Bordeaux

St. Emilion

Last weekend my wine club, Tabula Rasa, traveled to St. Emilion in Bordeaux. The plan was to drink good wine, obviously. We were going to visit three different wine producers and our guide had made reservation in advance.

Grapes one week before harvest.

I harbored a silent worry that we wouldn't learn much interesting after the first visit, imagining that each of the Chateau would want to give the same introduction level speech about how to make wine. In some respect this was what happened, but they all managed to include some very interesting pieces of knowledge. So each and every visit was a learning opportunity.  The three producers were very different, and the presentations were also quite varied.

St. Emilion is a very small town, only about 2.500 people live there permanently. It's a beautiful town with old traditional houses surrounded by vineyards. I gather that from any location in the town you can walk less than five minute and find yourself standing next to a field of grape wines. The town have more wine shops than any other town I have seen - every street has at least two wine shops. I guess there are only three kinds of jobs in town, wine farmer/producer, restaurant worker, or wine seller.

Ch. Quercy

First on our list of wine producers were Chateau Quercy, a small 6 hektar producer. It's located 30 minutes by car outside of St. Emilion. The presentation was done by a very enthusiastic woman, who brought us out among the wines talking about many aspects of wine making.

Afterward, we were shown some of the machinery used in the harvesting process. Even though the grapes are picked by hand, they use some conveyor belts and such to get them where they need to be. At the moment, the big talking point on the farm was when to start the harvest. The cellar master wanted to wait a bit to let the grapes mature more, while the person in charge of the fields wanted to harvest before frost or rain could damage them. On the other hand they had already sent some grapes off to be analyzed. So making the decision of when to harvest is half science and half gut feeling. When harvesting they use 16 pickers, 4 people to carry the grapes,  6 people to sort the good ones from the bad ones, and 2 tractors. A crew like this could harvest one hectar per day.

Their wine was good, but a bit on the expensive side. 35€ for a bottle of 2007.

Saint Pierre Cellar

Later the same day we went to Tour Saint Pierre, located just a few minutes outside of St. Emilion. They have about 12 hectar. Here the presentation was less enthusiastic, but no less informative. They seem to have a somewhat different attitude towards the production than Ch. Quercy. At Saint Pierre the harvesting started a 100 days after the first flowering.

After tasting the 2003 vintage we wondered what it cost. We were told 13€ a bottle. I was sure that our French "speaking" wine-club-member had misinterpreted 30 for 13, but I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. She brought the price list which listed 1998 vintage at 14€ a bottle. Seeing this, we promptly bought one and opened it on the spot. It was very good. Which in turn resulted in some worries about getting the bottles back home. Shipping from France was very expensive, and would easily double the price of the wine, and that is before we calculate in Norwegian taxes. I ended up buying 10 bottles, which I'm very happy to report all made it back safely with out any added shipping cost or overweight on the flight.

Ch. Kiwan

The next day we drove for a while, well actually quite a long bit but that was mostly caused by a closed bridge in Bordeaux city, and the lack of good GPS to get us around the closed bridge. The trip should have taken about an hour and a half. Because of the delay, we missed our appointment, but was able to reschedule for a couple of hours later.

Chateau Kiwan is a larger chateau in the Margeaux district. It has 35 hectar, placed on a old sump area that was drained due to some canals built by the Dutch. This was the first chateau where we were actually invited to taste the grapes. The representative from the chateau was a very skilled person presenter, and did a wonderful job of explaining the history of the Chateau as well as explaining about the terroir, and the production method. Unfortunately for the chateau and future visitors he is quitting to start working at a different chateau.

Kiwan, being a more known Chateau than the others, is also a bit more pricey. Their first wine was 46€ a bottle, and their second wine about half that. The first wine is made from wines that are 15 to 70 years of age, while the second wine is made of the younger wines.

View of Ch. Kiwan vinyard.

Strawberry melome

Even though, I had no success with my last melome (wine of  fruit and honey) I gave it another go. I made this one entirely from strawberry, honey and sugar. I bottled them this weekend. At that time the color was very pleasing. Red, clear with a hint of brownish color. Very similar to what you would see in old red wines.

