Finally! Since the day I left Bordeaux I've been dying for a glass of French paradise. Yesterday, Mathieu, author of French Wine World, had us invited to Total Wine's Bordeaux Wine Tasting Event at Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. Now if there are two things I love it's a glass of Bordeaux and my toes in the sand.
Over 80 châteaux traveled from the Southwest of France to show their 2012 vintage. The event started at 2 p.m. and ended at 5 p.m., with a turnout of several hundred people. Appellations including Pauillac, Margaux, Graves/Pessac Leognan, Pomerol, St. Emilion, St. Estephe, St. Julien, Sauternes/ Barsac, Haut Medoc, and Medoc flooded the venue.
Liv Nightclub was beautifully set-up for the wine tasting, organizing the châteaux by region, and providing enough space for all of the guests and wine producers. I wish we had been able to spend more time at the end, tasting the white wines, but there was such a great atmosphere that much of the time was spent conversing. Importers, exporters, distributers, and wine-lovers traveled from all over the world to attend the Union de Grand Crus de Bordeaux event. For the first time in Miami, I was speaking more French than anything!
Although the first class grand crus such as Châteaux Margaux and Mouton Rothschild were not present, there were many second class grand crus present. Put more simply, the #1 wines of Bordeaux were not there. This does not degrade the second level what-so-ever as they are still delicious and prestigious wines. My favorite of the day was the 2012 Château Clos Fourtet.

The UCG event did not only take place in Miami this year, but also Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Denver. All cities that are heavy populated with wine-o's. It was $150/each to attend (thankfully we were invited!), but well worth the price. There was not enough time to taste all of the wines, however, it was bliss in itself to be surrounded by grand crus again! It also was pleasant to be able to take a walk on the beach before it started.
For those who wish to attend the event next year, make sure you do so ahead of time. This was a fully reserved wine-tasting at Fontainebleau. It is a fully english-speaking event, so don't be discouraged by the name! To find information on further wine events held by Total Wine or the UGC, be sure to click the links.

The Union des grands Crus de Bordeaux, basically the big leagues of wine held its first day of Les Primeurs de 2013. In normal people words it is an event debuting the new bottles of Bordeaux wine from 2013. Mathieu and his dad, Jean-Claude (super French right?), work for themselves as Vins Fins Rudelle. I came as their own personal press ;)

I'm not going to talk about the wines themselves, because I mostly just know how to drink them; however if you really want a knowledgable review of the wines this week visit Mathieu's wine blog. I'll be covering the event in itself.
Today we went to the appellations of St. Emilion and Pomerol. The two areas are gorgeous, I mean 100% worth seeing in the summer when the vineyards are in bloom and you have a convertible to cruise around in. The châteaux are gorgeous and the wine is even better, but it will definitely cost you.
Château La Dominique was the first stop. It was PACKED with people from all over the world. The 2013 vintage is too young, so you aren't exactly coming to this event to taste unbelievable wines. This is an invite-only event for business men and women to seek out the vintages they'll sell in the future. They won't even receive it for 2 years after purchase.

Château La Dominique

My passion is not wine, but eating? This is what I looked forward to. More than anything I looked forward to cheese and dessert. You have to know that at château wine tastings the food is undoubtably going to be good..and it was. The buffet consisted of just about everything I ever wanted.
We ate on a grande terrace and it was a million dollar view (ha! try 20 million). The weather was gorgeous today too so not to brag or anything but it was pretty much awesome. Thank you Union des Grands Crus for the invite.

Château Gazin

Our second stop was Château Gazin in Pomerol. It was a cute château to visit, and their wine is great, but the very few châteaux offered here were pretty bad. I'm not even a merchant and I was disappointed just about as much as Mat and Jean-Claude. So that's basically all I have to say about that hour of my life.

Château Angelus

Château Angelus was not even on our list, and we weren't on their's either. Jean-Claude, however, is like the president and just manages to get us in everywhere. So here we were back in St. Emilion tasting 20 more wines. This time, however, they were MUCH better.

