Originally intended as a brief stopover between our planned Adrenaline Tasting filming – three vintages of Vega Sicilia’s Unico – from wineskins, at 6.30am prior to running with the bulls in Pamplona – Tom and Boo ended up in St Emilion en route to Cognac at the Garage that started it all – Valandraud.
The story of Jean-Luc Thenevin, who has just released a ‘Bad Boy’ wine, cocking a further snook at the Bordelais who consider him an arraviste adventurer, is well-recorded: The desire to emulate the wines of Petrus and Le Pin at a more sensible price; his original 1-acre vineyard and the two barrels first produced in ’91 in his garage; and on to the Parker rating in ’93 which was higher than those iconic wines he sought to emulate, the international acclaim that has followed etc..
Here, with Carlos Ferreiera, we tasted some of the unblended ’09 Merlot from barrel and then in Thenevin’s Wine Shop the ’07 Valandraud (‘fresh, chewy, lean and sinewy. Spice and herbaceous, lifted fruit, charry notes, slightly green’). Reminiscent of Sideways, I – bearded, balding, a fount of recondite and whimsical wine knowledge, reflected that time spent in vineyards is never wasted whilst Boo – long-haired, laconic, intent on philandering, observed ‘I never want see another f*cking barrel’. This was ironic given our next destination were the cellars (all of them, just about) at Remy Martin, which required a train to get round.
Tips for Bordeaux: –
L’Envers du Decors – a pleasant enough restaurant in the centre of town with a particularly romantic table for two under the trees and a strict 100% mark-up only on all wines.
Logis des Ramparts, Rue Gaudet is not a bad place to stay in summer specifically as the pool is larger than a bath, surprising given stereotypical French dismissiveness of washing.
A trip to St Emilion:
Originally intended as a brief stopover between our planned Adrenaline Tasting filming – three vintages of Vega Sicilia’s Unico – from wineskins, at 6.30am prior to running with the bulls in Pamplona – Tom and Boo ended up in St Emilion en route to Cognac at the Garage that started it all – Valandraud.
The story of Jean-Luc Thenevin, who has just released a ‘Bad Boy’ wine, cocking a further snook at the Bordelais who consider him an arraviste adventurer, is well-recorded: The desire to emulate the wines of Petrus and Le Pin at a more sensible price; his original 1-acre vineyard and the two barrels first produced in ’91 in his garage; and on to the Parker rating in ’93 which was higher than those iconic wines he sought to emulate, the international acclaim that has followed etc..
Here, with Carlos Ferreiera, we tasted some of the unblended ’09 Merlot from barrel and then in Thenevin’s Wine Shop the ’07 Valandraud (‘fresh, chewy, lean and sinewy. Spice and herbaceous, lifted fruit, charry notes, slightly green’). Reminiscent of Sideways, I – bearded, balding, a fount of recondite and whimsical wine knowledge, reflected that time spent in vineyards is never wasted whilst Boo – long-haired, laconic, intent on philandering, observed ‘I never want see another f*cking barrel’. This was ironic given our next destination were the cellars (all of them, just about) at Remy Martin, which required a train to get round.
Tips for Bordeaux: –
L’Envers du Decors – a pleasant enough restaurant in the centre of town with a particularly romantic table for two under the trees and a strict 100% mark-up only on all wines.
Logis des Ramparts, Rue Gaudet is not a bad place to stay in summer specifically as the pool is larger than a bath, surprising given stereotypical French dismissiveness of washing.
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