Unique buying trip to Bordeaux
Once again I was invited last month to join some old friends in the trade for the Yorkshire and North East Wine and Spirit Association annual luncheon which was held in Leeds. It was the swan song for a dear friend of mine Bill Ridley. He was standing down as the Secretary for the association, a post he has held for many years after being chairman in 1998, 1999.
Bill used to be the buyer for Vaux Brewery in Sunderland before it closed down in 1999, which also had Blaneys’ Wine shops and Swallow Hotels under its wings. Bill was responsible for selecting the wines for the entire group. I
was very pleased as through many of my principles Bill chose a number of his wines including the very popular house wine for the Hotels and 550 odd pubs. The various wines came from Yvon Mau in Bordeaux, George Blanc in Burgundy, Mousset in the RhoneValley, and Caves Languedoc Roussillon in the south and Les Cotes d’olt in Cahors.
Through the company Bill had the use of the company plane ,in order for him and his team to visit his many wine suppliers around Europe,so once a year he would fly down from Newcastle pick me up at either Northolt or Denham and off we would fly with their in house pilot the very debonair Julian who could quite easily of been a bond character .I have to say on looking back what a way to travel ,bit different these days with all the security etc and having to be at the airport at least two hours in advance I can recall many memorable experiences.
The first that springs to mind was that we were on a trip to Bordeaux and after a while into the flight, Julian radioed ahead ,only to be told the weather was closing in and therefore we might have a few problems landing ,so he said “right chaps change of plan ,we will have to land in Nantes wait for the weather to clear ahead ,so lets have a spot of lunch at the airport ,“ so that’s exactly what we did ,mind you it was not a light lunch as we were in the Lorie valley we had some great seafood washed down with a few bottles of Muscadet ,poor old Julian had to make do with water!!!! Suddenly a message came through to Julian and we had to take off pretty sharpish carrying our desserts to the plane!!! Once airborne Bill and I had a snooze while Julian took us to Bordeaux, considering the weather he touched down beautifully. We then headed for the hotel which would be our base for the following three nights in Langon ,Hotel and Restaurant Claude Darroze,which I might add was and still is I believe Michelin starred., famous for its Lamproie and its warm foie gras which is to die for.
During the stay we spent a considerable amount of time in the tasting room at the cellars of Yvon Mau, blending the wines with Bill and the Wine maker specially for the consumers of the Vaux Group, as they were based in the North East, as at the time they had a slightly sweeter palate, than say consumers in the London area. Plus we incorporated a visit up the Medoc, including Chateau Beychevelle, as it was one of Bills favourite wines,. On the second evening we were invited for dinner at Michelle Mau’s house where we were regally welcomed by the Mau family and he opened up various old bottles of .Grand Crus Classe wines. I hate to think of the cost of those bottles today. The following morning it was back in the tasting room tasting the complete range of Vaux’s Bordeaux wines before heading off to St Emillion and Pomerol for a visit to Canon la Gaffeliere and Ch Taillefer.
On the last day we only had timer for a quick visit to Sauternes and Barsac, before heading back to the airport needless to say the plane was a little heavier going back as Bill had asked for so many samples to take back to Sunderland, They dropt me off in Denham, have to say not a bad taxi service. One I could thoroughly recommend if you fancy flying in a small Turbo Prop or Lear Jet it is one of the services that we can provide at SmoothRed.
As for the excellent food and wine at the Annual Luncheon I will put the Menu on the Blog later.