Newsletter 3,     March, Vintage 2009

This Newsletter goes out to over 18,000 Bordeaux Wine Lovers all over the world!

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Read about:

v The Bordeaux Wine Experience in New York

v Champagne revisited

v "Let them drink wine"

v What Ronald has been drinking this month

v Confessions of a Wine splurge

Member of

The American Society
of Travel Agents

Ronald in New York, being interviewed by nationally syndicated radio travel talk show host Stephanie Abrams

Dear Wine Lover,

Spring is in the air in Bordeaux. The lilacs and daffodils are in flower and we have had our first lunch outside on our terrace. For the rest of the week the weather forecast is even more promising 18 to 20 degrees (65 to 68F)
Visiting New York in February was exciting as ever. I will tell you all about our trip, our culinary experiences as well as about the New York Times Travel Show. I was interviewed on the radio by Stephanie Abrams.

In Champagne revisited, I will try to answer the many questions on last monht´s article about opening a bottle with a sword.

Your story here
We are constantly trying to make this Newsletter more informative, attractive and interactive. That's why I invite you to participate. What's the best wine you have ever drunk and why?. Where did you taste it and tell us why did it leave such an unforgettable impression? Next month it could be your story featured here. Please send me an e-mail at Ronald@BXWINEX.com.

Our Newsletter keeps on growing. We recently went through the 18,000 subscriber barrier! Our aim is 20,000 subscribers in 2009. Please help us to continue this growth and subscribe your fellow Bordeaux Wine Lovers here!

Futures in Bordeaux
Speaking of next month, Bordeaux is preparing to present the 2008 vintage. As usual we will be attending the "En Primeur" or futures tastings for you. I will give you my opinion on this new vintage as of next month.

"Let them drink wine"
Reading about wine is great, tasting it is better but tasting while visiting Bordeaux is the ultimate experience. With the Euro coming further down, our tours have become an even better value. Quality of life turns out to be recession proof. If Marie Antoinette had lived today she wouldn't have said: "Let them eat cake"; she would have said: "Let them drink wine". So come to Bordeaux and drink its great wines with us.

Confessions of a Wine splurge
Those of you who have toured with me, know that I am not perfect. I have my wine cellar to prove it. Every guy comes with some flaws... Don't we? Oh, come on, we all have some minor flaws. Anyhow you can read about some of my latest additions to my Bordeaux collection.

I am asking you to continue supporting my wine Blog
I need an extra 150 votes or so to move up a place in the International list of Blogs. So please keep on supporting me. It's free and it's easy! Please click on the link or on the button 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.

Don’t drink anything I wouldn't drink and enjoy the beginning of Spring!

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

The Bordeaux Wine Experience in New York

This February we participated in the 2009 New York Times Travel Show. Despite the severity of the current global economic recession, this year's show welcomed some 18,00 attendees, of which about 6,000 were industry professionals and over 12,000 consumers to the jam-packed weekend which featured 450 exhibitors representing over 100 countries. We met a large number of wine lovers and I am looking forward to touring Bordeaux with them.

The New York Culinary Experience
Every wine lover enjoys restaurants and so do we. New York offers some very fine dining. One evening we tasted the Kobe beef in one of New York's finest steak houses. Kobe beef is renowned for its flavour, tenderness, and fatty well-marbled texture. In accordance with popular belief, the cattle are fed sake and beer, and they are massaged and brushed for setting fur, and fed on grain fodder. It was without a doubt the best meat we ever had. The Stags Leap we drank with the Kobe steak was so memorable that it made its way into "What Ronald has been drinking this month" (see below).

More great Restaurants
We had another exciting culinary experience in "Le Cirque". Guests on tours often become our friends. We were very touched that Jim and Cathy Panepinto took the time to take us there, as we were in their part of the world. How they managed to get a table for four remains a mistery. Anyway it was great seeing them again over a truly memorable lunch. Jim selected the 2004 Jordan from Alexander Valley. The wine was the living proof that Cabernet Sauvignon thrives well in the Sonoma County.

Live from the New York Times Travel show

On the air with Stephanie Abrams
New York wouldn't be New York if there wasn't something special going on. The Travel Show was no exception with live radio broadcast by Stephanie Abrams.
Stephanie is a nationally syndicated radio travel talk show host and media resource for travel-related issues. She is recognized as an expert in the travel industry. When she noticed The Bordeaux Wine Experience she just had to interview Ronald. Her show: “Travel With Stephanie Abrams!” airs weekly to 4 million radio listeners coast-to-coast on the Business TalkRadio Network. Abrams also appears weekly as the guest travel expert on “Traveling Feet” reaching a national audience of 2 million. The programs reach a global audience through live-streaming on the internet, archived shows on her website. You can listen to a part of the interview with Ronald here.

