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The Irish rugby team are
based in Bordeaux as they prepare for the big game this Sunday against the
pumas? What should they be drinking, if Eddie allows them a tipple with their
dinner. We’ll be looking at Bordeaux wines today (28/9/07) on the Moncreiff
show on News Talk 106FM.
Wine importer Gilbeys
recently celebrated their 150th anniversary by taking a chunk of the
Irish wine trade and press to Bordeaux for a couple of days for a big party and
to visit a few of their key suppliers. Interestingly we stayed in the same hotel
as the Irish team, the Sofitel, but we left the day they arrived, or else there
would have been no room for them!
French wines in general are
in decline and at times it’s easy to see why with unappealing wines and
difficult to comprehend labels. Bordeaux is a curious place. At the top end the
wines cost a fortune and chateaux owners are raking in a fortune but at the
bottom end the little guys struggling to sell poor wines, going bust and being
paid to rip out their vines by the government. Most of us can’t afford the
former and don’t want the latter. So what can you drink?
One of Gilbeys suppliers is
Jonathan Maltus, a so-called ‘garagiste’ who makes small quantities of
fabulous wine from single vineyards in St Émilion such as the quite wonderful
Le Dôme and Laforge and Les Astéries at serious prices. Thankfully he has now
turned his hand to making that oxymoron, good Bordeaux rouge at an affordable
price. The wine is Pezat 2005 (90/100). He
has a vineyard, literally a pace over the border from St Émilion in the Entre
Deux Mers. He has doubled vine density in the vineyard and given the grapes the
rolls Royce treatment in the winery. The result is a cracker with real
character, structure and fruit and priced at about €18-19, making it great
value as it’s way better than many grand names at higher prices. Available
from McCabes (more shop names to follow soon). Also on that trip we visited Ch
de Sours 2006 Rosé (88/100) €12.99, who are famous for their rose.
Their other wines are pretty good but the rosé put them on the map. It’s
chock full of fruit and justifies its reputation. Available in SuperValus around
the country as well as good independents.
I’ve tried a few cheapies
researching this and Lidl’s €4.99 number was awful, Tesco’s €4.99 was ok
while Aldi’s at €5.99 was a step up again. Better to go to Superquinn for
their French sale that’s on at the moment. Pick up a bottle of Ch
Pey du Pont Cru Bourgeois 2005 Médoc (87/100) at only €9.99. Its
pretty classic Médoc with dark fruit and lead pencil shaving spice like aromas.
Also worth trying is Ch David 2005 Médoc at €9.99 and Ch Haut La Perrière Côtes
de Castillon 2005 (86-87/100) at €8.99. I’ll try and write my notes up on
their wines this weekend.
Thee are lots of sales on at
the moment and Tesco have plenty of bargains in their sale, particularly the
Gavi at €7.99 while O’ Briens are offering 20% off if you buy 6 bottles
which isn’t hard to do at their amazing new store in Sandyford.
Declaration
of interest: Gilbeys are a client of mine but I have been praising Malthus and
his wines and Ch de Sours for years prior to working with them.
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