Archive for March 2010

An especially gnarly old vine at Chateau Smith-Haut-LafitteMy working day started and ended in traffic. I drove south on the rocade - Bordeaux's ring road - towards the suburb of Pessac, leaving the hotel a little after 8am for my tasting at La Mission Haut Brion. Straight into the teeth of the rush…

The view from the tasting room at Chateau Pontet-CanetThe storm which everyone had been predicting yesterday finally pulled up overhead as we were finishing up our dinner at La Tupina (a deeply south-west French, goose fat-and-haunch-of-badger-type restaurant in the old docks of Bordeaux) last eveni…

Lamprey huts on the banks of the Gironde near PauillacThe sun has been bounding around the Medoc today. only occasionally interrupted by high and delightfully sculptural cloud formations.I flew into Bergerac last afternoon having cancelled my BA flight to Bordeaux, not knowing whether one of our dom…

Louvre under leaden skiesIt's been a busy few days in a social sense. Last week found me enjoying the hospitality of the Travellers' Club once again, again through the kindness of a friend who has put me up for membership of that esteemed establishment. The occasion was the election committee recept…