Mr Stein on the sorting table at Chateau Bauduc.

After we put up this pic on Facebook, our brother-in-law Justin suggested we should have a caption competition for the photo of us all on the sorting table. Rick with Tom, Gavin, Angela and Sophie, sorting Cabernet Sauvignon. You can be as rude as you wish, within reason. You can enter by commenting here, or email gavin at bauduc dot com, go to our Facebook page, tweet us @ChateauBauduc or comment on Instagram @ChateauBauduc. The winner and the runner-up will receive a case of 12 and a 6-pack respectively (UK delivery only, sorry). Closing date midnight, Tuesday 2 November.

Update to announce the winners: Thank you to everyone who entered.

The winner: “This looks like an excellent year: let’s keep it away from Ramsay.” Frank Jackson, The Connemara.

Runner-up: “Some of the younger chefs are more familiar with snorting tables.” Tim Atkin MW.

Sorry, Tim’s line is totally unsuitable but it made us laugh. Keep reading

First day, 6 o’clock start, really chilly

We started picking our reds yesterday. We’ve been really lucky with the weather – the whites were harvested during a lovely second week of September, with dry, chilly mornings and sunny, warm days. It then rained on and off for a week, and our enthusiasm might have been seriously dampened if it had carried on like that. The sun came back though on the 20th, and the last week has been glorious.

The first parcel was a block of Merlot on gravel and clay soils. We machine harvested early and hand picked later to test the difference. Harvesting by machine before the light comes up allows us to give the juice and the grapes a ‘cold soak’ for several days before fermentation, without having to chill the grapes down by other means, for slightly better extraction of colour and flavour.

Keep reading

Customers can come to the Château by prior arrangement and we do apologise if we haven’t been able to slot you in of late. We have many visitors from the UK and originally we didn’t feel we could entertain large parties. However, we’ve found that Wine Societies travelling by coach from England are most welcome, as is anyone with a large boot space looking to benefit from cellar door prices. Do please book ahead. Keep reading

We were delighted to catch up with Gordon Ramsay last week at the launch of his new restaurant in Bordeaux, Le Pressoir d’Argent. He was on fine form and looking fit for his forthcoming Ironman challenge (not something we know much about) and many of his London team were there.

Clare Smyth, the three Michelin star chef from his eponymous restaurant in Chelsea, gave us a tour of the impressive kitchen, along with our old friend Stuart, the group MD, and Nicolas, the Food and Beverage Director, and Angelika, the wine co-ordinator in London.

Talking of wine, as you do, I was quoted by the Telegraph’s Henry Samuel in his article about English sparkling wine being served in Bordeaux at Le Pressoir. “The reality is that I don’t think the French would order one” I said, “but would be very happy to be served one if somebody else is buying because they’re quite conservative. There will be curiosity to try it.” Keep reading

They’re green, not white

We’ve never seen such clean-looking, healthy white grapes as this year’s crop. That’s not to say that they’ll make the best wine we’ve made (we’ll have to see) but, every vintage until now, we’ve had a small team of trainees and wannabe winemakers who are put to work in the vines at the last minute, trimming off any rot or blemished grapes.

This year, there’s been nothing of the sort, so to speak. Keep reading