The Juice from Bibendum

Bordeaux Day Four

2007-04-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

The morning of day 4 started with our team of intrepid wineslingers decamping from the bijoux B&B in St. Emilion. When I say ‘bijoux’, what I really mean is that while some of the team sauntered out of stately rooms, this blogger was unpacking stiff limbs from a bolt-hole reminiscent of one of those torture chambers where there is neither room to stand up or lie down. Anyway, after a reviving breakfast, we jumped in the Zafira and Ben took up his position between the two girls in the backseat where he could effect the most trouble.

First stop was at Pavie where we chewed our way through our second breakfast. Chateau Pavie is sure to please many and some of the cheapies were pleasant surprises but those in the middle were “a holy fright” as my Mum would say. The booming classical music in the barrel room wasn’t much better. Poor grapes…the punishment they must go through…

Next was a quick visit to Cheval Blanc where the Grand Vin galloped away with all the plaudits. Things were still quite sensible as we zipped in and out of Clos l’Eglise where Haut-Bergey particularly impressed as a value possibility. Monsieur Vaulthier presented another masterclass at Chateau Ausone with all five wines looking stellar at their respective levels. Fonbel does it again! The giant toilet-roll holder was still there but without John Derrick and Willie this time around, the team managed to control themselves. In fact it was all still fairly low-key through lunch at out favourite cave in St Emilion and then the Garagiste tasting chez Jean-Luc Thunevin. La Dauphine and Valandraud were both superb and by and large the extraction had not gone intergalactic.

Things started to get a bit weird when we headed off to the St Emilion tasting at Chateau Larmande. In a wonderfully useless kind of way all the entrances were closed off and manned by strong, silent types (”He looks very cold…do you think I should give him my jumper?” - Ben), forcing us into many U-turns and voluminous back-seat advice. Eventually we found a way into some completely unrelated chateau, from whence a comedy Disney train chugged us from one car park to another. Well it would have been comedy if it hadn’t turned quite so arctic by this stage. Lucky Ben still had his jumper. The tasting was pretty positive with great efforts from Angelus, Larcis-Ducasse, Pavie Macquin, Figeac and Canon-la-Gaffeliere amongst others. Lots of fleshy black fruit with well managed tannins. Then it was back on with the Mickey Mouse ears and on to the train. Into the car in one piece but this experience had done its damage and sent everything sliding closer to ‘Fear and Loathing in the vines’. The driving was starting to get loose and Ben was intent on quizzing Alice to see if she was picking anything up. “What’s that Chateau?” “Cheval Blanc!” “Lucky Alice, I was on the phone to Easyjet to get your ticket changed”.

La Conseillante ruled the Pomerol tasting and set us up for our final and quite delicious visits to Eglise Clinet, Vieux Chateau Certan and Le Pin. ‘Ronnie the Radar’ finally started working again and navigation became much easier on our way back to base camp. After a relaxing beer it was to dinner at L’Envers du Décor (to our mind the best restaurant in St Emilion) where ‘jumper over jacket count’ climbed rapidly from one to four and Alex cracked his second and third jokes of the year. Oh how we laughed…

Day Three in Bordeaux

2007-04-05T01:01:00.000-07:00

The day started pretty sensationally at Pontet Canet where Monsieur Tesseron and his charming niece greeted us with genuine warmth. Amazingly it was a day and a half into the trip and we found our first “jumper around the neck, over the jacket” French specimen. We just can’t pull it off back home, can we? While we got stuck into the wine, Alex showed off his carpentry roots (not for the first or last time either) with a thorough inspection of the antique table. Curious behaviour. The wine is pretty special too, with a wonderfully pure expression of fresh fruit married to a creamy luxurious texture. Like last year, it will be another of the stars of the vintage.

This year we snuck up to Cos from a different direction and were able to subvert their hawk-like security system by sneaking the Zafira (think gazelle-like handling) in through the gates just as someone else was leaving. I vaguely remember a Mr. Bean sketch from years ago that didn’t end so well but we got in unscathed. Jean-Guillaume Prats had obviously enjoyed the recent tasting and dinner he had conducted chez Bibendum as he seemed very pleased to see us. He explained that the large excavation on site was for a new swimming pool. Perfect (in an unusual way), we thought, but when he explained that he will secretly be running a cable into the nearest nuclear power station to half-inch some free electricity, we got the hint that he might be pulling our legs. And the stories kept coming when we tasted the wines, as he explained that the famous elephant crest of Cos came about from a trip to Thailand years back where a customs official bundled him into a government jet in which they flew ‘to see a man’ in Laos about some elephant statues. Feeling slightly intimidated by the trouble that had been gone to, he felt he had to pull out the cheque book and stump up $10k for these Laotian delights. He was a little surprised and very pleased with himself in the end when two large stone beasts turned up in wooden crates 3 months later. It’s one way to do it…

After another episode of Challenge Anneka in the Vines, we raced down more than a few back roads to find the Pauillac/St. Julien UGC at Chateau Talbot. A pretty mixed tasting altogether with some real highlights like Lafon Rochet, Lynch Bages, Grand Puy Ducasse, Gruaud Larose, Beychevelle and Branaire Ducru, amongst some others that seemed a bit tough and awkward at that moment. And then to really get the juices flowing before lunch we made it to the Medoc UGC as well. Beaumont was quite approachable; Cantermerle shone through with some real class; and Chasse-Spleen was a revelation as well.

At lunch, we returned to La Salamandre, an old favourite down near the waters edge in Pauillac. “I’m going to have to take my badge off or else people are going to ask me for my autograph”. Yes Ben was really warming to the task now and there was a genuine fear that he may be mobbed by screaming wine groupies (wipies?). “Do you think those Japanese people want my autograph?” They did look awfully keen but unfortunately they seemed to be having a bit too much trouble ordering their food to concentrate on Ben. On any other day…

Dessert took the form of Petit Village, Pibran, Suduiraut, Tourelles and Pichon Baron with the always charming Edouard Andre at Chateau Pibran (Pichon is in the middle of having another underground cellar built). What a great little line-up! Pichon was charming and Tourelles will be fantastic value. We even got to taste the 05 Tourelles as well for the first time and it was superb. Look out for a market-first offer of this later in the year. Then to Lafite where the Duhart Milon and the Grand Vin were very popular. Thumping amounts of fruit, body and tannins – they are really built for the long haul.

At this point, things started to go a bit like they do at this point in the day with some delirium invading the direction-giving on the way to Calon Segur. “It’s left. No, it’s right. No, left. Oh I don’t know…Sorry everyone, I think I’ve lost my marbles…it’s been coming!” Meanwhile up front, Alex was trying to explain the effect the shortened working week was having on sales of Winnebagos in France. You can just imagine the reception this got from the back seat. In the end it was well worth the trip as Calon Segur was wonderful with the heady and exotic savouriness alongside terrific fruit that marked out the 2005 as well. Madame was also very happy to see the front cover of the 2005 Offer with her Chateau featuring proudly. We then raced back down to Giscours for the Margaux UGC and then to Cantemerle for the Sauternes. Too many wines to mention at this point but Giscours, Ferriere, Dauzac, Kirwan, Rieussec and Lafaurie-Peyraugay seem to have stuck in the memory. Dinner in the evening at Barde-Haut with Neal Martin, amongst others, who told us all what it was really like to work with Big Bob Parker. Look out for his multi-parted Tolkein-esque Burgundy Report coming out soon. Highlight was when one of the team (who didn’t realize who he was) happened to let slip to our host that no one really read Neal Martin anyway. Priceless…don’t tell anybody though.

Bibendum in Bordeaux - Day One

2007-04-04T01:42:00.000-07:00

It just wouldn’t be a Bibendum trip without some sort of kerfuffle on the way to the airport. You may remember that last year the team set off on a hare-brained chase across Europe that was more reminiscent of ‘The Day of the Jackal’ than ‘Would you like some Champagne upon take-off sir?” The marketing trip to Italy later that year also threatened never to leave London, when the team found themselves stranded in a stricken minicab in Mile End in the pouring rain at 4.30 am. Only the exchange of large quantities of cash with a black cab ensured a successful departure.

Well this wasn’t quite the same, but there was that slight sinking feeling when a glance at the Kings Cross board yielded the disappointing news that all trains had decided to set off from Hampstead instead that day. Suffice to say, we made it to Luton just in time for the flight and took up our positions in a departure lounge that was stuffed with more wine trade folk than the free lunch at a generic tasting. I had a glorious vision of the boarding process calling for all MWs to jump on first, followed by esteemed members of the press, followed by Directors, with the rabble left to fight for those few seats at the back. As it turns out, the whole wine trade are equally disorganized and all checked in late, meaning we were all in Boarding class ‘D’.

The flight was going great until all of 240 seconds in when Alice cheerily asked “Do you know why the ‘brace’ positioned is designed as it is? No takers? It’s so that your neck breaks instantly on impact if you crash…” Brilliant Alice. Fab news. Any other tips while you’re at it? Chances of dying from a 6 day old airline cheese sandwich anyone? Probability a stray guinea fowl is going to fly into one of the engines? Amazingly, the whole team made it there with all limbs and arteries intact, though one member was short of socks, toothpaste and all the maps that might help us find our hotel. Oh well…

Dinner was at the Phillip Stark-esque ‘Chez Greg’ which boasted an enormous pile of meat sat on a dish next to a very tempting looking grill. Where was Willie when you needed him? Most heart-attack-inducing dish had to have been boneless pigeon legs, stuffed with foie gras and wrapped in parma ham, served with chunky chips proudly fried in duck fat. Pretty good at the time, not so good later that night when the greedy little pig who’d eaten it all was having cholesterol-induced nightmares that contained violence, chasing and the entire early cast of Neighbours. The less said, probably the better…

Our post dinner stroll took in the new hotel development opposite the Opera in the centre of town. “That Radisson’s gonna be bloody smart when it opens. Maybe I’ll stay there next year. It’ll be a hell of a lot better than the Four Sisters [our current residence]. Having said that, at least our hotel this year is a lot, lot better than that rotten place that Jonny Derrick booked last year. I don’t do lino…” Need you ask who it is that doesn’t do lino? Of course not. We may not have Willie with us, but style guru Ben Collins is here in full effect. Shame…that lino was really quite striking…

Bibendum in Bordeaux - Day Two

2007-04-04T01:14:00.000-07:00

After a couple of tours of Bordeaux’s more colourfully graffiti’d neighbourhoods and several industrial parks, the trusty Zafira managed to guess its way onto the road to the Medoc. Spirits were high as vineyards started to flash by on either side and it was nearly time to leave the hype behind and taste our first 2006 wines.

The first two stops came in close succession, at Leoville Las Cases and Barton. Tough start with Chappelle de Potensac and Potensac stripping the bejaysus out of our mouths. Clos de Marquis was a big improvement and Leoville Las Cases was immensely popular with half the group and just ‘very good’ for the others. After the traditionally cold reception from Las Cases, rolling into Barton was like returning home to see old friends and family. Anthony and Lilian are always the most genial of hosts and the seemed genuinely pleased to see Messrs Collins and gang. Langoa and Leoville were good though when we tasted them the following day at a UGC, they were positively charming (was it a fruit day?). In the rest of their imported line-up, Haut Marbuzet and Feytit Clinet also impressed. When pushed, Anthony declared that 2006 was “…definitely much better than ’04. I’ll see what the market’s doing and say to hell with everyone else,” meaning that he wasn’t about to follow others in their price-hiking strategies.

Despite being tasted in a new and utterly characterless tasting room, Palmer looked very promising; and from there to Chateau Margaux. Majestic in its setting, the welcome was as polished and gilt-edged as ever. And the wine? Again it split the group, Pavillon Rouge and Margaux elicited mixed hot and lukewarm comments. Pavillon Blanc got everyone back on the same page though – a sensational wine, sadly only half the normal production thanks to frost.

Then up north to one of our perennial favourites, Sociando Mallet, where we caught up with negociant Pierre-Michel for the first time. He quickly tested out the group on their French-speaking skills, a topic close to Ben’s heart. “Il est un Kiwi! He doesn’t speak anything, not even English!” The formalities out of the way, we were marched up to the swanky new tasting room where the wines were as smart as their new surroundings. Lots of spice, fruit and salt from the air of the Haut-Medoc. We were also treated to a carcass feast there which consisted of pate, terrine, jambon persille, blood sausage, roast beef and pork, and daube de boeuf. In short, not a vegetable in sight, unless you count pickles…which you kinda have to here. All you needed in the background was the M&S music. There’s lunch…and then there’s a Bordelais lunch.

Off to Pichon Lalande where the wines were pretty tough to taste, but the Louis XVI chairs and modern art foibles were quite exquisite. Haut-Batailley looked pretty good, and we tasted it with someone who looked remarkably like Rumpole of the Bailey. They’ve upgraded the tasting experience at Montrose with a very posh seating arrangement but the wines were quite awkward to taste at the moment. Our second 1^st growth of the day saw us get ferried completely unnecessarily around Mouton by Valkyrie warriors in wonderful golf buggies. D’Armailhac and Clerc Milon were looking great and Mouton is a monster. Impressive but very brooding and backward. Top stop of the day was at Latour where all 3 wines were quite sensational. At Ducru, rich Bruno explained his fascination with bizarre cat art everywhere. It actually made sense in kind of kooky way…still a bit ‘Eerie Indiana’ though.

Hey, I'd love a sherry and coke...

2007-03-05T05:37:00.000-08:00

Saturday Night, Seville, 2am. We are full of jamon, tortilla, some sensational matador-fortifying giblet stew and crammed in the corner of a small, backstreet bar run by Sevilla’s numero uno balding middle-aged folk singer, El Padrigal. An impromptu foot-stamping flamenco jam is in full-swing as El P asks for the order: “Quatro jerez dulce!” I shout across the guitars. Ceremoniously the great man half-fills four copas from the barrel in the corner, dispensing an amber coloured elixir, only stopping to top the glasses up with Coca-Cola before slamming them down on the counter. Aah, Sherry Cola. Just like the Kinks used to sing about.

