Tour de Bordeaux - Wednesday Lunch at Chateau D' Issan

Château d'Issan

Chateau D'Issan is a winery in the Margaux appellation of Bordeaux. The winery was classified as one of fourteen Bordeaux Troisièmes Crus (Third Growths).  The winery is under the proprietorship of  Emmanuel Cruse. Cruse is also the Grand Maitre of the Commanderie de Bordeaux world wide and a staunch advocate for Bordeaux wines.  The Chateau dates from the time of the Hudred Years war. It was purchased by the Cruse family in 1945 and Emanuel is the third generation Cruse to run the Chateau.  It is comprised of 45 Hectares, or 111 acres. The produce a classified wine, a Bordeaux Superior (lesser classification) and a Haut Medoc (from grapes outside of Margaux). Typical production is 8,000 to 9,000 cases.

  

Our group at the main dining table at Chateau D'Issan. David Berka-White at the end of the table and Mckinsey Erdman our youngest attendee (15 I think) on the far right.

We had a wonderful lunch of a lobster tartare accompanied by a 2008 Charteau Carbonnieux white Bordeaux wine, followed by Tournedos of Beef accompanied by a 2004 Chateau D' Issan, and then cheese with a 2000 D'Issan.  Both the 2004 and 2000 D' Issans are available in the market place and great bargains compared to may of the current Bordeaux wines. Go buy a couple of bottles and try them.

Patricia seated next to Emanuel Cruse at Lunch

Le Menu

Now time to go back to the hotel for a nap before dinner at Chateau Margaux.

Tour de Bordeaux - Wednesday Morning at Leoville Las Cases

Leoville Las Cases was our first stop on Wednesday, a day that was ultimately to be the highlight of the trip.
Leoville Las Cases in the morning, Chaateau D' Issan for lunch and Chateau Margaux for dinner.  But more on those other locations later.

The entrance to Leoville Las Cases

Léoville-Las Cases was once part of a much larger estate until the time of the French Revolution when a portion of this estate was separated into what is today  Chateau Leoville-Barton. In 1840, the estate was again divided and land that would eventually become Chageau Leoville-Poyferre was split off. Since the mid 20th century the Delon family have been owners of this estate, also owners of Chateau Potensac and Chateau Nenin.
In 1976, their 1971 vintage ranked number six among the ten French and California red wines in the historic "Judgment of Paris."

The vineyard area includes 97 hectares (240 acres) planted with a grape variety distribution of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot 13% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. The vineyard underwent major replanting during the 1950s, and today the vines average 30 years of age.

Bruno Rolland - the Cellar Master at Leoville Las Cases with Peter and Patricia

A word about winery titles in Bordeaux.  I am not sure that I still have it figured out, but it seems that it is typical to have a General Manager (most often not the owner) at the top of the pyramid.  The GMs direct reports are usually the technical director and the cellar master who seek to have about equal status. It seems as if the "winemaker" may be the GM, it may be the technical director or it may be someone that reports to the technical director. Blends are generally done by a team that includes  the GM, the technical director, the cellar master, the winemaker and often an outside consultant (which no one talks about) like Michel Roland.

But, the cellar master is an important position that is ultimately accountable for the maintenance of the wines in the cellar and the blending process.

The wine making operation offered an interesting perspective. They make wine in both stainless and concrete tanks. Many of the wineries in Bordeaux use only wood and concrete, feeling that they get more consistent fermentation temperatures in either wood or concrete than they do in stainless.

It becomes increasingly clear, that you can tour ten great winemaking facilities and get ten different arguments about the best process and the best barrels in which to make great wine.  Bottom line take away from this trip and from other top wineries that I have visited.  There is no single best solution even for the greatest of wines. To make great wine you can use a variety of tanks and a variety of barrels, but you have to start with great fruit and then not make any big mistakes in the winery.


