Newsletter 7,      November, Vintage 2008

This Newsletter goes out to over 12,500 Bordeaux Wine Lovers all over the world!

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Read about:

v The 2008 vintage, the harvest completed

v More than a Wine Experience (part 2)

v 2009 Bordeaux Wine Tours getting cheaper and cheaper

v Don't just listen to Ronald

v What Ronald has been drinking this month

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of Travel Agents

Ronald with Madame Borde, the owner of Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé Couvent des Jacobins

Dear Wine Lover,

"We shouldn't think we can produce a vintage like 2005 every year". Those were Madame Borde's words, the owner of the Couvent des Jacobins. "I am 74 year's old and I have seen a lot of vintages in my life", she told me when we were visiting this Classified Growth in Saint Emilion the other day. "In 2008 we had to do a lot of work and as you can see the grapes are healthy", she said, pointing at a fresh load of grapes the pickers had just brought in.
I will give you my preliminary comments on the new 2008 vintage.

Don't just listen to me
In these Newsletters you are used to getting a lot of my oppinions. This time you can read the opinion of two of our guests Neil and Rachel who joined us for the Harvest Tour.

Food, wonderful food (2)
Last month Margaret explained how our tours are as much a culinary experience as a wine tour. In this edition she focuses on the Michelin rated restaurant The Chapon Fin. She talks about the wonderful food and the spectacular surroundings.

Dollar back on track
Good news on the euro dollar conversion. The dollar is gaining against the euro. Our wine tours are about 20% cheaper for guests from the USA and other dollar related countries. An advantage you should benefit from while it lasts.

Just a few weeks to the elections in the USA
Some states have already started the election. Our ballot boxes are open 24/7! In this election period you should practice your voting skills. Again I am asking you to help me and vote the BordeauxWineBlog up to the Top 10 of Wine Blogs. It's easy, it's free so what's holding you back? Please click on the link and vote! Thanks very much for your help.

I hope you'll enjoy reading this Newsletter and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Ronald with Michelin rated chef Nicolas Frion

Don’t drink anything I wouldn't drink!

Have a great fall!

Ronald Rens, M. Sc., Wine Master
Wine writer and President
of The Bordeaux Wine Experience
 

The The 2008 vintage, the harvest completed

Nicolas de Bailliencourt of Gazin in Pomerol: " quality of 2008 is between 2005 and 2006"

The weather in 2008 has by no means been like 2005. Like Madame Borde from the Couvent de Jacobins said: "Il faut pas rêver" (sweet dreams). But this doesn't mean that we cant 't produce a good wine.
I spoke to Nicolas de Bailliencourt of Chateau Gazin in Pomerol this morning and he was quite optimistic about the quality. Let's start with the bad news: the yields will be low. For Gazin it will be around 27-30 hl/ha (hectoliters per hectare). A normal yield would be 40 to 45 ha/ha.

The summer was much better than in 2007 but still not very good. The vines of Gazin are on the plateau of Pomerol, the best terroirs (their neighbor is Petrus!).
In 25 years the chateaux have never harvested this late. They waited longer than usual in order to take advantage of the good after season we've had.

The vintage 2008 took a lot of work on the sorting tables

In August Bailliencourt was very worried but the vintage is turning out to be a pleasant surprise in Pomerol, in his opinion. Maybe even a very pleasant surprise. The Chateau is convinced that the quality will be better than the 2004. "On the plateau in Pomerol this vintage will be somewhere between 2005 and 2006".
Even if our Pomerols are very good we have to wait for the wines from the Medoc as they will create the image of the vintage; we are too small for that, he concludes with a bittersweet hint of irony in his voice.

I will be following the vintage 2008 for you. To be continued...

Margaret is our food professional

More than a Wine Experience (by Margaret Rens)

The Chapon Fin is Bordeaux's oldest Michelin starred restaurant and is by many considered Bordeaux's to be best restaurant. This restaurant was founded in 1825 and was among the 33 establishments featured in the original Michelin guide.
The name always puzzles Ronald. A “Chapon” is technically a rooster deprived of the pleasure his manliness could have brought him… Anyhow, in the beginning of the 20th century the restaurant was a well appreciated stop for travelers en route to their holiday resorts on the Basque coast.
The restaurant, in its long history, always attracted a sophisticated gourmet clientele. Famous clients were painter Toulouse Lautrec and the French theatre legend the actress Sarah Bernhardt
The Chapon Fin had a renaissance in 2003, with the arrival of Nicolas Frion, star pupil of Boyer and Bocuse. Nicolas Frion’s cooking is innovative and refined and has its origins in the terroir of the South West.

