We all have a reason to drink wine!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Beautiful limited editions!!!

Hi my friends!!

I am really happy today to make you discover some fantastic limited editions of spirits drinks!! I get this idea while searching a present for my brother.  and I'm sure it will be a great idea for you too: for your friends and member of your family!



Hey!! I found this one for my brother! His name is JB !! funny no?  Humm.

So it's the 2012 limited edition of the J&B Whisky. This whisky comes from UK and they get the idea to "play" with the union jag flag. Very colourfull edition, I love it!!
Price: 45€



This one is the Chivas limited edition made by christion Lacroix. A special "ice" style, very elegant!!
Price: 100€

Cutty sark invent a Tam O'shanter edition. It's the name of a poem of the scotish Robert Burns whose subject was hunting. The gravure on the bottle represents a hunting scene.Quite a strange edition but in adequation with the origin of this Whishy!
Price 195€

This beautiful bottle contains an italian muscat Brandy made by Bepi Tosolini : a master in the art of distillation. This limited edition with aromas of honey, raisin and nuts is really good to drink with a cigar.
But if, like me, you don't smoke you can drink it closing the eyes and thinking about the sun AND THE HEAT!!!!!!
The price of the dream is: 169€

See you soon guys!!!!!

Louise

Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Saint Vincent's weekend Festival - 2012



The "reasonwine" of this week is a veneration: as winegrower son, I was concerned by this celebration. For winegrower, the Patron Saint, protective of the occupation, is Saint Vincent (celebrated the 22nd of January of the traditional calendar). 

This is an example of this celebration: Welcome in Burgundy

Since 1938, each years, a wine village of Burgundy hosts the Saint Vincent's Day Festival and receives the assembly of all the brotherhoods from across the wine region. This cult, originate from Catholic, is celebrated the last weekend of January.



The Saint-Vincent of 2012, 68th edition, was during the 28th & 29th weekend. It took place in Dijon, Nuits-Saint-Georges and Beaune: a particular year because 3 places welcome this event (for safety and financial reason: in 2002, there was 160 000 visitors!!!).




A folklore festival, since the small statues, attributes and  processional batons of old are situated on the border between religious devotion and the social history of the old traditional brotherhoods (Saturday morning).


During this event, each cities present the 7 wine regions of Burgundy: "Chablis" and "Auxerrois", "Côte de Beaune", "Côte de Nuits", "Mâcon", "Côte Chalonnaise", "Regional Appellation" and "Crémant de Bourgogne" thanks to tasting. Fitted with a special glass and a bracelet, a tasting of this 7 vintages was suggested for everyone (15€ combining the glass and the bracelet to access the 7 tastings).




Additionally, during the weekend, a lot of activities was advice for visitors: exhibitions, cellar visits, sights, fond of good food tramps, ... and restorations!

traditional plate: "Boeuf Bourguignon" (Burgundy Beef)


The 2012 edition will be of a differrent nature. This traditional Burgundy festival takes on a new form by supporting the application of the Climates of Burgundy to the UNESCO world heritage list.


See you in 2013, the 26th and 27th of January, in Châtillon-sur-Seine, to celebrate the next Saint-Vincent.


Sunday, January 22, 2012

Drinking wine and skiing in Saint Emilion

I never though that a city could create an 10 meters
artificial slope in the Bordeaux Vineyard!
Saint Emilion did it!!



You don't dream!! This landscape is amazing!!!

In fact on the 21th of january, the tourist center organized a very nice event around skiing and wine in association with 8 pyrenean ski stations (NP's). Children could enjoy a free ski lesson with a coach from de ESF (Ecole du ski français) while parents could visit the Château Cardinal Villemaurine.

Unfortunately my friend and I were too old to have a ski lesson but we had the chance to visit the beautiful cellar of the Château Cardinal Villemaurine.  So let's go!!!