Willie goes to Dinner

2007-02-16T06:50:00.000-08:00

I was asked to have dinner with some wine nuts the other day. Theoretically they needed a wine expert to help them enjoy the wines more than otherwise they might…..

Well here goes…. Upon entering I was faced with a glass of Jaquesson 1985 Grand Cru Avize. Slightly corked. A bottle of the same house’s 1988 was vastly superior. Then onto the serious kit. Meursault Perrieres Comte Lafon 1997. I wanted to dislike this because the erstwhile proprietaire had treated me and a now famous journalist extremely badly when we helped pick grapes at their vineyard Santenots in 1988. My mate and I were given a bottles of 1981 Santenots half way through a backbreaking morning which has to be the ugliest glass of brown filth that has ever passed my lips. Sadly the Perrieres was sublime. Lots of matiere, pungent with plenty of time left. Then on to a bottle of Chablis Grand Cru Clos Domaine Droin 1985. Sensational depth great finesse and still youthful. I don’t remember too many other whites. As for the reds, those that I recollect drinking were Clos Vougeot Rene Engel 1997. This really jumped out of the glass. Beautifully scented with great length. Musigny De Vogue 1988 was sadly unimpressive. Very 1988 with earthy mean tannins and little give. Clos Vougeot from a negoce 1955 was delicious ethereal stuff. Needed drinking up. Charmes Chambertin 1990 from Christophe Roumier which I thought was dilute, a delicious bottle of Bonnes Mares 1990 from Georges Lignier, full of earthy farmyard scents and plump strawberries and truffles.

A nice but not sensational bottle of Cote Rotie La Landonne 1982. Lovely briary mature syrah fruit but lacking richness perhaps.

Then we were assaulted by Krug 1985 and Krug 1989. Both wines were off the richter scale in combining concentration with massive complexity and yet both were so fresh. The 1985 shded it on the night. And last but not least a rare glimpse of Yquem 1983. Imagine very high quality brain orgasm and triple it. Again it’s the combination of all your favourite exotic fruit white peaches,perfect apricots wrapped in 3-D toffee and caramel with a nutty twist and an injection of supercharged citrus. The 2002 was a baby. It won’t ever get close to 1983 but nor will the price.

I wasn’t on top form the next day, but as a vinous night out it weren’t half bad!!!

Burgundy Bites Back (Day Five)

2006-11-30T08:04:00.000-08:00

The last day dawned bright, hazy sunlight fighting back the growing shadows in our heads as we hit the road to Meursault. Re-enforcements had arrived from the UK the night before and the jeunes hommes finally got to swap the middle-aged mini van for a turbo-charged Alfa saloon. 2 appointments left, the taciturn but excessively talented Francois Jobard et Fils and thence to the legendary Comte de Vogue up in Chambolle. After that, nothing less than a flat out blast up to Chablis for an afternoon of grand cru chez Fevre and then down south for some hard earnt R&R. Legumes, lager and Lyonnaise hospitality, we could almost taste it.

Jobard rocked as ever, the most austere, massively powerful but contemplative wines you could hope to imagine. Monsieur, generous to a fault, cracked out a couple of divine 83 Genevrieres from the family vault that were just too fine to spit – 8am and it’s Circus Circus all over again.

Outside and it’s time to say farewell to LeBoo (see below), who was off in his newly rented noddy car to blow the cobwebs out of a few more cellars up in Gevrey. The man has surely shaken Burgundy to its’ very foundations with his boundless energy and passion for both wine and entrails. Only one more day and Veal calves can sleep safer in their barns. By farewell the Alfa showers his little Fiat Panda with some nuggets of expensive dirt as Taj Mahal kicks out of our stereo singing ‘She caught the Katy.’ How we laughed….

On the road again, Steve at the wheel with all the dials spun around to the PM and the road stretched out in front of us like a long black snake curling through verdant hills. The music’s taken a turn for the darker and Howlin’ Wolf and Bo Diddley take turns in taunting us with miles of barbed wire and houses made out of human skulls. Alex, the buyer, has reached some sort of zen, maybe delirium as he desperately tries to conserve enough juice to support his beloved All Blacks tomorrow night. Then we’re in Chablis and the unsuspecting Juice is about to call foul.

We lunch at a seedy roadside revue with the notably ironic sobriquet ‘le Vrais Chablisienne’. The Maitre is surly, we are part fried and mildy aggressive when he pretends not to understand our French. We opt for safety in Steak, Frites and Salad…oh how wrong we were.

I’d love to relate how fantastic the wines were at William Fevre, I would ruminate on their fleshy, full fruited appeal and the crystalline minerality imparted in each and every one that can only come from those inimitable chalky hillsides. Unfortunately I can’t as while the team were enjoying THE vrais Chablisienne hospitality, TJ was feverishly wandering the streets in search of facilities to relieve the act of gastronomic terrorism wraught upon him at lunch by the fiend behind the stove. White knuckled he lurched back to the scene of the crime, palpitations growing with every step. A wry smile from the maitre on arrival, a knowing nod maybe….the swine. Red-eyed and beaten, Juice slunk out 20 minutes later to re-join the team and get the hell out of town. After all, a weekend off the clock in Lyon was calling. Things could only get better. Right?

A Very Tasty Geyser

2006-11-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

In the week the greatest football club in E13 went Icelandic, it seemed appropriate that The Juice was debating how to pronounce the word geyser. TJ is sure they are ‘geezers’ but Paul Draper reckons otherwise. And he should know. Draper has been in charge at California’s stellar Ridge winery since Nixon was in the White House and is famous for his Geyserville Zinfandel. Bowing to his superior knowledge, TJ conceded they were ‘guysers’ and comforted himself with the thought he was sitting pretty with a tidy line-up of wines to check out.

Zinfandel is that most American of grapes, as much a part of the landscape as giant parking lots and drive-thru donut joints, and Paul Draper makes the best there is. The Geyserville is a cracker – however you say it. Best enjoyed in its youth, it is a master of the old iron-fist-in-velvet-glove trick with a perfume to remind you of Heston Blumenthal’s kirsch aromatiser (what? Ed.) With a hefty dose of ancient vine Carignan in the blend too, there is also a faint whisper of the Roussillon in there. Restraint and concentration in the same wine. Who woulda thought it?

The Lytton Springs is a bigger beast and worth some time in the cellar too. At 10 years old it was still playing the field, the fruit refusing to fade gracefully. It had a moody, brooding power and the suggestion of something angry about it. You half expected the sweet cherries in the background to burst through the door like Jack Nicholson in The Shining: “Heeeeere’s Lytton!”

After the Zins it was time to take the bus to Cabernetville. Ridge’s Monte Bello vineyard is an undisputed First Growth of California. Winner of the recent Paris 1976 Revisited tasting, it is the sort of wine that just gets better and better with time. At four years old the 2002 was a case of still waters running deep but the 1992 was jumping. Fabulous colour with only a hint of amber – the foot was on the pedal but the lights hadn’t changed – and the nose? Oh, the nose: plum sauce, herbs, soy, and freshly sawn pine. This really was something. Running through it all was an uber-cool freshness not unlike the weird sensation TJ gets from Mrs Juice’s mint and tea tree oil conditioner. Wrapped up with some strict tannins, this was a beauty with time on its side.

And with all the glasses empty, off The Juice went humming Sinatra and blowing Icelandic bubbles into the night.

That Paul Draper, he’s some geyser.

Day Four in the Bibendum House

2006-11-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

The crucial moment came early on Thursday morning when Willie sneaked a 2^nd coffee when no one was looking. Fireworks I tell you! We rolled into JM Boillot and some wary Goedhuis looks foretold the fun to come. After some yummy Pommards and Volnays, Leboo was in full singing voice again and Robin, the ‘American Woman’ gave him a swift:

“It’s okay – you can stay over there!”
“No I don’t need an ASBO”, came the reply, “you’re gonna have to slap a torrefaction order on me!” As we all wondered exactly what that was (we still don’t really know by the way!), we moved onto the Boillot whites which impressed and amused all the way through. Again the Bourgogne Blanc was looking great, as was the Montagny. The Puligny Villages elicited: “This is absolutely a Ben Collins wine”, while the 1er crus Referts and Combettes were as groovy as Beaune on a Thursday night (trust me – we saw it – mayhem…or something like that!)

The journey from there was signposted by some extreme last minute turn-offs which left the Goedhuis car behind giving up prayers in the wind. But we made it, slightly breathless, and were rewarded with a stellar white wine line-up at Marc Colin, the king of St. Aubin…no wait…the king of Chassagne. They make delicious wines from both appellations, with complexity, structure and wonderful acidity that keeps the rich fruit and body well in check. And we finished with le Montrachet for which the Ben Collins note was: “Rare as rocking horse sh*t. Fat. Yum.”

Now what can you say about our next stop at Domaine Leflaive? Not much really!! Anne-Claude was in sparkling form, as were her wines which were class in a glass and so much more forward and easy to taste than the ‘04s where at the same time last year. The Swiss had joined us by now, laptops and all, and hush descended while barrels were quite literally rolled out to support their techno-literary weaponry.

We all continued to write on paper.

Meanwhile the Chevalier gave Willie cramp in “his left rib” – it was that good. Lunch at L’Auberge du Vieux Vigneron turned out to be astonishingly good, with enough Cote de Boeuf to feed a whole picking crew. Great slabs of meat thrown onto the open fire in the middle of the restaurant – and salads ordered to assuage any carnivoral guilt (though in reality they didn’t even get close). We waddled to the car and drove back to Beaune high on protein.

I would like to say that we had calmed down by the time we reached Tollot Beaut but that wouldn’t really be true. We tucked into delicate, perfumed, minerally reds from Chorey and Savigny-les-Beaune and Aloxe. Followed up by some delicious Bourgogne Blanc and Corton Charlemagne.

Back into the lift and up into the light (yes curiously many of these old Burgundy cellars have lifts…though it makes sense I suppose if you think about it).
“And now we’re in the world’s fastest lift”, crowed Leboo. “Go on!” The lift shaft wall inched by slower than the quarterly sales meeting.
“Nous allons arriver demain soir a huit heures!” Coffee no. 3 was now wreaking its own special kind of havoc. In the corner Johnny G groaned and in hushed tones assured the cellar master that “…fortunately Willie only comes to Burgundy every eight years.”

Back into the car, we waved goodbye to the clearly relieved Goedhuis crew. Onto the road and on with French radio – let’s just sing ‘American Woman’ anyway shall we? At this point, with my teeth fairly jangling around my mouth and my purple a shade of tongue, I took a dive in the 9^th round and returned to the hotel to quite literally attack the hotel computer again…poor thing.

The boys continued onto the Merry Moreys – Bernard and Coffinet. By all accounts the Morey-Coffinets won hands down and we can’t wait to get our hands on those Chassagnes and Pulignys. One more big dinner at La Regalade and we were able to send our stomachs on sabbatical…decaf anyone?

Day 3 in Burgundy

2006-11-15T02:02:00.000-08:00

TJ was now firmly into the routine of getting up early to scribble, feeling a bit dodgy, and repeatedly crashing the poor hotel computer with a wonky USB drive. Fortunately breakfast was a real fortifier. Juice to wake your mouth up, coffee to wake your brain up, baguette to wake your stomach up, and muesli to wake your…er…digestion up.

Our 8.30 was at Denis Mortet and we joined up with the Goedhuis boys and girl to continue our tasting tour. There was a palpable air of sadness in the cellars as we tasted without the legendary Denis, who passed away earlier in the year. The wines were a treat with the Bourgogne Rouge and Blanc screaming for attention. At the top end, the grand cru Chambertin was outstanding, the perfect experience punctuated only by Ben taking a call to arrange the weekend tee-off times. Willie’s hysterics soon put paid to that though…you can’t even give these boys a sniff of a joke and hope to get away with it.

On to see the gentleman, Etienne Grivot, where 1st order of the visit was sorting out dinner plans.
“And under what name would you like to book the restaurant?”
“Monsieur Willie Lebus” (pronounced Leboo). And thus a Brazilian-footballer-style one word name was born…Leboo had arrived! The wines were of seamless purity and flavour. Each vineyard perfectly expressed its terroir under the watchful care of this Burgundy Master. Of the Echezaux…”C’est comme une caresse…” And it was.

Meo-Camuzet will always stick in the mind for having the coldest cellars, some great but chilly wine, and some lively Bibendum-Goedhuis cut and thrust.
“You want someone to come and work for you Goedhuis?”
“Thanks Willie, are you sending the Kiwi carpenter?”
“No I was thinking more of the four-eyed monster.” Well don’t worry dear reader; I’m still here, glasses polished and ready for action.

The next destination had all the old boys salivating like mad. Ghislaine Barthod’s hero’s welcome for Leboo – “C’est un honeur” with much bowing and hugging, had our man scuttling bright-faced behind a barrel, with just a suspicion of a ghost in the trousers! For the Bourgogne Rouge and Chambolle Village, dix points! This lady is the undisputed queen of Chambolle and utterly charming to boot. As we marvelled at the quality of the 1er crus, strains of ‘American Woman’ rang out across the cellar.
“You’re scaring me Willie” Goedhuis’ female member was getting a true baptism of fire and started edging back towards the barrels. “American woman, listen what I say…”

Off into a vrai shed and there’s the mercurial wine genius, Emmanuel Rouget, larger than life, with his raft of blue chip appellations bursting from our glasses to pop a few synapses in the brain. As we said goodbye to Emannuel, he loped off to try to pull our friend Claude Kolm out of the ditch he had reversed his car into. Ahh….the glamorous life of the cult winemaker.

Final stop of another long day was at Domaine Chauvenet, where the ever genial Christophe Drag (pictured above) welcomed us with empty glasses and a full breadbasket – what a man! Perhaps it was the wine, but it seemed like the finest walnut bread any of us had ever eaten. And his Nuits St. George Villages and 1er crus were nothing short of sensational as well, with creamy black fruit, richness and balance. And as we left we were relieved that Christophe agreed to attend our En Primeur tasting on January 9th. Of course we had to promise him an ‘exciting’ night out afterwards in London…you’ll come along too won’t you?!

