Ryan's Bordeaux Blog

On Monday the day was spent again with CIVB until Nathanael handed me two maps and only half coherent directions to drive to the small town of Cadillac about 35 km away to pick up some more of the treatment we use for preventing mildew. Deciding to think of it as an adventure, I saddled up in the old Peugeot with my camera in the passenger seat and was off. Counter to my sense of impending doom I was able to follow the route with little problem, making my way from one small town to the next and finally crossing the Gironde and arriving at the town of Cadillac, which lies just outside of the sweet white wine-producing town of Barsac. I had a little trouble finding the depot, as did the locals I managed to ask, but eventually was able to cherche the product and begin my journey back. On the way to Cadillac I encountered a huge field of sunflowers, and having sufficient time to think about it, I decided to stop on the way back and take a few shots.

Later that evening Nathanael hosted a small party with his former colleagues and old friends, which I was welcomed to, and spent an enjoyable evening in good company behind the castle eating, drinking, and being merry.

The week progressed at somewhat of a quieter pace than the week prior, with Tuesday seeing more CIVB work and blogging. On Tuesday Thierry and family moved into the castle. It has been a welcome change since I've been wanting to further develop my relationship with him, which I now have more of an opportunity to do at the cost of the now shattered tranquility in the form of his four adorable children who've taken to rampaging through the courtyard in search of lizards, blackberries, a good dust-up, and any stagiers that get in the way. Ines seems to have an innate instinct that allows her to sniff me out with basset hound-like precision.

In the middle of the week I decided that despite the fact that almost all chateau close during the month of August I would put together a list of properties in Sauternes and Barsac that I would like to visit and try my luck anyway. Concocting my list of the top 5 or so properties I handed it to Sylvie, who's been happy to call on my behalf, only to hear back later that I couldn't get into any of them due to the bad timing, including Chateau Climens, the top Barsac property and owned by Thierry's sister Berenice Lurton. I hadn't totally given up yet though, as during the week Midou and Habier were again playing babysitter to the son of Berenice Lurton, and anticipating her return on Friday to pick him up I decided I would pose the question to her myself. When Friday evening rolled around I happened to be sitting with Midou outside his home and enjoying Morrocan tea while engaging in our english/french lessons when Berenice pulled up and after greeting us was off on the business of cherche-ing her son to bring back home when Midou prodded me forward into asking, as best I could in my just somewhat comprehensible french, for a tour on the following week. Berenice seemed happy to fulfill my request and in the ensuing conversation I recounted the usual story about how I became interested in wine involving an encounter with her cousin, with her replying "so you saw god and now you want to be a prophet?" ... My response was a measured one, as I couldn't let on with as much laughter as I wanted that I enjoyed the dramatism as much as I did, but I confirmed her assertion and shortly afterward she was off with her son Orillian and I had a number to call on Monday morning with Berenice's blessing.

The weekend was typically quiet and spent reading, blogging, and working on a small side project. During one of my walks through the vines I was surprised to notice that some of the grapes were starting to change from green to purple and so veraison was just beginning:


All in all it was a quieter but still enjoyable week, and I look forward to what next week has to offer as I anticipate a visit at Chateau Climens early on in the week with a possibility of a visit to the famed Chateau Cheval Blanc.

Monday July 20'th
Destiation: Margaux

First up was Lascombes. Since the '08 Lascombes was my favorite wine of the Margaux appellation at the UGC tasting that I'd attended at vinexpo a month earlier I was quite excited for this tour of the recently revitalized estate. In 2001 a 53% stake in the estate was purchased by American pension fund group Capital Colony for a sum of $67 million (though judging by the cellar facelift pictured below you'd think it was LVMH), and the new owners have shaken things up at Lascombes with the installation of Alain Reynaud and consulting Oenologist and Parker favorite Michel Rolland. If you're familiar with the politics of Bordeaux you can probably imagine the fallout with some of the neighbors. A particularity at Lascombes that separates it from it's neighbors is that the blend is mostly Merlot, which is counter to the trend of left bank wines being Cabernet Sauvignon dominated.



The tour commenced in the usual way, and I was joined by a couple (from Niagra as it turns out) as we were led through the chai, cellar, and then for a taste of the '08 and taking all the pictures I could along the way. I was a bit surprised to find a lack of overall Margaux character in the sample we were provided, which was even more strange because it was completely at odds with my impression of it at the UGC tasting as I thought it then a stunning example of the character of the wines of Margaux: elegant, floral, and feminine in character. Maybe it needed more air time before the flowers on the nose could bloom? Who knows. Next up: Palmer.


Palmer is widely acknowledged as the #2 in Margaux, right behind the first growth Chateau Margaux herself and in some vintages even surpassing her. Departing on the dirt roads from Lascombes it was just a few minutes and a few U turns before I arrived at the gorgeous Chateau Palmer, right on time. I spent just a few minutes waiting in the office before being joined by my hostess and a couple from the Netherlands who were Sommeliers. The estate takes it's name from a General Charles Palmer, who served under Wellington in the English army and arrived in Bordeaux on his way back from the Battle of Toulouse in 1814. Since 2004 Thomas Duroux has been CEO at Palmer, having first gained experience during three years spent as winemaker at Ornellaia, in Tuscany. Palmer, like Lascombes, is also known for an unusually high percentage of Merlot in the blend, usually over 40% and as much as 60% in some of the older vintages. On this tour I was pleased to try the second wine 'Alter Ego' 2001, which is far more round and overtly seductive with an exuberant amount of fruit it rings true to it's name and is made in the image of an alter ego for the grand vin. Nice, but my preference was for the '96 Palmer they poured me afterward, which possessed all the aforementioned Margaux character that I absolutely love - white flowers and violets on the nose set amidst a modest amount of fruit, and extremely elegant, pure, and balanced on the palate.

