Tributes to Barton & Palmer meets Margaux
August 3rd 2008, by GQ
There’s no doubt that the article that generated the biggest response from our snailmail newsletter, La Gazette, was the short, sad piece about the cruel death of Barton, our little Black and Tan Meath Terrier. We’ve been very touched by the messages of support which have come from all directions and in all shapes and sizes, including a card from friends in New York with a picture of a dog floating up to the skies on a cloud, and this charming postcard from Barton’s sister Swilly, who lives with Lillian Barton of Chateaux Léoville Barton and Langoa Barton in St-Julien. Swilly signed the card with her paw print.
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.
The Best Wine List in the World?
May 29th 2008, by GQ
And a steal for €600 a bottle
When I was a young man growing up in London, my friends used to squirm in trepidation when I had my hands on the wine list in a restaurant. Their fears were justified: to paraphrase George Best, I spent most of my earnings as a 25 year-old computer salesman on fine wine, football and a fast car - the rest I wasted.
Those happy, yuppy days are gone but some things - and men, I suppose - don’t change. So it was a real joy to be back in the toy shop yesterday when I was presented with the greatest wine list I have ever seen. And this wasn’t in Bordeaux, or Paris, or even in London, but in Girona, 100kms north of Barcelona in northern Spain and a short drive from the French border. (I drove the 500 kms from Bordeaux in our Toyota Previa, so something’s had to give.)
I was lucky enough to be invited to this celebration dinner at El Celler de Can Roca by a group of old friends from England, Belgium and Holland, and even more fortunate that (a) I wasn’t paying and (b) was given instructions to order only the best. The same group, minus me unfortunately, had eaten at El Bulli the night before and had ordered only Spanish wines, so their preference this time was for reds from Bordeaux.
The Best Value Wine in the World
May 24th 2008, by GQ
No, not mine. I thought for my first blog post, I should start at the top: the wine in question is Pétrus 2005.
I first tasted a barrel sample of this ‘legend in the making’ in April 2006 with Christian Mouiex, who runs Pétrus and a few other choice estates in Pomerol. Scores of other tasters - mainly merchants and critics - had a chance to taste the young wine that same week before the wine was sold ‘en primeur’. Monsieur Mouiex is one of the most charming men you could hope to meet, and it’s no surprise to see that he picked up Decanter’s Man of the Year award this year. (Although with titles like that, it’s no wonder that women sometimes feel intimidated by the world of wine.)
He told me that Pétrus shouldn’t be thought of as being one of the most expensive wines on the planet, but as the best value wine in the world. ‘You only have to own it for a short time and it goes up in value’.
He has a point. Corney and Barrow, the UK agents for Pétrus - one of the handful of exclusive arrangements for top flight Bordeaux - released the 2005 ‘en primeur’ at £11,000 a case (of 12) in July 2006. Less than two years on, I see that Berry Brothers are offering the same wine at £42,000 a case, and Farr Vintners for a mere £36,000. (In fact, the wine was first sold in ‘physical’ cases of 3 or 6 bottles.)