Bibendum in Burgundy - Episode II

2006-11-13T05:50:00.000-08:00

Day 2

Into the car after the 1st night’s sleep at Hotel La Closerie and off we set. “I think the boot might still be open; Ben, are we going for a bit of extra down force there?” With all doors finally closed the car was a bit less draughty and we hit the road with more calls of “drive on Binks!” emanating from the back seat.

First stop was Vincent Girardin, a modern and extremely efficient operation in Meursault. Home of good value whites in a very definite house style – we can’t wait to take delivery of the St. Aubin en Remilly white which is a top-value crowd-pleaser.

Visits to Fourrier and Drouhin Larose under the belt, we were armed with more clues as to the quality of the vintage. The village level Chambolle Musigny, Vosne Romanee and Nuits St. George wines were really starting to stand out, and the red Bourgognes were a delight too. By now our teeth were starting to take on a funny colour and espresso stops were becoming ever more vital. But all was about to take another very exciting turn as we headed towards Nuits St. George station. In a whirlwind of noise and colour, the 12.34 pulled into the station and suddenly Willie Lebus was upon us. Our amp went to 11 as the air in the car turned blue and exuberant. We arrived for lunch at Matrot where we hooked up with the delightful Graham Gardner, negociant to the stars. With his own fair hands he had prepared a delightful and simple lunch in the salle de vendangeurs (where the pickers feast during harvest) that consisted of jambon persille, rustic pate and gooey epoisses which slowly oozed its way across the plate to meet you. With their colourful clothes and bawdy stories, Willie and Graham quickly established themselves as the only 2 queens in the village – thank goodness we were amongst friends!

Then a tasting of the 2005s with Thierry Matrot, resplendent in a pair of new scaffolding-style spectacles, and a sensationally grubby yellow fleece that looked for all in the world as if it had come from the Bibendum Marketing Department! The wines were incredibly distinct with racing acidity and great intensity of fruit. Not an ounce of new oak in those ones and it really showed with cracking wine again at Meursault Villages level, all the way up to the opulent 1er cru Charmes. From there onto Domaine Robert Arnoux and the impeccable hospitality and smile of the big chief, Pascal “Mr Smooth” Lachaux. After grabbing a sneaky look at where some of the wrapped up pallets were heading, we were ushered into some extremely smart caves. First up were his rare negociant wines which were superb and limited to a maximum of 75 cases of each appellation. Understatement of the year award was snapped up by Graham who announced that the Grands Echezaux “might not be cheap…”!

Then into the Domaine Robert Arnoux wines where superlatives rolled off the tongue with alarming regularity. The Borgogne Rouge will be fantastic value, as will the village wines from Nuits, Vosne and Chambolle. The Vosne Suchots elicited a “that’s proper wine*” from Monsieur Collins and the Echezaux and Romanee St. Vivant were off the scale.

We finished the day off with one of our absolute favourite producers, Nicky Potel, who is a scholar and a gentleman. Every year the wines get better and better but the prices stay well this side of the troposphere. Look out for great quality and value reds and whites. With 105 wines done and dusted for the day delirium was starting to set and poor Graham, whose bags disappeared on the flight over, was by now firmly the rabbit in the headlights:
“What an honour it is to work with a man with pink socks! You’d better get on to La Chemiserie in town and tell them they have ‘un client important’ coming in.” Graham’s a great bloke though, and even after being dismissed as the Weakest Link, he still managed to grin and promise us good allocations.

Dinner at cult Beaune restaurant, Ma Cuisine (above), was fabulous and came to a competitive conclusion with the Bibendum crew and the Goedhuis table next door swapping glasses for some blind tasting challenges. You’ll be pleased to hear that we won... or so we thought anyway.

*anyone who knows him will appreciate that this is high praise indeed from BJC

Bibendum in Burgundy Episode One

2006-11-10T00:39:00.000-08:00

As with every great Bibendum trip, the fun begins on the journey and this was no exception. After Joe, Alex and I scored a direct hit with speedy passage on the Democratic Republic of Gatwick Express, poor Alex came a cropper as we stood in the queue for security. Delighted with their impending Nile cruise, a charming couple in front decided to share their feelings by turning around and calling Alex an “Australian a**e-kisser.” The poor Kiwi didn’t even have time to pull out his British citizenship test handbook in protest. Barely had that slight gone through to the wicket-keeper when the security guard at the X-ray machine got a bit shirty and waved our boy off with a rather loud “bloody foreigners”. With it still being very early in the morning, we were left wondering whether he might be insulted three times before the cock crowed! So far, so welcoming…and we hadn’t even arrived in France yet!

Our Easyplane sat in dense fog for an extra hour, which gave the Russians in the seats behind us ample time to mutter abuse about Tottenham and their win over Chelsea – just as well Willie wasn’t there. Even with the plane filling up with this sort of hot air, at least it didn’t smell like our Mitsubishi Grandis at the other end in Geneva. Early opinion was divided as to whether the “Chunderbus”, as it soon became known, eclipsed the Citroen “worst car ever made” Xsara Picasso of the Bordeaux trip.

It wasn’t long before “straight on, my man” could be heard from the back seat as Ben Collins, who had arrived on a different flight, announced himself as the Maitre de Directions.

“We need one of those glass screens between the back seats and the driver to drown out Marton. You could have one of those buttons you press if you want to talk to us. And you can address me as ‘Your Eminence’….wait…you’re not writing all this down are you?!?!” With a swift and stealthy clip round the ear from Ben chalked up early on, the stage was well set for Bibendum goes Bonkers in Burgundy. Smooth motorways, beautiful sunshine, a dash of electro on French radio, and a hilarious running commentary from Ben “I’m giving myself 10 for that one” Collins.

Sit back, soak it up, and enjoy…

First stop that afternoon was at Fontaine Gagnard where we were treated to a succession of extremely good whites. Of course, the real business here is the 2005 Burgundy vintage, which is exciting everyone who gets anywhere near it. The often subdued Burgundians can hardly keep the smile off their face this year and the wines are a joy to taste. Without wanting to over-generalise, both whites and reds, where well-made, are showing great balance, with wonderfully fresh acidity keeping sweet and often opulent fruit well in check. There is great elegance and wonderful texture in many of the wines and they are much easier to taste at this early stage of their lives than has been the case in previous years. Now back to Fontaine Gagnard…producer of Chassagne Montrachets of the finest quality. Each premier cru retained its very unique individual style, and while the Caillerets and Vergers were excellent, the Boudriottes was positively singing. At grand cru level, the real star of the show was the Batard Montrachet which showed incredible definition and character, and a finish that even the great Serge Blanco would be proud of.

Next stop was Clos des Lambrays with its very elegant maison and incredible caves. Thierry, the smartest and most genial host in Burgundy, welcomed us and showed us into the “new cellar – built in the 18th Century” (above). There we tasted delicious Morey St. Denis Villages and sensational quality premier cru before moving on to the awesome grand cru Clos des Lambrays. For many this was the wine of the day and Thierry summed it up best with “Il y a du punch”. We couldn’t agree more mon ami.

Then on to Hudelot Noellat in Vougeot, where we were treated to a slightly unexpected but sensational line-up of wines. Both here and Lambrays were new producers for Bibendum to visit this year and both were well worth the trip. Wonderful village wines from Chambolle Musigny and Vosne Romanee were followed by equally impressive premier crus. And by the time we got to the Clos de Vougeot, Romanee St. Vivant and Richebourg, the word ‘yum’ was echoing around and smiles were wide. Great concentration, complexity, freshness and just plain luxury.

A pattern had already started to emerge and it’s really good news for the vintage. The grand crus are, in most cases, exceptional, as you would expect given the vintage conditions and the prices they will garner when they hit the market. Under that though really wonderful wines have been made all the way from Bourgogne rouge and blanc, through village and up to premier cru level and there will be some really great value buys this year. And so after 20 hours, one plane ride, 40-odd wines, many jokes about Kiwi carpenters, and one lost Bibendum branded clipboard, an exhilarating first day came to an end – great stuff.

Wines of the first day…
Fontaine Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet Les Boudriottes 2005
Clos des Lambrays 2005
Hudellat Noel Chambolle Musigny 2005

...and So to Bisol - the Hunting trip part III

2006-10-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

After half an hour (sic) of motorway travel it was a relief to be on the Strada del Prosecco between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. As we wound our way up into the stunning hillside countryside we made the most of our time by practicing our pronunciation of Valdobbiadene (AL won hands down with his interpretation). We arrived at Relais Duca di Dolle in the heart of Bisol’s vineyards and were awestruck at the beauty of this converted farmhouse with state of the art facilities and …swimming pool: the book was open. After having secured half a case of Jeio we settled down by the poolside to soak up the views of the rolling hills before meeting our engaging host Giovanni Oliva for supper at Gigetto’s. We took aperitif down in the Aladdin’s Cave of a wine cellar that occupies 3 main tunnels under the Restaurant: Tom Dick and Harry. The owner of this restaurant has spent the past 40 years cherry picking the finest wines, cognacs, champagnes etc from around the world. Amongst the 1500 bin cellar we spotted Grange, Petrus, Petaluma and Stonier to name but a few. But tonight was about Bisol and it was a pleasure to be joined for dinner by 28th generation Gianluca Bisol.

Before we arrived the Bisol family owned no fewer than 50 hectares of DOC vineyard. In an area where the average vineyard holding is around 1 hectare and the larger producers are forced to buy in most of their grapes, the Bisol family are able to protect the very high quality standards that have set them apart from every other Prosecco producer (as we were about to find out). On the day of our arrival Gianluca and his family completed on the purchase of an additional 30 hectares of DOC vineyards and we were delighted to be able to celebrate with Gianluca and Giovanni. Going forward the family are also looking at various interests outside of their traditional area so watch this juicy space.

More Hunting in Italy - Make mine a Valpol

2006-10-26T06:56:00.000-07:00

Nicolis – Valpolicella (Lit: Valley of many cellars!)

After getting to know the back roads of Valpolicella we arrived at the family owned Nicolis winery in the heart of the Classico appellation. The winery has always had a strong reputation for high quality wines and today that tradition is being carried on by the three sons of Angelo Nicolis. Each son specialises in one of the 3 key fields (viticulture, vinification and commercial) and true to Italian form their activities are supervised by Mamma Natalia.

We were welcomed by a sparklingly enthusiastic Alexandra who guided us through the winery and made us feel a lot more knowledgeable about the hierarchy of Valpolicella wines.
It was also very interesting to see the grapes that had been picked the day before, now resting in shallow crates and beginning their 3 month dry out period in well ventilated “chill-out” rooms – destination Amarone.

Over lunch we tasted our way through the hierarchy and at every level the Nicolis boys are doing very well indeed. In particular the Valpolicella Classico Superiore 2004 sang out. It showed concentration, depth, smoothness and above all balance. The camp was divided over which was top of pops: was it the brooding Amarone Classico, the luscious Recioto (made from same grapes but with a drop of noble rot settling in) or the unconventional yet gutsy Testal (using more than 80 % Corvina therefore de-classified). However we were all bowled over by the Amarone Classico Ambrosan; mouthwatering, dense, perfumed and utterly butterly. Alexandra then revealed that at a recent Amarone Classico competition (32 wines entered) only 3 wines received 5 stars. The first two were super-duper £150 plus wines and the third was our very own Nicolis Amarone Classico Ambrosan at a remarkable £80 on a wine list! At this stage you can forgive us for being in high spirits; even the sparklingly enthusiastic Alexandra couldn’t resist the infectious joviality of AR (Photo) but alas it was time to move on.

Hunting in Italy

2006-10-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

(Not a story about taking potshots at North Italian fauna; rather the Bibendum "Hunting Team"'s exploits in the Alto Adige, Veneto and Valpolicella.)

Alto Adige - Day One
What a welcome sight it was to see our host for the day Urs Vetter (pictured), sitting on the wall ready to welcome us into the courtyard of the idyllic winery of Alois Lageder. Not sure if it was as welcome a sight for him to see a 14 strong group of Bibendumites eager to experience Lageder.

After refreshing our spirits with an aperitif of 2005 Gewurztraminer we settled down to lunch to enjoy the very local and very seasonal produce. Before a proper look at the entire line-up of the latest vintage we needed to understand more about the Trentino Alto Adige region. Urs led us into the vineyard, passionately explaining why he believes the unique soils, topography and micro-climate of the valley result in some of the finest white wines in Italy. The tasting that followed confirmed what he was talking about. Looking back at my notes there are certain words that are repeated: finesse… freshness…purity…elegance..., but certain wines stood out: Benefizium Porer Pinot Grigio puts to shame a great slew of Pinot Grigio wine available in the UK. (In the evening we were to be treated to the same wine from the 2001 vintage and it is unbelievable how vibrant and clean it still is).The seductive minerality and mouthfeel of Haberlehof Pinot Bianco 2005 (AKA The Hof) makes it easy to understand why in Italy, this variety is more valued than its poor cousin Pinot Grigio. The indigenous Lagrein Rosato 2005 re-affirmed its position as the mother’s milk of Bibendumites.
We had to see where these wines are made so Urs guided us down the gravity-led, bio-sustainable winery which was completed in 1996 as a response to the very real effects of climate change on viticulture. Space here doesn’t permit me the luxury of singing from the rooftops about this wine making facility. Alois Lageder has taken a visionary lead in creating a natural and healthy environment for both man and wine. Strangely, this is expressed in all of his wines.

Visit over, and the group settled into the hotel. Now, we all welcome a bit of team bonding but the matrimonial beds in the double rooms were a step too far and having requested a slight bed re-arrangement we headed off to meet Alois and Urs for dinner. Again, seasonality and freshness was the order of the day for the food. Locally hunted deer (aha! it is a piece about hunting - Ed) and line-caught fish from nearby Alpine streams were complimented by some of Alois’ library stock of wine. Conversation then led to what interests Alois outside of work. He loves contemporary art and aside from heading up the executive board at Bolzano’s Institute of Modern Art he has been involved in a lengthy stand off with Italian bureaucracy to convert a defunct dinosaur of a building into a playground for home grown contemporary artists. This passion extends back into the winery where selected artists have been part of a project to integrate objects and installations into the fabric of the wine making process…and yes the maturing barriques are treated to the sound of JS Bach’s Sixth Brandenburg Concerto that fills the cellars with a meditative atmosphere!

