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Leoville Lascases 1988

Last week was a special week for me as I received my last pay check from my previous employer. An event that required some sort of celebration with some good friends. Of the many bottles opened during that evening was a Leoville Lascases 1988. This Bordeaux wine from St. Julien is second Grand cru classee but it has the quality of a first growth. This chateau was also the wine that made me change from beer to wine as I had the pleasure of tasting a Leoville Lascases 1945 back in 88.  The 1945  just knocked me off my guard and I remember thinking what a fantastic wine it was and what an experience to drink this wine from the year when world war 2 ended. I was in shock and I then just decided to enter into the world of wine. I have always had a soft spot for this chateau ever since. And to my pleasure  it has been performing well at much more reasonable prices than the much more expensive first growths in the 1855 classification. Nowadays a bottle of this wine costs around 180€ while a p
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Pecharmant wine district

Pécharmant is a wine appellation in the hills to the North-East of the market town of Bergerac , France. Pécharmant is the best known of the wines from the Dordogne subregion and the wines have been classified as AOC since 1936. The identification "Pécharmant" dates from 1946 and new AOC since March 13, 1992. First produced in the eleventh century, Pécharmant is the oldest collective of vineyards in the region of Bergerac. "Pécharmant" comes from the words "Pech" ( "Hill") and "Charmant" (Charming), thus meaning "the charming hill." Pécharmant vineyards are well exposed to the sun and the soil consists sand and gravel from the Perigord, and containing a deep layer of ferruginous clay called "Tran." Pécharmant is a blend of at least three varietals predominantly Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Côt, and Malbec. These varietals produce a wine suitable for holding from four to ten years, typically tannic
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Burgundy - whole bunch fermentation or not ?

Photograph: Jason Lowe The BBR Wine Director Mark Pardoe MW reflects on the fashion for whole-bunch: When it came to harvest time in 2016, I wonder how many producers in Burgundy pushed their hats back on their heads and shook their heads in weary disbelief. After the litany of the year’s adversities – frost, mildew, uneven ripening, drought stress and a late harvest – in the end 2016 delivered a perfect harvest of ripe, juicy small berries of Pinot Noir, with perfect skins and wonderful ripe tannins. On reflection, I suspect not many; the ups and downs of recent vintages have created a sense of  Weltmüdigkeit  among some Burgundian  vignerons . Fruit being harvested in such perfect condition brought another of Burgundy’s discussion points firmly centre stage: whether or not, or in what proportion, to use whole bunches (or whole-cluster, as it is also known) in the fermentation process. Until the arrival of de-stemming machines (which remove the berries from the stems), the
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