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me at french orange me at french orange is offline
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Default Thursday Business Lunch

Hi Kyle,

This is very odd.

On Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:53:21 +0100, Kyle >
wrote:

>I'll tell you only that the wine was 2008,


Not if it was Ch L'Angelus. I live in France and because I was
curious, I phoned up the Chateau. The wine is not released for sale
yet. So either you had a phony or you're mistaken as to the name or
the year.

What happens with good wines from Bordeaux is that in general they go
into barrels towards the end of the year in which the grapes were
picked. Sometimes earlier sometimes later, dependng on all sorts of
factors.

Then the following spring, samples are produced for the trade to
taste. These are wines blended for the occasion, drawn from barrels,
they may or may not reflect accurately what the final wine will be
like. OIn the basis of these tastings, the owners start offering their
wines to the trade "en primeur". Basically a trader (negociant,
importer etc) can buy an option. The first lot is usually offered at
the chateau owner's estimate as to what she thinks is fair. Depending
on what happens, subsequent lots are sold off at higher or lower
prices. As Andrew says, this is a notional sale. Part of the money
changes hands, but NO wine is delivered. This allows the winery to
recover some of the short term costs (barrels etc).

On the basis of the price the negociants have paid, these negociants
will offer "futures", sometimes as early as the summer following the
vintage. This may be to selected large retail customers or more often
to shops. Again, part of the money (sometimes all) is paid up front,
but no wine changes hands. The wne remains in barrel, being racked
and tasted regularly.

Finally, sometime between March and September, the final blend is
created and after being assembled in large vats, it is bottled. These
bottles are often kept at the estate for a short while to before being
labelled, boxed and sent out. I've never heard of a good wine from
Bordeaux being released before the summer two years after the vintage,
but it could hypothetically be released straight after bottling. But
with great respect to you, Ch Angelus is not available as yet
ANYWHERE.

I do hope that's adequately clear.

All the best
Fatty in Forges
http://www.souvigne.com