Château Malartic-Lagravière: another Pessac-Léognan update
Updated: 2012-12-31 23:03:26
Home Producer Profiles Bordeaux Profiles Château Malartic-Lagravière Page 1 of 3 previous 1 2 3 next Château Malartic-Lagravière So often in Bordeaux tales of familial domination eventually peter out , giving way to corporate fiscal superiority . Whether the owner is a French insurance firm , a Japanese conglomerate , or even a Champagne house , ownership and control by big business is not unknown in Bordeaux In fact , as Napoleonic laws of inheritance essentially force families into converting their estates into family-run businesses , and punitive inheritance taxes also take their toll , it seems almost like an inevitable . progression And so it is very fine to read of an estate where this process has been reversed . Château Malartic-Lagravière has passed through the hands of a number of
Home Wine of the Week Le Retout Blanc 2011 Le Retout Blanc 2011 This week , a wine to dispel a dozen notions . A wine with a story . And what's more , it tastes pretty good . too The vines that gave birth to this wine were planted in 1971 in Cussac-Fort-Médoc one of the communes that lies between St Julien to the north , and Margaux to the south Listrac and Moulis , which most people would place here when playing the ever-popular game of pin the commune to the map' , actually sit slightly inland , away from the Gironde The vineyard was established with the authority of the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine INAO who had granted planting rights for the Haut-Médoc appellation . They were Merlot vines , and for decades the fruit was harvested and included in the wine of Château du
Last year a handful of Sauternes and Barsac estates joined the red wines of Bordeaux at this event, and thus the Institute of Masters of Wine's Annual Claret Tasting, to give it its full title, should now surely be renamed the Annual Bordeaux Tasting instead (it probably has been, and I expect I just overlooked it). I was delighted to see that this year this new direction has been continued, and that the number of sweet wines available for tasting has increased, up to ten wines in this vintage. And this included top estates Château d'Yquem, Château Climens and Château Rieussec, among others.
Home Wine of the Week Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas Vintage Port 1991 Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas Vintage Port 1991 Despite my obsession with Bordeaux and the Loire there are some other little parts of the wine world of which I will never be able to let go . Interestingly there are also some , such as the wines of Jerez , that in recent months I have been grasping more strongly than ever . The pragmatist in me rationalises that this is simply because the Douro and Jerez both give us wines that are entirely unique , or if not truly unique then at least these are styles which will never be replicated in Bordeaux and the Loire . The romantic in me , however , believes that this is because I have held a much longer obsession with the wines of the Douro than with these other regions . Two
In February this year I met up with Tania Carême to taste through the latest releases from this domaine. I was of course expecting to see Vincent as well, but having recently broken a bone in his foot - I can't remember how, although I'm sure Tania must have explained at the time - he was laid up somewhere while Tania did all the work. And she was doing a sterling job too, manning their stand at the 2012 Salon des Vins de Loire single-handed, despite the onslaught of enthusiastic tasters that now flock to taste the wines of this increasingly popular domaine.
Home Wine of the Week Le Volte Dell'Ornellaia 2010 Le Volte Dell'Ornellaia 2010 Despite my predilection or should that be obsession for the vineyards and the wines of the Loire and Bordeaux the classic wine regions of Europe and the undiscovered regions too still fascinate me . Although all of my most recent vineyard visits have been to my two regions of interest , I did spend some time in Tuscany last year , and enjoyed getting to grips again with some of the leading Tuscan estates . When there I tended to focus on those estates turning out what I have long considered to be some of the best examples of Chianti and particular enjoyed my visit to Fontodi among others . Their 100 Sangiovese Flaccianello which seems to embody everything Chianti could and should be even though it is
Having left behind St Estèphe and Pauillac, the latter commune a little more disappointing in places than was hoped for, it seemed likely to me that on the day of this tasting, at the Institute of Masters of Wine, that St Julien would offer something better. After all, this appellation had been the most convincing during the primeur tastings, and some wines, particularly Léoville-Poyferré, had shown very well indeed when tasted from bottle rather than barrel at two years of age. Happily my expectations were, on the whole, met by the wines of this commune. Sadly, it was a brief respite, as the mediocrity of Margaux did more than enough to drag down my spirits once again.
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My profile updated following a visit in October; amended text and new images.