Our tasting at Leoville Las Cases was relatively quick as we had to be on time for dinner.  We tasted barrel samples of a 2010 Nenin and a 2010 Leoville Las Cases and a couple of older wines of each. All we great. I must say, however, that I am not really sure what all of the hype is about for the 2010 vintage. Bordeaux continues to get better and more consistent and it is truly difficult to decide whether the 2009 or 2010 is better. As some french wine writer opined, " Each is better than the other."  That being said, I wonder why anyone would pay the astronomical prices being charged for the 2009 and 2010 Bordeaux wines when you can buy great older wines, with a lot of very interesting bottle age for a whole lot less.

A Praying Mantis? or just a typical Bordeaux tractor and spraying machine?  I vote for the later. 

Interesting final point, in an area where everyone claims to be organic, spraying machines were everywhere.  You just can't get by without spraying at least sulfur in the vineyards.

On the Chateau D' Issan for Lunch.

Tour de Bordeaux - Tuesday Evening - Chateau de Fargues

Tuesday Evening at Chateau De Fargues was beautiful and special evening.

 Peter and Patricia Kitchak with owner Count Alexandre de Lur Saluces.

We first did a tour of the Chateau, its cellars and the adjacent old castle with the owner Count Alexandre de Lur Saluces. The castle on the property dates from the 14th century (it was built in 1306) and the Count is in the process of slowly restoring parts of it. The architect for the restoration project was also there and he joined us on the tour showing us how they were doing the work to be the same as the original construction.  The good news for them is that they do not have to do earthquake retrofits like we would have to do in California.

Much of our group on the grounds  of Chateau de Fargues with the castle in the background.

In Napa, we pick grapes with a Brix (sugar percentage) of  around 25.  In Sauternes the grapes are picked with a Brix of around 33.  If all of the sugar in the grapes were fermented or converted to alcohol, the wine would be 20% alcohol.  But this wine is generally around 13.5% with a lot of sweetness and a lot of unfermented sugars. This Chateau makes only 15,000 to 20,000 bottles of wine a year, which is not much. The wine is generally a blend of 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillion.  I smiled when the Count called the process of making Sauternes wine as a bit of "Alchemy".

In the Cellar -note the glass bungs in the barrels

Count Alexandre has a very significant history in Sauternes.  For years, he and his family had owned Chateau Yquem, having acquired it in 1785 via a marriage. The count was the manager of Yquem until 2004, some time after it was sold to LVMH in 1996 following a bitter family feud. Following the Counts retirement from Chateau Yquem in 2004 he took a more active role in de Fargues.

The evening events were very nice with a lot of people, a lot of wine and a lot of wonderful passed appetizers. We had a light dinner, and boy did we need it. During part of the evening we sat and talked to a grand lady who owns Chateau Giscours.

All and all, it was a wonderful evening.
 On to Leoville Las Cases tomorrow morning.

2011 Tour de Bordeaux - Tuesday Tour and Lunch at Chateau Guiraud

Tuesday's lunch at Chateau Guiraud was a  classic French lunch, but it was served almost entirely with sweet white Sauternes wines. 

Chateau Guiraud is a sweet white First Growth wine in the Sauternes appellation in Gironde in the region of Graves in France. The estate vine plantings consist of 65% Semillon and 35% Sauvignon Blanc, which is a higher than normal percentage of Sauvignon Blanc. They say vines are on average 35–40 years old. They also make a dry white wine that is 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillion.

The Chateau

Patricia in front of one of the towers at the chateau.  We were told that the French of the 1800s liked to build towers and they would put slate roofs on their towers as an indication of their wealth.  This guy must have had a lot of money.

The lunch was one of the really interesting ones since we had all sweet wine.  They make the point that these are not desert wines, but sweet wines that can go with a variety of things and the lunch set out to prove that.


First Course - 2006 Guiraud
 A wonderful collection of small appetizers with Salmon, Foie Gras.  A small Scallop dish with ginger, lime and fish roe. An interesting grouping of tastes and they all worked well with the wine.

Second Course - 2001 Guiraud
Another medley of three things: Chicken with Cajun sauce, Dorado with a light sauce from fresh tomatoes, and Duck served with a balsamic reduction.  Again, carefully thought out to demonstrate that sweet white wines can be served with almost anything.

