虽然在伦敦读书两三个年头，并曾经造访过波尔多、波尔图等地非常多的酒庄，然而各种事务缠身，一直都没有时间好好写下各样经历。惟有转载下其他达人以超然态度写就的一些极其具有参考价值的文章。这是2010年3月30日法国媒体的报道，在2009年波尔多期酒发布周的第二天早上见诸报章。
===================================================================
This week's 2009 futures campaign looks set to be a promising one. Here's the report from the heart of the most prestigious vineyards in the Médoc.
On the châteaux road, on the top of the slope where appellation Pauillac begins, be careful not to miss the discreet entrance of Latour, on the right. There is just enough space to park your car before you come up against three metallic bollards which the security guard (who used to be majordomo for the industrial magnate Clément Fayat) lowers once you have shown your credentials.
In order to reach the office, you must drive 200 metres at a crawl, passing a plot of vines where labourers are working up a sweat using sledgehammers to drive new stakes into the ground. Wine-growing is arduous work and before tasting the 2009 vintage, we should remember that 2010 is already on track.
Sonia Guerlou is sitting in front of her computer, scrutinizing the visits planned for this week. Her Excel table is as long as a month of Sundays. “More than 900 visitors are scheduled. Some of the appointments were made as early as December. We’ve received an enormous amount of requests, unlike the rather slack 2008 campaign last year. In terms of numbers of professional visitors, the English and Chinese are out in front,” points out Sonia, who has been managing the visits schedule at Château Latour for seven years. This estate, with its vineyard of 72 hectares and a staff of 60 people, is one of the five first growths of the 1855 classification and the elite of the Bordeaux elite.
The visitors are welcomed by château executives in two reception rooms with large picture
bay windows that lookout over the rows of vines. The three glasses on the table are presented like an offering of three chalices : the estate’s premium wine, the second label (Forts de Latour) and the third (Pauillac).
“Sometimes the atmosphere is almost monastic : some visitors taste and leave in silence. Others ask a few questions which go beyond the information sheet with the vintage’s climatic conditions,” adds Pierre-Henri Chabot, the cellar master. Then it’s over, and everyone sets off again with tasting notes in their pockets or laptops over their shoulders. In just a few minutes it’s in the bag : their first impressions of Latour 2009. On the way out, we pass a group of brokers who have also come to form their own opinions about the new vintage.
Lafite Rothschild under construction :
Next stop Lafite Rothschild, a little further North, but still in the village appellation of Pauillac where almost 90% of its 1,200 hectares of AOC vineyard is now in the hands of classified ‘crus’ who fight over land worth millions of euros.
“1,200 professionals are expected this year, and we will be tasting in a reception room housing just 25 people at a time, in Château Duhart-Milon, “ explains Charles Chevalier, technical director of Lafite since 1983. Indeed, Château Lafite Rothschild (110 hectares) is
in the midst of renovation work. On the menu is the conversion of old dwellings on the property into a new storage cellar and an extension of the vat room.
Hence the about-turn to Château Duhart-Milon, another Pauillac (and classified) estate owned by Eric de Rothschild, with a vineyard of 78 hectares and a staff of 125.
Visitors will also be tasting Les Carruades, a second label very much in demand. On our way out of the property, as we pass by a chicken coop underneath the weeping willow trees, where cockerels are crowing, and we think about all the reconstruction work already completed or in progress in the great Bordeaux estates. Yesterday, it was Cos d’Estournel. Today it’s Lafite, and neighbouring Mouton, not forgetting Montrose (Saint-Estèphe), Cheval Blanc (Saint-Émilion) or Yquem (Sauternes). If not all, at least a part of the millions earned with the surge in prices over the last decade has been re-invested on the premises.
1, 000 a day at Batailley :
At Château Batailley (57 hectares), another classified cru of Pauillac, Philippe Castéja will be entertaining at his home. He and his family possess one of the greatest viticultural heritages of the Bordeaux region, which stretches from Pauillac (with Batailley, but also the 57 hectares of Lynch-Moussas) to Saint-Estèphe (Beau Site), into Pessac-Leognan (Barret) and on to Saint-Emilion (Trottevieille) and Pomerol (La Croix du Casse).
So many wines to prepare for the Pauillac tasting, by cellar master Arnaud Durand.
“I really believe in this 2009 campaign, and the vineyard certainly needs it,” underlines Philippe Castéja – who is also a wine merchant (Borie-Manoux : 30 million euros turnover, 48 employees) and president of the 1855 classified crus association, an organization run by Sylvain Boivert.
In addition to the 1,000 – 2,000 visitors expected per day for three days this week, Batailley will also be welcoming 26 Médoc properties as part of the Union of Grand Crus campaign.
Batailley’s neighbour, Mouton Rothschild, with its 80 hectares of premium vineyard, will also be a hive of activity. Hervé Berland, who is Mouton’s commercial director and has been at the château for thirty-five years, is poised for action.
“I have never known such enthusiasm. With 1,500 to 1,700 visitors, we are opening up a second reception room,” On the tasting table, a part from Mouton, will be the other two classified growths belonging to Philippine de Rothschild, Châteaux Clerc Milon (30 hectares) and d’Armailhac (50 hectares).
No signpost for Château Margaux :
The atmosphere is similar further South, in Château Margaux, located in the appellation bearing the same name. “We will be welcoming 1,800 visitors quite simply, in the middle of our vat house. The future tasting is not a cocktail party, and visitors are tasting in a professional capacity,” emphasizes Paul Pontallier, the château’s director. Sometimes certain groups come to taste before the crucial futures week, to “avoid the crowds”, but always by appointment only. “We are in the Bordeaux region for ten days to taste 800 wines,” explains a Swiss buyer, showing an impressive three page schedule.
Visitors who wish to be efficient and get the most out of their trip during this marathon must be organized. We notice, as we leave the château, that there is no signpost indicating Château Margaux? But do you find one on arrival at the Vatican, or when you approach the Taj Mahal?
Author: César Compadre
=====================================================================
