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Willie in Chile days 3 & 4
May 14th, 2008

Day 3 - Curico

The fabulous Holon Turismo in Curico started humming on Sunday morning. Curico has a population of 200,000 or so. Not the prettiest of towns but interesting to see a typical Chilean provincial town in action. Shopping was definitely in order. As the Lebus family motto dictates:- When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping…
Rather disappointing to note that Curico’s downtown is really no different to any European town. Plenty of department stores open on Sunday. Lots of shoe shops. Even Imelda Marcos would feel at home here. Some evidence of poverty but most people happy to bring the wallets out. Chile’s peso is the top performing South American currency. It’s appreciated big time against all currencies this past year. Unlike Argentina, it’s not linked to the US Dollar.
A full on morning was followed by lunch at the Torres restaurant just outside Curico. Just like their outstanding restaurant in Penedes Spain, the Chilean version is impressive. It’s mothers Day this side of the pond, so a mother’s day menu is specially created. One interesting new experience on the trip, a Chardonnay sour. Like Pisco Sour but won’t knock you down after a couple of glasses! Delicious lunch at Torres with Brett and Kim and then off to Santiago to meet up with Julian Grubb who heads up Laroche Chile.
There’s something about being called Julian…. Yes you’ve guessed it, Iron Man. Julian is like our own Jules Macdonald and does this weird form of excercise which includes 2.5 kilometre swim, 130k bike ride followed by a marathon. Durrrrrrrh! Julian also told us that he had climbed Mount Aconcagua alone…… Not even Bibendum’s pet red head has managed that. Whilst in mid mouthful at dinner, Julian told us that you cannot leave anything, that’s right anything on the mountain…… That stopped us!
I’m dreaming of mountains as I write…

Day 4 - Casablanca
Well, pleased to say that the weather’s warmed up for our last day in Chile. Santiago is stunning with lots of modern buildings but it’s very smoggy. Iron Man (Julian Grubb - see above) picked us up in his his very dirty Mitsubishi SUV and we drove about 1 hour North West to the Laroche Chile vineyards in Casablanca. My first visit to this infamous area. It seems that if you don’t own vineyards here then it’s marginal,frost prone, blah blah. But if you do, it’s the dog’s doo daahs etc.

The Laroche vineyards here are very pretty indeed. Some 25 hectares planted rising to 45 when all is done and dusted, talking of which, it’s very dusty right now. Rain is sorely needed here. We had a trip around some extremely steep vineyards. Iron Man has planted everything on foreign rootstocks, because there is a real nematode problem in South America. Julian told us all about the problems of northern hemisphere farm machinery that the Chile customs don’t give a second’s thought to. As a consequence, som nasty german moth has been found in a couple of vineyards. Julian took us right to the top of the vineyard. This was pretty scary, a sort of mechanised iron man. Apart from stunning views we got to see a pair of very well hung eagles. Massive wing span. They didn’t like being bothered by a smelly dirty SUV driven by a mad brit. Indeed it was a pleasure to get to the Laroche winery itself.

We set ourselves up in a leafy glade to taste the range of wines and yet again I was blown away by consistently excellent wines. Stand outs here were Punto Nino Chardonnay and Punto Alto Pinot Noir. If you have a cool climate disposition, this winery’s for you. Really tip top wines and all so restrained.

We said farewell to Chile and flew over the staggering Andes passing the snow topped Aconcagua and flew into Mendoza. Here is a one horse airport that affords one a delightfully stress free way to enter Argentina. As we were leaving the airport I was accosted by a stunning Argentine lady who tuned out to be Laura Catena, fresh in from San Francisco. She didn’t know I was coming and vice versa, so to speak. A real bonus to have two royal families in towm. More about that tomorrow.

Boy it’s good to be here. I nearly got killed by the Shower dubree firkin attacking me [not sure what this means - Ed]. My left quad is bruised. I have been a very good boy and have been working out in the gym in search of an ever more body beautiful. Gotta go to the Mendoza fashion show.

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Willie in Chilly Chile (Day 2)
May 13th, 2008

The great Leboo goes in search of Alpacas…

Woke up looked out looks like Mars. You can’t see a thing the heating doesn’t work it’s minus 2. oops. Off we go south into the coastal range in search
of…Alpacas. Chilcas is equidistant between the Andes and the sea. So we travel up into the coastal range and find a herd of Alpacas and sunlight!! Marvellous.

Today we’re visiting Valdivieso. We start in the vineyard called La Primavera.

We have moved out of the Rapel valley into the Curico Valley. La Primavera is currently planted with 65 hectares. A lot of the new plantingsare on slopes.
It’s much warmer here than in Chilcas. So there are no whites planted at present apart from Viognier. although there are plans to plant Rhone varieties such
as Roussanne and Marsanne.

We met up with head winemaker Brett Jackson, a Kiwi, who has been at Valdivieso since the 2002 vintage ans Kim Milne MW an aussie who consults for Valdivieso.

