Reflections on Parkinson's fundraising ride from Pauillac to La Livinière (Minverois)

Jim and Carole @the Cité of Carcassonne

A week yesterday Carole and I were riding through quiet, rolling roads through the Minervois towards our final destination – Domaine Ostal Cazes at La Livinière. Fortunately we had the wind behind us as we passed by vineyards interspersed by garrique and other crops.

In direct contrast yesterday afternoon I foolishly decided to go for a ride in London at the time of the afternoon school run and the start of the Friday weekend rush hour. This made riding on most of the roads no fun at all and I cut short my ride. Such a contrast to peaceful rural France whether it is in the Languedoc or the Loire. 

Although there are considerate drivers in London, there are still far too many that speed, drive recklessly and dangerously with little thought for other road users whether they are fellow drivers, cyclists or pedestrians. 

Riding a bike in London means that you can never relax – always trying to anticipate the next danger or the next impatient idiot. 

Much of our five day ride from Pauillac to La Livinière was along the towpath of the Garonne and then the Midi Canals. There was a good tarred track all the way from the western end of the Garonne canal a few miles east of Langon all the way to the western border of the Aude départment. This meant that we could ride our road bikes along by the canal and benefit from the shade and tranquility – no vehicles! Unfortunately in the Aude the track becomes rough so we had to take to the normal roads to avoid punctures. 

During our ride we had to negotiate two major cities: Bordeaux and Toulouse. Both proved to be cycle friendly and easy to get through. Toulouse entirely on cycle lanes – some shared with pedestrians, while Bordeaux was easy once we reached the new Pont Jacques Chaban Delmas Bridge. The new bridge includes a dedicated cycle lane which then on the eastern side connects to a pedestrian/cycleway that takes you right through and out to the south of the city. In Toulouse we were able to follow the Garonne Canal until it became the Canal du Midi.  

Clearly both Bordeaux and Toulouse a much smaller than London but it was striking, despite the new cycle highways in the centre, London lags far behind these French cities. 

Sadiq Khan, the current London Mayor, makes the right sounds about improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists alike. However, after a little more than a year in power I sense that he has achieved little and that he is better at hot air than taking practical steps. 

Khan appointed Will Norman, as his new walking and cycling supremo on a salary of £98,000 a year. A google search on Norman brings up no recently entries, so you have to wonder what is he up to? 

We are very pleased that our ride across Southern France has to date raised £5,587.19 including gift aid. Donations continue to be very welcome – please donate here  Together we can make a difference to people with Parkinson's. Thanks!        

Destination: Ostal Cazes, La Livinière, Minervois

Cycling group@Trevor Gulliver's house in nearby Homps

Pauillac to La Lavinière (Minervois) bike ride for Parkinson's – getting close!

Fergus Henderson @St John

The pedalling team: Jim, Carole and Max 

with Fergus Henderson

The countdown to the start of our ride – from one grand cru to another – next week from Pauillac to La Livinière (12th-16th June) in the Minervois is now well underway. We are getting in the last few training rides before leaving the Loire for Pauillac on Saturday with the big off on Monday. 

You can find more details of the ride here. The team at St John led by Kitty are now promoting the ride – see here on their Instagram Their Instagram post, which went up today, has already received just under a 1000 likes. Some of these likes have translated into donations and hope that more will do so. 

It would be great if you could help us to reach our ambitious total of £6000 and enable us to help Fergus and other people with Parkinson's Disease. As Fergus says: "I have wires from a battery in my chest into my brain - this deep brain stimulation is a life-transforming miracle. Without research funded by this charity and others this would be impossible, and my life would be very different".

Here is our fundraising page (Parkinson's UK). Our total currently stands at £622.50 including gift aid. 

Every donation helps! 

 The start – Château Lafite: Monday 12th  June

The finish: Cru La Livinière Friday 16th June

Great news – updated total: £1222.50 (8th June 2017 – 14.05 CET). Have cracked the first 1K, so just under 5K to go to hit our target.

Bordeaux or Colonsay? No contest!

 Colonsay – marked with a red spot

A significant proportion of both the UK wine trade, especially at the fine wine end, along with the wine press will be out in Bordeaux to play their important part in the annual en primeur circus. 

Whether the 2015 will revive the flagging interest in buying en primeur remains to be seen. Although it is always interesting to assess young wines, buying en primeur should come with several health warnings as the newsletter message below from Jancis Robinson MW indicates – 'how non-definitive these barrel samples are' and 'however tempting it must be to show us the most flattering samples'.

