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Monday, November 7, 2011

Wonderful wines tasting experiences - Megavino Brussels 2011


On Saturday 22nd October my wife and I spent couple of hours at Megavino (http://www.megavino.be/fr/).

We were lucky enough to stop at the right booth as we were given the chance to meet passionate wine makers. They gave us the opportunity to taste their wines and share with us their passion. We learned a lot and enjoyed discussing with them as well as discovering wines that are true expression of their respective "terroir". 



We started with a trio of wines tasted with Mrs. Prisette (Rol Valentin, see below)...




3 splendid reds from Bordeaux: Pomerol, Saint-Emilion, Pessac-Léognan

Foreword: below 3 Bordeaux wines are exceptional, not that well-known except Brown. Some are still more or less affordable. The quality achieved benefits from the relatively small vineyards surfaces that make it possible to have almost each wine making step done by hand. Some of them are even called “garage” wines by some wine critics (making a parallel with Burgundy parceling). Putting aside this polemic, I’ll only focus on the tasting experience. Still, not sure that this passionate wine makers will longer resist fairy tales told by some profit oriented partners!. So, you maybe have a thin time slot to buy some bottles before prices skyrocket (too late?)!

N°23- Château le Vieux Taillefer - Pomerol - France
Origin : France
AOC : Pomerol
Vine : 100% Merlot
Wine grower : Catherine et philippe Cohen
Type : Red
Vintage : 2009
Comments
Wonderful from head to toe. Maybe the best wine I have ever tasted.

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N°22- Château Brown (red and white) - Pessac Léognan - France
Origin : France
AOC : Pessac Léognan
Vine : 55% cabernet Sauvignon – 40% Merlot – 5% Petit Verdot 

Wine grower : Jean-Christophe Mau
Type : Red

Vintage : 2007
Comments :
Amazing!

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Location :
http://g.co/maps/8enr2

N°21- Château Rol Valentin - Saint Emilion Grand Cru - France
Origin : France
AOC : Pessac Léognan
Vine : 90% cabernet Sauvignon – 10% Merlot
Wine grower : Mr & Mrs Prisette
Type : Red
Vintage : 2009
Comments :
Maybe the most impressive nose I have ever experienced so far in all my tasting experiences!
I would like to give a special reward to Mrs. Prisette (spouse of Mr. Prisette, owner of Rol Valentin) who very gently walks us through tasting Vieux Taillefer, Brown and Rol Valentin without mentioning at any step that she was Rol Valentin wine maker. Thank you very much for your time, true kindness and modesty. You wine does reflect it all!

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Location :
http://g.co/maps/nenhf

...then, we continued with another trio tasted with Mr. Pierre-Jean Sauvion















N°20- Jardins Secrets Brut 00 - Muscadet - France
 
Origin : France 
AOC : Muscadet
Vine : 100% melon de bourgogne
Wine grower : Mr. Pierre-Jean Sauvion
Type : Red
Vintage : 
Comments :
Once again, we have had the chance to meet another wine magician in the name of Pierre-Jean Sauvion. A passionate and highly interesting personnage!
We first tasted his Jardins Secrets. Ouahh!
Once Pierre-Jean poured the wine into our glasses we knew that were about to make a nice discovery and have a memorable tasting. Only but True!
It was a unique tasting experience starting with an exciting nose, continuing with a well-balanced body and finishing with a fresh and tasty taste. 
What's unique about this wine? A perfect equilibrium that distinguishes top wines like this from the rest of wannabe's.
If you allow me a metaphor : the most important Key Factor of Success for a company is to have all employees implementing action plans that are aligned with the overall strategy decided by the top management. But, it takes a great deal of passion and vision for managers to explain and transmit this message throughout the company organization. Few are succeeding, but, when success happens, it's no surprise as consumers “feel the passion” as well. Wine making is nothing but the same. Throughout the years, visionary and passionate wine makers are seamlessly communicating their "strategy" to their teams in order to reach the quality early envisioned. Each step is thought and double checked before being implemented. To be sure that it's in line with the wine makers expectations: to deliver a top quality wine after a long and difficult process. Only hard work pays!
Jardins Secrets is the result of such a vision!

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Location :
http://g.co/maps/8fm9g

N°19- Château de Fesles - Bonnezeaux - France 

Origin : France
AOC : Bonnezeaux
Vine : Chenin Blanc
Wine grower : Mr. Pierre-Jean Sauvion
Type : Red
Vintage : 
Comments :
We were lucky enough as Pierre-Jean made us a favor by allowing us to taste a wonderful Bonnezeaux (Chateau De Fesles).
Bonnezeaux is a sweet white wine, made out of Chenin Blanc grape. Chenin Blanc is my favorite white grape delivering "jewel like" white wines. Here again, the result is perfect. 1 advise I'd to give you: next time you want to go for a sweet wine, forget just once about Mombazillac, Sauternes, Cadillac and others Bordeaux. Instead, propose to your lucky guest a sweet wine from Loire Valley: Montlouis, Bonnezeaux, Côteaux du Layon, Quart De Chaume, Côteaux de l'Aubance. Why am I making such statement: these wines are wonderfully well-balanced and less overwhelming than Bordeaux sweet wines. Bordeaux sweet wines tend to hide the taste of the meal they are accompanied with. Furthermore, they tend to be cheaper than Bordeaux ones, the benefit of having a lower profile!
Chateau de Fesle for sure has to be on your list!

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Location :
http://g.co/maps/w979g


N°18- Agnus - Brazil
Origin : Brazil
AOC : Encruzilhada do Sul – Serra do Sudoeste
Vine : Merlot
Wine grower : Lidio Carraro Vinícola Boutique
Type : Red


Vintage : 

Comments :

I never tasted a wine from Brazil before.

I was pleasantly surprised by this Merlot. A bit short in the end, but worth a nice diner.
Aside of this interesting wine tasting, I also noted the elegant shape of the bottle and the neat labeling allowing consumer to quickly get the message and, helping them to keep the brand in mind next time they'll be looking for the bottle on a wine store shelf. Once again, effective efforts are being made on marketing aspect too much forgot by French wine makers!

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Location :
http://g.co/maps/8adk3