They have built a kind of viewing platform into the lee of the hills. This commands a spectacular view over the vineyard. With the sun shining things were
really starting to look up! We were giving a marvellous Chilean version of Pot au Feu, and then we drove over the other side of Curico town to Lontue where
Valdivieso is based. You could not wish for a greater contrast between the gleaming brand new winery at Chilcas and Valdivieso built in the late 1800s. But the winery is immaculate.
We were quickly immersed into a grand tasting. I must say, I have not been as impressed by a portfolio of 30 wines for a very long time. Valdivieso makes
fabulous wine. The standouts were some immaculate entry level Chardonnay and Cabernet. A Single vineyard wild ferment Chardonnay and Malbec from 80 year old
vines, and Eclat a blend from ancient carignan. Valdivieso is a jewel in the Bibendum portfolio. Oh and I forgot there’s some great Pinot Noir from Leyda too!

We finished tasting in the cellars at 7pm. Back to the Turismo in Curico and then on to a interesting dinner after a Pisco Sour tasting.

I’m a tired bunny, and very cold again. Night night.

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Willie in Chile (day one)
May 12th, 2008

Lebus flies into South America, and the fog descends…

While you’re basking in 27 degrees it’s about 2 degrees in the Maule Valley. We’re in San Rafael home to VIA now Chile’s 6th largest exporter. We are 200 kilometres South of Santiago at VIA’s Chilcas Estate. They have 600 hectares of vines here, and unbelievably they are still harvesting their Carmenere. Unlike France the vines are much higher off the ground, so not a backbreaking encounter. But the pickers do 8 hour days which judging by the speed the can cut the bunches from the vine is a long day! Andreas the vineyard manager tells us that there are over 1 million vines on the estate. Each vine gets about 10 visits a year. So that’s 10 million separate encounters per annum….

It is a spectacular estate! This afternoon we visited the Chilcas Olive press. German manufactured, Italian design! Costing a mere $250,000!. Slightly destroyed my idea of a couple of large stones. The ‘Frantoia’ smelt like freshly mown grass. We had tasting some olive oils produced a mere 48 hours earlier…. I’m trying to get some brought over to the UK. It’s phenomenal stuff. Alex Huber one of VIA’s directors, took us around the 5 year old winery. Now I’ve seen wineries in my time. This is pretty cool. One computer controls the temperature of all their tanks remotely.

Back to our beautiful guesthouse on the estate to taste the wines with new winemaker Rafael Tirado. Rafael is coming over to London in mid May. My fellow travellers have described him as Byronic, so get your best clothes ready girls. He’s quite a catch. Followers of Robert Parker beware his wines are incredibly subtle. Wonderful fresh Sauvignon Blanc and an amazing Sauvignon Carmenere blend. As for the reds, look out for the Carmenere,Syrah and the latest version of the Red one.

Going to bed now. Night night.

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Why buy Leoville Barton 2007?
May 2nd, 2008

The great Anthony Barton of Chateaux Leoville Barton and Langoa Barton interrupts his cheese course to explain why ‘lesser’ vintages can give great drinking pleasure… and sooner!

If you want to register interest in the Bordeaux 2007 campaign you can here.

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Riesling and Oysters… and (Maldon) Rock’n’ Roll
April 29th, 2008

A candidate for tasting of the year yesterday. At Fishworks, in the aptly-named Swallow Street, Robin Hancock, the UK’s leading Oyster expert, and Willie Lebus, Bibendum’s own Riesling champion, presented a Riesling and Oyster matching masterclass. The assembled collection of on-trade and press (and there was a very strong turn out from the trade) were treated to six beautiful and diverse bi-valves, matched with six no less stimulating examples of the noble Riesling grape.

First up, Maldon Rock took on St Hallett Riesling - the oyster showing beautiful poise and fleshiness. Next up, Ireland’s own Carlingford Lough was matched to the sublime Howard Park Riesling from Great Southern (which confusingly is in Western Australia). A great combo. Then the mighty Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling - probably the wine of the day by consensus - took on a Frenchmen’s Creek oyster (from Cornwall, naturally). All these masterfully shucked to order by Benny from Fishworks as Willie and Robin took turns to tell us more about the wines and the oysters.
The next oyster was a Speciale de Clare - where the oyster is matured in a freshwater lake for the latter part of its life - imparting an amazing silkiness to the flesh. This was a great match for Jean Baltenweck’s Organic Riesling from Alsace. We then had perhaps the only mismatch - brilliant West Mersea natives paired with Prinz Von Hessen’s top wine. The residual sugar in the Riesling was not what the powerful, muscly oyster needed - but it was delicious! And, as Christine Parkinson of Hakkasan noted, the Riesling was just begging to be drunk on its own. Finally, and quite differently, Peter Schweiger’s ripe, fruity Riesling matched delicious Duchy of Cornwall natives.

