Saturday, March 29, 2014

Antonio Galloni

The United States were in the place of honor yesterday with us. After the visit, a tasting of a few wines by our group centered around one of our oldest american customers, visit of our historical winery and a meal at home with Virginie de Valandraud 2009 and Valandraud 2004 to accompany an asparagus soup, sirloin with fries, comté and strawberries with raspberries flavored with vanilla from Tahiti followed by macaroons from Fermigier.
Valandraud 2004 is finally starting to reach a level of maturity. Just at the beginning of this level, this wine is made to last a long time.

Then a tour and tasting of our wines by Antonio Galloni. We were pleased to see him tasting with interest and passion. I took the opportunity to follow his lead and although I am nearly always anxious, this helped me to relax.
A rare thing indeed was that we then took the time to leave the house at Saint-Emilion and visit Valandraud together at Saint Etienne de Lisse to see our vines, the winery and to visit our good friends Fleur Cardinale, Rol Valentin, Pressac, Faugères and Mangot. I can't wait to read his comments on our wines but also on the other Bordeaux 2013s!

Friday, March 28, 2014

Primeurs 2013!..

And so it begins with Château Pontet Canet with lower quantities and a price that hasn't changed.

Visits and dinners, with journalists of course, but also with importers who have come to find out what the vintage is worth and to taste our other vintages already available. There are still excellent 2011s and 2012s for those wanting to skip the 2013 Bordeaux. 

2013 looks like an excellent vintage in the Roussillon. 
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Brazil!!

A week long trip to Brazil for media and business events organised by and for our clients, the pictures posted on Facebook really show that the working atmosphere is full of smiles, happy, that business partnerships change over the years into friendships. Wine helps all of this.
The trip went through Lisbon and the TAP. Bordeaux-Lisbon then direct to Belo-Horizonte with the return from Sao-Paulo-Lisbon with more than a day's delay. The passage with the TAP was probably not the best choice although the staff were very kind.

I know Belo Horizonte well but I went to Rio de Janeiro for the first time, staying at the Sol Ipanema hotel just off of the beach with a superbe view. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to put on my swimming costume and try out the sand and the water.




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We were here to work, two dinners, one invited to a restaurant at the golf course with an excellent decor, tropcial temperatures, to meet with a future investor in our own Bordeaux wineyards and the evening at a restaurant, which was really nice for tasting our Bordeaux wines already distributed in Rio as is the wine of our friends Fleur Cardinale which goes through another distributor.

Then on to Sao Paulo for three days with an event organised at the Brazilian Sommeliers Association, the ABS, with an exceptional tasting of our Valandraud 2012 which is still in the barrel and our range of wines available in Brazil. 


Good mediawork with the excellent Adega wine bar boasting a Enomatic machine dedicated to our products, a meeting with Ed Motta, the jazz-soul star and of course lots of Brazilians that we have met before here and in Saint Emilion.


 
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The World Cup, for your information, isn't everybody's cup of tea here...

Friday, March 7, 2014

Vinipro

First Vinipro salon, the next is planned for in two years time, as a sort of alternative to Vinexpo, except that only wines from the South West are represented.

The first day was a bit hard; with the weather, the rain, the storms, with the normal difficulties accessing Bordeaux Lac... I have been told that next year the tram should go all the way to Bordeaux Lac which is a good thing because at the moment it is difficult and the surrounding areas are less than clean and the roads full of (big) potholes!

There were a lot of people on Tuesday and they included good contacts, because of course we have a lot of good friends, students and suppliers who stop by but the aim is to find new customers and I think that we did better than at Prowein 2013.

I came to make Xavier Planty happy, one of the organisers, and he did well to convince me to come. For info, there are a lot of sweet wines at this salon.

There was a nice article published in the glamour magasine Lui, an icon from the 60s, written by Frédéric Beigbeder about our Virginie de Valandraud 1998 drunk at the L'Ami Louis restaurant. Merci, merci!