Before bottling it I added a tincture coriander and juniper berries (einebær). Only four bottles escaped this treatment, for comparison. I also wanted to experiement with fortifying the wine. I have never done this before so I have no experience to draw upon. I used four different spirits in order to learn what effect they have on the finished product. 60% spirits, dry gin, SO XO cognac, and finaly a tincture made by soaking oak chips in vodka for a month. All four were mixed with the melome to produce a wine of 18%.

The melome was rather promising before bottling, so i have high hopes for it. Maybe it will be ready for Christmas.

Primeur 2009

Seems like the Bordeaux primeur  tasting in Oslo Operahouse is going to be a annual event. This was my second year. I tasted a lot less wines this year than the year before. However it is interesting to see that my preference has not changed. These are the most interesting wines form this years tasting:

Château Angélus
Château Coutet
Château Guiraud
Château Grand Puy Lacoste
Château  Montrose
Château Smith Haut Lafitte
Château Sudiuraut

When comparing them to last years tasting I gave them 9, 10 and 11s. Last year I did not buy any wine, I'm not going to do that mistake twice. I will post the price for the wines later as they become available.

Château  Montrose was the tastings most expensive wine. When I came they only had the 2009 vintage left. According to the rumors on-site it is going to cost 150€ per bottle. 2009 looks to be the best vintage since 2005, so it might be a good investment for those so inclined.

Import

Since the summer of 2009 it has in theory been possible for private persons to import alcohol to Norway by mail. Before that you had to make the producer send it to Vinmonopolet, and it was a lot of hassle.

The news papers have written alot about how this new legislation is working, or rather not working. How the customs are having trouble handling it and such. I haven't heard of a single person actually importing wine by mail under the new rules.

When I finally found someone selling Doux Champagne I had to figure out if this would actually work. I checked the customs web page, according to them there was no trick to it actually. Just have someone mail it to you, and write the volume and the percentage of alcohol and the rest would take care of it self. So that's what I did. I got a tracking number from Champagne Fleury and could see how the parcel progressed. I was not so please when the tracking read:

Sendingen er under importbehandling og er midlertidig lagret Årsak: Importrestriksjoner, lisens kreves

Translated: Package is beeing temporary stored because Import license is require.

That stage passed quickly and it went in to waiting to clear customs. Nothing happened for a week, then I called mail service. They could not explain why nothing had happened to the parcel for a week, but promised to expedite it. A few days later I could pick up my 8 bottles at the post office for a sizable charge (value added tax, alcohol tax, tax fee).

The conclusion is that it really works to have people send you alcohol, just be prepared to pay a lot as it passes through the customs.

The Quest for Doux-Champagne

Champagne is one of my absolute favourite wines, along with Amarone and Port. If I were to only drink three types wine for the rest of my life those would be it.

In May 2008 Tabula Rasa (my wine club) held a Champagne tasting. Before this I didn't know that much about Champagne, but I learned alot that evening. Since than I have been taken with Champagne. One of the things we learned that evening in May was that in the past Champagne used to be much sweeter than it is today. Loving sweet wines like Port, Reciotto and Eiswein I figured that I aught to taste the sweeter Champagnes. Two Demi-Sec Champagne was available through Vinmonopolet. Each of them better than their dryer version in my humble opinion. There was not a single Doux-Champagne at Vinmonopolet.

Whenever I'm travelling I'm always on the lookout for new Demi-Sec or Doux Champagne, but there is seldom any good selection. So far I haven't found a single Doux Champagne.

Even Harrods, famous for having everything, did not have Doux-Champagne. When I was going to Oslos only resturant with two stars in the Michelin Guide, I figured this would be my chance. The probably have a large wine cellar, and one of those bottles would have to be a Doux-Champagne, but no.

During one of my trips abroad I decided to ask the wine shop on Heathrow is they had any. They didn't, but instead of leaving it at "No we do not." The guy went on to tell me that I should by Port in stead. Don't get me wrong I love port, but I wouldn't be asking for Champagne if I wanted to buy Port.

