The Hand of God
May 13th 2009, by GQ
Clatter, clatter, clatter. The worst sound in the world for a winegrower.
In the middle of the night, at 3.30 in the morning on 13th May, we were battered by a hailstorm. And when violent winds accompany the sound of hail, we know it’s very bad news. Parts of Bordeaux were hit the night before, on Monday 11th, and we’d had a smattering of peanut-sized hail too. Our vineyard manager Daniel joked yesterday that if we’d been included in that storm, with hailstones the size of new potatoes, we should change our métiers, or jobs. I don’t think he was expecting lightning to literally strike twice.
On close inspection first thing this morning, this is by far the worst we’ve seen here. We lost 50% of the crop on 24 June 2003, and last year we had frost in April that wiped out much of our sauvignon blanc.
Robert Parker: ‘This Jihad’, ‘Extremists’ and ‘Blobbers’
April 28th 2009, by GQ
It’s all been going off in wine cyberspace, with the world’s most powerful wine critic, Robert Parker, in a bit of a black hole. Tyler Colman, as reported in his wine blog drvino.com last week, questioned Parker if his team on The Wine Advocate had accepted hospitality from the wine trade. It turns out that they have and, although this is hardly a heinous crime, it conflicts with Parker’s own well publicized, lofty standards.
However, instead of simply putting the record straight and squashing the story, Parker hit out at bloggers and others in the forum on his website, which in turn is controlled with a heavy hand by one of the alleged guilty parties, Mark Squires.
Our Gordon Ramsay Label on Decanter.com
April 26th 2009, by GQ
Château Bauduc has been mentioned on Decanter.com under the heading ‘Gordon Ramsay lends his name to a Bordeaux wine‘.
Jane Anson’s report highlighted the fact that this exclusive label has been awarded to us for free, and that we’re celebrating ten years as the house wine at his restaurants.
‘Gordon Ramsay’s Selection’ includes two whites, a red and our rosé, all of which are served at his restaurants. All are currently available direct from our website, including a super mixed dozen.
2008 En Primeur: Surprise, Surprise
April 4th 2009, by GQ
We’ve just had the week of trade tastings in Bordeaux, when the world of fine wine annually descends on the region to taste the wines from the previous vintage. A few surprises too: many 2008s are far better than most outsiders would have thought, after gloomy reports of a damp summer.
The real surprise though is that there seems to be a genuine desire to launch a quick ‘en primeur’ campaign, with the possibility of the First Growths – Latour, Lafite, Margaux (above), Mouton Rothschild and Haut-Brion – coming out with an opening offer in the next couple of weeks, before most of the lower ranks. And that would be big news here as it would turn the normal routine on its head.