Lagrezette Blog

In Canada, Lagrézette bets on Charton Hobbs

Since the beginning of the year, Château Lagrézette – greatly appreciated in Quebec, as Malbec wines ride a tail wind there – is represented by Charton Hobbs.

Jacques de la Giraudière, business manager of the Estate, explains the reasons for this decision and the stakes involved.

Jacques, can you remind us of the special feature in the Quebec market?

In Quebec, the retail wine trade is a government monopoly, exercised through the famous SAQ (French acronym for Quebec Liquor Company). It is SAQ that manages and supplies all the stores where people shop for their wine. It’s easy to understand what is at stake: being referenced by SAQ means large volumes of sales. The Even more so since the Canadian consumer is a connoisseur, well-informed and sensitive to the quality of the products. We thus felt that it was essential for us to be represented locally by a high-performing agent. Early in the year, we entrusted our brand to Charton Hobbs.

Can you specify this role of the agent?

Agents help present wines to SAQ, who decide whether or not to reference them. Moreover, the agent has a more standard role as distributor in the restaurant and catering industry. Under an agreement, the estate gives him exclusive agency rights. In other words, making the right choice is essential: the distributor also becomes a showcase, depending on his trademark portfolio. By choosing Charton Hobbs, which, for over 80 years, has been a major actor and enjoys an excellent reputation, we’re counting on strong collaboration and a shared enthusiasm. . Hopefully the future will prove us right. Finally, as Charton Hobbes is present throughout Canada, we hope they will help us develop in the English-speaking territories.…

Will this reinforcement of your presence in Quebec have an impact on the neighboring US market?

We are obviously present in the USA through our agent in New-York, Fredrick Wildman & Sons. But in North America communication takes place very fluidly. The reinforcement of our presence in Quebec will therefore have a positive impact on our wines, mainly in the Northeastern USA, Massachusetts, New-York, and in all those states that are culturally very close to the “old Europe”.

The Charton-Hobbs website: http://www.chartonhobbs.com/Home/

Advance sales: good buys or a fool’s bargain?

by AD Perrin The interview by Alain Dominique Perrin published in the “Revue des vins de France” (February issue) continues to stir up a storm. It is now the internet’s turn to take it up. Of course, we couldn’t be happier. A discussion of good wines on the web indicates that the cyber generations are also connecting with the pleasures of the table, and so much the better.

The french cooperative blog by the name of Bakchich Info scrutinizes the news in a spirit of independence and not without impertinence. Its editorial board includes french journalists whose freedom of speech is appreciated (Serge Faubert, Anne Giudicelli), libertarian agitators (Noel Gaudin, better known by the feared nickname of the Cream Pie Thrower), and impish cartoonists (Kerleroux).

Quite fittingly, the wine column, entitled “In Vino Veritas”, is entrusted to a gentleman by the name of Jean Pierre Bacchus; these days, he has mischievously and gleefully authored a grating piece on 2007’s advance sales in the Bordelais. The author quotes me in the very first lines, singling out some of my most acid words, which are likely to have been unpopular in the area...

“2007 will be plenty of fun, for the year is positively bad. The good folk of Bordeaux can say what they like. Will they try to sell at 500 euros a bottle? If there is any morality in the world of wine, the greatest of them should all drop below 100 euros”.

Bacchus issues no denial. Quite the contrary. He explains that advance sales used to allow consumers to have access to fine wines without spending a fortune before they became available at the wine cellar, that is, at lower prices. As for the owners, they would improve their cash position by selling earlier. Alas, this “win/win” strategy appears to be a thing of the past. Today, it usually backfires on the final customer, as Bacchus explains: “Today the wine lover is cheated, and Bordeaux’s chateaux and merchants pocket the profits. Many vintages deemed mediocre or average were overpriced in advance sales, only to turn up at rock bottom rates in supermarket wine fairs a few years later. Worse still, since the mythical 2000, speculation is raging. The owners of the greatest Bordeaux vineyards, who are only too glad to fleece not always well-informed Asian or Russian millionaires, now “forget” to adjust their prices according to the quality of the vintage.

As was the case for 2006, acceptable but no more than that, which sold for just a little less on an advance basis after the stratospheric rates hit by the superb 2005.” Wine lovers beware, therefore. Better take a second sip when the time comes...

When ADP tackles the Bordeaux…

By Alain Dominique Perrin

A recent interview in the magazine Vin de France caused a stir in "le Landerneau bordelais"… Alain Dominique Perrin stood up and pointed out the outrageous rates at which the "Great" Bordeaux wines are being sold today, including vintages that are, after all, qualified—out of kindness—as rather mediocre.

Whether they like it or not, I often stand up against the astronomical prices now charged for what they are calling the "great Bordeaux” wines. We should not forget that they were purchased in bulk 40 years ago… I remember very well buying magnums of Petrus, new wines, in 1975. I had paid 60 francs for them at the time. That might be 500 francs today, let’s say €80… Now, you can expect to pay €2,000! So there is a problem, right? Admittedly, quality has a price but beyond a certain amount, we are no longer talking about wine.

At Lagrézette, we work every day to produce an excellent wine but we will never produce a luxury item. That would be contrary to what I have believed in since the start: viz., offering a wine we are proud of at an honest price. I know luxury; I devoted the largest part of my working life to it. But I am fighting—and will continue to fight—to make sure wine remains a pleasure accessible to the greatest number of people.

Lagrézette in Paris!

It suddenly feels like spring…

From February 23 to March 2, the “Salon International de l’Agriculture” will stand in Paris, at Porte de Versailles.

Everyday from 9AM to 7PM (local time) we will be glad to welcome you on our stand, and it will be a perfect occasion to discover our brand new Château Lagrézette, 2005.

