On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Steve from Mendocino
The second half of my collection of French winery photos. It would be interesting to revisit these wineries today to see if they’ve commercialized the visits as they have here in California with tasting bar and purchased samples in a glass. In 1970 you’d just wander in until you found someone, typically the cellarmaster/winemaker. The cellar master would stick a giant eye dropper into the hole at the top of the barrel and lift a bit of wine to be deposited in a glass which would be talked about and discussed.
The cellars of Louis Latour in Burgundy, 50 years ago. Latour is one of the better Burgundy wineries, although small. Most everything is small in Burgundy, and the vineyard land is some of the most expensive property on the planet.
Two of the top 20 Bordeaux wines are Cos D’Estournel and Brane Cantenac. 1969 was a poor year in Bordeaux, and here we have a truck loaded with barrels of the former that has stopped to pick up barrels from the latter to be sent off to Copenhagen. In most years, essentially all the wine is bottled before leaving the winery, but in lesser years like ’69, it is sold off in bulk. These barrels will presumably be delivered to restaurants in Denmark to be by the pitcher.
The classic view of Chateau Margaux with the property’s fence. Margaux was rated at the top of the Bordeaux wines in the 1970 vintage, and I bought futures on a case of that wine. Unfortunately, after 5 years it collapsed, becoming small and uninteresting. My other 70’s remained outstanding. My big regret was that I never tasted the Margaux during the period when it was looking so good.
The cellars of Chateau Margaux. These are barrels of 1970 Chateau Margaux. Note the raw wood on the outside thirds of the barrel. At the time of the photograph only first growth Bordeaux used new wood with each vintage and only the mid section was colored by wine as the barrel as the barrel was topped up to replace wine which had evaporated. Lesser chateaux would wash and reuse barrels after a vintage was bottled and the coloring was a uniform brown.
Chateau Cheval Blanc. This property is located “across the river” and was not included in the 1855 classification. It is considered one of the handful of very best of Bordeaux and is priced accordingly. I never focused on it during the period when I was building my cellar and have only tasted it twice. Needless to say, it was a delight.
Just south of the Bordeaux reds is the region of Sauterne, a wonderful sweet wine that relies on a mold, the “noble rot,” to concentrate the flavors and add its own distinctive taste. It was commonly referred to as a “dessert wine,” but I was told during my visit that locals drink it with everything EXCEPT dessert. It’s a late harvest category of wine and as a result produced excellent wine in 1969 because it remained on the vines when the reds were fully ripe and ruined by the rains. This is Chateau Rayne Vigneau.
Chateau Suduiraut in Sauterne.
Chateau Yquem is the recognized best Sauterne, year in and year out, and is priced accordingly. I borrowed $127 from my brother in 1971 to buy a case of 12 bottles of 69 Yquem. These days the price is upwards of $400 a bottle.
Lapassionara
Thanks for posting these lovely photos.
p.a.
Great stuff. Wonder if there’s a French version(s) of UCal Davis and the agri-land grant Universities of the US doing state sponsored research and outreach to the wine industry?
No name
Beautiful area. Your comment reminded me that my French mother served Sauternes with shellfish dishes, never with dessert.
stinger
Sounds like you don’t watch Rick Steves’ Europe on PBS. They are, indeed, commercialized with tours and tastings and sometimes a B&B.
Gorgeous, gorgeous photos! Thanks!
Mathguy
Terrific photos! It’s interesting to hear from someone that got into wine before it went crazy in the 1980s and 90s and prices started to get eye watering (I blame Parker). I remember wandering through Spec’s in Houston in 1993 as I was finishing grad school and seeing all the 1990 first growths priced at $70/btl, though d’Yquem was arguably more expensive then than now at $250/btl. Lafite now will set you back 1100 for the 1990.
JMG
My daughter works for one of the Bordeaux negociants (middlemen between wineries and wine wholesalers/retailers). She sells this stuff for a living. It’s a weird world. To answer p.a.’s question, not only does France have several equivalent research schools like UC Davis, my daughter went to Bordeaux’s wine management and marketing graduate school. Across the street from it was a school for sommeliers.
Albatrossity
Wow. Green with envy here! Those are some of the great wines of the world, and almost impossible to afford today!
Steve from Mendocino
@p.a.: I know there was one, the UFR d’Oenologie, but it was unclear if that changed in 2003. Knowing the French there is at least one and possibly multiple facilities in the country that do research and teaching on the subject.
stinger
Dog, I could make screen savers or (actual) wallpaper out of these images!
Chief Oshkosh
Boy do these photos bring back memories. Thank you for posting them. My wife and I were lucky enough to visit several vineyards in Provence in the early 90s, and they were as you describe for the Bordeaux region in the 70s. We’d just wander in and have a taste. We also visited Sonoma vValley vineyards just before they went almost totally “commercial” and then a few years later had the same experience in the Willamette Valley. There’s still plenty of more-and-pop places in all of these regions, even in Napa, but the overall atmosphere changes, as it must, once a certain level of success is achieved in a region.
J R in WV
We spent a week in Italy’s Chianti district / state, and indeed the vineyards there do fancy tastings by appointment, they open bottles, IIRC from intro level wines up to the best bottles.
Tours of the machinery, the giant barrels in cellars, etc. We visited big commercial facilities, as well as tiny farms that did wine, vinegar, truffle this-and-that, cooking school classes, etc. There appeared to be no bad wine in Italy. It was all great, as was the food.
Love these pictures also too, thanks!