Bordeaux 2017

Bordoverview Blog invited Vincent Bache-Gabrielsen to share his insider's view with us on the Bordeaux 2009 vintage. Since 2003 Bache-Gabrielsen is technical director of Château Belle-Vue and Château de Gironville (both Haut-Médoc) and neighbouring Château Bolaire (Bordeaux Supérieur).

In addition, since the 2009 vintage Bache-Gabrielsen is also in charge at Pauillac classed growth Château Pédesclaux, and Château Lilian Ladouys in Saint-Estèphe. Both estates were acquired by Jacky Lorenzetti in 2008.

It will be worth following the developments at these two châteaux. Pédesclaux is known as a notorious underperformer since long, and with the change of ownership the future of this classed growth is shining.

With the malo ended, and in some cases still in progress, it is a good moment to take a closer, and detailed, look at the much talked about Bordeaux 2009 vintage. Bache-Gabrielsen's experience is focused on the Médoc, yet spans this area from south (Belle-Vue, De Gironville) to t…

Dwayne Perreault − It's one of those useless questions, sort of like asking "What is it like to play golf on the moon?" but sometimes when I'm drinking a great wine, like a Hermitage or a Bordeaux grand cru classé, I can't help but wonder, "What did this wine taste like hundreds of years ago?"


Well, guess what? During the Apollo 14 mission to the moon in 1971, Alan Shephard strapped the head of a six iron to a sampling instrument and purportedly drove a golf ball several kilometers in the direction of a crater, the largest sand trap ever. So that's what it's like to play golf on the moon.

As for how wine tasted in the 1700's, that's a little more difficult to determine. Obviously we can't taste the wines today, so we have no point of reference to compare them to contemporary wines. If wine is to be considered an art, it is like an ice sculpture which melts in the sun: temporary, fleeting, to be enjoyed before it disappears.

There are ex…

Busy times for a wine merchant, December, but a blog needs to be fed. Perhaps my postings will be a little shorter these days. In this one I briefly mention some of the wines we've been drinking − some interesting, and some great.


These first two bottles both unquestionably belong to the category "great". I love Barnaut, but I hadn't tasted their Millésimé yet. Wow! This is a different world − another dimension added, an extra depth, call it complexity. You smell this champagne from a distance. The wine is ripe but there is - still - plenty of freshness in this 1999. Bread and some yeast in the nose, and a certain creamy touch. A very soft champagne, and simply delicious. Then the Dauvissat, another experience! Tight and intense, mineral. Ripe and somewhat spiced, plus a hint of honey. These are two wines I do not mind waking up for.


One evening we opened two Chassagne-Montrachets from Domaine Ramonet, one white, a Villages from 2004, and a red, the Premier Cru "C…