Email message from Jancis Robinson MW (1st April 2016)

'By the time you read this I should be fully immersed in assessing embryonic samples of the latest Bordeaux vintage. Having canvassed members of JancisRobinson.com, as I tend to do every year, I know that a significant proportion of them want early assessments of the 2015 vintage and the wines produced, so, ever obedient, I will do my very best. But I do hope everyone realises just how non-definitive these barrel samples are. The wines will not be delivered in bottle for more than two years into the future. A lot can happen in that time. And we have to rely on individual producers to show us samples that are as representative as possible, however tempting it must be to show us the most flattering samples.'

Not only may the wines well turn out to be rather different from the way they tasted during the en primeur week but there are too many examples where customers never saw the wines they had ordered and, for which, they had paid. En primeur can be a gold-plated gift to fraudsters. 

Even before the boom in scam wine investments from around 1998 there were companies like Green's and Nick Davies' The Hungerford Wine Company, which failed to deliver their customers' wine after trousering their money.  

Leaving out and out scams, such as the Bordeaux Wine Trading Company, there continue to be too many instances where customers are either out of pocket or experience disappointment and hassle. 

Right at the end of last year Marco Correira of bust En Primeur Ltd rose again as the World of Wine. Correira is still trumpeting the advantages of buying en primeur when his previous company En Primeur Ltd racked up losses of £2.4 million.      
 
This year I was contacted by Greek customer of Direct Wines/The Hailsham Cellars, who is still trying to get hold of his six bottles of Château Latour ordered en primeur way back in July 2011!        

Moi ?

I am heading in the opposite direction to Scotland on the midday Highland Chieftain from London's Kings Cross getting off at Kingussie well up in the Cairngorns. 

We are heading up for a family wedding on the Isle Of Colonsay. The intrepid couple have decided to get married on Kiloran Bay, recently chosen by walkhighlands as one of their best island beaches, in early April! Could be wonderful but equally they may be saying their vows in horizontal wind and rain.  

Expect to see some photos from Scotland over the next few days.   

Starting out on Thirsty Dragon

Back in London after nearly a month in Lisbon. Delighted to be back to a copy of Suzanne Mustachich's much acclaimed and award-winning Thirsty Dragon. I have just started the opening chapter and am confident that I will be enjoying reading the rest as well as learning about China and its relations with the West, especially the top wines of Bordeaux. A fuller review will follow.

After a windy night this morning was brilliantly clear – able to see Alexandra Palace and well beyond from Forest Hill.  

 

Oak in Sauvignon in Loire and Bordeaux (expanded version)

(This is an expanded version of a post that first appeared on 10th November. It has also been published on Les 5 du Vin.) 

Last week I was very pleased to be present at a fascinating and well organised tasting – a comparison of the aging potential of oaked Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux and from the Loire. The Bordeaux component was organised by Richard Bampfield MW and Jean-Christophe Mau, while Chris Kissack – the wine doctor – occupied the Loire selection. The idea was to show a relatively recent vintage along with an older one. 

I have to say from the outset that having tasted all the wines I felt no need to change my allegiance away from the Loire. Where the oak on the Loires was well-judged, it was often more marked on those from Bordeaux. The Loires also had a freshness that few of the Bordeaux wines did.

Just to show that this wasn't just my inherent bias Jean-Christophe Mau generously praised the Loire Sauvignons in the report in The Drinks Business:
'Also at the tasting was Jean-Christophe Mau, owner and manager of Pessac-Leognan estate Château Brown. Commenting on the comparison of oaked Sauvignon Blancs from the Loire Valley and Bordeaux, Mau said he believed the Bordeaux region was lagging behind the Loire in terms of style and value.

“I think they have too much oak, the Bordeaux style, too much extraction also,” he said. “And maybe the acidity is not at a good level; sometimes it is too high.

“For a lot of people who make wine in Bordeaux it’s more important to make red than white. The vision for white is maybe too much a vision of the red.

 

 “For most of the people the top quality from Sauvignon is from the Loire Valley. We have begun to change that in Bordeaux but the prices for the top wine, I think, are too expensive.”

All of the Loires shown came from the Central Vineyards, so a continental climate in contrast to the maritime climate of Bordeaux. In a sense it wasn't entirely a comparison of equals as all the Loire wines were pure Sauvignons, while from Bordeaux there were no pure varietal Sauvignons: all were blends. Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte with 90% Sauvignon Blanc had the highest proportion with just 5% each of Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon.

I suspect that the reason for the Loire's success in the delicate use of oak comes down to the region's long experiment – now virtually a tradition – of little use of barriques – either 225 or 228 litres. Instead 400 to 600 litre barrels (demi-muids) and increasing small wooden vats, often from Stockinger and around 12 hectolitres capacity. This immediately reduces the influence of the oak as the proportion of liquid to oak is increased. Just to add confusion some Loire producers are now using the term 'barriques' for all small barrels when they are actually referring to barrels from 300-600 litres. This is not very helpful!

