Your scribe remains a long time close friend and admirer of May-Elaine de Lencquesaing. Some amazing highlights of her and her elegant wines while at Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande from 1978 to 2007 have been recorded in detail on this Blog. The last one was this year on March 11, 2024 but earlier ones include February 14, 2022, June 15, 2020, and June 18, 2013 all linked here. May is still the dynamo “General” guided by the music of Vivaldi at the age of 99 who this year just translated into English her Tallandier 2022 French publication “les vendanges d’un destin” now titled “MY JOURNEY WITH WINE: From Bordeaux to South Africa”. Approaching her 100th birthday on May 17, 2025 she hopes to celebrate it with another interesting book highlighting her extensive glass collection museum at Glenelly Estate (now completed over 20 harvests). Remember her wonderful collection of 780+ glass pieces at Pichon that included a priceless delicate horse of 1610 Merano. Highly recommend you purchase this book! Available on Amazon.com including in International Kindle format.

There was a Vancouver Commanderie de Bordeaux tasting/dinner held on December 2nd at Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts featuring 8 vintages of May’s wines from her first vintage of 1978 to 2005. The menu prepared by Chef Lian Cosby and brigade was excellent. The thin delicate chestnut tortellini was one of the best courses this year. Yours truly presented an opening tribute that was given an enthusiastic toast salute to May for all she has contributed to the history of Bordeaux fine wine making. I pointed out how May on her 80th Birthday expressed strongly that the 4 grape varieties she used in Pichon all contributed to the high quality resulting wine with Longevity (45% Cab Sauv), Roundness & Suppleness (35% Merlot), Finesse (12% Cab Franc) and Freshness & Aromatic Complexity (8% Petit Verdot). A few brief impressions on the vintages served in two flights from oldest to youngest:

1978 CHATEAU PICHON LALANDE: Acidity is holding the colour well. May’s first vintage self-critical that she “didn’t know yet how to control the vine selection” but still is elegant even if a bit typically 1978 herbaceous and as Ian Mottershead noted “has tobacco but a drier finish”. Drink up.

1981 CHATEAU PICHON LALANDE: Darker look and better selected riper fruit. Still fresh, bright and classy being one of the top 1981 Bordeaux with Château Margaux. Surprise of the night.

1985 CHÂTEAU PICHON LALANDE: Miss the amazing 1982 & 1983! This 1985 is ready & delightful from a Merlot year in harmony balanced with charm. Delicious. Group fav of first flight.

1986 CHÂTEAU PICHON LALANDE: Darkest colour. More classic Pauillac styling showing more Cab Sauv complexity. Still a bit hard and reluctant though encouraging that every bottle is better than an earlier one. Emile Peynaud called it having “the most tannins he had seen”. No rush. Expect further development. My fav.

1995 CHÂTEAU PICHON LALANDE: Second flight starts bottle variable with a tad earthy unclean one not as pure as Feb 13, 2024 top showing. Some have more opulence and typical Merlot plums. Holding well.

2000 CHATEAU PICHON LALANDE: Deep look and lovely aromatics. Round mellow softer textures with 10% Petit Verdot adding a lot to that expression with the Cab Sauv base in this vintage. Lots of rich subtle spices from riper grapes picked late into the second week of October. Drinking enjoyment – on a great plateau.

2003 CHÂTEAU PICHON LALANDE: Dark and buckets of fruit in this hotter vintage. Always seems to impress with powerful ripe sweeter big flavours very opulent. Atypical Pichon Lalande. No Cab Franc but 65/31/4 unique blend of Cab Sauv/Merlot/PV in 2003. Drinking with beautiful complex intensity!

2005 CHÂTEAU PICHON LALANDE: Dark and reserved. Outstanding year has medicinal coffee backward notes. Not together yet with the balanced acidity and especially tannins prominent. Seems classic but not that concentrated. Necessary to monitor how this will come along with more bottle age.

2002 OPUS ONE Napa Valley (Blind Mystery): Open with a very ripe cabernet sauvignon bouquet of some aging. Wowed by the accessible creamy sweeter voluptuous soft fruit. Not much lift on the finish. Attractive, easy, delicious drinking right now. Perhaps less dimensions of complex flavours. Member JP Bachellerie who spoke on the second flight did a most insightful job nailing blind this aged Napa Valley Cab.

