The French Dinner: June 28 2014 in a secret venue in Melbourne!

DiscoverVin as well as our friends Domaines Rollan de By and Chateau Beycheville are excited to be part of this unique event. 

"The French Dinner" is a secret and unique culinary experience following the four seasons. Food created by legendary chef Jaques Reymond in a secret location.

Champagne aperitif and classical music. 6 course degustation dinner prepared by Jacques Reymond with matching wines (6 glasses of fine French wine by DiscoverVin) , French cabaret, and... Sorry, but everything else is a... SECRET!

For more information and to purchase tickets click here !

New wine: Chateau Rollan de By 2008

Our new wine from Bordeaux Chateau Rollan de By 2008 has attracted some attention this week being named wine of the week by wine writer Winsor Dobbin.  He wrote....

"The price of some the more prestigious Bordeauxs has put them beyond the reach of mortals with budgets; but there is still some great "claret" available to those without a black American Express card. This is a case in point, a very impressive Cru Bourgeois from the ever-growing stable of Jean Guyon, who also owns the renowned Chateau Greysac. This Medoc blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot is soft and understated without any hints of greenness. There are moccha and ripe fruit aromas while the medium-bodied palate is blessed with an appealing structure with dark blackcurrant and restrained oak to the fore. Perfumed and elegant, it was an excellent match for a beef casserole. I liked this a lot. $59. Imported by DiscoverVin " ...

This wine has won many other awards including 2 stars in the French wine review bible The Guide Hachette and a Gold Medal at the Paris wine show.

All published scores for this wine are here on wine-searcher 

Wine Enthusiast	90/100
Wine Spectator	90/100
CellarTracker	87/100
Jean-Marc Quarin	85/100
Decanter	16.7/20
Gault & Millau	15/20
Jancis Robinson	15/20
Vinum Wine Magazine	14.5/20

Jean Guyon is the owner of Château Rollan de By. Twenty years ago, when he purchased this domain, he began to improve quality and extended the vineyard.  Traditional vine growing systems were adopted.  Vines were replanted and natural fertilizers used to support the recovery of the natural ecosystem.  On an impressive deep soil of gravel, Jean Guyon produces wines that were every bit as good as the classified-growths.  The vines on the 45 hectare vineyard have an average age of 35 years.

Berry Brothers in London describe this Chateau as "a very reliable source of good value Medoc"

Region/Terroir:  Médoc –Cru bourgeois

Grapes:  Cabernet Sauvignon (20%), Merlot (70%), Petit Verdot (10%).

Soil:  Clayey-chalky gravel hills.

Alcohol:  13% VOL

Wine making: Grapes picked by hand.  Fermentation occurs at low temperatures in stainless steel, temperature controlled vats.  Malolactic fermentation occurs partially in new oak barrels.  The wine is aged in oak for 16 months.

Cellaring potential:  A wine that will achieve full maturity a decade from the vintage, but which enjoys such balance that it can be enjoyed in its youth.  Parker suggest drinking over the next decade (see below)

Our Tasting notes:  This wine had a WOW factor in a large line up of wines from the Médoc.  Lifted nose with some floral (violet) notes and blackcurrant/cassis.  Gorgeous mouth feel,soft, round and long with great balance.  Complex palate , blackcurrants, liquorice notes and tobacco.  As good as many classified growths.

It is a pleasure for DiscoverVin to bring this wine to Australia. It can be found on our website by clicking here. Trade prices on application 0260206016 or info@discovervin.com.au

"Offal the beaten track" : food and wine event in Sydney.

Chophouse, one of our favourite Sydney CBD restaurants is holding a winter dinner on 3rd June. It's called 'Offal the Beaten Track' and features some interesting cuts of meat and a superb array of interesting unusual wines/grape varieties.

The dinner includes one of DiscoverVin's white wines - Domaine Bellegarde "Pierre Blanche" Jurançon Sec 2009 - a superb dry white from an organic producer in the foothills of the Pyrenees in the south-west of France.  

We attended a wine dinner at Chophouse last year and it was a fantastic night- excellent food, service, atmosphere and generous wine pours.  For more details see the menu below.

