August Newsletter

One of the things that has really impressed us about the Bordeaux region is that some great wines are being produced outside of the expensive Grand Cru Chateaux of the classification system established in 1855. There are many producers making "New Bordeaux" - old vineyards that are producing wines using new methods in the vineyard and in the winery. Many producers have gone to, or are converting to, organic practices. It is almost like a massive renewal going on and there is a determination to respond to the challenge of wines from the new world.

The August 2012 edition of Decanter Magazine features an article by Bordeaux expert Oz Clarke.....

"The veteran wine writer and broadcaster has spent months tasting ‘literally hundreds of wines from the places no smart folk go, from chateaux whose names wouldn’t raise a flicker of recognition...’ for his new book.

And he is ‘amazed and excited by their personality and flavour differences,’ he writes in this month’s Decanter magazine.

Clarke makes the point that the Romans recognised many of these regions – like ‘the tumbling slopes of limestone clay’ of Blaye on the right bank of the Gironde opposite Haut-Medoc – as perfect for vines.

All over Bordeaux there are wines – ‘the Blayes and Bourgs, Fronsacs, Lalandes-de-Pomerol, Castillons and Francs…’ – that have immeasurably improved as knowledge of viticulture and viniculture has increased, and younger, university-educated generations have taken over.

 

Clarke visits satellites of St Emilion, like Lalande-de-Pomerol whose wines, he says ‘bear a strong similarity to good Pomerol’, and ‘rising star’ Castillon, whose limestone plateau is the ‘seamless’ extension of the same limestone that nourishes St Emilion’s vines.

To order wines go straight to www.discovervin.com.au for our complete range of wines.  

Santé!