One of the perks of having connections with the wine trade is that it’s generally not hard for me to sort out a vineyard tour. Fresh from my stint at Domaine de Chevalier, I decided that my current trip around the States would be lacking without a quick trip to Napa to sample some of the Valley’s most celebrated wine. I was even able to stick to my Bordeaux roots, securing tours at Araujo Estate (recently acquired by François Pinault of Chateau Latour) and Opus One (co-founded in 1980 by Baron Philippe of Mouton Rothschild). The issue with going the “don’t you know who I am?” route though is that the wineries did know who I was, so I couldn’t use my thus far successful alter ego of Julian from Dulwich to convince them I was 21. At the tender age of 18, it is illegal for me to drink alcohol in the state of California and so as not to implicate the wineries in the serving of a minor, let me make it clear that any tasting notes in this blog are merely wild suppositions on my part on what I imagine the wine would taste like, however specific and empirical they seem.
It is now exactly 30 years since Chateau La Mission Haut Brion was purchased by Domaine Clarence Dillon (owners of neighbouring Chateau Haut Brion) from the Woltner family. The Woltners had bought this great Pessac property themselves in 1918.
One of my favourite tastings of the year is the annual "Ten Years On" review of the Bordeaux First Growths. This event has taken place every year since the early 1980's (at least) and used to be held in the Cotswolds home of the late Edmund Penning-Rowsell. His successor as Financial Times wine correspondent, Jancis Robinson, now hosts it at her home in North London in conjunction with Paulo Pong of Altaya Wines in Hong Kong. Best of all, as far as I’m concerned, is that I am invited to take part!