: Home Vintages and Regions 10, 15 20 Years On Ten Years On : 2002 Page 1 of 4 previous 1 2 3 4 next Ten Years On : The 2002 Vintage Ten Years On : 200 2 Notes from a 2002 tasting at 10 : years Other relevant : tastings 2002 Bordeaux Only a week or so has passed since I published my fifteen-years-on tasting of the 1997 vintage when I recounted the tale of my adventurous some might say foolhardy expedition though the vineyards of the Rhône Valley and Burgundy in a car that turned out , ultimately , to be not quite up to the job . The 37 bottles from the 2002 vintage featured in this tasting report did their best to cast me into a similarly reflective mood , but it was not to be . As soon as a label bearing the vintage 1997 was flashed before my eyes , memories of my wine tour through France
: , Home Vintages and Regions Bordeaux Bordeaux 2008 St Emilion Pomerol Bordeaux 2008 : St Emilion Pomerol 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 At Four Years An Indian Summer Pessac-Léognan St Estèphe Pauillac St Julien Margaux St Emilion Pomerol Sauternes Barsac For some time now I have held an inclination or rather some degree of conviction that the communes of the right bank fared much better than many left bank appellations in this vintage . This was an impression formed in Bordeaux in April 2009, and reaffirmed when tasting
t's getting towards that time of year when even the most ardent despisers of all things mousseux somehow end up with a glass of fizz in their hands. For some perhaps only Krug (or similar) will do, of course, but for those of us who must reserve such treats for very special occasions, where can we turn to satisfy our fizzy cravings? Or, for the Richard Nixons among you, what are you going to pour for your guests while you're tucking into the Clos d'Ambonnay?
The Right Time for Baking Methodist Cake: A Pairing of Food, Wine and Family Tradition I was moved by Alfonso Cevola’s blog (On the Wine Trail in Italy) one day this past week. The topic was his 98 year old mother, her fruit cake and zeal for life that he obviously shares. His blog was [...]
TXwine Twitter Tuesday: Join Us Jan. 8th for Texas Wine Bar Tweet-Ups Austin’s Denise Clarke (@DeniseClarkeTX), Houston’s Russ Kane (@VintageTexas), and Jeff Cope (@TXWineLover) invite you to join the next TXwine Twitter Tuesday at 7 p.m. CST on January 8th. This month we will celebrate Texas wine bars, wine shops and markets that serve Texas [...]
Top Ten New VintageTexas Blogs of 2012 Texas Wines Heading South? What Texans Can Learn From The Texas Grape Production and Variety Survey Newsom Vineyards Texas Grape Day 2012 Who’s Responsible for the National Sweet Red Wine Trend….Llano Estacado Winery? Lessons Learned for Local Wine Movements from Colorado and Texas: DrinkLocalWine.com Time Pedernales Cellars: Texas [...]
VintageTexas 2012 Top Texas Wines – Honorable Mentions, For Darn Good Reasons Too! As I have learned in previous years, even when I list what I believe to be the ten best Texas wines, there are still stellar wines from the Lone Star state with distinction. I’ve chosen a few honorable mentions for this year’s [...]
Most Popular VintageTexas Blog Posts of 2012 I’ve inserted a little break in the action after naming the VintageTexas 2012 Top Ten Wines (white and red) and before naming my list of honorable mention wines for 2012. Based on page accesses by readers in 2012, the following were the most popular posts on VintageTexas over [...]
VintageTexas Top Ten Texas Wines of 2012 – Red Wines Moving on from yesterday’s posting of the contingent of five white wines in my 2012 VintageTexas Top Ten Wines (Click here), it’s time to present the red wines that topped my scale this year. I mentioned previously that the selection of just five white wines [...]
Coming up with unique offerings for your guests over the holidays can be a chore, especially when it comes to concoctions to stave off the chill of winter. Of all the options, mulled wine is my favorite. It’s a classic wine-based drink that can be easily made ahead of time and served by the glass [...]
VintageTexas Top Ten Texas Wines of 2012 – White Wines The naming of the top ten Texas wines has become our VintageTexas annual tradition. After Jessica Dupuy’s fine retrospective of her top Texas wines of 2012 (click here), I almost broke down to just posting a link to her site. She had some damn good [...]
TXwine Twitter Tuesday: Join Us Dec. 11th, Chat with Chef Josh Watkins on Texas Wine and Food Holiday Pairings Happy Holidays everyone! The holidays are always a fun, busy time of year – and shopping to find the right gift can sometimes be stressful. But there’s no reason to stress over picking out some great [...]