The evening was rounded off by a surprise game of “Guess Who?” (copyright The Horn) whereby Ms LT and HS produced secretly obtained photographs of the team in their infancy. Needless to say this led to a variety of responses from gasping disbelief to shuddering embarrassment…and plenty of guffawing.

One of the reasons why Lageder’s wines have such phenomenal success is down to the personality and passion of Urs and Alois and how they carry that on their travels: they get on planes and spread the word. We left the winery the next morning thinking that for a change, it had been a great privilege to return the compliment of the visit.

Valdivieso releases Caballo Loco....onto Netball court?

2006-08-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well now…netball seasons seem to come and go like footballers autobiographies at the moment. As the North London Lionesses (previously reported on) wrap up another campaign on Thursday, the new Bibendum team ‘Caballos Locos’ launched themselves into the fiercely competitive Netball Public Domain. The Juice (now quite a netball aficionado….except for knowing the rules) was there to see these Wild Horses trample over their opposition; on this occasion named ‘The Townies’. Yes, TJ thought the Bibendum team had a more exciting name as well…

The girls trotted onto the courts together, proudly wearing their Valdivieso t-shirts & looking like a team who knew their stuff. Nerves were jangling before the game, especially when some couldn’t remember the rules & others hadn’t played for years. Kirstin lead the team as Centre; a position that requires more running than is sensible. For those that know Kirstin, running for 40mins non-stop is a walk in the park. Personally, I got tired just watching…

The Crazy Horses attacked like….well, crazy and little Korina was popping them in from all over the shop. Kelly, Kate & Caroline hustled around making the opposition look more miniature pony than crazy horse. They swapped positions and vests just to bamboozle the ponies – or maybe for tactical reasons…not sure…

The defence was extremely strong with Jenni, Nicky & Helen all playing brilliantly together. The determination could be seen on their faces as they reached, jumped and stretched for every intercept. Nothing was getting into that circle. They did lots of that wavy defensive move which looks a bit weird but turns out to be very effective. And the slug of fine wine from kind sponsor, Valdivieso, at half time didn’t seem to hurt either.
Final score: CRAZY HORSES 19, LAZY PONIES 2.

And Coach Kelly has asked that we broadcast the following important public service notice:

Rule 14.1 Footwork
A player may receive the ball with one foot grounded, or jump to catch & land on one foot & then
1. Step with the other foot, lift the landing foot & throw/shoot before the foot is regrounded
2. Step with the other foot in any direction any number of times, pivoting on the landing foot

Now that we’ve got that sorted…phew. Next week, more crucial life-or-death information from TJ and coach Kelly…bet you can’t wait

Pavie 2003 - No Ordinary Wine

2006-08-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

Chateau Pavie 2003 is no ordinary wine; a big wine from a big vintage, it has come to epitomise all that is either good or bad about Bordeaux depending on which side of the Atlantic-shaped fence you sit on. To Robert Parker it is a 98 point work of wonder full of “charcoal, creme de cassis, melted licorice, espresso roast, and blackberries” but to Jancis Robinson it was quite the opposite, with JR famously calling it "ridiculous wine more reminiscent of a late harvest Zinfandel than a red bordeaux with its unappetising green notes...".

Controversial stuff. And there is nothing The Juice likes more than a good dollop of controversy over dinner.

It was a simple recipe. Take one bottle of Pavie, one late harvest Zinfandel hide them in amongst some top ‘03s from Bordeaux and around the world and invite the great (and the Goode) to come and taste them blind.

Bold, rich and full of fruit, the ‘03s are a funny bunch. Typical Bordeaux? Hell, no. Cracking bottles of wine? Some of them certainly are. Pichon-Baron was TJ’s pick of the line-up, though Cos d’Estournel and Kirwan picked up a few votes too.

Yet despite all these lovely left-bankers, this night was all about one wine. Did Pavie really taste like late-harvest Zin? Was it an abomination, an insult to its terroir? Or was it the best wine released since, ooh, Pavie 2000?

The answers: no, no and no.

Late-havest Zin it was not (though the Turley Tofanelli Vineyard 2003 served alongside it was a thrilling piece of kit) and it did taste a lot like the other big, ripe, oaky Bordeaux 2003s on the table. A contender for nose of the night with an extraordinary mass of plum, chocolate and blueberry notes, the attack was juicy, plush and ultra-rich but then the tannins, extract and oak rather took over at the end, leaving the finish a touch on the hard side. Great wine, but not 98 points. Worth another look in a decade or so.

As the debate raged around the table, controversy well and truly stirred, TJ slipped back into the shadows clutching the dregs of the Pichon-Baron….

Take me to Rioja!

2006-08-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

The Juice journeyed to Rioja last week to see Dinastia Vivanco's grandly named 'Museum of the Culture of Wine' and to catch up on their other vinous and cultural endeavours. In the company of Olly Smith (broadcaster and flame-headed Syndrome lookalike) and mild-mannered web supremo Tom Cannavan of wine-pages fame, TJ boarded the early flight from a sunny Stansted to land in an improbably drizzle-bedecked Bilbao. Once over the Cantabrian mountains, and as predicted by tour guide Rob McIntosh, the weather cleared, the wide open lands lay before, and (give or take the odd Riojan roadwork or two), the group made good speed to Briones, home of the Vivanco operation.
The Vivanco family have been selling and making wine in Rioja for the best part of a century, and as part of their very family-centred efforts, have built a magnificent museum and cultural centre just outside Briones. First stop for our crew, however was an small tower which protrudes from the Tempranillo vineyards across from the museum. Down the spiral staircase, and into an amazing new winery they have built underground.
To call it 'James Bond' in style and scope is to do it a disservice, but this vast and beautifully conceived underground lair was lacking, in TJ's opinion, only a grey-suited villain with a cat on his lap and sinister band of lackeys to accompany him. Happily for our party, it was handsome and distinctly unvillainous Rafael 'Rafa' Vivanco who brandished the keys, and took us on a tour of the spectacular site. The Dinastia Vivanco wines are all made here, and the future for the wines looks very bright indeed.
Once back to the museum, our hosts very generously fed us in the beautiful restaurant (perhaps realising that we had not, thanks to the vagueries of cheap air travel, eaten a morsel that day since a blueberry muffin at circa 0600 hours). The veritable feast on offer was duly devoured, the team descended (with only slightly creaking legs) into the museum. Here were further feasts. Rafa explained that, unlike other repositories of wine paraphenalia around the world, this one was concerned with the role of the grape in culture across the ages. Thus one gets not only barrel making demonstrations and ancient wine presses, but beautiful greek amphorae and art across the centuries celebrating the odd glassful being consumed. These included works by Picasso and some truly stunning Roman mosaics, as well as the biggest collection of corkscrews you are ever likely to clap eyes on.
The museum is a great testament to one family's devotion to wine in all its forms, and ever-growing visitor numbers bear out its great value to Rioja in particular, and wine tourism in general.
An evening spent 'tapas crawling' - quite the most delicious bar crawl TJ has yet had the pleasure to take part in - in nearby Logrono, finished with a decent bottle of the local reserva in the main square, as Olly Smith revealed previously hidden (and for the most part unprintable) dexterity with the Spanish language. Truly, this is a man born to talk rubbish in many tongues.
The next day we went south into the gently undulating countryside of the Rioja Baja, to DV's latest project, an architectural dig on the site of an old winery. Initally, translation and general pointing at the ground suggested that this project was perhaps not on the scale of Pompei in its potential; however moments later our guide led us down a steep slope into the very bowels of the earth, where we gazed in wonder at the 12th century Sisterian arches and corridors which had been uncovered, buried deep into the hillside. Feeling ever so slightly nervous at being in the midst of a 'live' dig (and one arch had already collapsed during digging), TJ was still full of admiration for the Vivanco family and their desire to chronicle and explain wine history for the benefit of future generations.
There was barely time for another four course meal back in Briones before Senor McIntosh led us back to the team beemer for a race to Vittoria, thence via Ryanair back to Blighty. A truly memorable trip, for all the right reasons. Rioja will never be a 'hardship' destination, but the Vivancos have given us all even more reason to visit this famous wine region. Salud!

Fernando Alonso…eat your heart out!

2006-07-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

The Mile Highlight club had assembled in Row 18; Sexy Esme, Dizzy Rachael and the rest of the Barcelona Hen Night(mare) 2006. Blonde streaks bobbed up and down as they squealed, contorted, kicked and generally got high on celebrity gossip mags. With a bit of luck thought TJ, a visit to Jean Leon’s winery just outside Barcelona was not on their schedule. The hens clucked as the lady across the aisle slept mouth agape, catching the sky. Had I looked like that a few moments earlier?...Surely not.

The sun quite literally beat down like a big stick on the beautiful Jean Leon vineyards and winery in Penedes. I was able to honestly tell my host, Anna, that it was 35 degrees in London that day. Raised eyebrows and polite smiles…she clearly thought me quite loopy…poor boy, all that cold and rain has gone to his head. The wines were delightful. And the new Zemis 2003? “Juice of the Gods”, chimed in Mario hopefully.

Lunch at Mas Rabell, Torres’ private dining restaurant was spectacular (Miguel Torres was a pal of Jean Leon. Not surprisingly, he liked the wines so much he bought the company). I suggest you try to get in there, though you can’t book or pay. Your best shot is to propose some business to Torres or Jean Leon, get invited, eat quickly and then scarper before the game’s up. Piece of pastel.

Then to business in the sprawling offices of Torres town but that’s all a bit dull compared to the car trip after that back to Barcelona. With Iain at the wheel and TJ on map duty (with Goonie Map: Part 2 – what is it with winemakers and indecipherable treasure maps?) we sped through traffic and made great time, getting to within 10 metres of the destination. “Is this it? No it can’t be”…wrong move partner. Wow, you only get one shot at it in Barcelona and you don’t want to miss it. In an attempt to loop round we took off gamely down what looked like a road…until it became a path, then a pedestrian area…then a square. A beautiful square, lovely buildings, a fountain; no roads mind but that didn’t worry David Coulthard behind the wheel as we weaved through groups of tourists. Then a path again and more people. Commotion on our right as people crowded round the car pointing. Our chief of security fortunately locked all the doors in a flash (well our doors anyway – sorry Iain!) as we survived our first hijacking attempt. We drove round in a few more circles before eventually threading our way back to our start/destination 30 minutes later. Fernando Alonso…eat your heart out!

Gastronaut Lift-off

2006-07-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

Just for a moment you could imagine you were in Southern Spain, Sevilla perhaps. No wait – far too lush and green for that. We must be in Northern Spain, perhaps in Pamplona. The only thing missing was a bull running amok in the picturesque garden…and that’s probably just as well. TJ has been out and about getting the scoop on one of the top pubs in the country. The Griffin Inn in Fletching near Brighton could be most of your dreams come true. Owned and run by the wonderfully hospitable trio of Nigel, Bridget and James, this is truly a pub with heart and soul in every plate and glass.

We had convened with the aim of bringing together some of the great gastro pub and restaurant minds in the area for a bit of a session. Our hosts provided a feast for both the eye and the belly (more on that later) and Jean Leon, Casa de l’Ermita, Hidalgo and Quinta do Vallado came to the party with some lip-smackingly good wines. The setting for the aperitifs and cured Spanish meats on the lawn overlooking the Ouse Valley was magical. Our sherry sashayed and our rose rollicked along.

To the tables and wonderful tapas. Gazpacho, garlic prawns, calamari with lentils, chorizo and broad beans, cod with chickpeas – all divine and presided over by bewitching Spanish eyes. With these treats, the Jean Leon trio of Pago Chardonnay, and Terrasola Muscat and Sauvignon Blanc confirmed the sheer class emanating from this benchmark Penedes producer. With the main course still to come, belts were loosened and glasses drained as a trio of red wines arrived. The Pago Merlot from Jean Leon reminded us that it is one of the top Merlots in Europe while the Tinto and Tinto Reserva from Vallado showed the balance of power and grace for which red table wine from the Douro is fast becoming known. With these we got stuck into a wonderful pork dish whose crackling could be heard several pubs away.

When pressed to describe the wines, all manner of characters and images were invoked with mention of everyone from Bond villains to BA Baracus, but by this point brains had become addled by too much fine food. And as if they hadn’t done enough already, our kind hosts then turned over four of their new and delightfully appointed guest rooms to weary Bibendumites. If you get the chance…go there. We can’t promise you’ll get all of the above each night but you will get the warmest welcome this side of Dodge. And the wine’s not too bad either…

South of England take in the South of France

2006-07-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

Bibendum's South of England team recently returned from a trip to the Languedoc.
The whole trip started in a fairly surreal way, as we actually got to Stansted for 5am! We flew to Carcassonne and picked up the hire cars. First stop, Mas la Chevaliere to meet the absolutely superb girls and boys from Laroche…

We started with a tasting of the Laroche South of France wines. All of which again showed us great varietal identity, quality of fruit and value for money. Specifically the 05 Pinot Noir, Neil. It is worth pointing out the impressive progression of the Mas la Chevaliere wines. When I tasted these wines 2 years ago they were definitely a work in progress and would’ve been a particularly hard sell. However they are now showing delicate, complex character that more than justifies their price. Don’t get me wrong, these are food wines and a definite ‘hand sell’. But they can offer Bibendum customers great value and really over deliver in quality.

After a cooling look round the shiny new winery (pictured above) and an astonishingly hot visit to the Roqua Blanca vineyards we managed to squeeze in some sunbathing and/or a quick game of Petanque. By the way, you’ll do well to watch Willsher and Macca on a boule court… they both throw in random comments like, “do I go now?” and, “please can I throw the little ball next?” It’s a complete façade; they’re secretly brilliant and ruthless.