Le Chapon Fin: a stunning setting for a fabulous meal

What I find inspiring is the way Nicolas is adapting traditional recipes with great creativity. In the cooking class I took with Nicolas, I saw that he chooses the best fish from the estuary and the best organic vegetables on the market. His inspiration comes from classical techniques but he is not afraid to try out subtle and original combinations.
A food experience at The Chapon fin is in our tours for 2009. Join us now and take advantage of the low euro rate.

The 2009 Bordeaux Wine Tours getting cheaper every day

Our 2009 Wine Tours are getting cheaper and cheaper. Due to the stronger dollar our tours have become almost 20% cheaper. Our tours are priced in Euro at € 3595.
In dollars this now is just USD 4601 per person.
Understandably many of you are planning far ahead. If you are thinking about touring Bordeaux with us next summer, this might be a good time to book. One tour is already sold out. So if you have a preference for specific dates in 2009 I invite you to contact us today for a detailed itinerary and more information!

We proudly present the following Tours and dates for 2009:

§         The Grand Tour of Bordeaux 2009
(May 25 - May 30, 2009 and
July 6 - July 11, 2009 and (sold out!)
August 31 - September 5, 2009

§         The Bordeaux Harvest Tour 2009
(September 21– September 26, 2009)

Your Tour host and Bordeaux Wine Expert and Wine Writer:
Ronald Rens, M. Sc., Wine Master

People that join our tours are both wine and food lovers and usually this is their first trip to the Bordeaux region. We have tastings at First Growths like Mouton, Yquem, Margaux and Haut Brion; Second Growths like Pichon Baron, Léoville Baron and Léoville Las Cazes and many many more.
When you tour with The Bordeaux Wine Experience, you taste more Classified Growths than on any other Bordeaux wine tour!

But there is more than "just" the wine!
Meet Chateau owners and Wine Makers! We are invited into chateaux, see art collections and visit unique and private gardens.
We indulge in meals at restaurants varying from typical local cuisine to Michelin-rated tables. And of course live the very special experience of eating in private dining rooms of some wonderful Bordeaux Chateaux.
So you see, it's not just a wine tour but a real Bordeaux Wine Experience!

Remember we want to keep things personal. That's why we only organize tours for small groups and tailor made trips. A small group from our perspective is a maximum of ten people. That’s just you and four other couples! These Tours are 6 days, 5 nights. All our tours will start as of one couple.
I invite you to contact us today for a detailed itinerary and more information!

Don't just listen to Ronald: The Bordeaux Harvest Experience 2008

Neil and Rachel in the underground cellar at First Growth Chateau Margaux

We would like to express our gratitude to both you and Margaret for the hospitality you both provided during our visit to the Bordeaux Region. A simple thank you would not justify the experience we had so, we would like to write a summary of our experience for you and all your future guests.
Both Rachel and I did not know what to fully expect on a wine tour to such an esteemed location in the old wine world. Being from a region with limited vineyard exposure (Calgary, Canada), we were understandably very excited to go on a tour as such. We are definitely avid wine drinkers but, we would hardly consider ourselves experts in the field - far from that; we both are health professionals with a one year old at home!

The Bordeaux Harvest Tour 2008 at First Growth Chateau Mouton Rothschild

Being from North America, our choice for type of wine did focus on the New World and one can argue that our taste buds were accustomed to this type of wine and maybe Pavlovian-ly trained to appreciate it as our wine of choice. But, in doing a little more research and reading, we started to focus more on the old world wines as we thought that to fully enjoy and appreciate wine one must understand its history and, what better place to explore for the historical perspective than Bordeaux.
Prior to this tour, we did have some basic knowledge of the region and the classification system and had collected and tasted many of these. But, just drinking them without much knowledge of the vineyards left us with a void.

The Master Class on tasting the Bordeaux Grands Crus

It was helpful to have some knowledge of Bordeaux wines but not a necessary prerequisite especially with the crash course that we got at the beginning of the tour by Ronald. This actually occurs on the first evening of your arrival. From then on, all I can say is over the next 3 days, we probably tasted upwards of 40 classified wines. To summarize the winery visits, we visited AND toured amongst many others three of the five Premier Grand Cru Classe Medoc Wines: Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Haut-Brion and Margaux. We would have also gone to the remaining two(Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Latour) had they not been closed for the harvest. For anyone who has been to Bordeaux can concur, it is almost impossible to get tours and tastings at some of these vineyards.

