Red Obsession Page #2

what was going on in the

world when that wine was made

and, in particular, a

story about the place

and the land and the weather.

It's more than a manufactured

or agricultural product,

it's something closer to a miracle.

A miraculous wine

is only achieved when temperature, rain,

sun and wind are delivered

in exact proportions.

In 100 years, you

might get five or six

legendary type of vintages.

So just in recent memory,

1961 was an absolutely

brilliant vintage for Bordeaux.

The next after that, possibly...

well, in fact, is 1982.

And after that, 2009.

But this year may rewrite

the Bordeaux history books.

Producers and critics alike

are predicting that the 2010

will be another perfect vintage.

After the harvest of

2010, we realized that,

yes, 2010 should be

such an extraordinary -

not just great

- but such an extraordinary vintage as '09.

And I just told myself,

"But how will we be able

to tell that to people?"

Because last year I had personally told

that I would probably not see that again

in my professional life.

This is an extraordinary coincidence

of perfect climatic conditions.

Each year in early spring,

the Bordeaux wine producers

host an event called 'En Primeur'.

Here, like the catwalk at Milan,

the new season's wines

are paraded before

the most powerful and influential

journalists and critics

in the wine world.

A great wine just drills down

into your psyche and your perceptions

and strikes a chord,

and... you know, it's

like some brass instrument,

it just goes "Ding,

ding, ding, ding, ding,"

and then... bingo, it's great!

And you respond in a very sensual way.

As soon as you have to use words

to describe your sensation,

you use words in a part of your brain

which is linked to your memory,

to your history, to your

taste, to your education.

In my brain, because it's

my background, it's music.

This is like a voice, a wine.

It's like an instrument

with what we call a 'timbre',

which is different...

A Steinway has not the same...

That's the difference

between a Lafite and a Latour,

between a Guarnerius and a Stradivarius.

My perception is like that.

I hear the wine, I don't smell.

I can tell you about

my first ever Bordeaux

and I'm still getting

memory from it now.

It was when I was a

student, all those years ago.

I'm still getting the pleasure

from that bottle of wine.

It was as though you'd got

a distillation of

something in this glass

which we know came from fruit,

but all the fruit had long since gone.

You were just left with this

ethereal, dreamy experience -

and it was a revelation!

Offering a wine En Primeur,

which basically means

you are offering a wine

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