Before we cracked on with an awesome seafood platter and a very relaxed BBQ we sat round and tasted through the L’Avenir (South Africa) and Laroche Chile wines. Again some great wines on show, a few of the highlights are as follows: L’Avenir Chenin Blanc – Offering a completely different style to the De Trafford version, this wine has very subtle oak influence, with a lively acidity and rich tropical fruit. Not cheap I’ll grant you, but genuinely good kit. Punto Nino Carmenere – Rich and complex with ‘in your face’ dark fruit. As a great food wine that really walks the walk this is spot on for your Gastro list. Punto Alto Pinot Noir – Always going to be popular this one, we all pretty much loved it before we got there. Chilean Pinot is growing in reputation and credibility and this shows why. Proper wine at the right price.

The next day following an extensive barbecue / further tasting session, the team assembled at 8, got into cars and made its way to the Southern Rhone to see the guys at TerraVentoux. We powered across the garrigues with a CD of ‘Now Classics’ cranked right up: Tiffany, Wham, Frankie Goes to Hollywood… Charlotte and I ‘arm danced’ pretty much the whole way. Awesome.

TerraVentoux tasting was both succinct and air conditioned, ideal in the steamy circumstances. Popular on the day were definitely the French Folies – A spicy Syrah Grenache blend with really jammy cooked fruits and balancing tannins. Also a sneak preview of their new La Cave wine, another serious Grenache blend. Diarmid won tasting note of the day with “It’s kind of wet but dry at the same time”. A man with a great future behind him.

After a quick lunch in the winery (with one of the best selection of cheeses I’ve ever seen) we took a trip around some of the vineyards with the excellent Jean-Marc Lafage, their consultant oenologist and one of the most respected wine growers in Southern France. It was genuinely interesting to visit these sites with someone explaining their viticultural methods as they were doing it. You’d think a conversation about potassium management would be boring, not with Jean-Marc… although I’m not going to try recreate the lesson here, my version definitely would be boring.

Laroche and TerraVentoux both shout about the diverse range of soils and climates in this part of France and this is very clearly represented in their wines. We tasted a range of different styles from fresh, lifted aperitif’s to spicy, rich reds; all of which are great quality and great value. A very pragmatic approach to winemaking.

In all a very good (and very hot) trip.

Syrah versus Shiraz - The Rematch

2006-06-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Since Matt Gant of St Hallett beamed down to Bibendum HQ a month or so back, armed with some great examples of his favourite grape from a variety of sources, we have been itching to host another, slightly more scientific, comparison between the noble Syrah of the Rhone Valley and its Shiraz descendants around the world.
Step forward, Robin Tedder MW, Baron Tedder of Glenguin, a transplanted Scot who has made his home (and some damn' fine wines too) in the Hunter Valley. Tedder wrote his MW dissertation on Syrah, and knows a bit about making wine from it.
The lineup of wines was thus: Nine wines, from four continents were served. We knew what was in the lineup but the wines were served blind. This always produces the most interesting results.
Stars on the day? Tedder's own two Shiraz wines, Schoolhouse Block and Stoneybroke, both showed incredibly well, and given their price points, and the lofty company, they certainly stole the show for TJ. In fact Stoneybroke 2002 (rrp £10.41) was mistaken by more than one taster (blush blush) as the mighty Penfolds Grange (rrp > £100)! Tedder clearly knows how good his own wines are to subject them to this kind of comparison, and all TJ can say is - go and try them for yourselves! You can buy Glenguin wines here.
Turkey of the tasting? The Cornas from Verset which smelt to this nose like 'salad dressing' and was, according to Tedder, absolutely overcome with brett. It sure didn't smell like a Rhone wine. Most classic? Would have to be Hermitage Le Meal, with fantastic structure and years of development ahead of it. Other wines tasted were:
d'Arenberg Dead Arm 2003, De Trafford Blue Print Shiraz, Katnook Odyssey, Morgan Syrah 1996 (yes, '96, and probably 3 years past its best), and Grange 1999. A great tasting.

2006-06-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

Finally the floodgates have burst, and the trickle of wines being offered from Bordeaux has turned into a deluge of blue chip chateaux with prices to match. One thing is quite clear: Bordeaux 2005 is not a cheap date. You may have to sell your car, outbuildings and possibly less important members of your family to afford the wines you want. And then there’s the question of allocations. Never in history has a Bordeaux negociant felt so loved, looked after and generally needed. For it is in their hands which merchants will have wine to sell – at all – and which will leave the primeur table empty handed. Nevertheless people are not being put off; as this truly is a great vintage in the making (and everyone says it is), even battle-hardened Bordeaux regulars are dipping their toes in, selling vital organs and generally get caught up in the melee. It is funny to think of the wines themselves, as yet not fully formed or blended, slumbering in their expensive lairs, perhaps blissfully unaware of the fistfuls of cash changing hands in their names. Theirs is a heady future indeed, with expectations hopes and a large amount of cash invested in their future.

Bibendum versus Fuller's - The Rematch

2006-05-31T09:15:00.000-07:00

If it's late May, sure as the sun's not shining, it must be time for the Annual Cricket Match against Fuller's. All those not interested in cricket, look away now...

Yesterday evening saw the 2006 Bibendum v Fullers cricket game. There was a slightly different feel to this year's fixture as Bibendum suddenly found ourselves as favourites. After last year's run fest the Bibendum XI were feeling pretty punchy, and just in case we weren’t cocksure enough we made Sam Thackeray captain. And just in case he wasn’t cocksure enough, he won the toss. We were batting.

Not a problem I thought, considering the sun was out and batting is supposedly what we’re best at. We opened with Julian Adcock and David Cox; the latter got a magnificent 40 last year, this year he was out for 2. No-one was more disappointed than David. Still, Rupes was in next and he’s pretty good… unfortunately you have to be in it to win it and running yourself out after a pretty encouraging boundary is not the way forward. Then Sam came in and added a few runs with some nice boundaries and dogged assistance from Jules. Ants Rixon also showed signs of a decent innings before getting caught. Next in were Ed Clarke and myself and to be honest, the less said about our respective innings the better, and why bother when you can talk about the arrival of Tony Cloke. We were on about 90 odd at the time and what followed was a series of ‘power boundaries’ from the Cloke, backed up by some efficient running from James Martin and the ever athletic Marcus Rann. Tony tells me the 2 pints he had before he ran out were to sooth his aching back, personally I think he was building some ‘lager aggression’. We finished on 138, not bad.

After a quick pint and some token catching practice Rupert and Marcus opened the bowling. To great effect I might add, within 4 overs Fullers were 3 wickets down with about 10 runs on the board. The wickets continued to fall at a steady rate and apart from a brief spell of desperate slogging (ended by a superb catch from Julian at fly slip) they never really looked like getting the runs. After Rupes and Rann we had bowling from Tony, David, Ed and some great stuff at the end from James. Some praise has to go to our fielding which was awesome, great stops and catches held by all, especially James who stopped one that I reckon the rest of the team would have left well alone, it nearly took his hand off.

In the end Fullers didn’t get close and Bibendum won by a stretch. Well done all, I’m looking forward to next year when I’m betting they’ll bring in some Aussie bar staff.

My man of the match? Tony Cloke. Not only did he get those important and entertaining runs, he took a couple of wickets as well.(and he can barely walk today - Ed.)

You can take a horse to water...

2006-05-30T02:03:00.000-07:00

Bibendum was privileged to recently host a tasting led by Javier Hidalgo, one of the Kings of the Hill when it comes to Sherry. Or Jerez. Or Fino and Amontillado. And herein lies just one of the problems. What’s in a name? Will Sherry ever be cool or does it need yet another makeover? It is one of those curious products in the wine world which has recently been the darling of the press; drink of choice of those in the critical know (Tim Atkin sang heavy praise a few weeks ago in the Observer). But this seems to be as far as it ever gets. You can write about it and write about it, but you just cannot get young folk to drink it.

In Spain it is immensely popular, virtually always dry, and one of the first things the locals reach for whenever there are salty snacks or seafood on the table. The Juice enjoyed a glass of the beautiful single-vineyard Manzanilla Pasada Pastrana from Hidalgo last night with some very un-Spanish nachos and it was absolutely delicious. Interesting, rich, complex and with a long, evolving finish. A little more bitter and salty than some of the others we tried at the tasting, it perfectly reflects its coastal Sanlucar de Barrameda heritage. What was most surprising was just how refreshing it was and how well it suited a warm(ish) evening in the garden – a world away from the sweet syrup in the dinky little glass that granny loves.

Javier wants us to move away from the word Sherry and focus on calling it ‘Jerez’; others suggested trying to build the individual styles into brands i.e. Fino, Amontillado, Manzanilla etc. Yet we are expecting a lot of our consumers – to embrace more unfamiliar titles in a crowded marketplace. To slip a Fino into a white wine list without explanation or a supportive sommelier could lead to confusion and worse, full glasses being returned by unsuspecting customers. Restaurants are one important battleground where these wines (and they are undoubtedly wines) will seek to increase understanding and consumption. The home is quite another matter. For most, it will continue to be drunk in very small, sweet amounts over long periods of time. The clichéd bottle will come out again each Christmas, stale and dead (dryer styles need to be treated like a wine and drunk in a similar time period once opened). Try adding a little to create the perfect Bloody Mary; try as an aperitif with snacks; try as an accompaniment to seafood. Try, according to Javier, a Fino or Manzanilla if you feel like drinking plenty throughout the course of the day, or an Oloroso or Amontillado if you feel like just a glass with some cheese. Try Pedro Ximenez over vanilla ice cream (possibly the sweetest wine in the world? – discuss…400g/l of residual sugar). But whatever you do…try and then try again. For the care and attention, never mind the skill and expertise, that go into these wines, you can get an awful lot of quality for your money. Serve chilled in a nice big glass and enjoy…

La Gitana, Manzanilla – sea breeze aromas with great freshness on palate. Drink with seafood.
Fino Hidalgo – More nutty, subtle and elegant. Easy drinking indeed and great with nuts and olives.
Amontillado Seco Napoleon – A Manzanilla allowed to oxidize. Richness and depth on nose – caramel. Great with smoked foods.
Oloroso Seco Napoleon – Intense nuttiness, dark and smooth. Drink with beef casserole or cheese.
Pedro Ximenex Viejo Napoleon – Like liquefied prunes and very dark, viscous and sweet. Over vanilla ice cream a dream.

They came, they saw, they tasted...and then they had a sit-down

2006-05-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

You may have felt a little shift in your personal equilibrium last week. Don't worry, it was only temporary and won't be happening again for another year. Because for 3 exhausting days London Excel was packed to the rafters with wine and thousands of wine trade folk from all over the world. As they collectively swirled their glasses and dipped their noses, the earth shifted ever so slightly on its axis and someone in China caught a cold.

For the uninitiated, it is brutal in size and confusing in layout. Not confusing by design, but in the ease with which you can get lost. The major players were there, all competing to have the highest stand so that people could pick them out from several aisles away. And it goes so much further than wine...

The Brazilian Wine Board had a very talented young girl with a football and prodigious keep-uppy skills entertaining people as they browsed through brochures. Nicolas Feuillate brought opera to their Champagne party. In the vodka section...scantily clad women...no great surprises there then. And the most incredible selection of wines from everywhere you can imagine. Whispers in the Costa Coffee queue suggested that VinItaly is seven times the size. Too frightening to imagine. And from macro...to micro...

Life on the Bibendum stand was much like that of the duck on the pond. Cool, calm and collected on the outside, while below the surface, the collective organisational legs paddled like mad to make sure wine was chilled, producers were happy, queries were collected and customers were greeted. The stand was held together with extra sellotape and a prayer as we raced towards the breathless conclusion. The claxon went for full-time and winemakers throughout the vast arena did what they do best....cracked open a beer.

The Great Debate

2006-05-19T02:12:00.000-07:00

Bibendum hosted a fascinating debate in London this week. Five Australasian wine producers (Aaron Brasher of Petaluma, Brent Marris of Wither Hills, Wayne Stehbens of Katnook, Chester Osborn of d'Arenberg and Matt Gant of St Hallett) were each given 8 minutes to introduce their wineries and wines, and explain what they felt was their unique or defining characteristic. Each was armed with two vintages of one of their wines, one old, one new. At the end of each monologue (and a gong was used to ensure they kept to time) the chair, Willie Lebus, asked the winemakers some questions on burning issues such as closures, ageability of their wines and so on. The audience then voted on whether they agreed or disagreed with the winemaker's views. After all five had spoken, and spilled drinks over Willie, the debate was laid open to the floor. Space does not allow a complete transcript (do we hear a sigh of relief from the reader?) but here are some highlights of what was a really stimulating tasting and discussion.
Brent Marris kicked off with his unique vision for Wither Hills; that the wines should reflect the 'green grass, blue sky, clear water' essence of Marlborough where they are grown. Brent feels that there is no point in New World producers trying to copy Old World styles, they must forge their own identities.
Brent was swiftly followed by Aaron Brasher from Petaluma (whose name Willie felt was best pronounced 'Aron Braisher'). Aaron was presenting the Hanlin Hill Riesling, which co-incidentally has just picked up a gold medal at this year's IWC. The whole point of this wine, he said, was that it received no stirring, no oak, no malo, no messing...'it's just straight Riesling'. Very fine Riesling too. Aaron pointed out that Aussie winemakers love nothing more than a good bottle of Riesling (indeed the rocket-sized magnum on the table before him looked like the perfect antidote to a hard day in the winery). It was a matter of communicating this love of the grape to the consumer at large, and then Riesling would enjoy the popularity of our ubiquitous friend Ms Chardonnay.
Wayne Stehbens began by saying 'there is way too much nonsense talked about wine - most of it at this table.' Having put his fellow winemakers in their place, he began his eulogy to 'the king of grapes - Cabernet Savignon'. Anyone who has met Wayne before would not be entirely surprised to hear him big up the mighty Cabernet, and suggest that Coonawarra was the best spot on earth to grow it. It must be said that the 1998 Katnook Cabernet on show here was pretty strong evidence in Wayne's favour. Wayne bemoaned the grape varieties he called 'one year wonders - look great for 10 minutes after bottling and then fall apart within months.' You would never catch Katnook Cab doing that.
Next the wildly beshirted Chester Osborn explained that, as a fourth generation winemaker from the Osborn family, he had felt the need to continue the traditions of his forefathers. Indeed it was something of a shock to father d'Arry when, having paid for Chester to attend the highly regarded Roseworthy College at Adelaide so that he could 'learn how to make wine properly', Chester announced his intention of carrying on exactly as before - foot treadings, basket pressings, whole berries where possible, shocking shirts at all times. Chester was presenting his Coppermine Road 2001 and 2003 - both good vintages but 'probably not his best', because as he explained he kept the best years to drink himself.
Matt Gant was last on the stage, and cunningly used a selection of props including wine glasses, bottles, chairs and spittoons spread over the floor to illustrate the different vineyard blocks which go into his legendary Old Block Shiraz. Matt's high-energy impersonation of a geography teacher was brought to an abrupt end by the inevitable gong, but not before he had given us a very entertaining round up of the vineyard characters ('from this one you get classic armpit smells - smells just like me in fact'; 'this one is bloody mary in a glass').
The panel were asked their views on the appellation system, and all agreed their was no sense in constricting the inventiveness and innovation of Australasian winemakers with draconian laws about what they could and couldn't plant. The overall sentiment was that these are still very young wine producing countries, and have yet to fully discover where all their strengths and weaknesses lie. Organic wines were discussed, and Chester Osborn said that most of his wines were made in an organic way, but the 'bearded weirdy' reputation of the organic movement (in Oz presumably) was one he didn't feel the need to be associated with; 'Most people think I'm crazy already anyway'.
The debate finished with a discussion on what Fine Wine represented - there were many differing but equally valid views expressed. What was incontestible was the quality of the wines on show, and the passion of the people behind them.

