Category Archives: Uncategorized

St-Émilion Part 1: Bordeaux and Merlot’s Vinous Sea

Posted on March 3, 2014 by waywardwine

This Monday’s EU Austerity Drinking Tour sends us to St-Émilion: right bank home to Bordeaux’s greatest, Merlot-based reds.

After some credit card, train-related malarkey, we leave the city of Bordeaux and cross into Entre-Deux-Mers.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWoq7cUdgAA&w=560&h=315%5D

That flatland is Entre-Deux-Mers (not Pomerol…dummy). As its name implies, it is the land “between two seas”: the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers. It’s a great region for value Bordeaux. But our aim is Saint-Émilion, hanging over the Dordogne’s right bank.

Soon, châteaux actually start looking like Châteaux and not somewhat homely barns.

Landed, we leave the train with a few other tourists. One road points to town. Our march uphill begins. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bordeaux, merlot, St-Emilion | 2 Comments

Thirsty Thursday: Château La Roque, Pic Saint Loup, Languedoc, France 2010

Posted on February 27, 2014 by waywardwine

Thursday: it is neither Wednesday nor Friday.

For the employed, work still binds your thoughts. A distant weekend glows but faintly. Internet cat porn provides a fleeting, albeit empty distraction

Such a lost weekday deserves a decent drink: something real but not demanding.

Enter Château La Roque. Winter still grips us, so my palate races to the Mediterranean: specifically Pic Saint Loup in the Languedoc:

Vines surround its eponymous mowhawk-mountain, Pic Sanit-Loup. The warm sea and cool plateau inland traps this region in a sort of goldilockian limbo. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged biodynamic, Grenache, herbs de provence, Jack Boutin, Jacques Figuette, Languedoc, Mourvèdre, Pic Saint Loup, Syrah, viticulture | 3 Comments

Négociant Cellars in Chartrons: the Merchant Heart of Bordeaux

Posted on February 17, 2014 by waywardwine

We are 94 days deep into our EU Austerity Drinking Tour. My birthday has arrived and we are in Bordeaux: capital city of wine. I dreamt of tasting at the finest châteaux and wine bars, purchasing rare and astronomically priced bottles from posh shops. But my wife and I feel horrendously sick. Yesterday’s free tour of Graves sapped our energy, palates, livers, and relationship.

So today we explore the city sober. We start at Bordeaux’s Musée des Beaux-Arts. It is free thanks to construction (the austerity gods smile upon us). After a light breakfast of art, we stop outside St André Cathedral. My wife furiously knits my Irish wool birthday scarf, while I sketch the Cathedral: Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bordeaux, Bordeaux Musée des Beaux-Arts, chai, Chartrons, Garonne, La Maison Des Chartrons, Negociant | 3 Comments

Blow Minds Valentine’s Day with Bollinger, La Grande Année, 2004, Brut, Champagne, France

Posted on February 13, 2014 by waywardwine

Valentine’s Day is Friday. You’re screwed. Posh restaurants filled up months ago. Not a single gift works. All that survives are roses from Columbia and chocolate that tastes worse than the heart box it spawned from.

You want to wow that significant other? Well procrastinator, Wayward Wine will help you blow their mind.

Buy Champagne. Not Prosecco. Not Moscatto. Not beer. Not “Sparkling Wine” in a box. Just buy Champagne, from France.

But to truly stop their heart, splurge on vintage Champagne. You can tell them that most Champagne is a (cheaper) non-vintage blend upwards of thirty harvests. Vintage Champagne is only made in those rare years, when conditions (meteorological and economical) are ideal. Each release tastes different because each year was different. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2004, Bollinger, Brut, Champagne, France, La Grande Année, Valentine, Valentine's Day | 6 Comments

Graves Open Doors 4: The Final Frontier: Château de Roquetaillade la Grange

Posted on February 10, 2014 by waywardwine

This installment of Monday’s EU Austerity Drinking Tour finds us sick, drunk, and headed to the fourth and last winery in Graves in southeast Bordeaux.

To recap: a free van picked us up for “Portes Ouvertes dans les Graves” (Open Doors in Graves) in the sleepy town of Langon (below):

We tried Bordeaux’s just-fermented varietals at Château Pont de Brion (here), ate rotten grapes at Château La Croix (here), and met a red-only, family run, micro-winery at Château Caillivet (here).

Well-smashed, our white tin chariot takes us to Bordeaux’s Southern-most winery: Château de Roquetaillade la Grange:

GravesMapTight
Luckily, we didn’t walk.

Soft hills roll with vine rows. This is the highest vineyard in Graves: roughly 100 meters above sea-level. Not a mountain, but unlike la Croix’s river-side, rotting grapes (tricky, but perfect for dessert wine), dry breezes and more drainage keep Roquetaillade’s vines happy. With all this rain, that matters.

Also unlike the rest of Langon, this “Château” has a château: Continue reading →