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www.wine-tours-france.com - December, 2002

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This month's wine explorations:

Tasting Notes: the *99 First Growths of Bordeaux (and top Right Bank chateaus)
Special Discount for Cooking and Wine in Provence program
Wine tip of the month: Serving Champagne for New Year's Eve
Join us on a tour for FREE!
New feature: Upcoming Wine and Food Events in France
Contact Us

Tasting Notes: the '99 First Growths of Bordeaux (and the three stars of the Right Bank)

We are privileged to receive invitations to many wonderful private tastings for professionals throughout the year here in Paris. This past week, a new wine merchant offered a rare tasting of all the 1er Grand Cru Classés of the Médoc, as well as the three stars of the Right Bank, Chateaus Ausone, Cheval Blanc and Petrus, all in the '99 vintage. As you can imagine, all the wines were top class, each clearly showing its particular character and stage of evolution. They were all very dense and concentrated, their color a profound red, almost black in most cases. Here are my notes, in the order of the tasting:

Haut Brion: With its heady aromas of black currant jam and delicate vegetal notes, Haut Brion was all sensuality and finesse. Perfectly balanced, powerful and yet very elegant, with extremely fine tannins and amazing concentration. Endlessly long on the palate. Perhaps not as robust and explosive as the 2000, but amazing nonetheless. Always one of my personal favorites.

Ausone: nose is quite empyreumatic, with strong notes of torrefaction. The fruit came afterward upon aeration, a complex nose of plums, black currants, truffle and leather. The tannis were a bit harsh, but balance was lovely, good, fresh finish with notes of licorice. Excellent persistance.

Cheval Blanc: a complex nose of plum, fern, licorice, with some barnyard notes (in a pleasant way). Nicely balanced, leaning toward the alcohol. Very fine and elegant, extremely long persistance, but a slight bitter aftertaste left me a bit disappointed.

Petrus (my first time tasting Petrus!): almost black, incredibly concentrated, with a tremendously harmonious nose of black currants, smokiness, leather, blond tabacco, with a hint of vegetal aromas and oak. Explosive and extremely powerful, yet elegant, with a very fresh, tremedously long finish.

Lafite Rothschild: a fair amount of new oak in the nose, not yet blended with the other aromas of black currant, tabacoo, licorice. Lafite's style is all elegance, so it is not as explosive or concentrated as some of the others, a style I like very much. Tannins very present, yet very silky.

Margaux: probably my favorite of the evening. Amazing elegance and finesse, tremendously dense, a bit oaky in the first nose, but it disappeared with aeration, revealing complex aromas of plums, fresh vegetal notes, flowers and soft spices. Extremely silky and long on the palate.

Mouton Rothschild: the nose is still closed, revealing only some vegetal notes and elegant, plummy fruit. In the mouth, quite balanced, although a bit less dense than the others. Long finish, but not in the same league as the others.

Latour: the nose is totally closed, slight aromas of red and black fruit, a bit oaky. Amazingly well balanced, promising great things when it does open up. A bit more tannic than the others.

1999 may not be a vintage to keep as long as the 2000 vintage, but in this category of wine, it's clear that this was still quite a fine year.

Special Discount for Cooking and Wine in Provence, April 23-29, 2003

We are pleased to announce our collaboration with Food & Wine Magazine's Connoisseur Club for our Cooking and Wine in Provence program, April 23-29, 2003. We'll be making two special offers to Connoisseur Club members for this great week of gastronomic exploration in southern France: a 10% DISCOUNT on the price of the tour, and a special gift basket filled with Provençal goodies and an autographed copy of one of chef Tamara Milstein's best-selling cookbooks.

YOU can benefit from this special offer! Just sign up to become a Connoisseur Club member. Go to their web site, and follow the simple instructions. The $49.95 one-year membership fee will be covered many times over by the savings you'll perceive on our Cooking & Wine program. It's a great deal, so don't miss out!

More information here about Cooking & Wine in Provence 2003.

Wine Tip of the Month: Serving Champagne for New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is synonomous with Champagne for most wine lovers. But many people have a hard time deciding what Champagne to buy, and how to serve it to best advantage. Luckily, there is a Champagne for every (well, most) budget, and a style to fit every palate. If you plan on serving Champagne as an aperitif or during a cocktail hour, you might want to go with a Blanc de Blanc, like the excellent ones from Deutz or Eric deSouza. Made of 100% Chardonnay grapes, the Blanc de Blanc is light and airy, easy-to-drink, and goes with many kinds of canapés and light snacks. If you're planning to serve oysters (one of the traditional foods we serve here in France on this occasion), Blanc de Blanc has the cleaness and acidity to perfectly complement these briny fellows. Another choice for a cocktail hour would be a Rosé Champagne - it's sparkling apricot color enhances the festive atmosphere, and the addition of Pinot Noir that gives it such a lovely color also gives it a little more weight to go with fried or spicy hors d'oeuvres.

If you're planning on having a sit-down meal before midnight, try serving only Champagne to make it especially festive. You can start with a Blanc de Blanc, perhaps with an appetizer of smoked salmon or caviar, then move to a more powerful Champagne with a majority of Pinot Noir, like Veuve Clicquot Vintage Reserve, to accompany a fish or poultry in sauce. A demi-sec white or rosé Champagne will harmonize beautifully with a light dessert like an apricot tart or a raspberry crumble. Whatever Champagne you choose, it'll take you into the New Year in great style!

If you'd like to visit the Champagne region, join us for one of these two great programs:
Paris, Champagne and Loire Valley: July 27-August 2, 2003
Burgundy and Champagne Luxury Tour: October 12-18, 2003

Join us on a tour FOR FREE!

As an end-of-year gift, we're making a special offer to make it possible for everyone to join us in France in 2003. If you can get a group of 10 friends, relatives or colleagues to take a customized, private wine tour together in 2003, you can come for FREE! For our scheduled tours, just get six other people to sign up with you, and once again, you come for FREE! This offer is good through June, 2003 for our 2003 tours - just contact us for details.

Upcoming Wine and Food Events in France

In this new feature of our newsletter, we'll be telling you about great wine and gastronomy events you may want to attend if your travels take you to France in the coming month:

Jan. 20-30: Truffle festival in Uzès (in the Southern Rhône Valley)
Jan. 25th: Saint Vincent Tournant (the famous wine festival of Saint Vincent, patron saint of the vine, that takes place in a different village in Burgundy each year) - this year it's in Vougeot.

Contact Us

I'm always available to answer your questions about our wine and culinary programs, our company, and wine in France in general. Don't hesitate to contact me at lgreene@wine-tours-france.com, or 1-877-261-1500.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Best regards,

Lauriann Greene, Sommelier-Conseil
President/Founder

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FRENCH WINE EXPLORERS
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