Trio of Tasty Tuesday Treats

2006-05-16T03:13:00.001-07:00

Is that the sound of the Bordeaux campaign ramping up or is it another little teaser? With the London International Wine Trade Fair dominating the vinous landscape this week we thought that all might be quiet on the Medocaine front. However, today sees the release of 3 very different and interesting wines, from Pessac, Pomerol and St. Emilion.

Chateau de Fonbel, effectively the 3rd wine of the magnificent Chateau Ausone, has decided to release 'en primeur' for the very first time, a sure indication of the confidence and anticipated demand this vintage. We were frankly blown away by all the wines when we visited Ausone and this one really stands up well as it debuts at a reasonable £110 per dozen in bond.

The development of Gazin's Pomerol vineyard in the 12th century up to the French Revolution of 1789 around the commandary of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta is confirmed by very old documents from the Great Priory of Malta in Toulouse. The present day Chateau Gazin, which was once a village in the 18th century, is located on the site of the hospital built by the Knights to host the pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostella. These days the pilgrims you'll find around St. Emilion are usually there for the wine, and this one, made in tiny quantities, is always popular.

And there's a wonderful bit of history behind Les Carmes Haut Brion (see picture above), also released today. Shortly before he kicked the bucket, at the age of 101, Jean de Pontac, Lord of the Manor of Haut-Brion, decided he really must do more to earn his spot in heaven. In 1584, he therefore donated a water-mill, surrounded by meadows and wines, to the Carmelites of Haut-Brion. The Friars kept the name "Haut-Brion" for 200 years, before common usage gradually changed it into "Carmes Haut-Brion". A beautiful spot to visit if you can ever find it...the crack Bibendum orienteering en primeur team did not distinguish themselves on this one!

Rhone Rangers vs. Rhone Royalty

2006-05-12T03:24:00.000-07:00

Last night the Bibendum Offices played host to a night of the best of the Barossa against the best of the Rhone. In a quite titanic struggle led by Matt Gant of St. Hallett on one side and some serious Rhonoephiles on the other, there was no clear winner, just a lot of happy facial expressions and some sore heads this morning. TJ was across town at another do so the notes below are supplied by the inimitable 'Boy 90'. Now where are those pictures...?

1990 Rayas CNDP Blanc: Mighty morphing power ranger of a wine, light gold coloured and started a little soft and tired. After 10 mins in the glass it totally changed. White flowers, creamy coffee, stones and smokey green tea flavours. Incredible brightness and persistence, just kept getting better and better. Doesn’t taste of any fruit I can think of but so what? I’d love to try this again.

1991 Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc de l’Orée (mag): Monolithic. Nose of orange rind, earth and wet dog, tastes both clapped out and youthful at the same time. Very mineral and again very long, grows in the glass and white fruits become a bit more apparent. Not as dramatic as the Rayas.

1995 Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc de l’Orée: Lots of sweet toffee on the nose, less rich and glycerous than the 91 and seemingly more advanced. Lost out to the other 2 but maybe I should have given it more time.

1982 Guigal La Landonne: Smoking. No other words for it . Amazing nose of leather, sweet spices, mulberry fruit. Texture on the palate is fab, like running your fingers the wrong way up a velvet dress.. Waves of cocoa, tobacco and warm earthy fruit. Unbelievable definition. One of the best wines I’ve had for a long time.

1986 Penfolds Kalimna Shiraz: Much sweeter nose, much more focused on fruits. Very thick and glycerous, red fruits, buttery, and a dash of allspice. Very good but seems so simple after the guigal.

1985 Jaboulet Hermitage la Chapelle: Cutting dark fruits, iron, earth and gravelly pepper. A good wine that is definitely drinking well now. Consistent from 2bts. Not a paragon of richness but a finesse wine that remains perhaps a tiny bit austere.

1985 Chave Hermitage: CORKED! Shit – potentially was a really great wine hiding underneath it. Shame.

1988 St Hallett Old Block Shiraz: Sweet caramel and red fruits, good acidity and in all quite a reserved wine. Soft and gentle but still a little one dimensional.

1999 E&E Black Pepper Shiraz: Sweet, ribena style fruit. Toffee. Didn’t like this.

1996 Saltram No 1: Fantastic wine. My Auz wine of the night by a mile. Coffee Chocolate and brooding black fruit. Really powerful long wine but multilayered and shows considerable breeding. Real character to it. Very good.

1989 P.Lehman Stonewell Shiraz: Soft sweet fruit, nice but a bit generic. A real disappointment for me as I like these wines young.

1990 Jasmin Cote Rotie (mag): Sweaty saddle leather, flowers and dark, juicy fruits. Tannins have completely ameliorated and this is a lusicious pleasure to drink now. Really nice wine, old fashioned and a touch rustic but none the worse for it.

1990 Fonsalette Cdr Cuvée Syrah: Mahoosive! Looks like a 2yr old wine. Tastes like a 2 yr old wine. Am I drinking from the right bt? Apparently I am….enormous tannins and waves of super ripe blackcurrant fruit and chocolate. Peppery and uncompromising. It really felt like this wine was laughing at us. Potentially immortal.

1989 Penfolds Grange: Most structured so far of all the old aussies. Rich mulberry fruits and leather. Thick but definitely grown up and has some positive secondary development. On it’s own this would have been superb. Actually very good all round but the Jasmin managed to have more interest to it whilst being lighter on it’s feet.

1990 Allemand Cornas Chaillots: A disappointment for me, this was just very soft red fruits and altogether lacking any stuffing. Maybe badly stored as I was expecting good things from it.

1996 Allemand Cornas Chaillots: This is more like it. Really sweaty/sweet animal nose. Something distinctly horsey about is but it is uncompromisingly peppery, earthy and fab. Second time this year for this and I love the wine.

1991 Jamet Cote Rotie (mag): Another fab drinker, soft and sweet but with great complexity. I love the way these mix white flowers and dark cassis fruit on the nose. And all the leathery, gamey, dirt going on underneath. Not as great as the Allemand though…..

1991 St Hallett Old Block: Oily and sweet texture but complex. Chocolate, herbs and a dash of white pepper back up the very soft ripe fruits. My number 2 Auz wine of the night.

1992 Elderton Command: Enormous wine, lots of coffee and almost vicious acidity. Very dark brooding fruits but all over the place in terms of integration – leave it many more years if you’ve got it, maybe something magic might happen.

1994 Henschke Hill of Grace: Much more structure and togetherness, tannins like melting milk chocolate. Delicious wine but doesn’t floor me. Needs something extra, some lift or lightness, or a fault even? Bit too polished.

1983 Lafite: For the second night in a row. Dark blueberry fruits and earthy minerals, definitely more advanced than yesterday’s magnum and maybe the better for it. Not sure this is going anywhere special but it maybe still a little early to write it off. Nice, not great though.

1995 Chapoutier Cote Rotie la Mordorée: Gamey, lean, peppery and a bit hard. Could say it needs more time but frankly I think this lacks the stuffing to ever do anything special. A disappointment after the great 95 Pavillon yesterday.

2002 St Hallett Old Block: No note? I remember this being good though. Massive but very tasty.

1972 Seppelt Shiraz Port: Wow. Totally opaque, dizzyingly sweet and decadent. Burnt coffee and extremely powerful fruits, tastes young almost. Very good indeed but couldn’t drink too much of it.

Clarence is top dog

2006-05-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

Scott Collins is celebrating this week after his newest London pub won the very coveted 'Pub of the Year' award in the Evening Standard. The Clarence is a large, welcoming, friendly place named after Collins's dog. The decor is stylish, there is a large range of interesting beers and wines (all supplied by Bibendum) and the food is top notch.

One of the judges, Gregg Wallace, was particularly impressed: "The Clarence makes no attempt to be a restaurant. Someone has given a great deal of thought to producing great pub food."

Al Murray (the famed 'pub landlord') agreed, "The pub food really impressed. This may be something of a bar in pub's clothing but, even so, it is remarkably successful."

The Clarence is a busy place and manages to combine all the virtues of a really good local pub with a modern and unstuffy feel - this may well be an early example of a new breed of pubs.

The Juice suggests you get down there sharpish...

Stop Press: Wine can improve sporting ability!

2006-05-08T06:29:00.000-07:00

Following on the theme of Bibendum staff aspiring to sporting greatness, the North London Lionesses, featuring the Aussie marketing duo of Jenni Lockett and Kelly Taplin took to the netball court recently in the grandest of grand finals somewhere deep in the badlands of Islington. TJ’s experience of this sport has so far been restricted to one girls’ game at university where, being male and over six feet tall, he was forced to play center against someone of clearly superior technique. She made The Juice look pretty stale and this led to dark days for your correspondent, marked by an alarming increase in Isotonic Lucozade Sport consumption (it gets to your thirst…fast). Fear and ignorance have kept TJ from the court since then but this was the first step back on the road to the world of wing attacks, wavey arms at 3 feet and strange rules about which lines you can and can't cross. And boy…either the eyes have slowed down since that fateful day or this sport has got a lot faster. The air was crackling with crisp passes, audacious shots and just occasionally, an errant elbow or two. A good crowd had gathered to see the teams battle to a dramatic tie at full time. Darkness threatened to fall, others had packed up and gone, but still the game went on. Bibendum’s finest did their team proud and in an impossibly close game, the mighty Lionesses were edged out in the final few seconds of extra time for a heart-breaking defeat. Hmm…and the umpire just happened to be the opposition coach…what would the ‘special one’ say?

A week on, and the new season has started already. Keen to put the defeat behind them, Kelly, Jenni et al are off to a strong start. As the evenings warm up, throw your picnic into a basket and come along to support. Rumours that the girls have started sipping rose at half time are almost completely possibly true…

A world champion at Bibendum!!

2006-05-05T02:08:00.000-07:00

Talk about hidden talents… mild-mannered Alex Carty who works in the finance department at Bibendum has been revealed to be the newly-crowned world champion of Doce Pares. This ancient martial arts discipline originated in the Phillipines and comprises “all forms of open hands and all ranges of weapon fighting which also includes Espada Y Daga (sword & dagger) and Blade Techniques.” Phew.

Alex took the crown at the recent world championship at the hitherto sleepy seaside town of St Ives in Cornwall. What the locals made of sticks, swords and daggers being whirled and wielded in numbers is not recorded.

Alex modestly attributes his success in the ring to having learnt Thai Boxing as a youngster. It is not clear at this stage whether Credit Control Manager Barquita ‘Ninja’ Trinanes intends to train the rest of her team in hand-to-hand combat as a means of aiding debt recovery.

Glass in hand, laptop on knees...

2006-05-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

The Juice has set up his spot on the roof terrace. It is from here that I shall report for the next few months, basking in the sun’s glorious rays. Because Summer is here, and not just for the moment, but maybe forever. This soupcon of hyperbole comes not from recent exposure to an Al Gore lecture (he is the Numero Uno Campaigner in the environmental field at the mo), but rather from the blind desire to see Summer stay literally forever...that is, until the end of time. Those cheery folks who say “oh but I love the seasons…blah blah blah” only say it because they have gorgeous, long, long, half-of-the-year summers. Hence their cheeriness. Sure the odd bit of winter is fairly crucial for growing grapes but just for a moment I want to bask in eternal sunshine with a spotless wine. And having managed to recently live through Aussie and American winters before coming back to our own morbid version I feel like Summer is something I remember only by watching old episodes of the ‘Wonder Years’. So bring it on…

'Foxy' is a good word. As I sit in my deckchair with my imaginary laptop, I reach for a cool, condensation-strewn glass of rose…foxy rose. It is no doubt the sexiest of Summer drinks so here are a couple I have been drinking recently that will bamboozle your friends with full-frontal freshness and elegance in abundance:

Laroche Rose, Vin de Pays d’Oc 2005
Strawberries and raspberries burst out of the glass in this classic example of contemporary southern French rose. Delightful ripe, round fruit coats the mouth with cherry and raspberry leading the charge. Plenty of get up and go here. If it were a band it would probably be the Scissor Sisters!

