Thursday, April 12, 2012

Friday, April 6

Quiet day: a few journalists and critics, Ian D'Agata, Bernard Burtschy, Abi Duhr, Julia Harding (Jancis Robinson's assistant), Eric Riewer.
Dinners with our local artists Michel Puzio and Michel Gracia plus 6 people:
Asparagus vinaigrette, truffle omelet, cheese and strawberries. Blanc d’Ossian 2009 (Castilla y Leon) and Valandraud Blanc No. 2 2007. Then, blind for everyone Gracia, Croix de Labrie and Valandraud 2008. 3 incredibly different wines, I ranked in order 1st Croix de Labrie, complete, serious, almost Pauillac and believed it was Valandraud... Damn! Once again I didn’t recognize my own wine even in my home.
2nd, I ranked Gracia, soft, feminine, a similar texture as La Conseillante, I thought it was Croix de Labrie... Damn again! 3rd Valandraud, I thought it was Croix de Labrie the wine was so soft, sweet, sexy, but I was bothered by a heavy dose of carbon dioxide (it should have been decanted). An hour later, all the wines were still very good, and the 2008 vintage was a huge success with our professional guests who thought they were drinking 2009.

After, to please everyone, Murielle guest in 30 seconds, Pingus 2009, a very fine wine, classy, finesse, elegance, power and incredible drinkability. We drank it with such ease that it felt sinful considering it was Good Friday.

This morning, more good news from Christophe: The Wine Spectator and James Molesworth gave 90-93 points to Valandraud Blanc 2011 and 88-91 to Virginie de Valandraud Blanc 2011 which are now part of Bordeaux fine dry whites, even if there are still some reservations about the style of our white .
The bad weather on this Easter weekend motivated me to read, quickly and with pleasure, the last book from the series “Autour d’une bouteille” (sharing a bottle) dedicated to Denis Dubourdieu, written by Gilles Berdin and published by Edition Elydis.

No comments: