Wine in art 
Thursday, September 2, 2010, 14:24
If you can’t find time to come and visit the top Bordeaux properties with me it’s a shame but all is not lost. Arnaud Faugas, the internationally renown Bordeaux Water Colour artist, has captured the spirit of the region in his paintings. You may already be familiar with his portraits of the city of Bordeaux but now he has turned his skills to the classified growths.
Snap them up quick he’s about to leave for China where wine enthusiasts are bidding up the prices for art from Bordeaux as well as the wines!




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In the pink 
Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 12:14
Each year Regent Grand Hotel in Bordeaux does their thing for charity – last year all the profits from coffee served in the hotel during September went to The World Childhood Foundation.
This year their Michelin star chef : Chef Pascal Nibaudeau has created a pink dessert ‘Raspberry Tagada Tart with a carambar crunch’ in aide of the « Blouses Roses ». Channel your inner child by ordering the dessert for only €7,50 and the profits go to this organisation that creates entertainment and events hospitalised children through a network of 190 volunteers in Bordeaux throughout 23 institutions.



Has to be perfect for Cremant de bordeaux rosé.

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Château Pavillon Bel-Air 
Friday, August 27, 2010, 07:56
Pomerol is one of my favourite Bordeaux appellations; small but perfectly formed. The proximity of it’s 150 properties spread over just 800 ha make it feel, dare I say, almost Burgundian.
However just to the North of the Barbanne river is the less well-known Lalande de Pomerol appellation. Larger than Pomerol at 1100ha and 200 properties, it is perhaps not as homogenous in style but there are many hidden treasures to be found. I discovered another one this week. Visiting Château Beauregard in Pomerol we were introduced to their property in Lalande de Pomerol : Château Bel-Air.

Managed by the Beauregard team since 2003, the property is organic although, as is often the case, this is not mentioned on the label.
The gravel and clay soil is planted in the classic right bank blend 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc. Two plots adding up to about 1ha of the 40 year old vines on the gravel have been selected for their cuvee ‘Le Chapelain’. With the malo and ageing in new oak barrels these selected parcels create a delicious wine, very much in a Pomerol style and like a lot of this appellation, at excellent value.




Cabernet Franc ripening in the August sun at Château Beauregard this week


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Bellevue - true to it’s name. 
Thursday, August 26, 2010, 11:25
Just above the vineyard of Angelus is the tiny Château Bellevue 6.5 ha of southwest, south and southeast facing slopes (quite rare in Saint Emilion think Ausone, Tertre Roteboeuf or Mondotte) that also explains the origin of the name as you can see here from the view looking over the vines of both Bellevue and angelus from the terrace of the property



This 17th century chartreuse sleeping beauty is on a much older site as shown here by the unique roman remains of the ditches dug into the stone that they used for planting the vines where the limestone on these limestone comes to the surface of the soil.




On a clay-limestone terroir amongst prestigious neighbours, 2 ha of which are in a parkland (another rarity in this corner of Saint Emilion), the vines are 98% Merlot with only 2% Cabernet franc. Hand picked and ‘micro fermented’ to ensure their plot character, the wines are aged in 100% new oak in the underground limestone cellars.
Now under the wing of Angelus (50% shareholders), their first vintage 2008 has just been bottled and delivered. The 20 000 bottles produced have been snapped up by the trade ‘en primeur’. The wine shows a remarkable minerality, perfectly illustrating the terroir and with a fresh and long fruit finish.



The new label of Château Bellevue, unlikely to stay in the shadow of Angelus for much longer.




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Why is wine red ? 
Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 02:45
Well of course you know the answer and you probably know the answers to most of the other 99 questions in the l’Atelier du Vin’s new book.
I found it in the great shop at Château Haut Bailly. It’s a very basic but fun guide to wine and you can practise your wine French/English as between David Cobbold and Sébastien Durand-Viel its completely bi lingual – careful though not always an exact translation but adapted to suit a French or anglo-saxon audience. I’m curious as why when talking about malbec Cahors is mentioned in French and Argentina in English – Cahors wines export – don’t they?
Has anyone really tried wine sediment on toast ? (see p36)







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