Changes afoot at Château Cos d’Estournel

Visit and tasting with Aymeric de Gironde By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 7 November 2015 Aymeric de Gironde arrived at Cos d’Estournel for the difficult 2013 vintage, although he had a hand in blending the 2012, which we tasted when I visited alongside the 2010, 2005 and 2001. He also shared a recently launched Champagne […]

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Bordeaux: more than just big names

Joy in Montagne and Lalande de Pomerol with Jeff Berrouet By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 21 October 2015 Jean-Claude Berrouet, long time director of Petrus, bought Vieux Château Saint André in the somewhat obscure appellation of Montagne Saint Emilion back in 1978. Why Montagne? He had a double activity: vinifying wines for negociant Jean Pierre Moueix but also purchasing […]

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Magical evening, majestic Margaux

18 October 2015 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com Earlier this month, a Hollywood like short film was published on YouTube recounting the story of how in 1810, the Marquis de la Colonilla, then owner of Château Margaux, requested one of the greatest architects of the time Louis Combes, to design a new layout for the estate. […]

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Gruaud Larose 2000

Yet more proof (is it really needed?) of why fine Bordeaux is so age worthy… By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com 6 October 2015 Gruaud Larose. An excellent Bordeaux, a second growth from Saint Julien. I have always enjoyed the wines from this property. In a blind tasting of both the second and first wine, from […]

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Embrace your bad taste

De gustibus (or lack thereof) non est disputandum  By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com  30 September 2015 I recently joined a wonderful tour subsidized by Vini del Trentino, or the Wine Consortium for Trentino, with a group of international wine educators and writers who had flown in for three days of tastings and cultural discoveries, the details of which […]

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Lovely La Louvière and Couhins Lurton: tastings in red and white

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com September 15, 2015 Special note: Unless otherwise indicated, all photos published here were taken by the talented Hélène Brun-Puginier, with her authorization. However they cannot be copied from this site and re-used without her authorization.  When I first came to France, back in 1996, I recall enjoying a bottle of Château La […]

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Bordeaux 2015: Could rains complicate potentially excellent vintage?

14 September 2015 By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com The weather chart looks worrying. Rain, rain … and more rain expected this week. It already rained Friday to Sunday, 11-13 September. This brings back memories of reporting on Bordeaux’s 2006 harvest on location in Pauillac for decanter.com. I was talking with Jean-Rene Matignon, director of the famous second […]

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Haute Couture at Haut Bailly

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com  30 June 2015 This is one of a series of articles on some superb lunches and dinners I was lucky enough to attend during the intense Vinexpo week in Bordeaux in June 2015. Keep checking my website for more Vinexpo highlights throughout July 2015!  Dinner with Pingus, Le Pin, Bonneau […]

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25 years of wine passion: Florence and Daniel Cathiard at Château Smith Haut Lafitte

By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com Château Smith Haut Lafitte, the grand cru classé of Graves – and later Pessac Léognan, when the appellation was created in 1987 – has been run for 25 years as of 2015 by the innovative couple Florence and Daniel Cathiard. I have known the Cathiards since 2002, and long have […]

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2014 Bordeaux: Hundreds of barrel samples coming

My new educational blog for Total Wine, too   By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles  On the eve of a week of intense barrel tastings of Bordeaux’s latest vintage, I look forward to what promises to be a classic style in a positive sense. If tasting Chateau Corbin (grand cru classé) and Chateau Canon (premier grand […]

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