A wonderful tribute evening to May – the living wine legend! As I was quoted in her book I believe that …for all that Julia Child was for “food” May is for “wine “!

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Question: What is the difference between the wine grape varieties of Albarino and Alvarinho?

Answer: Basically the same green skin white grape variety grown in two countries using two different names. In Galicia Spain especially in Rias Baixas it is ALBARINO but in northern Portugal it goes by the name of ALVARINHO.

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Followers of this Blog will know that your scribe really respects and admires everything from Domaine Faiveley! References to this esteemed house are abundant on this site with the last one for a Chambertin Clos de Beze complex vertical on January 16, 2023 linked in detail here. Another keen knowledgeable aficionado collector is Ian Mottershead who generously donated the wines for that Group of Eight event and again kindly did so for this Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin tasting/dinner on November 19 at Boulevard in Vancouver. We started with the underrated balanced value bubbles of CHAMPAGNE LE MESNIL BLANC DE BLANCS GRAND CRU followed by two delicious whites: MEURSAULT BLAGNY PREMIER CRU 2020 JOSEPH FAIVELEY Rich full oaky hazelnuts very Meursault defined with ripe flavours drinking forwardly.

CORTON CHARLEMAGNE GRAND CRU 2017 DOMAINE FAIVELEY 13.5 abv Cool south mostly east facing Ladoix upper hillside on hard rocky limestone soil. Two of fifteen barrels produced in 2017 for the first time from expanded plantings of Chardonnay. Light colour with young aromas of complex mineral fruit with subtle 40% new oak. So classy with great length but will develop depth and richer textures with more patient bottle age. Ian’s outstanding favourite. My vote for “Wine of the Night”.

The main event were 8 vintages of CORTON CLOS DES CORTONS FAIVELEY GRAND CRU. Recent plantings in 2002 & 1987 but lots of old vines 1977, 1976, 1971, 1965, 1956 & 1936.

Ian provided an insightful history and overview of Faiveley now with the seventh generation. Cellarmaster Blair Curtis provided his excellent detailed reaction on the reds summarized as “needing time of 10 years more”. Also his wise advice that they improved with food (duck breast & striploin) – especially 1996 & 1991. A few of my brief impressions:

1998: A bit angular and reserved nose. It does have cherries but the cedar tobacco is almost like young Bordeaux. Will develop and open up better with time.

1997: Beautiful but reticent bouquet of cherry core with brightness. Full mid palate with elegance and balanced acidity but more firmness on the finish. Underrated. My fav of this flight.

1996: This is lighter colour and leaner fruit but with tannins. Not an ideal balance. As the Chambertin showed a bit “strange” dry and tannic – not the best Faiveley vintage – but is better with food alright.

1995: Vibrant cherries sweet mid palate drying finish. My glass had too much fine sediment. The most enjoyable drinking presently of the first flight and the “surprise” for Blair.

Erwan Faiveley has told me that his father Francois made the wines from 1977 to 2005 using two different procedures:

1977 -1994: Grapes were brought into the tanks by gravity and gently vinified at lower temperatures always with an emphasis on saving the aromas and producing wines for aging.

1995 – 2005: Changed to a new cooling system for the harvested grapes using a pipe with glycerol that tended to break the skins releasing more sugar into the vats resulting in a more rapid and sometimes even violent fermentation at higher temperatures with wines of more extract and tannins but less finesse.

2007 to today: Back to the early days of Francois with outstanding wines with more silky refinement!

Your scribe noticed this difference in style with the first flight (1995-1998) more extracted drier tannins while the second flight (1993-1988) had much more finesse.

1993: Warmer year. Pure and penetrating with a tremendous mouth feel with rounder maturing tannins. Some finesse. Blair felt it was “underrated and spectacular”. Impressive indeed – as was Chambertin.

1991: One bottle corked so a smaller pour. A bit lighter but has charm. My glass unfortunately had a lot of sediment that spoiled the texture. Developed with long flavours.

1990: Best fruit depth and power of all the Cortons. Quite fresh. Lacking the charm which is so important to me. Lots of fruit depth though and balance so I am optimistic it will still develop more complexity and those silky textures given extended bottle age. One of our members Young was blowing air with a straw into this glass to help it open up. Unique idea.

