Tasting at La Table: Wines with Dinner. The fourth and final instalment in this series of Anjou tastings.
Updated: 2012-07-31 15:08:46
: Home Vintages and Regions Loire Tasting at La Table : Wines with Dinner Page 1 of 2 previous 1 2 next Tasting at La Table : Wines with Dinner Tasting at La Table This update relates to wines tasted in February 2012 at La Table de la . Bergerie Pt : 1 Dom . de la Bergerie Pt : 2 Vincent Ogereau Pt : 3 Ch . Pierre-Bise Pt : 4 Wines with Dinner See my relevant Loire profiles for more detailed domaine . profiles Our tastings over , our palates fully familiarised with just about every new cuvée from Vincent Ogereau Claude Papin and Yves Guégniard it was time for us to take a break . But not a long break , I should stress , as the tastings had run through late afternoon and into early evening . In fact , no sooner had we locked up our laptops and notebooks in our car were we being ushered back
Following on from last week's wine fairs in London, the RAW Wine Fair and the Real Wine Fair, surely it's only natural (groan....sorry) that my thoughts and my drinking this weekend should turn to one such wine. And so I'm looking at yet another cuvée from Les Cailloux du Paradis, a domaine that to my mind typifies the natural wine movement, within the context of the Loire at least, and yet it doesn't seem to have a great presence here in the UK. That is despite the fact that a good number of the wine bars in Paris that focus on this particular style of wine devote a lot of space on their lists to the wines of this domaine.
Home Wine of the Week Laibach The Ladybird 2009 Laibach The Ladybird 2009 One of the curious features of the natural wine fairs recently held in London is the very poor turn-out from South Africa . With a wonderful climate and lots of long-established vineyards full of aged vines with deeply secured roots , you would have though this would be an ideal spot for organic or biodynamic viticulture , perhaps accompanied by a little natural' winemaking . Apparently not it seems , at least if the natural wine fairs are anything to go by . At the RAW Wine Fair arranged by Isabelle Legeron there was not a single representative of this country . And at the Real Wine Fair a showcase of domaines and wines marketed within the UK by Les Caves de Pyrène , there was just one South African , Craig Hawkins 
Home Producer Profiles Bordeaux Profiles Château Haut-Beauséjour Château Haut-Beauséjour Located just to the south-west of the town of St Estèphe itself , the Haut-Beauséjour estate is one of the lesser known properties of the St Estèphe appellation It has no grand château about which to boast which explains why the label displays only a coat of arms and you are unlikely to ever be invited to visit . Nevertheless , despite this , critics and visitors to Bordeaux are often afforded a taste of the wine . This is thanks to the estate's owners , Champagne Louis Roederer who also own Pichon-Lalande along with a handful of other estates , including Château de Pez and Château Bernadotte A visit to Château Pichon-Lalande never a hardship is likely to yield a taste of all of these . wines The
: , Home Vintages and Regions Bordeaux Bordeaux 2008 Grand Cru Classé : 2012 Page 1 of 2 previous 1 2 next Bordeaux 2008 : Grand Cru Classé Tasting , May 2012 Vintage Review First Report Bordeaux 2008 En primeur Top ten wines Pessac-Léognan The Médoc , Part 1 The Médoc , Part 2 St Emilion Pomerol Sauternes Barsac Mopping up At Two Years Introduction Pessac-Léognan The Médoc Communes St Emilion Pomerol Sauternes Barsac From Bottle Grand Cru Classé , 2012 This final report from the 2012 Grand Cru Classé Tasting concerns 2008 Bordeaux Curiously , I have the sensation that I am looking back in time with this vintage even though the wines are now barely four years old , the memory of my trip to Bordeaux for the 2008 primeurs in April 2009, is a very distant one . Even in this short space of
Home Wine of the Week Domaine de Montrieux Boisson Rouge 2010 Domaine de Montrieux Boisson Rouge 2010 The Loire can be a difficult wine region to get to grips with . Not at a very superficial level of course the most famous appellations , such as Sancerre and Chinon , are well-known by many , even some of the most casual of drinkers . Dig beneath the surface , however , and the Loire suddenly becomes much more complex . There are more unsung regions , subregions , appellations and communes than you can possibly imagine . Open a general wine book , for example , and look for some detail on the vineyards and domaines of the Cher Valley or of Jasnières and the Coteaux d Loir and you will soon be scrabbling around in a hunt for scraps of information . The most peripheral regions , such as the
, Home Vintages and Regions Bordeaux Grand Cru Classé , 2012 Grand Cru Classé Tasting , May 2012 Cross vintage comparisons can be very useful . The grand flop that was the Bordeaux 2011 en primeur campaign will without doubt be remembered for its misjudged prices more than the quality of the wines . It was only natural that all interested parties , merchants , critics and consumers , viewed each new release specifically , the price of the release in the context of previous vintages . Some called for grand reductions in price compared to last year's wines , an obvious request , but one that uses a rather false benchmark , many top châteaux having pushed the limits with massive price hikes for their 2010s . Others wanted to see how the prices compared with 2008, a more insightful comparison
Only a few weeks on from the primeur tastings, the annual Grand Cru Classé Tasting in London, featuring the wines of a small and select number of Bordeaux châteaux, afforded me another opportunity to taste some of the barrel samples from the region's newest vintage. I travelled down to London for the tasting, and report on the wines here. In other reports (linked below) I will focus on the other vintages shown at the tasting, these being 2010, 2009 and 2008.
It is now a little over one year since I first tasted the wines of the 2010 Bordeaux vintage during the primeurs, in April 2011. The tastings were held against a backdrop of mild incredulity, as - until the independent reports began filtering out, revealing the fact that this really was another great vintage - few were prepared to believe the words of the Bordelais when they said that the wines were once again of extremely high quality. After the joys of 2009, in a world jaded by years of Bordeaux spin, the thought that we might have another top-class vintage on our hands, giving us a back-to-back pair, just seemed too good to be true.
One of the benefits of spending a few days in Bordeaux for the primeurs is the opportunity to spend a little time not tasting but drinking, and not looking at the wines in isolation, but as they were intended to be consumed, along with food. I don't tend to partake in the very generous multi-vintage verticals and grand dinners that some châteaux organise, partly because I have no wish to party every night away in a fit of Bacchanalian excess that would see me incapable of tasting and concentrating the following morning, and partly because such events lean more towards tasting (multiple vintages) again, rather than the synthesis of a handful wines with food in a relaxed atmosphere.
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: , : , Another Wine Blog Because Another Wine , Food , Beer and Travel Blog would have been way too ing long Skip to content Home Best of AWB Reviews Food Cooking Recipes Contact Us Contact AWB Contact Amy Contact Joe Media PR Inquiries Links About About This Site About Amy About Joe RSS Feed Twitter StumbleUpon FaceBook I made wine out of raisins so I wouldn't have to wait for it to age . Steven Wright AWB Home » TasteLive’s Cafe 140 : Rodney Strong , Rosso Rootstock Preview July 18, 2012 TasteLive’s Cafe 140 : Rodney Strong , Rosso Rootstock Preview By Amy Corron Power 2 Comments Tweet Share T onight we will be joining Joe Quigley of TasteLive as he teases” his words the upcoming Rootstock Festival this Saturday , July 21 from 2pm to 6pm with a sampling of the day’s players during
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