Chateau des Sarrins, Cotes de Provence 2005
Deliciously fresh and delicate with light red fruit and floral notes on the nose. Dry, yet with a medium-bodied richness that gives it incredible smoothness on the palate. Lots going on which points to a multi-faceted style offering more than your average rose. Lovely acid balance and clean satisfying finish. If it were an actor it would be Jonny Depp...oh yeah...

So go on, think pink. Forget that Wayne Rooney prayer mat, and instead focus your hopes and dreams on that big ball of fire and stuff in the sky which brings so much joy for so little time to so many Brits…occasionally

The Tale of the Tasting

2006-04-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

Thienpont towered with authority and charisma; Tesseron pushed a well-manicured hand through his silver fox mane; Barton oozed leonine charm as he prowled with intent and Berrouet positively fizzled at the wines on show amongst other things. Bibendum Bordeaux 2005 kicked off with a bang. A really really big bang that will be resounding around the Medoc for some time to come. More like cannon thunder really. Keen tasters put life on hold and came along to anticipate, cogitate and expectorate. One man said it was the best 4 hours of his life...but does that say more about us or him? The Chateaux owners were blown away by the response, especially by the knowledge of the visitors and their broad age range. The other linchpin was the enthusiasm and passion of the Chateaux owners themselves who came along, trusted Bibendum, and put on a stellar show.

And the wines? The wines were very good and it would be impossible to go through and comment on them all here. Perhaps the best thing would be to visit Jamie Goode’s blog and check out his notes. The Juice did manage to get the scoop on those Chateaux we mentioned yesterday who decided not to show the wines to Robert Parker. And it made surprisingly good sense. Not a hint of malice there after all. Gruaud Larose, Chasse Spleen et al know their market – it’s that simple. They produce enough wine to supply their loyal customer bases; they want to remain true to their principles and they want to ensure that the wine stands up on its own. Far more appropriate to bring several great vintages along to a tasting like this than to exist on scores alone. As far as they see it, big points can lead to big heads (and even bigger bouffants) and if you’re not very careful this can lead to lose sight of what you were doing in the first place and who you were doing it for. So is this the future? Well maybe not just yet but it could be a trend for the future. What made this conversation even more thrilling was the mixture of wines (in different glasses mind) that were being enjoyed at the lively Lords Tavern dinner tables. Stonier Pinot next to Feytet Clinet 2001 en magnum…Catena Malbec alongside Chasse Spleen 2003…Laurenz V Gruner Veltliner to start and Suduiraut 2002 to finish…

All in all a very happy day for Bibendum. The sight of dozens of smiling people with black teeth and blue lips walking back up the Wellington Road was worth the admission money on its own.

The final highlight? One exuberant winemaker smiling and declaring his wine was "beautiful…just like you" to a certain member of staff. Amen to that…

2006-04-26T02:28:00.000-07:00

Well, the wait was brief and fairly stress-free, and then suddenly the scores were out and phones were ringing and printers whirring. The Wine Advocate…officially the most faxed document in the whole world (maybe) last Friday evening carried Robert Parker’s scores, and made very interesting reading. There were a lot of big winners, a few surprises and a few mysterious omissions. I won’t trawl through all the scores as you can see most on our website (missing only the very highly-scored, tiny production, jammy concoctions from the right bank like Clos de Sarpe, Plus de la Fleur Bouard, Confession etc. which we won’t be bothering with); but most illuminating were the wines which didn’t get a mention at all. Farr Vintners came out with the mittens off in a pretty fair and unsensational summing up of the big-haired-one’s report, although expect to see the Parker forum buzzing with anti-Limey sentiment in response. Farr resurrected the rumour – that RP had been banned from Gruaud Larose (Bib score 17+), Chasse Spleen (Bib score 16), Ferriere and Haut Bages Liberal after perceived sleights committed to these wines in his 2003 report. Certainly he didn't review them. If true...a tantalising situation indeed and a pretty bold move I say. To lock the door on the world’s most influential wine critic as his Chevy is rolling up the driveway is to say the least, rather brave. Or perhaps they were just on strike like the rest of the country! No, I jest; it is a testament to the confidence in the quality of their wine and respect for the knowledge of their customers and we certainly expect to sell plenty of boxes.

The Juice was also very happy to be there when the fax machine rolled just in time for us to fill Jancis in on the Pavie (RP 98-100, JR 14.5) and Pavie Decesse scores (RP 96-100, JR 14). You will have to watch her website for signs of shock and awe, but bear in mind this is how she described them: Pavie – “…this is a wine on steroids. Where is the gentle refreshment value? Could you lust after a second glass?” and Pavie Decesse - “…this really is like sucking a plank” (both Jancis, www.jancisrobinson.com). While the Bibendum team thought the Pavie was better than recent vintages there was not a lot of enthusiasm for some of the other wines from the stable and the word ‘Zinfandel’ was muttered more than once, and not in a particularly nice way.

Lafite (for many of us, the wine of the vintage) and Pichon Lalande did not find favour chez Bob as expected, but don't think that this will mean their prices will drop accordingly. We can live in hope…

Let the games commence...

2006-04-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

After promising a bit of background and the odd story about some of the wines we are hoping to feature during this Bordeaux sales campaign, it is with some pleasure that one of the first wines to be released is Chateau Beaumont. I say pleasure because this wine is a great example of the strengths of the vintage - exactly the reason we are excited about Bordeaux 2005. Ripe round fruit, good balance, delicious freshness…and a very reasonable price tag at only £75 per dozen in bond. That's under £9 delivered…pretty good I’d say.

The Mansard-style chateau on the property was built in 1854 by the Bonnin brothers. Then it starts to get really interesting! In 1860, the Comte de Gennes, the great uncle of Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Nobel Prize-winner for Physics in 1991, bought the property. He sold it in 1872 to Jean-Victor Herran, Minister for Honduras. Parisian industrialist Joseph Germain succeeded him in 1890 and sunk plenty of investment in, really raising the status of the Chateau. From 1920 to 1986, the estate passed successively from the Della Grazia company of Milan to Lieutenant Colonel Ignacio Andrade, to the former Venezuelan senator Dionisio Ramon Bolivar Carvajal and then to Bernard Soulas, who entirely redeveloped the vineyard and restored the chateau. These days the Societe Grands Millesimes de France are in the driving seat and a very good job they seem to be doing too.

The cepage is usually around 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot and they have 114 hectares under vine. The Chateau (above) is a pretty splendid-looking place as you can see. Perfect for some duck gizzard salad with a spot of lunchtime claret on the lawns. Anyone...?

Have a look at our website for all of the team’s other tasting notes.

A country of contrasts

2006-04-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Days 2 & 3
The frenzy starts as massive traffic jams converge on the spaghetti junction of roads that lead into Vinitaly. There are about 144,000 visitors, 4200 producers over the 5 days in 16 pavilions. After slicing through the traffic with a Scottish “take no prisoners” attitude Iain turns a little native when he strategically dumps the car illegally in front of some bins at a spitting distance from the entrance – nice move.

Once through the gate we begin the frantic criss-crossing from pavilion to pavilion, region to region at 45 minute intervals, trying to keep to an impossible schedule. Current producers, partners for new vintages, new producer prospects and rising stars in the Italian wine world are on the agenda in a whirlwind of different styles, approaches, techniques and grape varieties. The noise is intense and the banter endless and to escape outside means to enter a thick cloud of toxic smoke as Italians ‘respect’ their new laws prohibiting smoking in public buildings. These, however, are minimal distractions compared to the thinly clad, long-legged signorinas smiling inanely as they ‘help’ their employers pour to bewitched potential clients.

The day ends with an exchange of who's tasted what, the heroes, the villains, the scoundrels and yes, the signorinas again. Traffic leaving the fair is as intense as upon arrival but the swearing goes up a notch - fantastic to watch but less fun to participate in.

Days 4 & 5
Italy is all about sharp contrasts from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again with no apparent rhyme nor reason. An hour’s drive from the mayhem of Vinitaly is the supreme location of one of Italy’s most selective tasting events - SUMMA - at the Alois Lageder estate in Alto Adige (see picture). Italy’s top producers congregate to show their wines at the Lowengang Estate for 2 days instead of attending Vinitaly – ostensibly a semi-protest against the appalling carnage Vinitaly offers but also a sensible option for those in search of pure quality. The snowy peaks of the dolomites provide the perfect setting in which star producers such as Luciano Sandrone, Bruno Giacosa, Ornellaia, Silvio Jermann, Roberto Anselmi, Feudi di San Gregorio, Aldo Conterno and Montevertine show their latest vintages. Norbert Niederkofler (crazy name - crazy guy!), the local Michelin starred chief, cooks lunch for guests in the remarkable surroundings of this 15th century Hapsburg pad. The Lowengang estate is also a testimony to the huge strides in quality Italy has made in the last decade or so and one cannot help but admire Alois Lageder, spiritual father of Summa.

As Vinitaly winds down, the Verona piazzas hot up but that is where we must leave it – a testament to flamboyance in the most Italian way.

The Italian Job

2006-04-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

Before we step onto the Bordeaux merry-go-round for good, we shall take a quick break and pop over to Vinitaly 2006, Verona. One of the biggest wine shows in the world, Vinitaly needs a special sort of stamina…

5th April 06.00am, the most beautiful morning London has seen for 6 months which generally speaking does not bode well for the weather we shall find at our destination. We are part of the army about to descend on Verona for Vinitaly, the Italian Wine Fair.

At the Gatwick departure gate, friends, counterparts, distributors, sommeliers, importers, journalists, consultants, restaurateurs and the who’s who of Italian wine in the UK meet in a very awkward impromptu gathering, exchanging brief niceties and snippets of the latest gossip. Then comes the lottery of whose fat elbows get plunged into whose skinny ribs during the 3 hour flight.

Landed – and let the dance begin. 6 degrees celsius and driving rain (it never fails, that fateful warning sign of great weather in London). First stop at Giuseppe Quintarelli, an appointment with the legend himself who is nearly an octogenarian. Quintarelli’s anti commercial policy makes it quite tricky to learn about his wines, and even extends to finding out where his winery is. After many a wrong turn deep in the Valpolicella countryside we come across a driveway called “private road” – must be the one! At the end of the drive way is a normal looking although very large white house with an old man perched on a gate staring at us. All my lira on it being Giuseppe! He then points to a side door and trundles off elsewhere. His assistant beckons us into the house where we commence our formal greetings (lasting over 15 minutes) until finally she invites us through an internal door into a very well disguised winery. Crafty old fox...

Leading us down through the cellars we are invited into a cold tasting room where we taste his sublime range of Bianco Secco Primofiore, and the various Valpolicellas (Classico Superiore, Amarone, Recioto and Rosso del Bepi). The blends are very similar in all these Valpolicella wines –with Corvina, Rondinella, Croatina, Sangiovese, Cabernet (S & F) and even Nebbiolo. Giuseppe appears and disappears in the tasting room at regular intervals -speculation that he is running background checks on us proves untrue.

Then to an exquisite Valpolicella dinner of Risotto all’Amarone (of course) and donkey bits and pieces with another Giuseppe (Nicolis) from quite a different winemaking ethos. Beppe Nicolis believes in absolute quality and tradition but more accessibility in terms of distribution and price than his enigmatic neighbour. Top-notch juice too though.

Peace and quiet reigns...for now. Tomorrow, into the cauldron of Vinitaly proper...

Enchanting Distractions and Star Attractions

2006-04-13T06:05:00.000-07:00

The Juice is now going to lurch contentedly away from the team’s adventures in Bordeaux and look forward to the En Primeur campaign itself. A strangely negative and in our opinion, sensationalist, article by Jane MacQuitty in the Times implied that many of the wines are over-extracted. Bibendum doesn’t share this view and would like to make our position clear.

Most agree that it was a near perfect growing season that blessed winemakers with fantastic raw material to work with. The top wines from both sides of the river are phenomenally good. There is nothing new or exciting about this. Even during average years, Le Pin, Petrus, Margaux, Lafite & Co make wines that most of us can only dream of ever tasting. And while we might bang on about these wines, employing a pantechnicon of exuberant verbosity (ouch!) to that end, the truth is that they are very scarce and priced far beyond the normal wallet. So let’s not worry too much about them.

More accessible and relevant are the wines below those. Many immediately underneath have taken stellar fruit and created fabulous wines with incredible concentration, freshness, depth and structure. This year, many will take the chance to jack their prices up and promote either real or invented scarcity. The wines we are actually most interested in are those that are accessible, affordable and outstandingly good. The point that some commentators have missed is that this vintage is one of the most accessible ever. If ever you wanted to get your foot on the first rung of the Bordeaux ladder then this is the year. There will be some terrific wines in the range of £100-£200 per dozen in bond. Their prices shouldn’t go up too much, especially as many producers have huge amounts to sell so rarity is not an issue. Don’t believe everything you read – extraction, the big bad wolf of the wine world, has not in fact blown everyone’s houses down. Quality is exceptionally good across the board, with ripe fruit flavours where previously there might have been greenness. Tannins aren’t as aggressive as in weaker vintages and acidity is pretty well-judged too.

In short, this really is a vintage for the people. It is a wonderful vintage for those who are new to buying wine en primeur, they can buy almost anything with confidence. Over the next month I will pick out some gems that the Bibendum team tasted recently and give you some background and a heads up on the value players of 2005. Enjoy!

Bibendum goes to Bordeaux

2006-04-12T01:27:00.000-07:00

Bordeaux Day One

Apart from the fact that the team have had a fantastic time so far, everything that could have possibly gone wrong has. If I had time to cry, I would, but it's hard to stay down for too long with Ben Collins and Willie Lebus around. In a fit of what I thought was efficiency, I typed all my notes straight into the laptop only to find that the power cable supplied doesn't fit into the bloody machine which is now out of batteries so all my copy is safely locked up until I get home.

It breaks my heart to try to remember everything I wrote since Ryanair scrapped our flight 37 hours ago, so I shall save those gems for another day. In the meantime, though, I'll try to give you a picture of what we tasted yesterday, and whether Bordeaux 2005 is worth the hype.

