Archive for 2012

One corner of the cloisters at Chateau La Mission Haut Brion?Today was the day for heading south around the Rocade, Bordeaux's ring road. Like every other road built to solve a congestion problem, it becomes heavily congested at peak times. I wanted to be at the Union des Grands Crus tasting at Chat…

They were always going to be big boots to fill...Your guess is as good as mine. Artwork at Chateau KirwanShort blog tonight, as I have to be downstairs for a beer in 10 minutes and much as I enjoy my blogging...Weather-wise, a cooler day with much more cloud. Wine-wise, Day 2 has given ample opportu…

The Ducru-Beaucaillou colour of choice for most if not all its marketing material is orange, but I still had something of a shock when visiting the loo at the propertyI have now arrived back at my hotel room in Blanquefort, just to the south of the Medoc. I have flung open the double doors onto the …

Gigondas was one of the Côtes-du-Rhône Villages until 1971, when it was granted its own appellation.The town is stunning, strewn, as it is, amidst the foothills of the Dentelles de Montmirail. The town itself dates from Roman times.There are a number of worthy restaurants in the town, bu…

A visit to the ruined castle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is always on the cards, especially as there is a rather nifty restaurant just downslope: Les Vergers des Papes. Go there only if you can handle dour staff.In some ways, the wines of Châteauneuf are precise opposites to those of Burgundy…