1988: Bottle variation from sweet tobacco to cherry mint. Best had subtle developing flavours with elegance. No sediment in my glass so the texture is much better. Lots of elegance and balancing acidity. Very long. Old vibrant style of higher acid and firmer tannins of 1988 has come together.

A most interesting and educational tasting/dinner!

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Question: What is the lastest on the expected quality of the California harvest for wine vintage 2024?

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Inter Rhone and Rhone Valley Vineyards have been successfully educating us on their wines for decades. Your scribe has been fortunate to attend many of these seminars including the most recent one held in Vancouver on November 19 at Delara Restaurant. They supplied an updated tasting booklet full of valuable information on Soils & Typicity and detailed info on the 9 main grape varieties of the 37 grown there. Also an excellent training presentation by knowledgeable sommelier Kelcie Jones on the wines. Organizer Ludovic Girondin Senior Project Manager with Hopscotch Season (formerly Sopexa) in Montreal was interested in some material presented at an earlier event on October 7, 2013 including that tasting booklet I had brought along containing a Did You Know? feature on the Rhone. Also many most useful detailed maps of the regions that they gave out previously but now which you must search for on the internet.

Lots of information provided including facts that in 2023 there were 19% of wines by volume as organic (and 20% by area), 64,467 hectares with 2.4 million hectolitres harvested, and 319 million bottles sold. The popular Cotes du Rhone category has 17 Crus (including 2 naturally sweet ones from Beaumes de Venise & Rasteau) classified as Villages with Geographical designation (Total 22: 1 Ardeche, 4 Gard, 11 Vaucluse & 6 Drome), Villages AOC from 95 communes, and AOC from 172 communes. Nine wines showing lovely diversity at good value were presented:

AOC COSTIERES DE NIMES DOMAINE GASSIER NOSTRE PAÏS 2021 A white using organic agriculture for 80% Grenache Blanc, 15% Clairette, and 5% Viognier.

AOC HERMITAGE M. CHAPOUTIER CHANTE ALOUETTE 2020 Classy white of Marsanne organic (Demeter) delicious now but with wonderful aging capacity.

AOC TAVEL CHATEAU D’AQUERIA ROSE 2022 Beautiful pink colour from 6 grape blends of Grenache, Syrah, Clairette, Mourvedre, Bourboulenc, & Cinsault in 50/20/10/10/5/5 percentage.

AOC COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES VALREAS DOMAINE MAS DE SAINTE CROIX 2021 This Tendresse d’un Climat label is 60% Grenache & 40% Syrah organic grapes fermented in stainless steel.

AOC COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES BROTTE LA FIOLE RÉSERVE 2020 Grenache & Syrah

AOC COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES PLAN DE DIEU ROMAIN DUVERNAY 2022 The common blend again here at 70% Grenache & 30% Syrah.

AOC COSTIERES DE NIMES VIGNERONS PROPRIETES ASSOCIES SAVEURS DU TEMPS This 2021 uses the Grenache/Syrah blend at 75/25.

AOC CAIRANNE CAVE DE CAIRANNE “CAMILLE & CECILIA” 2021 This adds some young peppery herbal notes from 20% Mourvedre to Grenache/Syrah 50/30

AOC CORNAS DOMAINE VINCENT PARIS GRANIT 30 2021 Old fav of mine from 100% Syrah on steep granite slopes (30 degrees of the name) from youngest vines. Check out their Cornas Granit 60 and the very old vines of the amazing Cornas la Geynale. This latest Rhone presentation was clearly the best one yet. Impressed by the brilliant food produced by Delara with that signature Middle Eastern muhammara roasted red pepper and walnuts matching the wines. Appreciated the wine pairing suggestions given.

Asked attending Anais Richard, Export Marketing Manager for Inter Rhone about the difficult “mildew” issues for Grenache from the early rainy weather during 2024. She most kindly provided me with an outstanding updated detailed vintage report. Well done. I have posted this report for your reference.

Consider attending the largest professional wine fair in the Rhone Valley on March 31 to April 3, 2025 for the 13th edition of decouvertes-vins-rhone.com.

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