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2009 Château Fleur Cardinale

23/03/2012 Jozef Schildermans 0

2009 Château Fleur Cardinale – France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (3/9/2012) Bordeaux made in Chateauneuf or Napa Valley? Well, it’s mostly Merlot, so more Napa than CDP… It is well balanced, but has 15% alcohol (at least) and could’ve been made almost anywhere. It is tasty, the tannins are sweet, everything is in balance, it is very fruit-driven, > Read more …

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Bordeaux-prices go through the roof

22/06/2010 Jozef Schildermans 0

It seems that we can write this article every year during the “en primeur” campaign in Bordeaux. But 2009 “en primeur” prices for Bordeaux wines really are stratospherically high. Editor Michael Carpentier summarized it thus in a recent e-mail: Montrose 2009 costs as much as Mission or Mouton 2008 La Lagune 2009 = Clinet 2008 Haut Bailly 2009 = Las > Read more …

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Robert Parker Blesses Vintage 2009

14/10/2009 Jozef Schildermans 0

In his first e-mailnewsletter for subscribers of eRobertParker.com the influential American wine critic Robert Parker (left on the photo) writes very positive about vintage 2009 in France. Parker writes that in thirty years that he visited France in the autumn he has never experienced better weather than during the critical harvest months of August, September and the first half of > Read more …

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French harvest 2009: better and more

15/09/2009 Jozef Schildermans 0

The harvest has begun in the vast majority of French vineyards. Thanks to a hot and dry summer 2009 is expected to be a plentiful vintage of high quality. Expectations are that French vintners will harvest more grapes than in 2008, but less grapes than predicted by the five or ten years averages. In Bordeaux, hopes are high for a > Read more …

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Bordeaux prepares for a repeat of 2005

27/08/2009 Jozef Schildermans 0

Wine producers in Bordeaux are optimistic about the quality of the harvest in 2009. Comparisons are made with 2005, one of the best vintages in recent decades. After the hot summer everything is well on its way to a perfect Bordeaux harvest. In May and early June the weather was not quite ideal, but from mid June to today Bordeaux > Read more …