Bordeaux-right bank.

It's been a month! I hope everyone had a good summer!

We are going to continue our virtual travel and tasting in France. From the left bank on Garonne river we are going to the right bank which is on the Dordogne river. This area also called -The Libournais, named for this historic capital-Libourne.

The Libournais appellations

• Saint-Émilion AOC
• Montagne-Saint-Émilion AOC
• Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion AOC
• Lussac-Saint-Émilion AOC
• Puisseguin-Saint-Émilion AOC
• Pomerol AOC
• Lalande-de-Pomerol AOC
• Fronsac AOC
• Canon-Fronsac AOC
• Côtes-de-Castillon AOC
• Premières-Côtes-de-Franc AOC

Merlot grape  dominate on this side of the river.
The soil of Bordeaux’s right bank is a limestone and clay, functioning like a sponge to hold water, making it the ideal soil to grow the softer side of early-ripening Merlot. With cooler soils, which simply aren‘t capable of ripening Cabernet Sauvignon on a regular basis, the earlier-ripening Merlot moves to the lead on the right bank, with Cabernet Franc and occasionally Malbec playing the major supporting roles. The Merlot-based wines of the Right Bank are generally more fruit forward and softer. Of course you can see Melot and Cabernet Sauvignon blends, but single varietal wines are popular here. Also those wines can be consumed much earlier than wines from the left bank.




 Grape Varietals:
 
Red - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec
White - Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon 


Another difference this side of the river is the size of the wine estates. The grand châteaux of the Left Bank are mostly large estates, whereas the Right Bank properties tend to be much smaller. It is more difficult to navigate through the many Château labels of the area.

For lighter and more acidic and fruitier wines food is a little lighter too-Chicken, rabbit, mushroom sauces, lamb, pork and duck.










I have a great example of the right bank wine








In the glass bright and deep purple.
On the nose intense red berries and vanilla aromas.
The wine is silky on the palate, fruity and acidic with firm tannins.

 And I'll pair it with the smoked duck. 

Château Hourbanon 2003, Ac Médoc, Cru Bourgeois

Well, it was time! This wine spent a few years in our cellar.
Ten years old, I think this wine is in its prime! So we opened it and decanted for at least an hour.
I actually reviewed this wine last year. I think after a year it just got better!
The wine became more softer, more balanced. More pronounced leather aromas, cedar, dried berries.
Aromas don't jump out of the glass, they flow gently opening up layer after layer, what this wine has to offer.
Finish is long and very pleasant.
 This wine is good by itself, but asking for meat. But not very heavy dish, not very complicated. Something like  simple piece of good prosciutto will do.

Ghost Pines Zinfandel 2011

Very smooth,filled with cooked berries aromas.
Dark red in the glass.
On the nose  fruit forward, rich aromas with  jammy notes.
On the palate medium bodied, thick, juicy, very pleasant. nicely balanced.
Great finish with dark fruit and green pepper notes.

I'm back!

Now I have to get my thoughts straight and get back to my projects.
Meanwhile, I'll show you some pics from the wild!:0)

Cheers!:0)

I was lost in time!

I was so busy with my work! And also my nephew was visiting. So I had to postpone all my projects.
I'll get back to my project very soon. After a couple of weeks, when I am back.
While I was entertaining my nephew, I was taking a lot of pictures. There are some of the pics I want to share.

Cheers!

Virtual travel and Taste-Bordeaux.

We are going to start our adventure from Bordeaux, left bank.


This is a place where big, matured wines became famous. But they weren't always as big and dark as we know them today.
Of course, everything was started by the Romans. They started wine producing here and they started exporting those wines to England.
For a long time Bordeaux wines was different. Most wines were coming from Graves. And Medoc was just a marsh. Thanks to the Dutch, Medoc was drained. And many famous chateau was established, such as Latour, Lafite and Margaux.
Even Cabernet Sauvignon wasn't known for a while. Most of the grapes were used-Merlot and Cabernet Frank.
If you wanted to try a wine from that time, you wouldn't recognize it as a Bordeaux wine. English called it claret- light colored and light bodied wine.
But times where changing. England was the biggest buyer of French wines. Sometimes wine had to spend a lot of time in the oak, waiting to be bottled. And English liked a new, aged, more mature and balanced wine.
There where so many wars and revolutions. So many natural disasters. One of them-philloxera!
Little tiny bug wich wiped out almost all of Europe's grape vines.
Before that was black death, taking away people's lives.
During the cataclysms there were a lot of fraud wines made. To keep the quality under control people started to develop wine laws, and they are used still!
Grapes that are permitted to grow here are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carménère.
When it comes to the food-in Bordeaux very popular foie gras, duck, lamb, entrecote, oysters, mussels, fish.
Of course everything cooked with different sauces, wine sauces are very popular.
Now I want to taste most famous wine from the left bank- wine from chateau Margaux

 CHÂTEAU MARGAUX 2008




Dark ruby red in the glass.
Exceptional aromas of dark fruit, cherries,spices.
Complex flavors of dark berries, graphite, pepper, leather and oak.
Dry, full bodied with wonderful tannins, balanced acidity, lovely texture.
Long finish full of flavors with coffee and berries.

And pair it with lamb in cherry sauce with butter garlic potatoes.

I hope you liked our first stop in my virtual travel and taste!

There is more to come! Stay tuned!
Cheers!

My new project.

I am starting a new project!
I love to travel. I would love to travel all the time! I dream to travel, but!  There is always a "BUT", isn't it? :0)
I travel in dreams, I travel when I taste a good wine, I travel when I read, when I cook.

So I decided to start traveling virtually!
Do you want to join me?:0) We will travel, taste wine and food. We will go around many countries, regions, provinces.
Welcome to my virtual travel and taste project!
I will cook typical regional food and pair it with certain wine. And I will tell stories, the ones that I learned from the books or from the friends. Unfortunately I can't use photos from the web, there are to many laws. So, if you wish to share your pictures with me from your travels, you are welcome to do so, and I will appreciate it.
Be patient with me, I'm not a journalist, not a writer, and English is not my fist language.:0)
But I love to tell stories, taste wine and good food!
So, our first stop-Bordeaux.
For me this is a place where it's all started. Big wines, wine laws, international grapes.
So join me, let's travel and taste together!