Seems like this will be a great night of "culinary exploration for the adventurous"! 

Chateau Laroche Joubert 2010

Introducing our new delicious red wine from Chateau Laroche Joubert from the Cotes du Bourg appellation in Bordeaux. This wine had a wow factor in a series of tastings on a recent buying trip to France. 

This wine won a Silver medal in the Paris and Aquitaine wine shows (the proportion of wines receiving medals in French wine shows is lower than Australia so this signifies a very good wine). 

It is an easy drinking merlot blend from the Bordeaux Cotes de Bourg appellation. The vineyards of Bourg face Margaux across the Gironde estuary and offer exceptional quality and excellent value for money.

Château Laroche Joubert, Cotes du Bourg

Year: 2010

Size: 750ml

Located on the heights of the hills of the Cotes du Bourg appellation, the 15 hectares of Laroche Joubert are planted with a majority of merlot vines. The same family has owned the estate since 1795. In 1998 a new manager set about modernising production. Since then it has consistently received awards at various shows and mentions in the Guide Hachette (the French wine review bible).

Terroir:  The vineyards of Laroche Joubert face the Margaux vineyards across the Gironde estuary and produce very good merlot based wines at an excellent price.

Grapes: 60% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Malbec

Wine making: Long maceration for 3-4 weeks in small temperature controlled vats. Aged for 12 months in oak

Our tasting notes: The expressive nose presents notes of red fruits and plums.

This is a delicious wine, with lovely, plummy fruit and minerality, a good balance and nice tannins. 

Alcohol: 13%

Ready to drink now but will improve with one-three years cellaring.

This is a good value for money Bordeaux wine. It is a good example of what the small producers in Bordeaux can do, especially in good years (such as the 2010 vintage).

More information here online. Trade prices on application. 

2004 Bordeaux drinking at their peak

La Revue du Vin de France is one of France's leading monthly wine magazines. We subscribe to it and love pouring over the pages filled with news, articles and dozens of wine reviews.

The December 2013 edition featured a review of the Bordeaux 2004 vintage with the headline- "They are at their peak, start to drink them!"  

To celebrate we are offering a discount on 2 reds from the 2004 vintage.

Anyone going to the DiscoverVin site from this blog can use code BDX04 for a 15% discount on these wines (minimum order 6 bottles in total- can be 3 or each). Click the links to the wines below. Be quick. Limited stocks.

In summary the article says it was "a generous/good volume harvest but the level of maturity was not optimal. At their birth the 2004 Bordeaux in barrel samples, didn't enthuse the critics. Retasted 10 years later in bottles, it amounted to the following: agreeable/nice reds, disappointing dry whites and premature evolution of the Sauternes". 

After the hot and dry year of 2003, 2004 was cooler and wet. The cool and wet finish to the harvest led to a "level of maturity not always optimal' . It was a late harvest and in many cases the grapes suffered from dilution due to the moisture.

This appears to have been more of an issue for the dry whites and the sauternes which are showing early ageing and need to be consumed if not done so already!

The reds have done better- with the right bank St Émilion and Pomerol, described as "pleasure wines" ready to drink with round, perfumed with typical merlot characteristics but often with firm tannins.

The left bank, prime slow-ripening cabernet terroir, seems to have done best, especially the reds of Pessac-Leognan on the southern outskirts of Bordeaux, and the Reds of the Medoc, stretching along the Gironde estuary to the north of the city.

The 2004 left bank reds are ready to enjoy. They can be kept for several more years without a problem but are currently drinking well. Optimally they would benefit from a couple of hours in a carafe (the oxygen softens the tannins and reinvigorate the fruit).

Similarly the Bordeaux Index after reviewing wines from the 2004 Vintage on March 13 2014, said "In the main these are delicious, bright, medium-bodied and digestible clarets. They have an extremely pleasant aromatic profile, with enough ripeness to accurately show their regional and vineyard characteristics; when the fruit was able to sufficiently ripen and the grapes were delicately and sensitively handled, the palates are also extremely satisfying: soft and seamless but with both a firm tannic structure and balanced acidity. The best examples have a solid weight of fruit on the mid-palate which helps along with the acidity to provide medium to long and often multi-layered finishes. The best of the wines yesterday – which weren’t necessarily the biggest names or most highly prized bottles – were genuinely delicious. They also have the benefit of being, in the main, very good value."