Afterward I had about 2 hours before my next tour, at Desmirail, and so I managed to find myself a cafe and bought a saucisson on a baguette and an orangina for about 4 euro - inifinitly better than any "fast food" you can find in North America for a similar price and especially in the gastronomic wasteland (save for a few small bastions) that is the university town of Waterloo, and something that I'll miss after I go back.


My tour of the region recommenced when I located the Lurton-owned Chateau Desmirail in the village of Cantenac, run by Denis Lurton, where Sylvie's husband Pierre was waiting to give me a tour. Unfortunately he only speaks french but I was able to undersand about 70% of what was said. The Lurtons took ownership of Desmirail during the 20th Century, only gaining full control in 1981 when Lucien Lurton acquired a final portion of the vineyard from Chateau Palmer. The vineyards feature the gravelly soils that characterise the better vineyards of the left bank of the Gironde, although there are also areas of sand and clay. Desmirail has about 30 hectares of vineyards, which are dedicated to Cabernet Sauvignon, which accounts for 80%, with 15% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Like virtually all of the chateau that I'd been to thus far, the fruit is hand-harvested before going to a sorting table, from where the harvest travels to the grape reception area where the grapes are destemmed, lightly crushed and then fermented separately according to plot of origin, coming togeather only after each plot is tasted extensively and the final blend has been decided on. At the end we came to my favorite part, and Pierre poured me both the grand vin and the second wine, 2005 vintage. I recall the second wine as being slightly vegetal and the grand vin as being good, but not great.

My final tour for the day was at Chateau Kirwan, where after a very short drive from Desmirail I was received by the daughter of the proprietor.


On Tuesday it was back to work on the CIVB system. I'd heard that Bertil was again going to be visiting us and potentially staying over at the Chateau that night, and true to form Bertile showed up shortly after work was finished and we headed out to Bordeaux city for a meal on the town. After walking around a bit Bertile asked me if I knew of any good places to eat and I mentioned La Tupina, the much heralded favorite of Robert Parker. We made our way to La Tupina which was somewhat of a walk, to be dissapointed by slightly high prices, though I would have been willing to splurge. Upon turning away and beginning to dread coming all that way I remembered the little brother restaurant of La Tupina called "Au Comestible," a tiny little place just across the street and set up like a small country grocery store, as the name implies. For 17 euro I chose from a set menu: salad, duck confit, and warm, fresh black cherries with home made peach ice cream. It was my first time having duck confit and it was fantastic. The ingredients and preparation of the meal were absolutely outstanding and I was charmed by the restaurant, where the food is cooked in the same kitchen and by the same people as the more grand La Tupina. At least once while I'm here, though, I want to make a point of heading over to the main restaurant, just once.

Upon returning to the chateau we noticed that there was quite a big storm brewing, and found that the electricity was out in my house. While using the computer in the office to send a few quick emails I suddenly became aware of the sound of hail. Hail is every proprieters worst nightmare, as it can completely destroy entire vineyards in a matter of minutes. There was absolutely nothing I could do besides take note of the duration and approximate size of the hail, and thankfully it was only about 5 minutes until it ceased, although this is enough to do quite a lot of damage but there would be no telling the result until the next day when we could examine the vines carefully. Wednesday morning we did just that, as I joined Nathanael and Thierry in the Peugeot at about 7:00 am to go examine the vineyards. With Nathanael and Thierry in the front and me in the back we drove through the rows of vines at several locations in the Camarsac vineyards and I'm thankful to report that the damage wasn't fatal to our harvest this year as only a few grapes per bunch were punctured by the hail. If harvest was next week we'd be in trouble as the damaged remains of the affected grapes would contribute vegetal and off-aromas and flavors to the wine, but our winemaker Jean-Louie assured us that there was enough time before harvest for the casualties of the vine to dry and fall off. Since this has occured just before veraison then maybe with a little luck the effect might be similar to a green harvest, where certain bunches of grapes are clipped to concentrate the energy of the vines into the remaining bunches.

That night Bertil was to stay over again and so after work was finished we again made our way to downtown Bordeaux. We met a friend from our negociant house, Les Passions des Terroirs, who also speaks excellent english in the Place de Bourse and went to the nearby "Brasserie Bordelais" for dinner. Brasserie Bordelais is a very funky, upscale brasserie that we found quite busy when we arrived and so took a seat at the bar. After enjoying a beer and some charcuterie at the bar (I really wish I saw more of this in Toronto) it wasn't long before we were seated and the meal was underway. The 'cote de boef' that we ordered was large enough to feed three and was just ok, though next to incredible meal I had the night before at Au Comestible it would have been hard to be impressed. My experience with lamb and beef here has been mixed as I've found a surprising amount to be on the tough side. Afterward, we made our way down to the Garonne and enjoyed another beer while walking by the river's edge and enjoying the gorgeous architecture of the surrounding Place de Bourse and Place de Concourse.

On Thursday I spent the morning and afternoon working on CIVB and then later in the evening was shown by Nathanael how to drive a tractor, and then left on my own to drive the tractor through the rows of vines, spraying our treatment to protect against mildew. I'm happy to report that I only managed to completely destroy one vine (and corresponding post) during Nathanael's 'hands off' approach to my tractor training. Friday I continued my work of driving our tractor to apply the treatment through the vineyards at Camarsac, with most of my time being taken up Friday night blogging in an effort to catch up from a lull during the previous weeks, with the weekend spent much in the same way.