2000 Château Paloumey, Magnum – kleines Château, groß gereift

2000 Chateau Paloumey Magnum

Zu Weihnachten darf es auch gerne mal etwas größeres sein. Warum? Zum einen, weil es einfach schade ist, wenn leckerer Wein nach einmal Ausschenken schon alle ist. Zum anderen, weil das größere Format durch eine langsamere Reifung auch eine gewisse Flexibilität in der Auswahl erlaubt. Als erstes unter den Korkenzieher gekommen ist eine Magnum 2000 Château Paloumey aus dem Haut-Médoc – ein Wein mit relativ hohem (ca 40%) Merlot-Anteil in der Cuvée, der mutmaßlich jeden Gaumen beglücken kann. Read the rest of this entry »

Categories: Bordeaux,France,Médoc

2005 Primeur bargains – what have they become? a look at Maucaillou, Pedesclaux and D’Aurilhac

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Now with all the fuss of an ultra-slow “campaign” the 2010 Bordeaux Primeurs prices are finally all out and as everyone expected, they’e shockingly high and for most of the Châteaux’ they even top the already über-expensive 2009 vintage.

And of course, how else could it be, 2010 is announced as another so called vintage of the century, and will be cited in the same breath as 2000, 2005 and 2009. Now it is clear that after having blustered about the prices, every true wine lover is at least tempted to participate in such a perfect vintage he reads so many fabulous things about.

But unless you’re a millionaire you’ll try to plot the perfect plan for maximizing your investment (meaning in terms of pleasure for your palate). And the adage that naturally comes to one’s mind is ” in great vintages, buy the lesser Chateaux’ “.

And in order to shed some light on this strategy, I took a look at the current state of 3 smaller-priced estates’ 2005 vintage ( “…of the century”). In fact, as within the current 2010 campaign, there were also in 2005 many Châteaux selling their wines at a great discount compared to the big names and I bought a few of these  hoping to get some of the 2005 bling for little bucks. Now, 6 years later, I am curious on how this strategy worked out and what I actually got for my bucks. The outcome might give an indication of what to expect from equally offered bargains of 2010 and who knows, maybe some more interesting conclusions can be made? Read the rest of this entry »

Categories: Bordeaux,France

Some more Christmas Wines

Already 2011 and I’m still talking about Christmas Wines. But of course there are valid reasons for this delay: 1) Those are busy days spent in the kitchen and with friends 2) the number of bottles indulged in that time are “above average” . So here are a few more wines from the Christmas holidays.

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2009 Hubacker GG, Weingut Keller – This Riesling from a great terroir and vintage is still a baby. Of course I knew that before I uncorked it, but sometimes curiosity wins. Acidity is still to the fore right now but a long decant somewhat helps. Still, the wine feels tight at first, like a thin steel bullet with lots of minerality. But fruit comes up more with each sip: Peach and later some wild herbs are a nice composition. Incredible how slim and at the same time compact and flavour-loaded this wine appears. Lots of substance, nice presence on the palate and oh what a great length. Empties itself on its own but will be an even greater wine in 2-3 years time! ++
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Eighties Bordeaux Tasting

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When wine geeks think of the Eighties, it’s not only Madonna, Top Gun or Miami Vice coming to their minds, but also the rise of modern winemaking in Bordeaux concurring with such great vintages like ’82 ’85 ’86 or ’89.

Thus, tasting some wines from that decade is always something special and I was thrilled when Oskar invited me to his round of friends when he was once again sacrificing some of his treasuries he had gathered over the years. It hurts him just a little bit, but it is certainly for a great moment of fun. Read the rest of this entry »

Chateau Clarke 1985

Chateau Clarke is one of the numerous Chateaux’ belonging to one of the Rothschild family parts; here it is one of Edmond De Rothschild’s estates. It is a Cru bourgeois from the Haut-Médoc Appelation which lies in between Pauillac and Margaux, and has the particularity that it doesn’t feature any Grand Crus Classés, despite its very prestigious neighbours. The reason lays in the topography of Read the rest of this entry »

Categories: Bordeaux,France
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