Like the wildebeest at the beginning of the rainy season wine buyers from around the world will migrate to new pastures very shortly. The Bordeaux Châteaux will open their doors to wine professionals in order to present the new 2011 vintage. I, along with 6 of my colleagues will be travelling to Bordeaux the 1st […]

I have just returned from a couple of days in Bordeaux with the aim of getting the initial thoughts on the much-awaited 2011 Bordeaux campaign, but mostly to decide on the blend for our next vintage of Good Ordinary Claret (GOC as it is known internally) and Good Ordinary White. My role as a fine […]

We spent yesterday morning tasting at the warehouse facility of one of Bordeaux’s largest négociants. ‘Warehouse’ is a somewhat misleading term – this was a very slick operation. The atmospheric tasting room was dripping with fairy lights (left) and we were able to choose samples from an extensive list which were then served at perfect […]

Our tasting of the Right Bank yesterday culminated in, what turned out to be, a more-than-usually special visit to Le Pin. As ever, we arrived at the strangely uninspiring building that has come to symbolise the entrepreneurial nature of this iconic producer’s fortunes. To taste the 2009s however, we moved to the new chai (left), […]