We all learned a lot, and Robin Hancock proved a perfect font of oyster knowledge. Talking to him afterwards, it emerged that he had been a recording engineer in his previous life, and had worked with the legendary Trevor Horn on many of the latter’s famous productions, including Seal’s first album. So from Atlantic Rock… to Pacific Rock! Here’s a short clip of me learning all sorts of interesting facts about oysters from Robin. You can sample his brilliant produce first hand at Wright Bros in Borough Market in South London.

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Oz Clarke on Bordeaux 2007
April 25th, 2008

Here’s Oz Clarke talking about the 2007 Bordeaux he tasted at our Bordeaux bash at Lord’s the other day. By the way, the last word  is ‘attractive’ !!

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Brilliant Bordeaux
April 24th, 2008

fill 'em up!What a tasting! We’re just recovering from our Bordeaux extravaganza yesterday at Lord’s. The rainclouds lifted, the sun shone, the Bordelais all got there from France, the wines also all showed up (thanks to the intrepid Dan Haigh and his van), and everyone had a brilliant time. Here are some (big)numbers from the day…
71 Chateaux

140 wines

672 people

One Oz Clarke.

Oz was very enthusiastic about the 2007 wines yesterday, describing them as “very fruity… lots of scent and lots of uplift”. He singled out Branaire, Pibran and Batailley as particular highlights on the day. I’ll be posting his comments in video form just as soon as I can get my video editing software to work!

We all had a brilliant day and it really did prove the case that there is no substitute for tasting the wines yourself, especially when there is a lot of conflicting opinion about the quality of the vintage.

More on this memorable day as the week goes on - including interviews with Anthony Barton and Jean-Rene Matignon of Pichon Baron. If you were there, please let us have your opinions about the tasting, which wines you thought did well, and which didn’t make the grade.

Thanks.

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Bordeaux or bust
April 21st, 2008

Brenda files a timely report from the world’s most famous wine region…

So it’s back to work after a lovely few days in Bordeaux. On Thursday seven of us headed out to spend a few educational and informative days in Bordeaux with the CIVB. Amanda had been whizzing around Les Deux Alpes and “Ironman Jules” had not trained for a week so it was always going to be eventful.

We were greeted by Alex, our lovely guide who brought us swiftly to Union de Producteurs de St Emilion where Sebastian rivaled even Juless energy levels. The picturesque St Emilion provided the perfect backdrop to a delicious meal at L’Envers du Decor – plenty of foie gras, and good conversation. Friday was filled with lectures from knowledgeable Alex, visits to Chateau Ste. Barbe and Chateau Moulin Rouge, and a good dollop of discussion, all fuelled by gastronomic delights. Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron was our final destination for the day which was a treat. Jean-René Matignon, the technical director, was fascinating in his descriptions of the wines and the winemaking techniques used…as well as being charisma personified – a good combination! Some Pichon Longueville Baron 2000 and 1996 helped us along our way and went very nicely with our Sea Bass in a red wine jus and Basque-style Pork, thank you very much.

A little bleary-eyed after a couple of beers upon our return to Bordeaux, we managed to crawl into our lecture on the recent developments of Bordeaux both in the vineyard and the winery on Saturday morning. It’s really such a diverse place, something that a lot of us agreed that we’d overlooked recently. We tend to put the whole of Bordeaux into one category, however in reality the many different styles and areas are all vying for attention. Some of whites were a real surprise too and offer an appealing change to the more ‘typical’ Sauvignon style.

Over our last meal at Chateau Champcenetz, we learned that apparently you could die from being a vegetarian (Jules watch out)…it turns out that some things don’t change; the French still cannot cope with anyone who doesn’t do meat!

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straight to video
April 18th, 2008

Our first ever video post… hmm, Scorcese is maybe cleverer than I thought…

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The day of reckoning
April 17th, 2008

A lot has already been written about Bordeaux 2007. In recent years, the Bordelais have produced several dazzling vintages – most notably 2005 which may yet go down in history as the greatest Bordeaux vintage ever (so far!) Now 2007 has presented winemakers with a pretty novel challenge – cool temperatures, lots of rain, and the sun didn’t come out til September. Refreshingly, this has at least meant a pretty high degree of honesty on the part of the people making and selling the wines. Yes, that means us too.

So what do we really think? Well, the image of a barometer firmly pointing at ‘variable’ is the best way to describe 2007. And happily that means plenty of good wines to buy in amongst some pretty ordinary stuff. What’s also clear is that in a vintage like this there is less consensus – for example Mouton 2007 has been warmly praised in certain quarters, but left us scratching our heads and wondering if we’d tasted the same wine. Equally Lynch-Bages was one of Ben C’s picks of the left bank but other learned palates were rather less keen. The proof of the pudding, they say, is in the eating* – or in this case tasting. So we all await April 23rd with anticipation as the chance to properly decide what’s hot from 07, and what is decidedly not. Certainly there’s never been a line up like it in London.

*nb a popular malapropism is that ‘the proof is in the pudding’ – quite a funny idea really. “Professor, how do you know that energy equals mass times the square of the speed of light?” “Ah, the proof is in the pudding.”

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