The tasting notes from Bordeaux

The two days we have visited four Chateaux and tasted some of the best wines in Bordeaux.

Find in this post my tasting notes.

Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron

1. Les Tourelles de Longueville 2008 - good/very good

still purple colored, distinctive, structured, nice berry fruit, typical CS character.

(65% ME, 25% CS, 15% CF, pH 3.7, acid 3.44, 13,36 alc.)

2. Pichon 2008 - delicious

still purple, oak, very structured, very ripe smooth tannin, velvety, lingering, covers the palate.

(71% CS, 29% ME)

3. Pichon 2007 - very good/delicious

minty, eucalyptus with underlying meat flavors, very stuctured,, complex and lingering.

(74% CS, 26% ME, pH 3.84, acid 3.44, 13.12 alc.)

4. Pichon 2004 - delicious

sediment visible (but wine is filtered before bottling), orange rim, soft ripe tannin structure, dark berry mix on the nose with hint of cool flavors, lingering.

(65% CS, 30% ME, 5% CF, pH 3.7, acid 3.8, 13.3 alc.)

Cos d´Estournel

5. Pagodes de Cos 2008 - good/very good

eucalypt and hints of mint, still purple, structured with some green hints, bit abrupt finish.

6. Cos 2008 - extraordinary

purple hue, fruity berry nose, still very young, very structured but elegant, nice ripe tannins, extremely lingering, will improve with age.

7. Cos 2004 - delicious

ruby red color, very structured with ripe tannins, perfectly matured, very lingering.

8. Cos 2005 - extraordinary

fruity, Cassis, berries, super soft velvety tannins, very elegant, complex, multilayered, mouth filling and lingering. Just stunning!!

Chateau Grand Barrail Lamarzelle Figeac

9. Dourthe No.1 Sauvignon Blanc 2008 - good/very good

very reductive, some green hints, bell pepper and exotic fruits, good balance.

10. Grand Barrail 2005 - good

meaty, signs of overripeness, soft tannin structure, good length but a bit alcoholic on the finish.

Chateau Mouton Rothschild

11. Chateau d´Armailhac 2008 - very good

purple hue, CS typical fruit, some green hints, spicy, mocha, very structured, very young.

(54% CS, 29% ME, 15% CF, 2% PV, 25% new oak)

12. Chateau Clerc Milon 2008 - very good/delicious

color dense, purple hue, Cassis, berry fruit, spicy, very structured but soft tannins, lingering.

(42% CS, 40% ME, 16% CF, 2% PV)

13. Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2008 - extraordinary

extremely color dense, purple hue, oak prominent, vanilla, mocha, coffee, very structured but soft ripe tannin, very young, extremely lingering. Blockbuster wine!

(83% CS, 17% ME, pH 3,7 - 3,8, 13.2 alc. 100% new oak, 140€ en primeur for 2008)

As we spent nearly all our money to taste and buy wine, we had to cut our expenses on food. With our room picnics we had ...

14. Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte - delicious

very color dense, mocha and chocolate on the nose, oak still prominent, very structured, complex and lingering.

Just some pics ...

Just some pics from today. Tasting notes will be published tomorrow.

Enjoy!

In the vineyards of Pichon Baron:

Tasting some Cru Classe wines:

A perfect lunch:

Cos d´Estournel:

the new cellar at Cos:

Wine Bars in Paris and Arcachon!

We´ve spent our last day in Paris, beside buying kitchen stuff in the extraordinary Chef shop "Dehillerin", in the Marais quarter. This old Jewish quarter is full with life and loads of small shops selling all different kind of things.

Lunch at Le Rubis: this is maybe the oldest wine bar in Paris ... at least it seems so. It looks like the time has come to a halt some 50 years ago. The plat du jour was warm sausage with lentils ... the wright food for men! The wine (Sancerre and Cotes du Rhone) was simple but a good choice for this kind of meal.

The other wine bar of this day was Willi´s. Ways different to Rubis but also nice. Good stemware, friendly and knowledgeable waiters and some glasses of Riesling, Bandon and Rhone wine closed a nearly perfect day (it was raining for some 30 minutes).

The TGV brought us in about 3 hours to Bordeaux and we spent the afternoon at the Dune du Pyla. Nothing has changed since my last visit ... still incredible and to celebrate the day we had "Glüh-" Champagne.

Enjoy the pics!

Le Rubis:

Willi´s:

Franz at Willi´s:

Glüh-Champagne:

Dune du Pyla at the Bassin d´Arcachon:

Eiffel tower and Montmartre

Today we spent most of our time with sightseeing. The Eiffel tower is maybe the most fascinating building in Paris ... at least the queues are by far the longest!! We took the challenge with the stairs because we didn´t want to wait 45 min.