Victoria Moore in the Telegraph (UK) April 2014 also wrote about the value and  the merits of the Bordeaux 2004 vintage compared to recent releases.

DiscoverVin has 2 Bordeaux left bank reds from the 2004 vintage. These are available online or to trade. They are both drinking at their peak as the article suggests. They will last for several years but why wait when one can enjoy mature Bordeaux at its peak!





Chateau Lanessan 2004 
A great value example of the power, finesse and elegance of the Médoc.

The Lanessan vineyard has belonged to a succession of eight generations of the Bouteiller family since the 18th century.  Made up of 45 hectares (111 acres) of vines that form part of a larger 80 hectares (198 acres) estate on one single plot.  The Lanessan vineyard is located in the commune of Cussac-Fort-Médoc, close to Saint-Julien, in the Haut-Médoc appellation area and runs east to west along a fine ridge of deep Garonne gravel.
The average age of the vines is about thirty years.  

Region/Terroir:  Haut Medoc.
Grapes:  Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Merlot (36%), Petit Verdot (4%).
Soil:  Deep Garonne gravels.
Alcohol:  12.5% VOL
Wine making:  Grapes are picked at optimal ripeness and hand-sorted to ensure only optimal grapes used.  The wine is made in thermo-regulated concrete tanks and aged for 12 months in French oak (⅓ new).
Cellaring potential:  This wine is already drinking at or close to peak. A chance to enjoy aged Bordeaux now, but will last for several more years to come.



Our Tasting notes:  It was such a pleasure to find this parcel of aged Bordeaux.  We bought some of the last remaining cases!  It is a great value example of the power, finesse and elegance of the Médoc.  A classic claret nose with fruit, spice and developed meaty notes.  Luscious mouth filling fruit, good balance and fine softened tannins.  It has a lovely structure and length.

Here’s what the French wine bible, Guide Hachette, said in 2008 about the 2004 vintage, “The sheer length of family tradition since 1793 has built up true expertise in growing wine on Garonne gravel soils. This 2004 is a fine example with its garnet robe and its bouquet that unfolds gently to reveal cooked fruit aromas with spicy hints. Smooth and round on the palate, this wine is recognisably a Haut-Médoc with its nicely extracted, ripe tannins. It all knits well into a harmonious wine that will be at its best in 3 or 4 years’ time.”

Fast forward to 2014 time’s up!  Time to enjoy! 

Legende de la Tour Carnet 2004

Château La Tour Carnet has its origins in the 12th century and is the oldest castle in the Médoc.  It includes a medieval tower built in 1120 and is surrounded by a moat! The vineyard of Château La Tour Carnet has been established in the year 1407!

Legende La Tour Carnet is the second wine from the Château which has had a  resurgence since 2000, when it was purchased by Bernard Magrez.  Vineyard practices have been modernised and consultant winemaker Michel Rolland consults to the winery team.

Reviewed by Regan Drew in Vinonotebook October 2013
"Showing the petticoats under the frock, there’s complex secondary aromas of older leather and tobacco and meat shadowing the black fruits, violets, tomato leaf and tobacco. The palate still long and exquisite. Class. Olives and blackcurrants and savoury lift given from dried herbs. Those rocks..those hot hot rocks under the vines, they’re there too, with a earthy/mineral quality that assists in the palate length. This is a very smart wine that is smack bang at the height of its power."

