Ron wasn't feeling too well this morning so we skipped our first appointment at Chateau Palmer. We did manage to make our afternoon appointment at Chateau Margaux, though, and I am certainly glad that we did. The estate was beautiful and, again, our guide was very knowledgeable. This time we shared the visit with a group of four Germans and tasted the 2004 vintage of their first label (93) at the end. It was young and tight, but you could tell that there was a world of complexity waiting to come out over the next decades.
For dinner we met the John/Natalye clan and many of their friends in the architecture community at a restaurant in Saintes. Dinner was delicious and was followed by a tour of Charlotte's (another Houston friend of ours through John and Natalye) new house in Saintes. To be accurate, it wasn't a "new" house per se, rather the renovation of four adjoining houses into a single one. It was beautiful and we celebrated with cognac from 1964. We also had some Richard Hennessy cognac, Hennessy's ultra premium brand, which was soft, smooth, and spicy. It was a wonderful way to wrap up our last night in/around Cognac.
Pictures are in my facebook album.
Showing posts with label Cognac. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cognac. Show all posts
2008-07-16
2008-07-15
Pauillac
It took us a little longer than anticipated to make our way into Bordeaux this morning, but that was OK since Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou (in St. Julien), where we had our first appointment, had decided to cancel all of its tastings this week. This left us with plenty of time to meander around Pauillac and have a leisurely lunch on the banks of the river Gironde before our afternoon appointment at Chateau Lynch-Bages.
The Lynch-Bages tour was very nice; it was just for us and the guide was very knowledgeable. The estate has saved its original winemaking equipment in a sort of museum, which made comparisons with its modern equipment very easy. Lynch-Bages produces 500k bottles each year--I had no idea they were that large--and we tasted the 2004 vintage of its first (rated 89 by the Wine Spectator) and second (unrated) labels.
Dinner was lovely. John and Natalye had us over to their house, also in St. Sauvent, and cooked us some fresh, local fare. They bought an old farmhouse 20 years ago and restored it to habitability. As with the hotel, I really love the juxtaposition of antiquity and modernity. I'll have to keep these ideas in mind for when I have my castle some day! Good food, good wine, and good company in the French countryside--this was exactly the kind of vacation I needed!
Pictures are in my facebook album.
The Lynch-Bages tour was very nice; it was just for us and the guide was very knowledgeable. The estate has saved its original winemaking equipment in a sort of museum, which made comparisons with its modern equipment very easy. Lynch-Bages produces 500k bottles each year--I had no idea they were that large--and we tasted the 2004 vintage of its first (rated 89 by the Wine Spectator) and second (unrated) labels.
Dinner was lovely. John and Natalye had us over to their house, also in St. Sauvent, and cooked us some fresh, local fare. They bought an old farmhouse 20 years ago and restored it to habitability. As with the hotel, I really love the juxtaposition of antiquity and modernity. I'll have to keep these ideas in mind for when I have my castle some day! Good food, good wine, and good company in the French countryside--this was exactly the kind of vacation I needed!
Pictures are in my facebook album.
2008-07-14
Arrival in Cognac
Today was mostly spent traveling. We had an EARLY train (4:30 AM) to the Geneva airport, a flight to Bordeaux, a bus to the Bordeaux train station, a train to Saintes, and a taxi to St. Sauvent, just outside of Cognac. Saintes was really charming and sleepy, so sleepy that the taxi stand at the train station didn't have any taxis, just a list of the cell phone numbers of the five taxi drivers in town.
We didn't really know what to expect at our hotel as we had never seen it before, but we were very pleased upon arrival. The hotel is called the Design Hotel Francs-Garcons and is a very cool juxtaposition of modernity and history. A local architect and his restauranteur wife restored a crumbling, decrepit building and transformed it into a luxurious boutique hotel. They enlisted the numerous ex-pat architects who have houses in the area to help. Each architect took ownership of a room (There are only seven.) and lent it his/her particular style. Our friends from Rice, John Casbarian (Class of '69 and Associate Dean of Architecture) and Natalye Appel (Class of '80), former masters of Lovett College, recommended the hotel to us and were two of the architects who participated. Natalye designed the bar and John did one of the rooms--the very room where we stayed. Suffice to say that the hotel was beautiful and I would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone looking for a few days of getaway in the French countryside.
We asked Florence, the proprieter, for a lunch recommendation. Given how many restaurants were closed for Bastille Day, we were told we would have to head back into Saintes if we wanted any "chic" cuisine. However, there was a restaurant down the road with "simple" food, which sounded A-OK to us. We wandered down the farm roads in the beautiful weather and popped into the restaurant, where the cuisine was anything but simple! It was fresh, delicious, and innovative--I can't wait to see what constitutes "chic" cuisine!