I think Jean-Christophe has part of the explanation when he says that Bordeaux producers tends to think red first, so the size of the barrel that is used for red tends also to be used for the whites. Whereas, in the Loire, where whites overall make up around 55% of production and a much higher proportion in the Central Vineyards, the thinking has long been very different. The choice, when oak is used, has increasingly been what best suits my white wines.  

Later Richard suggested that Jean-Christophe may well be thinking of experimenting in the future with larger sized barrels for his whites.

My grateful thanks to the organisers: Chris, Jean-Christophe and Richard.       

The Loire Sauvignons:

La Tour Saint Martin, Bertrand Minchin - 2012 and 2002
The 2002 was the most evolved Loire in the tasting but attractively honeyed

2012 and 2008 Alain Cailbourdin Triptyque:
neither vintage showing noticeable oak

believe that 2008 was first vintage

2012 and 2002 Tradition Cullus, Pouilly-Fumé, Masson Blondelet
The still tight 2012 had just been bottled, while the 2002 provided further
evidence of what a lovely vintage this is.

  2012 and 2002 Silex, Domaine Didier Dagueneau with the 2012
made by Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau

Unfortunately by the time I got to the 2002 there was

only a dribble left in the bottle but still showing lovely freshness and length .

Amongst all the wines shown the only corked bottle was the back up bottle

of 2002 Silex – sod's or corks' law!

2012 and 2010 Cul de Beaujeu, Sancerre Lucien Crochet.
I believe 2010 was the first vintage of Gilles' single vineyard

bottling from the very steep vineyard that dominates Chavignol to the west.

2012 and 2008 Satellite, Sancerre, Alphonse Mellot
From Les Monts Damnés 2012 particularly impressive

2012 and 2008 Petit Chemarin, Sancerre, Vincent Pinard
with the evolved 2008 particularly impressive

2012 and 2002 Etienne Henri, Sancerre, Henri Bourgeois
I found the 2002 was quite honeyed whereas

one of my colleagues found it quite oaky.

I think I may still have a bottle of the 1987 acquired

during my first visit to Henri Bourgeois in late October 1987 –

the first time I met Jean-Marie Bourgeois

From Bordeaux: 

2012 Les Arums, Château Lagrange
2012, 2010, 2009 Château Brown
2012 Caillou Blanc, Château Talbot
2012, 2010, 2006, Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte
2012, 1999 Domaine de Chevalier
2012 Pape-Clément
2012, 2006 Y' d'Yquem, Château d'Yquem

Oaked Sauvignon Blanc: how does the Loire compare to the Bordeaux? A question of size?

Yesterday I was happy to be at a fascinating and well organised tasting – a comparison of the aging potential oaked of Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux and from the Loire. The Bordeaux component was organised Richard Bampfield MW and Jean-Christophe Mau, while Chris Kissack – the wine doctor – occupied the Loire selection. The idea was to show a relatively recent vintage along with an older one. 

I have to say from the outset that having tasted all the wines I felt no need to change my allegiance away from the Loire. Where the oak on the Loires was well judged, it was often marked on those from Bordeaux. 

Just to show that this wasn't just my bias but Jean-Christophe generously praised the Loire Sauvignons in the report in The Drinks Business:

'Also at the tasting was Jean-Christophe Mau, owner and manager of Pessac-Leognan estate Château Brown. Commenting on the comparison of oaked Sauvignon Blancs from the Loire Valley and Bordeaux, Mau said he believed the Bordeaux region was lagging behind the Loire in terms of style and value.

“I think they have too much oak, the Bordeaux style, too much extraction also,” he said. “And maybe the acidity is not at a good level; sometimes it is too high.

“For a lot of people who make wine in Bordeaux it’s more important to make red than white. The vision for white is maybe too much a vision of the red.

“For most of the people the top quality from Sauvignon is from the Loire Valley. We have begun to change that in Bordeaux but the prices for the top wine, I think, are too expensive.”

All of the Loires shown came from the Central Vineyards, so a continental climate in contrast to the maritime climate of Bordeaux. In an sense it wasn't entirely a comparison of equals as all the Loire wines were pure Sauvignons, while from Bordeaux there were no pure varietal Sauvignons: all were blends. Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte with 90% Sauvignon Blanc had the highest proportion with just 5% each of Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon. 

I suspect that the reason for the Loire's success in the delicate use of oak comes down to the region's long experiment – now virtually a tradition – of little use of barriques – either 225 or 228 litres. Instead 400 to 600 litre barrels (demi-muids) and increasing small wooden vats, often from Stockinger. This immediately reduces the influence of the oak as the proportion of liquid to oak is increased.      

 

My grateful thanks to the organisers: Chris, Jean-Christophe and Richard. 

The Loire Sauvignons (details to add):

From Bordeaux: Y