Bordeaux 2014 in barrel: Bargains from Lalande de Pomerol

By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine-Chronicles.Com

26 May 2015

MAIN BORDEAUX 2014 BARREL TASTING PAGE

Faves? Well these are all Lalande de Pomerol, which can represent bargains for savvy Bordeaux fans. The better ones include an excellent Château L’Ambroisie du Château La Croix des Moines plus some pretty darn good ones, such as La Sergue and Château Tournefeuille

Wines in bold I liked particularly, when red and bold even more and when underlined, too, wine nirvana.

Lalande de Pomerol tasted blind at Grande Cercle des Vins de Bordeaux Read More

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Bordeaux 2014 in barrel: successful Sauternes

By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine-Chronicles.Com

25 May 2015

MAIN BORDEAUX 2014 BARREL TASTING PAGE

Faves? I loved Suduiraut most as an upper level Sauternes that is fairly expensive, among some other well-known brands. Yquem as superb, but that was expected. The good news for sticky lovers: some lesser known wines did very well in 2014, based on barrel samples that I tried at two trade tastings. 

Alas! I actually… lost some notes, which explains the absence of Guiraud and others. I mean, I recall liking Guiraud, but I lost the specific notes. Sorry!

The plan is to taste Sauternes again at Vinexpo next month and add notes.

For the notes I did not lose, it can be said that although high acidities sometimes made me feel like Sauternes barrel samples I tried were more like Loire Valley late harvest wines, the appellation was – by and large – uniformly successful.

Steve Webb of Bordeaux Gold almost every year says that a given vintage is the best ever. You’ve got to hand it to him! But there was “a bit of emotion” tasting these wines, he said. “At the top level, it was sublime, as the vintage had such a cool summer, which is great for white wine grapes, bringing that bright, fresh acidity.” Read More

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From Barolo 1964 to Palmer 2002: wine with friends

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com

25 May 2015

Long weekends, friends and wine.

A balmy summer-like evening, time for barbecue as well.

We were 8 altogether and enjoyed 10 wines spanning 50 years.

Wines in bold I liked particularly, when red and bold even more and when underlined, too, wine nirvana.

Flight One / Champagne duo

2002 Pol Roger Champagne Pure Brut – France, Champagne

Brisk, with wet stone, bright acidity, elegance, a touch of quince and signs of ripe fruit but well structured with an overall feeling of pristine dryness. Lovely! (93 pts.) Read More

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Bordeaux in barrel 2014: Solidly Margaux

Faves? Some excellent price/quality ratios, particularly from Château Labégorce. An excellent Château Prieuré-Lichine. Predictably very good Palmer, and a fine Château Margaux (and a superlative white that counts among the very best whites of the vintage) 

MAIN BORDEAUX 2014 BARREL TASTING PAGE

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles

24 May 2015

Margaux may prove to be the weakest of the major Médoc appellations. That was reflected for some critics in a blind tasting of very good estates – as compared to a blind tasting of wines from the northern Médoc. While I enjoyed tasting through Margaux wines blind at the lovely Château Rauzan Gassies during en primeur week, several tasters in my group agreed that higher highs (and longer finishes) were noticed in the blind tasting for northern Médoc wines from Pauillac, Saint Julien and Saint Estèphe. As I later heard from Frédéric Nony of Château Caronne Sainte Gemme, more rain fell in Margaux than in the north. Could that partly explain things? Read More

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Culinary dream a reality with fine wine in Monte Carlo

How I ended up at Alain Ducasse Hotel de Paris Louis XV, saw many of its 250,000 bottles and entered culinary paradise

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com

23 May 2015

Happiness is a great meal. Heaven is an extraordinary meal.

In April 2015, I co-hosted a master class of cru bourgeois Bordeaux, for the first annual Rivini Wine Festival in Ventimiglia, with François Nony, of the fine estate Caronne Sainte Gemme and vice president of the Cru Bourgeois Alliance.

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Cru bourgeois master class in Ventimiglia

Nony kindly invited me to dinner at the excellent Hanbury Ristorante in Ventimiglia. We enjoyed fresh seafood simply seasoned with olive oil, fresh lemon, sea salt and pepper. An essential food axiom: keep ingredients simple and fresh. Too much sauce could mean that the chef is trying to hide something. It was a great meal. Read More

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