorter in comparison to working at the other vineyards, so the day seemed to pass rather quickly. After work I spent the night cooking some of my beautiful finds at Le Capucin market and working around the house. I think that Nathanael and Thierry have come to the consensus that since I've had a month of levage I should be used elsewhere in the winery now, and I'm grateful that they're as conscientious about giving me a great stage experience.

We're planting new vines to make a white blend in a few years. It's the typical Bordeaux white combo of Semillion/Sauvignon Blanc, and so on Tuesday following the instructions of Nathanael I ventured out to the far edge of the Chateau Camarsac vineyards to concentrate on watering a plot of Semillon vines immediately after being planted by a group of Portuguese workers. Our small group took turns driving the tractor carrying the large watering tank, and using the hoses to water the vines. This was my first time driving a tractor that hadn't been found in the median of the Trans-Canada highway in the middle of the prairies in Saskatchewan and subsequently hijacked by Brett and I, and it was nearly as fun!

Wednesday was spent working three hours in the vineyard and then being called to go with Nathanael, our winemaker / cellar-master Jean-Louie, and Thierry to the oenologist and taste some of the 2007 and 2008s sitting in our vats in the cellar. It was a very interesting tasting, as I got the spectrum of flavors (and took tasting notes on everything) from the young Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from our barrel samples of different plots and vintages - from black currant to blueberry, blackberry, and vegetal. All of the conversation was in French and among the more interesting bits, I thought, was that the oenologist seemed to prefer Climens to D'Yquem! I had a discreet chuckle at the thought of walking out.

Thursday began with a comfortable 6 am start. I noticed that it was quite stormy outside and making my way into the courtyard around 7 am I noticed both the chateau and the entire courtyard eerily devoid of workers and in the midst of a big thunderstorm. About 5 minutes later Nathanael showed up in the junker utility van with one of his young daughters in the passenger seat and I hopped in. In the hard rain we drove out to the new Semillon vines, getting soaked in the process. Work was called off until about 10:30 am when the storms subsided and the clouds began to clear, and afterward I gave a tour of the grounds to a British family and then spent the rest of the day working in the cellar. After I had a quick shower and change of clothes back at my place I was greeted by a young man named Bertile in the office. Earlier in the week Thierry had let me know that Bertile is going to represent Lucien Lurton in the US and will be staying at Camarsac with me for a few days. Later that night Bertile and I drove to downtown Bordeaux and enjoyed a wonderful meal courtesy of Chateau Camarsac at a restaurant in a very quaint square in the middle of Bordeaux. Bertile grew up in the Champagne region and will be living in Florida and offering the Lurton negociant house (Les Passions des Terroir) portfolio to the American market. Bertile's well mannered, well spoken, and we get along just fine. I look forward to his future visits to the Chateau.

On Friday after work I drove with Thierry back to his house, where we were to meet Bertile and have a tasting of the wines of Chateau Camarsac along with dinner. During the ride I got to spend some valuable time picking Thierry's brain and examining his thoughts and convictions about his wine, and the subject in general. It was surprising to learn that he actually owns some grand cru property in Margaux, but has instead elected to work with the vineyards of Camarsac since he felt that it was a harder road to follow but he could potentially go further with it than the already established grand cru property. It wasn't long after I got out of the car that Ines tracked me down with the skill of a seasoned bounty hunter, and commenced with the usual swooning. I gave Bertile a tour of the "Le Bedat" vineyard just next to Thierry's beautiful home, converted from some sort of ancient stone warehouse to a very modern home, and afterward played soccer with one of Thierry's young sons until dinner was ready. The tasting commenced with the rose and clairet, and was followed by three cuvees of the red Bordeaux blend, along with a wonderful meal of rare ribeye steaks (cooked with garlic and rosemary from what I could tell), potatoes au gratin, and salad. Of the lineup of presented wines I'll say that I much prefer the crisp, fruit forward rose and two of the three red blends - the "selection" and "prestige," which offer surprising quality for Bordeaux Superieur, especially the 2005, which I was unable to get my nose out of for a long time. The caveat is that Thierry hadn't taken ownership and thus they weren't truly his wines (but those of his sister Berenice Lurton of Chateau Climens fame) until the 2007 vintage, so judging the wine under his ownership is tough because there's not a lot of it out there yet. Thierry has only been in the family business for a relatively short time, and I've come to learn that he was educated and spent years in social work beforehand. I know that he used to be the president of a large institution for individuals with both physical and mental challenges, and used to work at an orphenage in Brasil which is where he met Nathanael. In talking to Nathanael, who followed Thierry into the wine business out of affection and fierce loyalty, I've also come to learn that in his younger days Thierry could always be seen having a group of disadvantaged with him. In fact, Nathanael was able to recall christmasses at the family's grand chateau in Margaux where the Lurton family would be assembled, including Thierry with his band of underprivileged. As I've said, I like Thierry and I'm intrigued by his philosophies, and so I hope that I can spend more time with him and see our relationship develop further.

The weekend was fairly quiet and since a delivery truck managed to crack one of the telephone poles on the property on Friday I was without telephone or internet, and so lots of time to spend reading Descartes. There had been plans in the works to go with Midoux's son Rada and his friends to the beach but the weather didn't cooperate fully. I'm very much looking forward to next week as I'll be starting my tour through St. Emilion by visiting a number of grand cru chateau.