▻ The Connoisseur Week 2025
With Sarah Kemp & Jane Anson
Episode Summary:-
Once a year, Jane Anson and Sarah Kemp organise a very special week for wine lovers, in Bordeaux: The Connoisseur Week. In this podcast, they look back on this year’s trip, and discuss the châteaux they visited, and the many memorable wines they drank. They both admit it is their favourite week of the year, and because they taste so many extraordinary wines Sarah warns listeners that they might want to turn off, as it sounds like wine porn! However, at a time when there is a lot of negative chatter around Bordeaux, Jane and Sarah agree that Bordeaux continues to deliver incredible enjoyment and that the region has delivered stunning wines throughout history. Sarah points out another advantage of the region: the ability to share the experience with other wine lovers over time, as in general the wines are made in sufficient quantity for wine lovers across the world to have them in their cellars.
The opening dinner was held at the beautiful Château Haut-Bailly, where Bordeaux’s most gracious host, Véronique Sanders, served five decades of Haut-Bailly: 2016, 2009, 1996, 1983 and 1970. The standout wine for Jane was the 1983, poured in magnum, but Sarah and Jane agreed the 2016 was exceptional and though still very young, for Jane a100-point wine. A tour around the new cellar, its garden on top now an intrinsic part of the landscape, made for a magical opening dinner with one of Bordeaux’s most loved estates and directors.
The next day, Château d’Yquem’s delightful estate director, Lorenzo Pasquini, proved the versatility of Sauternes with an imaginative menu designed by chef Olivier Brulard. He explained how the 2022 was nearly not made – it was the estate’s first organic vintage, and the conditions were challenging. He decided to go ahead, and the result was certainly worth it, with the 2022 showing an intense aromatic nose of candied orange and peonies, on the palate a voluptuous richness of apricot and pineapple underpinned by a streak of acidity with a delicious saline finish. The lunch included Y 2023, and Yquem 2013, matched with filet of turbot, 2005 with cheese, and the 1989 with a dish concocted from pineapple and mango, which showed the 1989 off to perfection.
Hard act to follow, Jane and Sarah agreed, unless you are Jean-Philippe Delmas, third-generation estate director at Châteaux Haut-Brion and Mission Haut-Brion. How often do you get to enjoy tasting Haut-Brion and Mission Haut-Brion side-by-side? The dinner commenced with a pair of 2017 Blancs in magnum, with the guests split on which estate they preferred. It was tough to move on, but then came La Mission Haut-Brion 2000 and Haut-Brion 1998 matched with a Chateaubriand de Boeuf d’Aquitaine. One of those moments when the clocks could stop. Sarah’s tasting note on the Haut-Brion starts “insanely beautiful,” a true classic and one of the wines of the week. Mission and Haut Brion 2005s with the cheese, followed by a bright, uplifted 2015 Château Quintus brilliantly finished off an unforgettable evening. Full tasting notes can be found on www.janeanson.com
As Jane points out, “We do our best every year to take people to see properties that we love, with people who are going to be welcoming, and who are the opposite of the image some people have of Bordeaux as being closed or stand-offish.” And there could not be a more welcoming host than Aymeric de Gironde at Château Troplong Mondot, which has for the past four years also been our “home” on the Right Bank. Troplong Mondot’s stunning house overlooks the vineyards of Saint-Emilion, and with its rose strewn pool, is an idyllic place to base the guests for the Right Bank part of the week.
Aymeric de Girone hosted lunch followed by a tasting of three vintages, 2015, 2018 and 2019. He explained how the 2015 and 2018 had similar weather patterns, same amount of rain, same amount of sun. Sarah’s favourite vintage was the 2019, with its power, purity and precision. Later in the week, the guests enjoyed magnums of 2005 and 1983, with the 1983 demonstrating the ability of this château’s wines to age beautifully.
“I don’t think there is anything more special than standing next to Christian Moueix in a vineyard and hearing him talk,” Sarah admits to Jane as she reminisces about their visit to Château Bélair-Monange. It was unquestionably a highlight, the chance to listen to Christian explain how he approaches green harvesting in the vineyard. With 55 vintages to his name, this legendary winemaker, who is never more at home than in a vineyard, held everyone spellbound as he discussed how many berries there were on each cluster and which cluster you should prune and why.
Another highlight was an architectural tour by his wife Cherise, who had persuaded Christian to use the young architects Herzog and du Meuron, when they were relatively unknown, for Dominus in California’s Napa Valley. Six projects later, they have completed the stunning new Bélair-Monange cellars. The wines were served oldest-to-youngest, starting with Château Bélair 1970, a gloriously effortless wine, still fresh, generous and full of sous-bois flavours – aged claret at its best. The 2009 and 2015 were both drinking brilliantly, but the wine which stopped Sarah and Jane in their tracks was the 2022, “the most perfect young wine I have tasted,” said Sarah, while Jane remembered that she only gave three 100-point wines in the 2022 vintage, and one of them was Bélair-Monange.
The magic continued at Château Ausone, where Edouard Vauthier and his wife hosted lunch after a tour of the property. Lunch commenced with Château La Clotte 2018, followed by Chapelle D’Ausone 2011. Then three vintages of the fabled Ausone, 2015, 2006 and the 1961 en magnum, which Edouard confessed only having drunk once before. The 1961 was voted by the group as one of their most memorable wines of the week, with Sarah remarking on its extraordinarily powerful bouquet, a wine of a lifetime.
There was a surprise in the evening, a trip to the city of Bordeaux for a very special private dinner at the Musée des Beaux-Arts with the wines of Liber Pater. Loïc Pasquet is a controversial character, champion of ungrafted vines, which he believes gives the true taste of Bordeaux (the taste Napoleon would have recognised, he noted). Sophie Balthélémy, the director of the museum, gave us all a guided tour, including two pictures which had been exhibited at the 1855 exposition. The wines poured included Denarius 2019, Tetradrachm 2021, Liber Pater 2018, 2011 and 2007; the 2007 was the most admired, though Sarah championed the white wine Tetradrachm from Naxos, a revelation to her with its depth and purity. A spectacular dinner by chef Jean-Christophe Martinez accompanied the wines, causing as much astonishment as some of Loïc’s views on some Bordeaux châteaux, which provoked much animated discussion.
The final day ended up on the Pomerol plateau, with the charming Jean-Baptiste Bourotte of Clos du Clocher whose family are celebrating one 100 years of ownership. Jane admits that many of the guests didn’t know of the property, but it is one she champions. It sits next to La Fleur-Pétrus and has recently become more widely distributed. A vertical tasting over a relaxed lunch concluded with 1989, 1964 and 1947, all demonstrating the greatness of the estate’s terroir, and leaving the guests keen to know where it was distributed.
After a week of generous hospitality by some of Bordeaux’s greatest estates, the final night rounded off the occasion by the vines at Troplong Mondot, a family-style evening with magnums on the table (1983 and 2005 Troplong Mondot, 1989 Cheval Blanc and 1964 Balestard La Tonelle) and a thoroughly genial and enthusiastic consensus that sharing the magic of great Bordeaux is a splendid experience – and what the week is all about.
For information about the Connoisseur Week email hello@janeanson.com mentioning The Wine Conversation.
Find out why the Connoisseur Week is Sarah Kemp and Jane Anson’s favourite week of the year.