Come and meet us: Hall 7-2, allée S, stand 13.

See you there!

We wish you a happy new year

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Happy New Year to everyone!

May 2008 bring you happiness, peace and harmony... And let's enjoy the pleasures of life...

Two great Christmas gift ideas…

A set of the three most recent vintages from Lagrézette: a gift that is sure to be appreciated by any wine-lover...

2003, 2004 and 2005 are three choice vintages, each with its own character. All three can withstand a long cellaring. But the impatient wine-lovers among us can enjoy them without waiting; none of these three vintages is "closed". With an eye to associating the Estate's wines with the combination of elegance and audacity that marks today's best designers,

Alain Dominique Perrin had the idea to bring out a prestigious wine tote bag featuring the Château's coat of arms. He asked Alessandro Esteri, an Italian artist and designer, to create the bag. Elegant and non-conformist, the stylish tote bag holds a bottle of wine, and comes with two smoked glass tumblers.

Inspired by his Block and Wood Collection, Alessandro Esteri designed this bag using truly noble materials. The base is made from a block of cedar wood, worked by hand, and marked with the name Lagrézette. The upper part, wonderfully refined, is made from traditionally woven Italian linen. The black color evokes the beautiful robe of the Malbec grape. A delicate leather drawstring closes the top of the protective bag. A leather carrying strap completes the contemporary design. Interested in ordering these two gift ideas?

Just visit the Château's website: www.chateau-lagrezette.tm.fr

The Lagrézette designer tote bag, packaged in a gift box or already holding a bottle of Lagrézette wine, is produced in a limited edition. It is available in the Lagrézette wine stores and by mail for €135 (+ shipping charges).

Lagrézette and Michel Rolland

The other day we mentioned, here, Michel Rolland in connection with an article in La Revue du Vin de France.

Between Alain-Dominique Perrin, owner and operator of the estate, and this “man who revolutionized Saint-Emilion," a fine chemistry and understanding has developed over the years.

Rolland is not a "guru.” And Perrin is not someone who seeks out people to tell him what to think.

It’s merely that their passion for wine quickly proved to be both comparable and complementary. The consultant understood the winemaker’s hopes for his estate... And the winemaker put his confidence in him to help him fulfill them. With more than twenty years of expertise, he brought his philosophy to the Estate in the late 80’s; in particular in matters of growing practices, where he initiated Lagrézette into the techniques of thinning, leaf-pulling, and hand-harvesting. The man is anything but an eccentric. He operates under simple, proven, yet strict rules.

His message matches our ambition: to make great wines, you must first grow beautiful and healthy grapes...

“Good sense in advice,” “strictness in quality.” Michel Rolland also helped us make progress in terms of vinification techniques: cold maceration, alcoholic fermentation, warm maceration. When our new cellars were ready, in 1992, we put these techniques into practice.

Michel’s other great talent is decisive. It comes to light in the cellar at blending time. This man is super-gifted in tasting. He has a fantastic memory of everything he tastes. In his mind, through a sort of natural gift nourished through experience, a picture of the ideal blend takes shape. And this is how this great complicity with the proprietor came about. Perrin and he understand each other and their ideas fit together. Their shared taste allows Rolland to suggest blends which correspond to the wine maker’s ambitions.

Beautiful and healthy grapes will produce good wine. We produce less to produce better. We harvest at full maturity. Finally, the third contribution from Michel Rolland to our Estate comes from his global view, his international comprehension of the world of wines. He has a better grasp than most experts of the evolving tastes of the consumer. And so, thanks to him, although we remain close to Cahors, our vision is open to the outside, to the world. He is our guide and advisor. His expertise helps bring our ambitions to life.

For Lagrézette he is an invaluable ally, who will come back to see us in October, when the time is right for the harvest.

When Michel Rolland talks to Vin de France

In its special issue for June, 2007, La Revue du Vin de France carries, under the signatures of Denis Saverot and Olivier Poels, an interview with our friend Michel Rolland, who has been our consultant for nearly twenty years.  For the person described as the most famous oenologist in the world, it was the chance to settle a few scores and to shatter a few popular clichés.

Beginning with the rather unflattering image of him created by the documentary Mondovino, which became so famous... "This film was made by a fellow who is intelligent, but also mischievous," chides Michel, who one-by-one deconstructs the minor manipulations of the image, the extensive use of reverse angle shots, the very subjective sequences that the director, Jonathan Nossiter, insisted on filming himself, and then using in a rather slanted way. Reading his words, everyone grasps that there was clearly the intention on the part of its creator to invent for the screen a uniformly one-dimensional image: that of a distant, all-powerful, lordly man, a maker and destroyer of tastes and reputations. A long way, in short, from the Michel Rolland whom we know; a man passionate about his art, and far more nuanced than the film made him out to be ...

As he continues, our friend contradicts the received idea, - in large part owing to the claims in the film- according to which he reputedly imposes a single style everywhere: wines which are extroverted, massive, extremely - or even overly - concentrated. He then recalls a blind tasting. Experts had been gathered to distinguish between two wines: one by Michel, the other by his colleague Jean-Claude Berrouet. The wine found to be the more massive and rugged was unanimously, or nearly so, attributed to Michel Rolland, the more refined one to his colleague. All the experts, or nearly all, were in reality mistaken... demonstrating that in matters of wine, as in many other areas, our opinions and tastes are, whatever we may think, all too often influenced by preconceived notions and simple platitudes, which can long cloud our judgment.

And therein lays the true merit of this interview: reminding us in a quiet and dispassionate tone that an untruth, even repeated a hundred times, will no matter what remain what it is. False.