Au Revoir

by Chuck Hayward


We’ll keep you updated through our twitters and blogs. From talking to some friends in Bordeaux, the early report is that the vintage is good...perhaps better than all vintages since 2000 outside of 2005. Sadly, the success of this vintage will depend more on the affordability of the wines. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.

It’s a busy schedule, starting with an appointment one hour after we land at the airport in Bordeaux. Then, we’ll have dinner in St Emilion (hopefully after a shower). The following day we begin with tastings in the morning, followed by two appointments with our regular suppliers. Finally, we have a great dinner planned for the evening, again in St Emilion. Monday is our First Growth tastings, along with a supplier meeting. Lunch will be at one of our favorite Chateau. We’ll attend two or three Union des Grands Crus (UGC) tastings in the afternoon (these are tastings held at a Chateau per appellation where you have an opportunity to taste most all of the appellation’s wines). Then, another dinner with a supplier in the evening. Tuesday is a five hour tasting of about 200 wines at a supplier, mostly Left Bank wines. Then, we’ll attend another two or three UGS tastings. The group will split and dinner will be in two places – a Chateau and the Commanderie de Bordeaux. Wednesday will be on the Right Bank – some individual visits to Ausone, Pavie, and others as well as the grand tasting at the Cercle de Rive Droite. Dinner will be at another Chateau in St Emilion.

We’ll be staying at a small hotel on the river in Libourne, just a few houses away from Moueix, where we’ll taste Petrus and the rest of the great Pomerols in their portfolio. Should be fun.

Anyhow, we’ll keep sending you our regular offers while we’re away. They’ll look just the same, except they’ll come to you with a post stamp from Bordeaux.

- Shaun Bishop, JJ Buckley Fine Wines