Rick Stein’s New Seafood Restaurant
July 17th 2008, by GQ
We took advantage of our week’s holiday in Cornwall to see one of our best-known and longest-standing customers, Rick Stein, and to have dinner at his new-look Seafood Restaurant in Padstow. Rick has included our Chateau Bauduc Bordeaux Blanc as one of his ’special selections’ on the front page of his wine list since our 2000 vintage, and the label sports his signature next to the Bauduc logo.
I had a brief chat with Rick, who was fully immersed in filming a one-off Christmas show and another series for the BBC with his old sparring partner, director David Pritchard. They’ve worked together for donkey’s years, and I first met the affable, Rumpole-like David when they were filming Rick’s French Odyssey series during their Bordeaux pitstop in 2004. He calls me Greg, for some reason, but, in his defence, he does meet a lot of people on their travels together. Rick and Dave’s third BBC series exploring food and cooking outside Britain, having covered South West France and then the Mediterranean, will be set around Asia.
A Wet Week in Cornwall
July 14th 2008, by GQ
We must have picked about the worst week to go to Cornwall for a break, weather-wise. From the 4th to the 11th July, it rained and rained, and then rained some more. Each time we looked hopefully at the forecast, it seemed that the southwest was the blackest spot in England, with the occasional severe weather warning.
I didn’t get a chance to go and see Bob Lindo at his Camel Valley vineyard, but I can’t imagine he was too thrilled either. It felt more like March, with chilly walks and strong winds, and we didn’t manage to get the children to a sandy beach, not even once.
Ronnie Scissorhands
July 5th 2008, by GQ
Our new rogneuse arrived this week, complete with numerous spinning blades. New to us, that is, after one careful owner and just twelve months on the road, allegedly. It is immediately being put to good use, trimming the rows of vines after a team of mostly seasonal workers, or saisonniers, have lifted all the vines up through the training wires. Our old machine could just about cope but it’s seen better days, not least during our first full season in 2000 when we bought it brand new. (It should have lasted longer but the both the manufacturer and the distributor have closed down, so it’s tricky to get it fixed each time it goes wrong.) We still have the really old, lethal one that we inherited but we can’t show it here because the inspecteurs de travail would close us down if they knew we still had it. Even visitors to the vineyard exclaim ‘oh my god, what’s that?’ when they peer inside the tractor shed (all part of the longer, more exciting tour), but head boy Daniel is quite attached to it and, besides, he never throws anything away. I should get him on to eBay.
Using the rogneuse (pronounced ron-years, in case you wanted to point one out on your next vineyard tour in France) is a highly skilled job, carried out this week by Hafid while Daniel works on one of the other tractors. By far and away the most labour-intensive aspect though is the work by the saisonniers, lifting the branches of the vines up through the training wires, taking care not to damage the newly formed bunches at knee level.
A Wine Weekend in the Sun
June 30th 2008, by GQ
Another weekend with one wine event after another. On friday evening, after a snoop around the vineyards of Péssac-Léognan, I popped into Bordeaux to take a look at ‘Bordeaux Fête Le Vin’. It was heaving with visitors, mostly enthusiastic amateurs, and it doesn’t surprise me that some 450,000 are reported to have attended this mammoth wine tasting, spread over four sunny days and warm nights from thursday to sunday. The event was staged along the recently restored quays along the river Garonne, in the heart of the city and was, from what I could see, a big success.
Some friends who came for our Bauduc Bondholder dinner on saturday night spent more time at the Fête on friday than
I did, and they really enjoyed it. It cost them all of 16 euros for two, including a tasting glass each and more than enough vouchers to enjoy plenty of wine from different stands.
Here’s Dan (below) proudly holding his keepsake - a handy carry case, complete with the glass inside and a natty shoulder strap.
Our Bondholder dinner on saturday was a somewhat smaller event, which was lucky because our local chef pulled out at the last minute. We managed to cobble something together in time, principally by roping Dan and Zella into helping us out in the kitchen in return for a bed for the night. The dinner was memorable for the lovely, balmy evening, our Bauduc rosé cocktail beforehand and some interesting discourse between an academic, a surgeon, a shipping baron and the UK marketing director for Google. The latter came up with the best suggestion when we discussed what to buy godchildren and grandchildren as presents: domaine names (fullname.coms, not estates in Burgundy) and fine wine for laying down. Later on, Hugh the surgeon talked about the importance of the Miami Breast Conference, but after too much Trois Hectares 05 red we couldn’t take him too seriously.