I know there are some people in the world who say money isn't everything, but I'm almost positive that if you drop a box full of cash on their doorstep they'd gladly accept. I, for one, would like to receive the box that makes me wealthy enough to buy the ever-so-classy Château de la Rivière.

I started off my first day as a 23-year-old tasting wine at Château Palmer...not too shabby if I do say so myself. It has been the one vineyard I have been head over heals for since day one in Bordeaux. Located in the Margaux appellation, and a classified as one of the Third Growths of wine here, it's some pretty fancy shmancy stuff.
The wine is great, actually it's fantastic. We tried a 2008 Alter Ego de Palmer, and 2004 Grand Cru Château Palmer vintage.The Alto Ego is the lesser of the too, but quite frankly I'm more on the fruity-lovin' side so I would much rather pay the 90 euros for that over 200 euros for the other.
What was cute about the vineyard was the little village they created. There are around five families living on the property that work for Château Palmer. Everyone was on a first name, cheek kissing basis.
If you're into the whole organic scene you might like the fact that starting in 2014 the vineyard went entirely bio, aka chemical-free. They have an on-site oenologist (scientist who works with wine) testing out all of the possibilities. This window at the end is his laboratory.
The woman who gave us the tour was extremely attentive, nice, and to my advantage, bilingual. She was just beaming with info and was even willing to do a little photo-shoot of Mathieu and I in front of the château. It was a breath of fresh air compared to some of the other vineyard tours in which they force-feed you facts like a robot and send you on your way.
The visit was overall really great. Mat, whom knows Bordeaux wine like the back of his hand, gave it a total thumbs up. Get ready all you Floridians, because when this handsome wine merchant comes to Tampa, Château Palmer will be your new bff.

So the same day I was at Château Cos d'Estournel, I also got to check out Château Pontet Canet (I swear I'm not a lush). They were about as opposite as Barbra Streisand and Lady Gaga. This beautiful, classic château does everything by the books, and then some. It is entirely old school.
Château Pontet Canet makes an organic wine. They're in the Medoc region of France and have been around since 1750. It's got a pretty great rep.
So I think the château didn't book correctly because we ended up getting the visitor tour with another visitor. Now Mat's the merchant, not me, so I don't care but he explained that visitors get the poorer vintages (keep note of this if you visit).
Regardless, the wine is good. Not just because it's part of the grand cru classé but because they really take time to make it properly.
There's even horses who walk the soil, instead of the giant machines that ruin it. It's seriously organic. And this horse was not one to mess with; His name is surprise. You can see it really suits him by the look on his face huh?
The tour guide explained (in French) how this is a unique barrel to age the wine. Mathieu and I are still not sure of it's effectiveness, or why it benefits the wine, but I'll take her word for it.
The barrels here are so beautiful and classic. The set up is exactly how you picture a winery in the French countryside.
As for the tasting..the most important part ay? The bottle had definitely been opened earlier in the day. The smell was great, the taste was great, the aftertaste....like a sour patch kid. I've never quite experienced that but it wasn't the best thing in the world.
At the end of the tour the first page I opened to was someone from my hometown. Shoutout to Jodi and Gary Nack! I don't know you but I just might Facebook you this pic.

The perks of dating a French wine merchant: wine tastings on any given day. Yesterday we went to Cos D'Estournel, the Taj Mahal of vino. I've seen this château before and wasn't really impressed by it, in fact it didn't attract me whatsoever, but until yesterday when I saw the interior...sweet baby Jesus of wine, it blew my mind. It was 100% worth playing hooky over.

I'll give you the quick story: Louis-Gaspard D'Estournel buys the perfect land in St. Estèphe in 1790, ends up selling great wine all over the world to some of the most wealthiest rulers, builds a château inspired by India, and dies before any of it was really recognized. Ouch..