Tasting at Pavillon Dauphine in Paris

Posted On October 23, 2009 at 1:08 pm in Paris Tastings

The Salon des Professionals du Vin at Pavillion Dauphine was held this past monday in Paris.  It was a manageable sized tasting of 30-40 producers from every major winemaking region.  The event is held principally to attract wine shop owners and restauranteurs in Paris area but there were also others like me looking for interesting new wines to bring into the US and other export markets.

Pavillon Dauphine near the Bois de Bologne in Paris

I ran into a colleague there who has imported wines into the US for 30 years and he explained that he has recently started exporting French wines to China.  He spoke about the difficulty of with getting deals done with his counterparts which would be all but impossible without the help of his Chinese girlfriend.  Hong Kong is fast becoming a center of fine wine auctions since it eliminated all duties and taxes on wine.  Most of what he’s selling is the very cheap stuff to mainland China.

Big wine brands far and wide salivate about establishing a foothold in the worlds largest consumer market where wine consumption have grown 61% since 2003.  Tastes lean toward red wines and wine drinking is seen as a sign of wealth on prosperity.  France so far has done quite well accounting for 40% wine imports.  A Bordeaux producer I recently spoke with was just signing a long-term contract to supply 30% of his production to a Chinese company.  A friend of mine also knows a French wine agent based in China who has sold dozens of forty foot containers of inexpensive wine in China.  Besides the fine wine collectors based in Hong Kong much of the current opportunity in China seems to be for the mass produced plonk.

It will be interesting to see how the market develops over time.  Will it be dominated by big brands? Will Chinese consumers’ tastes evolve away from mass produced cheap wine?  Will more independent importers and distributors of small production wines find a way to become established there?

Some Highlights from the tasting:

Le Domaine des Masques, Cuvée Essentiele, 2007, VdP Bouches du Rhone

Interesting blend of Syrah/Cabernet – good new world style with lots of fruit, grapes from cooler high elevation sites in southern Rhone.

Domaine des Roches, Cremant, Blanc de blancs 2008

100% chardonnay, 6 months bottle aging, dry, very good acidity,  biscuity, lemon-lime flavors

Posted by Greg Roberts · Tags: china, france, tastings, Wines · No Comments »

Straight From the Cask at Le Baron Rouge

Posted On October 19, 2009 at 6:27 pm in Paris Tastings

I had lunch last Friday at Le Baron Rouge which is well known to locals and tourists alike as an unpretentious place to enjoy a wide selection of wines paired with cheeses, dried sausage and in the winter months, raw oysters.  Le Baron Rouge is one of the few remaining wine stores in Paris that sells in bulk.  What’s interesting is that these are good quality wines – not the bulk plonk of the the old days.  I purchased a good bottle of Morgon made from organically grown grapes that they sell for 6 euros a liter.  They also have a great selection of bottled wines poured by the glass.

Seeing wine sold in bulk from one-liter demijohns reminded me of a visit years ago to a cooperative winery in the Bordeaux region.  Mostly elderly locals would come in and fill up their containers for the week with bulk wine poured from a sort of modified gas pump device.  Back when per capita wine consumption was at its height in the 1950′s wine was generously consumed with nearly every meal and both consumers and producers had little concern about wine quality.  Today per capita consumption in France has declined by two-thirds to 50 liters per year.  The French drink less but they drink better quality wine now mostly bought in bottles.  But here you can relive the old days while enjoying some inexpensive but well made wines.

Posted by Greg Roberts · Tags: Le baron rouge paris wine · No Comments »

Proof That This Wine Is Hand Made

Posted On October 14, 2009 at 4:35 pm in Burgundy

Recently, I spent some time with one of my producers, Jean-Pierre Charton in the village of Mercurey in Burgundy.  I’ve visited many times so it was no surprise that he had come straight from the vineyards and his hands were covered in dirt and grime so we exchange greetings without a handshake.  With about 20 acres of vines he and his son do all the vineyard work almost entirely on their own.  There are few shortcuts available for tasks like correctly pruning the vines, limiting the number of buds on each branch and conducting green harvests.  Charton and son Vincent who recently graduated from the Lycée Viticole in Beaune do this difficult work by hand.

In his cellars we tasted his 2008 wines including his Premier Cru, Clos de Roi Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Mercurey Vieilles Vignes and Bourgogne Pinot Noir from barrels, as well as the limited remains of the 2007 vintage in bottle.  He’s rightfully very proud of his wines and enjoys tasting them as much as I do.  Often he simply smiles and nods his head acknowledging that weather conditions and the hard work in the vineyards came together in the end to make a great wine.

Read a full profile of Domaine Jean-Pierre Charton here.

Jean-Pierre Charton, Mercury Vieilles Vignes 2006:  This red is marked by its beautiful silky texture, a foil for the flavors of sweet cherry, spice, leather and a hint of truffle. Rich, this is softening nicely and begs for roast chicken, with a good firm finish. Drink now through 2014. Wine Spectator, 90 points

Posted by Greg Roberts · Tags: Burgundy, Charton, Mercurey · No Comments »

Tasting in Burgundy Continued

Posted On October 12, 2009 at 5:36 pm in Burgundy

We spent the afternoon of tasting with Jean-Francois Maestre of Domaine Michelot and Martin Prieur of Domaine Jacques Prieur.  Martin Prieur joined us for the night’s festivities in Vosne-Romanée where we had rented a small farmhouse for the weekend.

An outdoor fireplace / grill was fired up and gathered in the enclosed courtyard to enjoy an impressive selection of wines to pair with our meal.  We raided the cellars of our host who graciously provided a selection of vintage champagne along with Burgundies from throughout the Cote d’Or.  We started with dried sausage them moved into grilled andouillette (tripe sausage)  – something that I can’t bring myself to enjoy even grilled and even with strong mustard.  It’s pungent smell and flavors are just too much.  The entrée was Cote de beouf.  A cheese course finished the dinner.  The highlight of the evening was a 1998 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée- Saint-Vivant that was earthy, pungent …, fantastic.

Romanée-Saint-Vivant

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