Château Latour

Yesterday I was lucky enough to tag along with some wine and spirits experts for a visit of Château Latour. Located in Pauillac, this property is a first classified growth that consist of 66 hectares. The chai is absolutely beautiful (pictures to come) -- all modern with concrete, french oak, stainless steel elements for a very contemporary style but yet true to its surrounding elements -- the vignes (boy, I think I need to stick to less poetic interpretations of my visits).

The tasting room has a beautiful view of the vignes with full length windows and ultra modern waterfall sink -- so eventhough the wine is too good to spit, you actually want to spit to take a closer look at the fancy sink!

Served at the tasting:
Grand Vin de Latour (2001): Nose reminded me of vanilla beans. Taste was very closed and therefore did not meet my expectations set forth by the nose. Finish was long and elegant. Hopefully this vintage will open more with time. To help, make sure to decanter this wine.
Les Forts de Latour (2003): very powerful nose and taste.
Pauillac (2006): since this vintage is still in the barrels undergoing vinification, tasting is somewhat crude. Yet -- you can taste beyond the wood (at least more so than the last time I tasted directly from the barrel.

Life is so hard

We've been so busy tasting wines and visiting vineyards that I have not had the opportunity to update you all of my adventures. So here is a quick run down of estate visits over the past two weeks:

Mondorion (St. Emillion)
Château La Pointe (Pomerol)
Château Guiraud (Sauternes)
Château Mouton Rothschild (Pauillac)
Château Margaux (Margaux)

And now I must hit the road to avoid the traffic jams.
Cheers,
Aline

BP's Oenoclub tasting

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to attend a tasting held for the employers, who are all members of the Oenoclub (of course). The evening's theme was sweet wines.

Here is a run down of the things we tasted:

1- 2004 Wittman spatlese, Rheinnessen: this is a reisling. Very pale straw. Nose: white flozers, pears. Taste: tangy, very light, citrus. Overall my favorite of the evening (which is a good thing since this was the cheapest wine on the list).

2- 2005 Domaine du Clos Naudin, Vonvray demi-sec (which translates to half-dry): this is a chenin passerille. Pale yellow. Nose: compared to the first wine, you could already tell that this wine was drier, smoking gun, honey, abricot, mineral. Taste: wood, heavy, fume, high acidity, and the mineral quality of the same is found again. Oh boy, I did not like this at all -- the demi-sec confused my nose and tongue. It's like a man afraid of committing -- the wine wants to be both single (sweet) and have a girlfriend (dry). And this is not possible (even if you are in France, which we could discuss in a completely different blog why everyone has the perception that a lack of monogomy is ok amongst the French, or even worst, the expected norm).

3- 2004 Uroulat, Jurancon: petit manseng passerille. Light gold. Nose: citrus, mushrooms, humidity. Taste: tangy, zesty, acidity, passion fruit.

4-2005 Domaine des Forges, Quart de Chaume: chenin botrytise. Very light amber. Nose: honey, white flower, candied fruit, light, yeast. Taste: candied fruits, abricots, lots and lots of honey (overpowering), syrup but the after taste was rather nice. You think you are going to drink something light from the smell -- but your mouth is shocked when the texture is more like honey.

5- 2002 Sonnenglanz: gewurztraminer. Golden. Nose: caramel, miel de sapin, maple syrup, almonds. Taste: tangy, pear, quite boring compared to the nose.

6- 2000 Hetsolo 5, Tokaji Aszu: Furmint. Light yellow. Nose: honey, light wood, caramekl, butter, mineral, somewhat closed. Taste: pears, light, tangy, smooth -- a certain fineses. I was happily surprised -- the last time I had tried Tokay was at Schwa and I did not like it (although by that point I had tried to many different types of wine).

7- 1998 Chateau Coutet, Sauternes-Barsac: Semillion, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadelle. Alright I am way too bias..... So I wont say anything here.

8- 1995 Chateau Coutet, Cuvee Madame, Sauternes-Barsac: Semillion, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadelle. Only produced in very small quantities when the harvest is exceptional, it was a rare treat to have a glass of Cuvee Madame.

9- 2002 Chateau d'Yquem, Sauternes: Semillion and Sauvignon Blanc. Golden straw. Nose: mineral, woody, mushrooms. Taste: very elegant, light, citrus -- lacks the Yquem explosion in your mouth experience -- but it is a very young wine still. Overall -- not bad and worthy of the brand.

A work sponsored event, we were all required to blow in the balloon before getting our car keys.

Treasure Hunt

My colleagues are very smart -- and thus undertook a search for a case of wine, hidden as part of a nation-wide treasure hunt hosted by a magazine. I can't reveal where we were heading to search for this fabulous case of wine -- just in case you decided to go there yourself -- but I will tell you that it was very muddy. I came along with the digital camera to capture the moment of glory (as the clues required a strong knowledge of France and wine -- and you will all agree that neither of these topics are quite my forte -- yet). I think the area would have been muddy regardless of the weather -- but today it was pouring. In this case, curiousity did not kill the cat -- but rather, a nice pair of shoes!



The hunt is still on -- hopefully I will be able to update this blog with the winners and winnings.

Working

Yes, the fun is now over and I am rolling up my sleeves and getting things done. The good news is that I've moved up in the world -- my first internship in 2000 at the "M" company required that I share a cube and this cube was actually smaller than any regular cube because of its location. Now at the "R" company I get to share the break room! My project is huge and I only have 10 weeks -- two of this week require me to work offsite while the rest of the company shuts down for vacation (we are in France remember). So no time to chat!

Apart from that, this region is obsessed with meat-- seriously. I can't recall the last time I had a meal without meat, or bread, cheese and wine for that matter.

Special Guest

My uncle and aunt have a fabulous restaurant/hotel in Molsheim, France. They recently hosted a very special guest... Can anyone guess who is the middle of this picture?

New Housing

When my unlce told me that my summer accodomations would cost 12 euros per night, I became suspicious. My gut feeling was right, the place was the pits. Stuck in the middle of the woods and far from the main house, a call of nature required me to brave the elements as well as a construction site. Enough said. Luckily I have found a new place to call home -- a 2 star hotel, restaurant and bar only 10 minutes from the office....