The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

Note: please make sure you read my previous post . The story picks up where that one left off. It covers my visit to Chateau Guiraud, the conversations with the winemaker Xavier Planty, and some of the recommended food and wine pairings for Sauternes. I had not tasted many Sauternes before. And the ones I had, were tasty sweet wines but hardly special. I had never tried a Guiraud from a great vintage. On the cold sunny afternoon of Dec 23, 2008, an hour south of Bordeaux in the French countryside, it was all about to change… A man came toward us in the parking lot and smilingly introduced himself as Xavier Planty, a co-owner of Chateau Guiraud (pronounced "Gee-rrraw"). Xavier had been managing the Chateau since the 80’s, but only recently acquired a 10% stake in the business. Though only a 10% co-owner, it was obvious that he was the heart-and-soul of this whole operation. Standing in the parking lot in front of his tasting room, after a brief introduction, Xavier answ...

When one hears “Bordeaux”, the most common assumption a typical wine drinker makes is that of a brooding red wine. Indeed, it’s harder to find an image more stereotypical than that of an aristocratic English gentleman chewing on piece of steak, sipping on a glass of red Bordeax, and puffing on an smoky aromatic cigar. And I agree, in my mind (and on my palate) those latter three ingredients achieve something of a perfect harmony, though one can replace the English gentleman with the non-English self and still achieve bliss. In fact, the British have a more specific name for this red Bordeaux - a "claret" - which is practically synonymous with "Bordeaux". The brooding red is most traditionally a Cabernet Sauvignon based blend that also includes a significant percentage of Merlot and lesser percentage of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot grapes (and theoretically Malbec, though I did not run into a single mention of Malbec in my 3 days of wine tasting in Bordeaux). But ...