I’m writing this on the eve of one of the busiest weeks in the year. This weekend I’ll be at Prowein, the big wine fair in Düsseldorf, tasting an amazing collection of top Portuguese wines, old and new, and presenting an array of German rarities.
All next week Julia and I will be blackening our teeth and gums with baby bordeaux as usual – this time from the controversial 2008 vintage. How will it be priced, I wonder? Is it really as good as the Bordelais are assuring us? The first question, I would submit, is at least as important as the second.
On our return we’ll be reporting in detail with hundreds of tasting notes so that members of purple pages can decide – if the Bordelais announce a steep fall in their prices as some believe – what might be worth buying.
And then the weekend after next I’ll be at the Vinitaly wine fair in Verona (if Air France and a tricky connection in Paris can get me there), co-hosting a presentation to celebrate 150 years of Gaja of Barbaresco (getting a word in edgeways with Angelo Gaja on stage will be the chief challenge) and presenting a tasting of great Rieslings from around the world.
So, there will be a great deal to report on, but next week Julia and I will not be able to spend nearly as much time on the site as the hours we usually put in.
Please bear this in mind, especially re posts on the forum to which we may not be able to reply for some time, so crammed is our Bordeaux schedule.(I certainly won't be looking as calm as in this picture.)
We will however endeavour to keep you titillated with a steady stream of articles, tasting notes and – who knows? – the most up-to-date gossip from Bordeaux.