Third Course 1998 Guiraud with greens,  a pear in a pouch and some tete de moine cheese. Spectacular.

Fourth Course - 1996 Guiraud dry white wine.  Saffron Madeleine, lemon creme on cornmeal biscuits, mini apricot clafouti and cannelle.  Cannelle is a traditional Bordeaux desert cake, and frankly it was not all that good.  They always seemed a bit tough and overdone ...everywhere and we had them everywhere.

Kent Baum and Melanie Horn have a hard time keeping track of their glasses at Chateau Guiraud.
Next stop . Chateau De Fargues for dinner.

2011 Tour de Bordeaux - Tuesday Morning Chateau Coutet in Barsac

Tuesday Morning, we are off to Chateau Coutet, a sweet wine Chateau in the Barsac area of Bordeaux. Coutet is one of only two First Growth Chateaus in Barsac. (The other is Climens). I had never been sure of the difference between the Barsac and Sauternes areas.  Our host at Coutet, Aline Baly cleared it up.  Barsac is a small appellation within Sauternes. So, all Barsacs are technically Sauternes, but all Sauternes are not Barsacs.  In fact at Chateau Coutet, they call their first wine a Barsac and their second wine a Sauternes.

Aline Baly, the general manager of the Chateau, who has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and who considers herself "an American" now runs the operation which is owned by her family. A great lady.  They have a really beautiful place with a wonderful barrel room where the wines are aged in new french oak for 36 months.

They also have a great museum area with some interesting old winemaking equipment including special heavy duty presses and  the most interesting thing for me a large shallow wooden vat where, before automated crushers, people would stop the grapes with their feet.  It is a very shallow, elevated, slightly slanted with a drain on one side where a large wooden bucket would fit under the drain to  catch the juice.

The sweet wines at Coutet are generally 75% Semillion, 22% Sauvignon Blanc and 3% Muscadel. All are aged in 100% new french oak and they buy about 400 new barrels  (at about 600 Euros per barrel) per year. That, folks, is a bill of about $350,000 per year just for barrels. Incidentally, 400 barrels is enough for about 120,000 bottles of wine.

 

At out tasting, we tasted a barrel sample of the 2010s and a 1989 which was truly a "melt in you mouth" wine as one of our traveling companions put it.  Both wines were spectacular.  What a treat.

Finally, I also learned an advanced way to taste and spit fine wines, to get the maximum benefit of the flavor, by looking at a photo on the wall which appears below.  On to lunch at Chateau Guiraud. Cheers.

Bordeaux, Monday Eve 6/20 at Raymond-Lafond

On to Sauternes, the area where the greatest sweet wines in the world are made.

Raymond-Lafond was our next stop on Monday.  The Chateau is owned by the Meslier family and our guide for the tour and tasting was Jean-Pierre Meslier.  Jean-Pierre was educated as an attorney but has spent much if his life  making wine. He actually lived and worked in San Francisco for a while and was a member of the French Club and Commanderie de Bordeaux there, but the winery needed him and he returned to Bordeaux.  His sister is the general manager of the estate, his brother is the wine-maker and he is responsible for sales and marketing, PR and tours.  An absolutely  wonderful guy.  The Chateau is among the most famous in Sauternes and literally across the road from Yqem. The land, the microclimate and just about everything else is identical to Yqem. And, the price is the wine is about one fifth what it is a Yqem.

 Peter, Kent Baum, Jean-Pierre and fellow traveler, Jeffrey Poage, a Doc from Danville, CA,  discuss the vineyard.

 The family, including their retired father all live at the Chateau, a rather simple place by Bordeaux standards. But they have a wonderful garden with a lot of different trees from all over the world (including palms from California).  They also have an interesting collection of birds including this peacock.

 Patricia and Peter with Jean-Pierre at the entrance to the Chateau.

 At the Chateau we tasted only one wine, their 2007 Raymond-Lafond Sauternes.