Quite simply, it is. There is real quality across the whole of the Left Bank, and whispers coming from the other side of the river are even stronger. The buzzword is quote seamless unquote and it is almost frightening how 'together' the wines are at this early stage in their life.Debate around the table was no less fierce than usual but there seemed to be a lot of things that the team agreed upon. The commune of Margaux looks extremely strong and Cabernet Sauvignon across the Medoc is exceptional. The chateaux we visited were Ducru Beaucaillou, Pichon Lalande, Cos, Margaux, Pichon Baron, Mouton, Latour and Palmer. All were very impressive while some screamed for our attention. Ducru have produced their best wine "since I was a boy" - John Derrick (hadn't realised JD tasted much Ducru in his Welsh schooldays). Despite the fact that guests are welcomed to the tasting disco by a large painting showing a horse's arse, the wine looks to be a thoroughbred with grace and power in equal measure. It was polished to impress, a characteristic that we found many times during the day. Honourable mention must go to the charming young ladies done up in black suits and riding boots who welcomed us at Ducru, a Bond villain's wet dream.

Pichon Lalande is one of the prettiest places you'll ever visit. Where Ducru painted it large with bright 'modern' brushstrokes, PL is classically French and elegant. The grand vin was singing and both the '04 and '05 show that seamless quality where everything was in perfect balance - although many years from perfect drinking.

Then after quite a ridiculous palaver trying to get into Cos d'Estournel, as a lackey stood there ignoring us and cleaning his nails, we found ourselves in a gorgeous tasting room with some 'proper wines' (©B Collins). The Cos was one of the standout wines of the day, with absolutely everything: power, poise, complexity and huge length. After lunch in a golf club lounge(!) it was off to Margaux where we were treated to a stunning private tasting with Paul Pontallier. You will hear a lot about these wines and it's all true. Pavillon Rouge 05, Margaux 05 and 04 and Pavillon Blanc 05 left the team quite speechless. The platitudes would fill the whole page so I won't bother.

A whistlestop visit to Pichon Baron reaffirmed the quality which many of you will get a chance to taste for yourselves on April 26th - including Tourelles 03,04, and 05 which were looking fantastic. Mouton provoked much the biggest debate of the day; the Grand Vin has all the makings of a great wine but it hadn't been 'polished up' like the others and required more imagination to see how it will develop over next 10 years -watch this space. No great leaps of faith were needed at the next stop, though, as Chateau Latour jostled for position at the top of the pile with Margaux. Their Pauillac and Les Forts and Latour itself are massively impressive wines which will doubtless all score very highly with critics. About the only complaint was that the wines were 'too perfect' (Ben & Willie) but how often do you hear that? Final stop was at Palmer where the gutsy Alter Ego and Chateau Palmer confirmed Margaux's premiership status... these are serious beasts tasting remarkably complete already.

Dinner, 'in a lorry park somewhere out in Haringey' at a restaurant whose name loosely translated as Dogs**t, was a raucous affair but TJ was 'asked' to put his recording equipment away, so sadly not much to report there then - except one grand vin from 97 was deemed 'absolutely awful' and 'nul points' by Ben Collins... and then generously offered to the next table to taste.

Day Two in Bordeaux

"I love it when a plan comes together." There was more than a little Hannibal Smith about John Derrrick as we completed our intricate overland trip from Stansted to Bordeaux. He stopped short of pulling out a cigar in the manner of the 'A' Team boss but there is no doubt it was a small miracle we'd made it.

And so to the wine. First stop of the day was Leoville Las Cases where the main wine caused a bit of debate. Incredibly tight and closed, we thought it quite difficult to taste. Despite that, it's definitely all there and is one for the long term and scores reflected its enormous potential. Then off to the Margaux UGC event for the first bout of intensive tasting of a whole appellation in one room. There are some great wines here; Giscours impressed: "Elegant, with lots of structure." Dauzac looks like it will be one of the best value wines of the vintage. Malescot was "quite sexy"; Lascombes was "excellent, not as much oak as previously"; 'd'Angludet will be another great value proposition and is "a bit of an animal." Cantenac-Brown and Brane Cantenac looked good too. The other one to pick out was Marquis de Terme with "great fruit, well integrated."

A short hop took us to the Pauillac, St Julien, St Estephe UGC and the team were blown away by the consistency of quality in the room. Pontet Canet was the star that shone brightest (don't miss them at the Bordeaux Tasting) and many expect this could be their best ever. Lynch Bages was showing very well as was Clerc-Milon: "super, good fruit, concentration and depth." Leoville Poyferre was superb - "moving up a gear into fourth, almost fifth..." Also worth honourable mentions were Lagrange, Beychevelle and Gruaud Larose.Lunch brought some great ideas for new characters for Little Britain, the favourite being "the Burping Old Etonian Wine Merchant."

Then off to Leoville Barton where Anthony Barton held court over a tremendous selection of wines. Both the Leoville and Langoa Barton wines look supreme and some other smaller estates such as Petit Bocq, d'Issan and Caronne St Gemme showed well too. Tongues were tied by the majesty of Lafite. Carruades looked "a very posh second wine indeed" - and the Grand Vin scored 20's across the board. It is spectacular and looked to be the team's favourite wine so far.

Up into St Estephe, a charming area, and great fun was had at Calon Segur, where Madame worked her charm on us until we were putty in her hands. The property is sensational ("look, that wall is a proper piece of kit!"), and the wine no less impressive: "complexity, balance - beautifully made, terrific." Montrose and La Dame are wonderful dark, spiced wines which will go forever. Sociando Mallet (whose name I have always thought would suit a philosopher of Italian / Yorkshire parentage) impressed everyone again and confirmed its place as one of the team's favourite properties and wines. It will offer fantastic value in this vintage. Final stop of this exhausting but inspiring day was at Saint Pierre, a lesser-known estate but one whose 2001 had greatly impressed at lunch. Their 2005 is in the same league and we certainly hope to be able to negotiate an allocation for you in this vintage.

After checking the doors on a few cars, Willie finally found his and we were off, this time to St Emilion and a hotel a thousand times more charming than our digs in Bordeaux. This town is breathtakingly beautiful, a fitting end to a day where the wines also took our collective breath away.

Day Three in Bordeaux

"Go on...take him Alex." With cavalier driving and a little encouragement from the front seat, the team set off in high spirits for a day of tasting around the beautiful vineyards of St. Emilion and Pomerol. The chill in the air did nothing to dampen enthusiasm and how could it when we were on our way to Cheval Blanc for a post-breakfast treat of the highest order. Brilliantly looked after by the genial Pierre Lurton and his winemaker Olivier Berrouet, we marveled at the elegance and style of both the Petit Cheval - "exotic nose as usual, very classy and luxurious" and the the Cheval Blanc - "enchanting nose with a thousand different nuances, oak totally integrated, super-fine tannins and a long finish". The surroundings were quite special as well and BC managed to take some pretty smart photos.

Vieux Chateau Certan was a super follow-up - "This wine is sensational surely - wonderful rich nose, silky round tannins". We tasted with Alexandre Thienpont in the spotless barrel room and had great fun about it. The wine is definitely one of the favourites of Bibendum staff and customers alike so we weren't surprised by the quality but the tasting of the "second wine", Les Gravettes 2004 introduced us to a wine we had never seen before and which absolutely blew us away. "This is a stonking second wine; very good, no cloying sweetness around here."

"When I say I don't like Merlot..." Our visit to Le Pin was a bit like that of Lafite and Margaux - i.e. if I had to explain the wine in full I could surely go on for pages. The salient points are that owner Jacques Thienpont, a very smart man, has an extremely smart bicycle - "is that the Bentley of the bicycle world?"; the wine is beyond sensational; and there are are only a very few barrels of it in the cellar of the very unimposing Le Pin property. Jacques even knocked on a few to show that they weren't all even full.

There's no doubt that Chateau Pavie is impressive to look at from the outside and also has the smartest barrel room I have ever seen, but there was more than a little discussion in the tasting room about the wines. Some of the lesser wines didn't impress but the team was very impressed with the grand vin. Some had expected not to like it all that much having had experience of previous vintages but were happy to report that the wine is very good this year, with less extraction, ripe fruit and a long and complex finish.Before the day descended into a whirl of UGC tastings, we managed to squeeze in visits to Clos l'Eglise and L'Eglise Clinet and we were very happy we did too! At Clos l'Eglise we were guided through a very interesting suite of wines by the very talented Helene. The Barde-Haut and Clos l'Eglise looked very good and next door the L'Eglise Clinet wines displayed marvellous freshness and clean fruit, gradually getting more and more complex and intense as we went through Denis' wines.

Back onto the road and "nous sommes morts" from the front seat as a local driver tried to run us into a ditch. With the cool head and hands of a seasoned pro, Alex avoided any trouble and we sped to the Pomerol UGC tasting where we were treated to some lovely rich, fiull-bodied wines from this tiny appellation. La Conseillante was the stand-out, L'Evangile and La Pointe weren't far behind.After a quick lunch we threw ourselves back into it at the larger St. Emilion UGC tasting where our beautiful Bibendum branded clipboards had the competition on their knees with envy (Ha!). Fantastic standard of wines across the room as we had expected and though quantities on offer will be very small, there's no doubt we will try to secure as much of it as we can. Angelus was superb: "it's a monster black fruit bomb. Terrific fruit flavours, beautifully made too. I only hope it's not too much" thought Ben Collins. Troplong Mondot looked excellent, as did Pavie Macquin (both at our tasting coming up) and Larcis Ducasse, Canon le Gaffeliere, Grand Mayne, and Figeac were also wonderful.

Feytet Clinet provided the penultimate stop and the 2005 and 2004 impressed in equal measure. It happened to be the latest in an unbroken line of 2004s that the team had tasted which were looking fabulous. The difference between now and the last time they were tasted was palpable and you could see that the chateaux saw the business sense in showing off this vintage again. They are still very well priced in the market and no doubt will provide some great deals in the coming months. Last but certainly not least was a trip up the windy roads to Chateau Ausone which provided one of the undoubted wines of the vintages. Just as exciting were the other wines the Chateau was showing and we will be trying to get our hands on any of them that we can. Chateau Simard will be a great value wine, as will the Fonbel. Moulin ST. George showed undoubted pedigree, as did the Chapelle d'Ausone: "Incredibly elegant, wonderful style. Big wine yet silky and facile" And finally to Ausone itself which everyone rated at the top of the scoring scale - "Black and Blueberry nose, coffee, spicy. Balanced, silky luxury. The wine is sensational. 45+ second creamy blackcurrant finish. The wood so in check. Elegant+." By this point in the afternoon the team was starting to giggle at the smallest thing (strange moaning Japanese man, extremely loud slurping, red trousers and the biggest toilet roll anyone had ever seen) so we called it a day and retreated for a beer.

Day Four in Bordeaux

Anxious not to break the habit of the week we decided against getting a full nights sleep and were up at the crack of dawn to head off to the Medoc tasting. We had missed it two days previously as our schedule slipped in the afternoon so we made the trip back from St. Emilion. In a normal vintage this might not have happened but it was clear by now that this was not a normal vintage and the word on the street was the quality and expected value of these wines was excellent so we’d have kicked ourselves if we missed out.

“I love this trucker’s café!” We stopped for an unexpectedly jolly breakfast at a roadside establishment which turned out to be about the most hospitable place we ate all week. They had quite an incredible collection of different cigarettes and truckers’ caps and an owner who knew a thing or two about wine. He picked us from 40 yards at any rate…was it that obvious?...of course it was.

The tasting was a remarkably uncrowded affair – you could even pour your own wines. Then we realised it hadn’t actually started yet and we were half an hour early. It was doubly exciting tasting wines for which we knew we could get a good allocation and so it proved that this was the strongest Medoc tasting that the team had ever seen. Cantemerle, Beaumont, Poujeaux, Lamarque and La Lagune scored much higher than normal so look out for these wines when they are released. In general they showed rich, ripe fruit, minimal extraction and massive potential for the future. We hope and pray that they don’t get carried away with themselves when it comes to releasing prices.

After losing Uncle briefly in the car park, we were off back to the Moueix offices in Libourne. Unable by now to get money from any bank machines (were they on strike too?) we had to scrape together remaining cents and Euros in order to find some more coffee. TJ would like to pay tribute to the part played by caffeine on our trip. Far from dulling our palate, it proved to be the only way we could stay alert and objective after our 84th wine of the day. Like the Arsenal back four of the Nineties, the Moueix team was in a perfect line to greet us and usher us into the showroom containing among other things, Latour a Pomerol, Lafleur Petrus, Certan de May and Petrus itself. Occasional disappointments in the middle but some of the lesser wines were excellent and then the top end was supreme. Petrus is a brooding monster at the moment, sitting back, biding its time, before it unleashes fire and brimstone on the unsuspecting (or so one taster’s notes went!).

After a beautiful cross-country drive things got a bit sticky at the Barsac and Sauternes tasting. With quality across the board it looks like both the major and the minor producers really went to town this year. The Graves tasting wasn’t a tough as usual with riper fruit and tannins making the job much easier for some tired tastebuds. Then after getting lost in Talence and Pessac trying to find Haut Brion (now a traditional annual event) we found ourselves sat down in a very fine tasting salon with quite the most grand umbrella stand any of us had ever seen in one corner and an imperious-looking Clarence Dillon gazing down on us from the wall. Fabulous wines with high scores for Haut Brion, La Mission, La Tour and Bahans Haut Brion. It was fitting that we finished our trip off with a visit to Yquem. Luckily for us John knew the way as tourists have stolen all the signs, and they refuse to keep replacing them! The Yquem 05 is absolutely heroic and they think it will go close to 2001.

On the way back to the airport we called in to some of John’s friends for dinner before rolling the Ryanair dice again. Our Welsh hosts served up shepherds pie with peas and carrots and the team nearly cried with gratitude. Vegetables…sweet, sweet vegetables…we thought we’d lost you forever…