In cellartracker.com database I found some Doux-Champagne. Though wine-searcher.com I looked for someone selling these wines. I found only one seller that had any of them for sale: K&L Wine in USA. The one they had was even inside the price range that I could afford. After all other ways of getting hold of a Doux-Champagne had failed I decided I was going to order from K&L Wines. The import rules have just changed in Norway to allow for private import, so it aught to be possible. Again I was disappointed, the would not ship to Norway and a lot of other countries. So I was back at square one.

When K&L Wine failed, I decided to contact the producer directly, but them beeing French I'm not very optimistic that my e-mail in English is going to get me any where. It might be time to revisit the list from cellartracker and contact the producers of all the Doux-Champagne in the list...

Before I could complete this post, and before I could contact more produces the first one got back to me. My doubts were put to shame. They are able to ship to Norway and they have two different Doux-Champagne available.

Blanc de blancs doux 2000
Fleury 1995 doux

It's almost time to celebrate. Just need the check up on the import rules for wines in Norway. The short of it is that you can just have the wine shipped, and it will automatically be declared on entry as long as it is properly marked. The alcohol tax and VAT will amount to approximately the same as the wine and shipping cost. So on entry the price is doubled. Never mind that it is time to order Doux-Champagne!

Wine Ranking, Value for Money

Red Wine

Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon	79 NOK	9	CHILE
Canopia Malbec Syrah	79 NOK	9	ARGENTINA
Baron la Rose Vieilles Vignes	115 NOK	10	FRANKRIKE
Rosemount Shiraz	135 NOK	10.5	AUSTRALIA
Eleganta Vinum Merlot	89 NOK	9	FRANKRIKE
Faustino Slectión de Familia	129 NOK	10	SPANIA
Armador Cabernet Sauvignon	100 NOK	9	CHILE
Zuazo Gaston Tempranillo	99 NOK	9	SPANIA
Rosemount Shiraz Cabernet	104 NOK	9	AUSTRALIA
Jacob's Creek Shiraz Cabernet	106 NOK	9	AUSTRALIA

White Wine

Casablanca Chardonnay	112 NOK	10	CHILE
Viña la Rosa la Capitana Chardonnay	129 NOK	10	CHILE
Leitz Rüdesheimer Kirchenpfad Riesling Kabinett Feinherb	129 NOK	10	TYSKLAND
Toso Moscato d'asti	67 NOK	8	ITALIA
Strub Niersteiner Pettenthal Riesling Spätlese Trocken	134 NOK	10	TYSKLAND
Viña la Rosa Don Reca Chardonnay	134 NOK	10	CHILE
J.L. wolf Wachenheimer Riesling Kabinett	99 NOK	9	TYSKLAND
Strub Niersteiner Silvaner Kabinett Trocken	132 NOK	9	TYSKLAND
Leitz Rheingau Riesling Trocken	106 NOK	9	TYSKLAND
Vernaccia di San Gimignano	149 NOK	10	ITALIA

Sweet Wine

Strub Niersteiner Bildstock Huxelrebe Beerenauslese	134 NOK	11	TYSKLAND
Fresita	87 NOK	8.5	CHILE
Hexamer Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Spätlese *	159 NOK	10	TYSKLAND
Righetti Recioto della Valpolicella Classico	115 NOK	11	ITALIA
Gran Feudo Moscatel	106 NOK	9.5	SPANIA
San Pedro Late Harvest Riesling	99 NOK	9	CHILE
Churchill's 10 Y. Tawny	219 NOK	10	PORTUGAL
Warre's Quinta da Cavadina Vintage Port	221 NOK	10	PORTUGAL

Melome v1.0

After making a few successful meads I wanted to expand to melome. Today I botteled my first melome. It is a clear red color with out using any artificial clearing. There is approximately 11,3% alcohole in the melome. It is extremely dry.

Recipe:

• 80g Saaz hops pelets, 60 min in 10l
• 30g Saaz hops pelets, 30 min in 10l
• 30g Saaz hops pelets, 15 min in 10l
• 3 sticks of cinamon
• 4ts ginger
• 4,2 kg Brazilian honey.
• 2,8 kg Swedish honey.
• 443g blue berry
• 737g blue grapes
• 668g plums
• 427g cherries
• Wyeast Mead Activator
• Total of 26l, OE 1.75