Grapes for Sauternes are intentionally left on the vine until they are "infected" with a mold called Botrytis. It attacks the grapes grows on and penetrates the skin so the grapes begin to dehydrate.  Typically pickers will make 5-10 passes through the vineyards and pick only the grapes that look the worst.  In the photo above, the yellow grapes and red looking grapes would not be picked, only the are grey and very moldy.  Because individual grapes are picked, it is a slow and very expensive proposition. The pickers, usually women with smaller hands, use scissors to clip on the grapes one by one.

 The evening dinner after Raymond Lafond.  The restaurant was one of the most beautiful settings I have ever seen in a restaurant and the weather was perfect.  We dined at the Claude Darroze Restaurant in the town of Langon, near Sauternes.  I highly recommend it.  The dinner was started with ta Lobster Salad with a Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing and a 2002 Chateau Raymond-Lafon.  It was followed by a wonderful veal dish accompanied by a 2003 Reserve de la Comtesse, Pichon LaLonde's second wine. Third course was Roquefort cheese accompanied by a 2005 Chateau Raymond-Lafon Sauternes and finally  a Croustillant of red fruits accompanied by a 2003 Raymond-Lafon.

The winemakers and Chateau owners in Sauternes are all quick to point our that Sauternes is NOT a desert wine, but rather a sweet white wine that pairs well with many things. It can particularly compliment Foie Gras  and things like lobster,  but it also a great foil for salads and particular citrus based salads.  Pairing it with Roquefort cheese is standard.

One cannot talk about a visit to Chateau Raymond-Lafon without mentioning the dog, named Eddie (after Eddie Murphy ..no kidding).  He grew up licking the hands of the vineyard workers when the returned from the vineyard with the sweet juice from the grapes on their hands, so whenever people are near the vineyard, he wants to lick their hands.  But what a beautiful and friendly dog.  This one could really qualify as man's best friend. So long for now.  Off to Coutet, another sweet wine Chateau in Barsac tomorrow.

Bordeaux - Monday Tour, Tasting and Lunch at Chateau Malartic Lagraviere

Straight for Carbinoux to Chateau Malartic LaGraviere to a tour and lunch.  They have one of the best thought out and designed winemaking facilities that we toured. Without being many stories high the manage to accomplish the impact of a gravity fed winery with excellent equipment and good design.  A very modern building and very good wines.  The Chateau's top wines are typically 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Their white wines are 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillion.

 Following out tour we did a tasting.  Here, Jean-Jacques Bonnie begins the pouring  while our tour organizers Chuck Horn (center)  and Kent Baum (right) who are both from San Francisco, look on. During the tasting we tasted their 2007 Argentine Wine DiamAndes (Diamond of the Andes) which is generally about 66% Malbec, their other Chateau, Gazin Rocquencourt 2009 and the 2009 Malartic LaGraviere red wine  which is 60% Cabernet, 37% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot.

The Malartic Gravier hateau where we had lunch following our tour.

Patricia chats with Alfred Bonnie, the owner of Chateau Malartic LaGraviere before lunch.

An Amazing desert.  We had lunch with Alfred and and Michele Bonnie, their son John-Jacques and daughter Veronique.  All are involved in their wine business, but the business is now run by John-Jacques.  It was an amazing lunch with grilled vegetables, a wonderful veal dish, cheese and the desert above. The wines served were: 2005 Chateau Malartic Lagraviere Blanc, 2006 Chateau Gazin Rocquencourt Rouge (Red), 2004 Malartic Lagraviere Rouge, 2000 Chateau Malartic Lagraviere Rouge,  and 1989 Chateau Malartic Lagraviere Rouge in  Magnum.

Peter and Patricia with the Bonnies.  Left to Right, Jean -Jacques, Patricia, Michele, Veronique, Alfred and Peter.

Very Narrow vine rows.  We generally have 6 to 8 feet of vine width in Napa. In Bordeaux, 1 meter (about 39") is standard.  Next Stop Raymond Lafond