Region/Terroir:  Haut-Médoc
Grapes:  Cabernet Sauvignon (55%), Merlot (35%), Cabernet Franc (10%).
Soil:  The area is characterized by a land base of strongly calcareous clay covered with a thick layer of serious gunziennes forming the famous "Butte de La Tour Carnet". (We realise that this is probably too much information but, Gunzinennes (or Guntzian gravel), in case you want to know, refers to the large pebbly gravel distinctive to the terroir of Médoc and is well suited to the cabernet grape.  Gunz refers to a glacial geologic period in the Plesitocene era!.  Bottom line - this is a great location to grow grapes!
Alcohol:  13% VOL
Wine making:  Grapes are hand harvested in small crates with the first selection occurring in the vineyard.  The grapes are again sorted by hand, before and after de-stemming. Vinification occurs in stainless steel vats with cold pre-fermentation maceration at 12 °C.  Fermentation occurs at low temperatures (28°C) with maceration occurring over 35-45 days.  Malolactic fermentation occurs in barrels.
Cellaring potential:  Up to 15 years
Our Tasting notes:  We were impressed with this wine in a line up of many wines from the Médoc.  Complex nose of red and black fruits, some minerals and spicey notes. On the palate, rich complex fruit, raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, with minerals and tobacco.  Big but soft and integrated tannins.

Anyone going to the site from this blog can use code BDX04 for a 15% discount on these wines (minimum order 6 bottles in total- can be 3 or each)

A (very) long lunch at Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

As part of the 2014 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, it was a great pleasure to collaborate with  Damien, Daniel, Georgie, Lincoln and the team at Van Haandel and Comme to stage a french Long Lunch. The theme of the festival in 2014 was water and we spoke about the influence of the great rivers and Gironde estuary of the Bordeaux region in shaping terroir and the production of premium wines. Some great food and wine was served and everyone seemed to have a great afternoon! 




Luckily the weather was perfect and 85 people came along for this superb food and wine event in Alfred Place.

First up was the entrees: Baked Oysters, leeks, comté gruyere & Vin Jaune; Mussel and saffron soup, fennel, basil; Cassoulet of garlic snails. 

The oysters were washed down with the delicious Grand Bateau Bordeaux Blanc 2012 A semillon/sauvignon blend made by the grand cru team at Chateau Beycheville and given 91 points recently in the Courier Mail in Brisbane.



We then moved onto the ever popular Chateau La Rayre Bergerac Rosé 2012 which was great with the mussel soup and with the cassoulet (and on its own!) . It was a burst of colour and flavour! 



On to a platter of main courses. Squab, grapes, foie gras parfait. Beef, vol au vent, Bordelaise sauce. 2 delicious and inexpensive reds showing off the left and right bank of Bordeaux - Château Senilhac la Prade, 2009 and Château Truquet, 2011. (The Senilhac La Prade has now sold out, but something similar from the same excellent vintage is Chateau Haut-Belian 2009 )

Cheese platters arrived followed by desserts to share- madelines, canelé, lemon curd and cream. Dessert wine was poured- the delightful Chateau Le Pradey 2009 Sainte-Croix-du-Mont just across the Garonne river from Sauternes (but selling for a fraction of the price of Sauternes and Barsac wines).

Surprisingly, nobody was in a hurry to leave! 

For information on upcoming events, sign up for our monthly mailing list at info@discovervin.com.au or keep an eye on our events page.

Chateau Rollan de By 2006 served at Autumn French Dinner

Chateau Rollan de By was the feature wine at the Autumn French Dinner in Sydney.  

Chateau Rollan de By 2006 the perfect Bordeaux red served at the Autumn French Dinner

The wine was served with Rangers Valley Beef Tenderloin, field mushrooms, spinach, Paris Match, jus gras.

Staff from Cordon Bleu cooking school work to present Rangers Valley Beef Tenderloin.

Dinners thought the wine a perfect match for chef Guillaume Brahimi's tender beef.  
Robert Parker's review of the 2006 Chateau Rollan de By provides an evocative description of the wine.
"Sweet cassis fruit, cedar, tobacco leaf, licorice, and subtle smoke aromas are followed by a wine with impressive ripeness, medium body, and a long, lush, evolved, richly fruity finish. Consume this charming, sensual 2006 over the next decade. Good value." Available online.

The secret revealed.  The mystery venue for the Sydney Autumn French dinner was the dining hall at Saint Andrew's College, University of Sydney