After our late lunch, our travel companions, Ron and Kathleen Moore, arrived. I know Ron through the Wine Committee of the Petroleum Club of Houston and we were excited to share this trip with them. We walked around the 12th-century church just outside our hotel window, wandered around farms and vineyards, and finally returned to the hotel for dinner. Florence offered to prepare dinner for us as well as for John, Natalye, Claudia (elder daughter), Dana (elder daughter's friend), and Julia (younger daughter) since everything was closed for Bastille Day. That turned out to be fortunate for us because Florence's cooking was incredible. Muscles, oysters, fresh tomatoes, fish, pizzas, beef, homemade ice cream, great local wines . . . not a bad opening dinner!
The best part was catching up with the John and Natalye family. Claudia, who was 10 when she moved into Lovett (my senior year), is now headed to Rice herself. Julia, who was only 2, is now a young lady. Time flies!
At Rice the master of each college announces the names of graduating seniors at Commencement. At Lovett we traditionally announce the college president's name first and then the rest of the seniors in alphabetical order. As I had been the previous year's president at Lovett, my name was to be announced first in 2001. As John had never been a college master before, these were to be the first graduating names he had ever announced. Hence, I was to be the first name he ever announced at Commencement. He took this task seriously and consulted with me about the exact pronunciation of my name, rehearsing for a full week before the ceremony. When the time finally came, "Bryan. Guido. Hassin. President of Lovett College," came off his tongue as if he had known me for years. He showed all of the other graduates the same courtesy. As I had most of my family in town, I really appreciated that. When I finished my master's degree, the woman announcing graduates butchered my name horribly--just not quite the same!
So it was wonderful catching up with Ron and Kathleen and the John/Natalye clan. As we're so close to Cognac, we finished the evening with some fine XO while the Bastille Day fireworks were going off. Now that it is finally dark (which only happened about 11 PM), we are turning in to rest up before a big day of wine tasting!
Pictures are in my facebook album.
We didn't really know what to expect at our hotel as we had never seen it before, but we were very pleased upon arrival. The hotel is called the Design Hotel Francs-Garcons and is a very cool juxtaposition of modernity and history. A local architect and his restauranteur wife restored a crumbling, decrepit building and transformed it into a luxurious boutique hotel. They enlisted the numerous ex-pat architects who have houses in the area to help. Each architect took ownership of a room (There are only seven.) and lent it his/her particular style. Our friends from Rice, John Casbarian (Class of '69 and Associate Dean of Architecture) and Natalye Appel (Class of '80), former masters of Lovett College, recommended the hotel to us and were two of the architects who participated. Natalye designed the bar and John did one of the rooms--the very room where we stayed. Suffice to say that the hotel was beautiful and I would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone looking for a few days of getaway in the French countryside.
We asked Florence, the proprieter, for a lunch recommendation. Given how many restaurants were closed for Bastille Day, we were told we would have to head back into Saintes if we wanted any "chic" cuisine. However, there was a restaurant down the road with "simple" food, which sounded A-OK to us. We wandered down the farm roads in the beautiful weather and popped into the restaurant, where the cuisine was anything but simple! It was fresh, delicious, and innovative--I can't wait to see what constitutes "chic" cuisine!
After our late lunch, our travel companions, Ron and Kathleen Moore, arrived. I know Ron through the Wine Committee of the Petroleum Club of Houston and we were excited to share this trip with them. We walked around the 12th-century church just outside our hotel window, wandered around farms and vineyards, and finally returned to the hotel for dinner. Florence offered to prepare dinner for us as well as for John, Natalye, Claudia (elder daughter), Dana (elder daughter's friend), and Julia (younger daughter) since everything was closed for Bastille Day. That turned out to be fortunate for us because Florence's cooking was incredible. Muscles, oysters, fresh tomatoes, fish, pizzas, beef, homemade ice cream, great local wines . . . not a bad opening dinner!
The best part was catching up with the John and Natalye family. Claudia, who was 10 when she moved into Lovett (my senior year), is now headed to Rice herself. Julia, who was only 2, is now a young lady. Time flies!
At Rice the master of each college announces the names of graduating seniors at Commencement. At Lovett we traditionally announce the college president's name first and then the rest of the seniors in alphabetical order. As I had been the previous year's president at Lovett, my name was to be announced first in 2001. As John had never been a college master before, these were to be the first graduating names he had ever announced. Hence, I was to be the first name he ever announced at Commencement. He took this task seriously and consulted with me about the exact pronunciation of my name, rehearsing for a full week before the ceremony. When the time finally came, "Bryan. Guido. Hassin. President of Lovett College," came off his tongue as if he had known me for years. He showed all of the other graduates the same courtesy. As I had most of my family in town, I really appreciated that. When I finished my master's degree, the woman announcing graduates butchered my name horribly--just not quite the same!
So it was wonderful catching up with Ron and Kathleen and the John/Natalye clan. As we're so close to Cognac, we finished the evening with some fine XO while the Bastille Day fireworks were going off. Now that it is finally dark (which only happened about 11 PM), we are turning in to rest up before a big day of wine tasting!
Pictures are in my facebook album.
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