We followed the fourth generation of the Chateau Mister Carrille in the cellar: a quarry. All the barrels which contains the precious beverage are stored in this amazing place: 9 meter below ground. Mr Carille explained us that such place has all the best characteristics for having a balanced wine. The wines are aged 10 month in oak barrels, then they are bottled.  This ageing is the reason why the Saint Emilion wines are so special.







The Cardinal Villemaurine : Identity card.

Name: Château Cardinal Villemaurine
Vintage: 2007
Grape variety: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, cabernet Sauvignon
Soil: limestone
Particularity: aged in oak barrels in a quarry

Tasting:
Noze: fruity, black fruits, spices
Taste:  balanced, fruity, ligth tannins










 We had a really nice moment in Saint Emilion last Saturday and we thank you the tourist center for this moment. we can see that their is always a reason to discover estates and this week the reason was: skiing!!!


bye bye

Louise

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Beautiful labels of Chateau Mouton Rothschild


The Chateau Mouton Rothschild, the famous Médoc area, located in the commune of Pauillac. Mouton Rothschild produces one of Bordeaux's most prestigious wine. The Chateau Mouton Rothschild Premier Grand Cru Classé is also famous for its labels. Since 1945, the label of the wine is different each year. The label is often illustrated by famous artists, Chagall, Miro, Picasso, Jean-Paul Riopel,etc.

The history around the label began in 1924, during the first bottling at the Chateau. A specific label is designed by the poster artist Jean Carlu. Until then, like all chateaux in the region, the wine was sold in barrels to trade and the chateau had no right over the choice of labels. This label is put on bottles of Petit Mouton since 1994.
Jean Carlu
Château Mouton-Rothschild 1924 

However, in 1945, the history of label finally settled down. Baron Philippe de Rothschild decided to celebrate the Victory in 1945 by illustrating the label of Mouton Rothschild in the V for Victory. The label is designed by Philippe Jullian. Since then, various artists create the labels of Chateau Mouton Rothschild.

Philippe Jullian 
Château Mouton-Rothschild 1945

In 1978, exceptionally, two labels are used for the same vintage. The jury finally chose the two works proposed by Jean-Paul Riopelle.






.

Jean-Paul Riopelle 
Château Mouton-Rothschild 1978

It should be noted that artists are not compensated for their work. But in the meanwhile, they get two bottles of different vintages, including the ones they illustrate.

Chinese Artist
Xu Lei






Sunday, January 8, 2012

Lovely Burgundy

Ladys and gentlemen,

I really think that I fall in love this week! 
Let me introduce you to my new favorite : The Estate Arnoux-Lachaux

I went in Burgundy this week to meet Pascal Lachaux's son, Charles Lachaux, the future wine growner of the estate in exclusivity to learn more about his wonderful production and his feeling about the global wine industry. Let's discover the summary of our delightful meeting :




Hi Charles ! Thank you to receive me for "the reasonwine blog" and all our followers. So firstly, can you please describe your domain's history, products? 
 



- The estate Arnoux-Lachaux now exists since 1858, I am the 6th generation to work on it. It has always been located at the same place in the village of Vosne Romanée, in Burgundy. We produce red wine, hundred percent made from Pinot Noir, there is no blend with any other grape variety. This is taking place on 15 hectares, which are representing 15 appellations from generic appellation to grand cru. The vineyards are located on Nuits Saint Georges, Vosne Romanée, Chambolle Musigny, Vougeot and 
Gevrey Chambertin.



And what about you Charles ? What is your role in the development of the estate?


- Actually my job is like if I would have several: I'm working in the vineyards, in the cellar, at the winery (Chai), in the office, I also host the customers for a tasting and finally, a few business trips to see our customers our the countries we are selling to. What we have to remind in Burgundy is that we don't own anything, we borrow the land to our children.

Is it difficult to work with your parents? 
 