Opening Champagne with a sabre
Part two

I received quite a few emails on my newly acquired skill of opening bottles with a sabre. Last month I told you about our master class in the art of opening a Champagne bottle with the aid of a sabre. This Zorro style way of bottle handling puzzled a lot of our readers. I received many emails asking me how you get the cork out of the bottle with a sword. The answer is simple, you don't. In fact the sword slices off a part of the neck of the bottle. The cork remains in the part of the neck that breaks of. (see picture below)

Don't try this at home
The pressure in the bottle makes the broken neck with the cork fly off at a very high speed. The razor sharp edges of the glass point forward when it flies off, my teacher explained. In Champagne they take this very serious. A scientific experiment including a special filming technique revealed that a Champagne bottle opened this way can kill.

Another question turned towards the risk of having glass fragments in your glass of Champagne.. I asked the same question to my host before drinking a glass from my freshly opened bottle. Apparently there are no risks in this matter. The Champagne doesn't take any glass fragment as the wine spills over taking with it all fragments.

Be recession proof: "Let them drink wine"

Of course tasting is better than reading when it comes to enjoying great wines. I invite you all to join us to tour Bordeaux with us. Check out our 2009 tour schedule. Proof to be recession proof and come to Bordeaux and let's drink wine: there are still some spots available for this summer. Contact us today for a detailed itinerary and more information!

The bordeaux Wine tour schedule for this summer:

§         The Grand Tour of Bordeaux 2009
May 25 - May 30, 2009 and
July 6 - July 11, 2009 and (last 2 spots available, just one couple)
August 31 - September 5, 2009
Limited to 10 guests

§         The Bordeaux Harvest Tour 2009
September 21– September 26, 2009 (last 2 spots available, just one couple)

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

Guests that join us on 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!

Dine in a Bordeaux Chateau
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 offer our guests the oppotunity 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 start as of one couple.
I invite you to contact us today for a detailed itinerary and more information!

Confessions of a Wine splurge

The confession
I Your honour, I will start by confessing. I am guilty as charged. No use denying as the evidence is clear: the bottles are in my wine cellar and the credit card statement doesn't lie.

My crime
I splurged on a number of Bordeaux Wines yesterday while shopping. Just some Pavillion Rouge de Chateau Margaux, the second wine of First Growth Chateau Margaux. The vintage 2005 is just too good for bottles in the shop to be ignored. Of course Pichon Longueville Baron, a super Second Growth from the Pauillac appellation and Chateau du Tertre, a Fifth Growth from Margaux I couldn't resist either. Both wines were from the spectacular 2005 vintage. They too can age for years before being enjoyed with good friends leaving long lasting memories. I knew you would agree with me, Your Honour, that they should be in my cellar.
I nearly forgot to tell you about the Chateau Léoville Las Cases 1998, it had a fatal attraction on me. Your honour, there were just a few of them left and I am almost sure that if I hadn’t have bought them, someone else would have. Even our mutual friend Robert Parker agrees with me that we can keep this wine until 2035. So we will enjoy these bottles for almost 30 years! I just knew you would agree, Your Honour.

Is Margaret secretly selling off my wine cellar?

My defense
In my defence I must say that I don’t go to the shops very often as I hate shopping. Actally I went to buy groceries and other boring household stuff, so I didn’t go there looking for wine on purpose. Naturally I had to check out the wine section at our local mall, I am only human. And as the President and founder of The Bordeaux Wine Experience, a professional wine tour company specializing in Bordeaux, I feel compelled to follow the market and practice my wine tasting skills. Honestly, it had nothing to do with my passion for Bordeaux wines.
Moreover: these wines were just lying there, on special offer as well! I couldn’t help it; it is the risk of living in Bordeaux. These things happen. Yes Honour, I knew you would understand.

Prior convictions
Yes, Your Honour, I know I have been convicted for the same crime many times before. Though in my defense I must add that it has been quite a while since my last conviction. I know that in the past I have refused to promise to mend my ways, so at least you’ll find consistency in my behavior.
I am sorry to hear you’re not amused, Your Honour. I rest my case and hope for the court’s leniency.

Guilty as charged

The verdict
Guilty as charged? I already knew that, Your Honour as I confessed to this crime to begin with. Okay, Your Honour, I will shut up for the sentencing.

The sentence:
Your sentencing me to drinking all these wines with you, in the years to come?

Thank you, Your Honour, I just knew you would understand.

Subscribe your Friends
Dear Wine Lover, I hope you enjoyed this newsletter. I would like to ask you to subscribe your friends, family members and colleagues that love wine, because it's fun, easy and free!

Considering a visit to Ireland in the future?
The Bordeaux Wine Experience recommends The Emerald Elite Group – Ireland’s leading small private tour operator. There’s so much to see and do in Ireland – Let their expertise handle your sightseeing, accommodations and transportation – Their approved driver guides will ensure you are treated to the best in Irish hospitality www.emeraldelite.com

Please help us
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Have a great spring 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
(last 2 spots available, just one couple)

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

The Bordeaux Harvest Tour
Sept 21– Sept 26, 2009
(last 2 spots available, just one couple)

These Bordeaux Wine Tours are 6 days, 5 nights.
 

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

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Available in 2009:
The most complete Packages
in Bordeaux!

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

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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 © 2009 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