Month: January 2017

 

Chateau L’Esperance is a small Chateau spread across an area of 10km2 located in the hills of Blaye, the hills in Blaye are only about 40 meters above sea level but offer enough to create some brilliant wines, some of these brilliant wines come from Chateau L’Esperance and are created and sold by Thomas Marchant.

The first time I tried one of Thomas Marchant’s wines was when I initially arrived in Blaye, Thomas invited me to his home for a blind wine tasting. The first wine we tried was of course his wine Cuvee Trois Freres, I loved it so much that when I came back to the UK for Christmas I decided to bring a few bottles back to give away as presents and keep a few for my greedy self!

Cuvee Trois Freres 2010 is a typical Bordeaux Blend consisting of 90% Merlot, 5% Malbec & 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, the vintage 2010 is one of the best vintages from the past decade, everything was perfect for the vines, very few corrections were needed to obtain the perfect maturity of the grapes, the terrior produced a brilliant well balanced wine, it’s full bodied and very fruity. This is expressed through the flavours and characteristics of the wine. Cuvee Trois Freres has been aged in new oak barrels for 12 months before blending.

I tend to get on very well with Bordeaux reds as I love Merlots, however, this wine has small hints of Malbec which adds complexity and spice, whilst the Cabernet Sauvignon brings acidity, tannin and an aromatic aroma of rich black fruit. When tasting a wine I always think a lot about the aroma, if you had a nose like mine you’d understand. If the wine smells good, it’s hard not to love it!

Appearance: Deep ruby red

Nose:  Very complex aromas of black fruits, medium intensity and a mild oakyness.

Palate:  Velvety, smooth texture in the mouth, medium tannin with high acidity. Flavours of blackberry and cherries with a very slight spice.

Conclusion: Very well balanced wine, with great depth of flavours, well worth a buy!

I drank this wine with a nice juicy steak, I’d recommend you do the same!

Here is the link for the website of the wine:  http://www.vignobles-jonck.com/home/#estate-wines

I’ll give it a rating of 4/5, Job well done!

 

Reviewing wine can often sound a little too serious, there’s nothing serious about wine.  It should be a fun, shared experience with friends and family, although if you’re like me and do enjoy indulging in the odd bottle on your own, there is also nothing wrong with that either! In fact, I’m writing this right now whilst enjoying a glass of Malbec from Cahors, if you’re considering reading on, I’d suggest you grab a glass too!

My interest in wine didn’t start too long ago, I remember the days when I was a child thinking wine was the worst drink on the planet, who would want an acidic, sharp fruit juice when there was a perfectly chilled Capri Sun in the fridge? Eventually, my taste buds developed and I started to enjoy the adult things in life, such as mushrooms, tomatoes, mayonnaise, and finally…. wine!

During my A Levels I lost complete interest in school and focused on “more interesting” aspects in my life such as earning money, girls and passing my driving test. I started working in a local hotel as a waiter and worked my way up to Restaurant Manager by the age of 18, my boss at the time was a big role model for me and encouraged me to stick out hospitality, as I was bloody awesome at it (not a lot to brag about I know, but you’ll see a pattern developing throughout this blog)! Everything came naturally to me, I thought it was a brilliant job, I was getting paid to just chat with people all day and bring them food every now and then. When I was registered to complete my WSET Level 1 in 2012, I was a little bit excited, I love being tested with exams and I also love doing better than everyone, on this occasion I obtained a score of 100%! At the time I was contemplating leaving hospitality and get into car sales, but achieving 100% spurred me on to get into wine.

After a few years of working within both hospitality and sales, I was offered the opportunity to work in Blaye, a small town on the right bank of the Gironde in Bordeaux. The opportunity arose on my 21st birthday when my girlfriend decided to surprise me with a trip to Bordeaux, when we arrived I was welcomed by a lovely South African bloke who owned the Villa we stayed in. After a while we got chatting and as it turns out Les was looking for someone to work for him in his glorious wine cellar! Obviously, I couldn’t say no to the opportunity and decided to move out in a heart beat, since then I have been living and breathing wine!

Hope you have enjoyed getting to know me a little, I shall try and post as often as possible.