Afterwards a quick lunch at a nice Cafe in Montmartre with Crepe Provencal and a nice white wine from the Loire.

The afternoon was filled with the Tour de France ... I saw Alberto winning!

Eiffel tower 1:

Eiffel tower 2:

Sacré Coeur:

Notre Dame

Merde ... Pappiles fully booked and to my greatest astonishment ... it was not possible to get a glass of wine. Wine is just served with food ... and food of course is just served if one has a table. Strange!!

We decided to try our luck with another wine bar "Le Coude Fou" and we were lucky! On our way to this next bar we visited the "Jardin du Luxembourg" and the "Notre Dame". Both are quite impressive.

For dinner we had some nice wines (Corsica and Alsace) and the food in the wine bar was excellent too!

Notre Dame:

Jardin du Luxembourg:

Monkfish and chicken:

Paris

Today is our first day in Paris. After a rather short and unspectacular flight with Air France we had a quick lunch at Chez Prosper ... just around the corner of our hotel.

Now we are heading to downtown ... sightseeing .. what else!

salad "Provence" of course with a glass of Rosé:

dessert "Tiramisu":

Pannobile 2009

As I was rather busy with my last exams at University I was quite lazy with my posts. Anyway, please find here my tasting notes from the annual Pannobile presentation in Vienna. Unfortunately I reveived the invitation about 2 hours before the tasting started and therefore I don´t had the chance to taste all wines.

Winery Judith Beck

1. Zweigelt 2008 - ok/good

young, bit MLF flavors, soft tannin structure, rather simple.

2. St. Laurent Schafleiten 2007 - very good

fruity and spicy, still young, straightforward wine maybe a bit rustic, soft tannin structure, nice oak used.

3. Pannobile Rot 2007 - good

red berries, maybe a touch of Brett (future will show!)

4. Judith 2007 - very good

Anisseed, cool aromatics, bit mushroom and underwood, good tannin structure, balanced and polished.

Winery Gernot Heinrich

5. St. Laurent 2007 - very good

sour cherry, underwood, pleasantly bitter, soft tannin structure, lingering.

6. Pinot Noir 2007 - very good

color and fruit very typical, soft tannin structure, balanced, lingering.

7. Pannobile Rot 2007 - very good/delicious

still young, purple hue, spicy, very good acid and tannin structure, lingering.

8. Blaufränkisch Alter Berg 2007 - very good

cherries and sour cherries, very spicy, still youthful, prominent acid structure, good varietal typicity.

Winery Hans Nittnaus

9. Blaufränkisch Kalk & Schiefer 2007 - good

peat bog, underwood, good acid and tannin structure, distinctive.

10. Heideboden Rot 2007 - good

cherries, soft tannin but alc on the midpalate.

11. Pannobile Rot 2007 - very good

Anissseed, very well integrated oak, good acid and tannin structure.

12. Leithaberg Rot 2007 - very good/delicious

spicy and minerally, very good tannin structure, lingering.

13. Comondor 2006 - good/very good

meaty, spicy and underwood, peat bog, good tannin structure.

 Winery Claus Preisinger

14. Pinot Noir 2007 - good

typical Pinot fruit, very soft tannin, alc on the finish.

15. Pannobile Rot 2007 - very good

fruity, still young, very soft tannin but well structured, lingering.

16. Paradigma - very good

very spicy, distinctive and idiosyncratic, cool aroma profile, very stuctured, lingering.

Winery Helmut Renner

17. St. Laurent Alter Weingarten 2007 - good

fruity, sour cherries, soft tanin structure, bit alcoholic finish.

18. Pannobile Rot 2007 - very good

still young, purple color, spicy, very soft tannin, balanced, lingering.

The hot "SALON 2009"

Yesterday I attended the annual presentation of the "SALON Österreich Wein" wines hosted by the Austrian Wine Marketing Board in the Grand Casino Baden.

It was hot !!! and that means really hot ... lots of interested people, no AC and about 30 degrees outside temp are definitely not the best conditions for a wine tasting.

A proper judgement of a wine was not possible as one was pushed around by thirsty crowds ... little girlies (I suppose young sommeliers from a school) were totally stressed and overstrained with pouring wines to some 400 people and to make it worse ... just every third of them was in possession of a corksrew ... people were really angry and so was I. I left just after 1 hour!!

resume: more corkscrews to the world ;-) ... and ways more effort with the organisation, because the 260 best wines of Austria and their makers really deserve a better presentation!!