 
 - For the moment there is no difficulty to work with them, my father is in charge of all the technical aspect, we don't have any "Maître de Chai" or "Chef de culture". This while my mother is taking care of all he administrative aspect. I have plenty to learn from them so I hope this good ambiance will last for a long time.

Through what means do you sell your wines? Direct sales? Exporting?

- Nowadays, the estate sells 60% of its production abroad, and the 40% are made in France between the Hotels, Restaurant, Wine shops and private customers. To sell abroad, we have the chance that we are not looking for customers they ask us if they can have some wine, and that is a nice luck. We are selling in many countries with the classic markets like U.K, Asia, U.S.A but a lot of small markets which are very interesting like Israël, Maldivia, Brasil, Russia... it works in the same way in France, the people are coming to have some wine, our biggest market is the gastronomic restauration. With some famous names like ritz, Meurice, Georges V, Tour d'Argent, Robuchon, Veyrat...

What makes the difference between your domain/wine and that of your closest competitors ?

- What makes the difference here in burgundy is mostly the way your cultivate your vines. For example Vosne Romanée is about 250 Hectares and we are about 30 different people to make wine on this appellation. So there is not really a competition beacuse Vosne Romanée is a very wanted wine and there is not enough, so after the difference is made by the consumer taste. Do they prefer, more extracted wines, more oaky, more fruity...

I'm interested in knowing what you think about the current speculation concerning fine wines from Bordeaux and Bourgogne ? 

 
- Burgundy is not very concerned by this speculation compare to Bordeaux so we are quite lucky for the moment.  The problem is that the Bordeaux wines concerned are not enough consumed, they are kept for speculation. So what's gonna happen the day those people are going to sell their wines because their are getting fond of something else ? We can see it starting with our customers they tell us that they stopped buying bordeaux now after 10 or 20 years of regular consumption. So I think this is a scary and dangerous game !

I remember that you said you had travelled a lot. Can you tell us a little more about your travels? What was your favorite destination ?

 
- I've travelled for a few years after my High National Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology. I've been to New Zealand (2 months), To Oregon in the United States twice (3 months & 5 months), worked for Domaine Tollot-Beaut in Burgundy (5 months), been to South Africa (3 months), Bordeaux (6 months), London ( 6 months) and a last internship at Domaine Armand Rousseau in Burgundy for the 2011 vintage. There is not really a favorite every single trip has been done with the aim to improve my knowledge in the Wine World and be more confident. You open your mind when you travel and your learn new languages, you discover new cultures, meet new people... So I can have prefered a country for work, but another one for the people I met, another one for the landscapes. That's why it is hard to tell about a favorite one


 To conclude Charles, what shall I wish for your future? ou simon, What should we expect from you in the future?

- You can wish me good vintages to come. I don't really know what you can expect but I wish that we will still be able to produce the wines we like and we what in the best conditions possible.

To conclude, thank you Charles and I wish a long life to the Estate Arnoux-Lachaux and its amazing wines ! 

Sarah Clavier



 

 






Sunday, January 1, 2012

my favorite: Port wine

During Christmas, we often drink :
- sparkling wine before dinner
- white wine with seafood
- red wine with meat
- and again sparkling wine with the yule log

But this year, to finish the Christmas dinner,
 I have tasted red Port wine:

        Porto Ruby - Ferreira

                   GREAT!!!
Fresh, Fruity in particular crystallized, Enjoyable,...

Personally, I don't drink regularly Port wine. But I was suprised and pleased with this one. Before, during or after, Port wine could accompany you at different part of your meal: the result is unusual but excellent !


There is only one place in the world where it can be produce: the Douro Valley. Situated in the north of Portugal, this vineyard extends along the Douro river and covers 250 000 hectares, among which 10% are planted.



The Port wine is an older drink: Produced since some century, it became so famous that in 1756, the authorities demarcated the production of the region, thus creating the first appellation (control of origin) in the world!



Taste Port wine and have a pleasant time ;) Henri