Toasting the barrels at First Growth Chateau Haut Brion

Trying to pick our most favorite or enjoyable winery is impossible. Some days it is the tour of the museum at Mouton Rothschild and tasting the 2004 and newly released 2007 vintage in the tasting room. Or maybe it was the lunch in the official dining room of Chateau Haut Bailly. On other days, our favorites include seeing the "cooper" at Haut Brion toasting the wine barrels in the open fire much like his grandfather did at the same vineyard. And somewhere hidden in this were the great restaurants and meals that accompanied the wine and the accommodations: now we can officially say that we stayed at a Chateau (Coulon Laurensac in France).
To summarize, we left thinking we were going on a tour and came back with what felt like a degree in vinification, history of Bordeaux and an expansion of our palates and wine collections.

Neil and Rachel at First Growth Chateau Haut Brion

Or as I expressed to one of my friends: drinking a Chateau Haut Brion in a restaurant can only be superceded by drinking it in the tasting room of the Chateau itself born in 1525.

Finally, we would like to thank Ronald and Margaret for organizing this experience and, we can appreciate how difficult it is to tour some of the very exclusive vineyards that we did.

Cheers, Sante, Salut, Kampai, Prost

Neil and Rachel Devchand

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Have a great fall and we look forward to seeing you all in Bordeaux in the near future!

Cheers from Bordeaux,

Ronald and Margaret Rens

Visit our website:

Bordeaux Wine Tours

www.BXWINEX.com

2009 Wine Tour Schedule
(Just five couples per tour!)
Open for booking

We proudly present the following Tours and dates for 2009:

The Grand Tour of
Bordeaux 1
May 25 - May 30, 2009

The Grand Tour of
Bordeaux 2 
July 6 -July 11, 2009
(Sold out!)

The Grand Tour of
Bordeaux 3  
August 31 -Sept 5, 2009

The Bordeaux Harvest Tour
Sept 21– Sept 26, 2009

These Bordeaux Wine Tours are 6 days, 5 nights.
 

Avoid disappointment and reserve your place today!
(Click here!)

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Still available in 2008:
The most complete Day Tour Packages in Bordeaux!

Médoc Grand Cru or

Saint Emilion Grand Cru

Two day, one night private wine tour packages
(Click here!)

and

Best of Both Worlds
Three days, two nights private wine tour packages
(to Médoc or Saint Emilion)
(Click here!)

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The Bordeaux Wine Experience Gift Vouchers
An original gift idea is a Bordeaux Wine Experience Gift Voucher.

These gift vouchers can be used for:

• Wine Day Tours,
• Paris Wine Tours,
• Full week wine tours.

You tell us what you would like to offer and we will prepare a beautiful invitation card that will serve as gift voucher for the tour you would like to offer.

These invitation cards are much appreciated and are considered an original and elegant gift.

Click here for more information.

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Bordeaux:
Self catering accommodation at Chateau Coulon Laurensac
(Accommodation only available outside wine tour periods)

Chateau Chateau Coulon Laurensac is situated less than 10 minutes from the Bordeaux city center and offers two deluxe self catering gîtes for two persons and one self catering gîte for four persons.

Click here for more information.

The Bordeaux Wine Experience
Chateau Coulon Laurensac
1, chemin de Meydieu
33360 Latresne (BORDEAUX), France

Tel: +33 (0)556 20 64 12
Fax: +33(0)556 21 79 44

Email : info@BXWINEX.com
Web : www.BXWINEX.com
www.TheBordeauxWineBlog.com

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Copyright © 2008 by The Bordeaux Wine Experience. All rights reserved. The content, design and graphical elements of this newsletter are copyrighted. The Bordeaux Wine Experience is a Dutch company specializing in wine and culinary tours in the Bordeaux region for an English speaking international clientele.

Please note: For this issue of The Bordeaux Wine Experience Newsletter, you're welcome to use the content on the Internet or in hard copy provided you e-mail Ronald (Ronald@BXWINEX.com) to let him know and use this credit line at the top under the title (please make the link clickable if it's online):

Reprinted from The Bordeaux Wine Experience Free Bordeaux E-Newsletter with permission of The Bordeaux Wine Experience, the leading Bordeaux Wine Tour Company: www.BXWINEX.com