22nd
Chapitre 4: Destination > La Gatte
It’s been some time since my last entry. Mostly because I’ve been running solo and decided it best to exist in that space for 5 days or so and see how things shake out. The last three days in Paris were solid; I wandered the districts I hadn’t seen, ate some good meals, and read. One night I decided to bust over to La Cigale (think Irving Plaza) to try and scalp a ticket to some LA indie band (the name escapes me), but didn’t pull the trigger. I got up there and it was a nut house. When in doubt, plop your ass at the closest café, order duck confit and a Leffe, and kick back for some serious people watching. Then next morning I left Paris, it was time to go SOUTH.
I arrived at Chateau La Gatte late Sunday afternoon. TGV train south to Gare St. Jean in Bordeaux. Picked up my slammin’ ride, cranked up the tomtom, and hit the road. Kinda what makes this whole thing exciting is trying to figure out your next move… How does this thing work? Which way do I go? What are you saying? Solo, it’s all you. Your decision, your move.
The drive was uneventful, and it’s really just getting used to the different metric system. Kilometers, kilometers/hour, royale with cheese, you get the picture. Well, I lied. There were a shitload of signs that I had no idea what they meant. Oh well, I was on mostly back roads jetting through small villages, tons of rotaries to deal with.
The Chateau is truly a breathtaking site; you can feel the history oozing out of this place. Built in 1646, Michael & Helene (pronounced El – En), have done an admirable job restoring the Chateau and making this a comfortable home for themselves and guests. Currently, three rooms are available for guests, one occupied by yours truly for the foreseeable future. They have two daughters (Chloe and Pauline) who are quite cute and were truly appreciative of me laying The Simpsons Season 5 on them when I arrived. Bulle (bubble) is their 120 lb St. Bernard and is a character. Apparently we share the same birthday, so I am way jazzed for some dog bones and she’s pretty much ready to devour the tarte tatin when that day arrives. Rounding out the bunch is a cat and some hens and chickens (fresh eggs, hoump!).
As for my arrival, I was greeted quite graciously and made to feel right at home. Once I got situated, I joined Helene for a quick bite: charcuterie, shrimp petite with dill (baby shrimp that you rip the heads off and eat) and chicken tagine. We had a few glasses of their latest portfolio of wines – all were pretty damn tasty—much better than the previous vintages I had. Again, 2005 in Bordeaux is a stellar vintage. Back up the truck.
Helene’s English is quite good, so I was able to have my first conversation with someone in about four days or so. I needed it. Helene used to work at Chateau Latour – one of the best, if not the best Chateau in Bordeaux, and one could argue (based on your varietal of preference), the world. We discussed having my buddy Bob make up fake business cards for me so that she can get me in there for a tasting. Uh, pass the tissues.
Helene’s wine knowledge is vast and it was killer to chat about her past experiences and her vision for the kinds of wines she wants to make at La Gatte. I know most of you nitwits could care less about this wine geek blather. Tough shit. Move on, delete, close browser window, unsubscribe. Whatever. I admire that they are making a go of it; especially in Bordeaux — a place where there are vines growing in every direction as far as the eye can see. Here’s a few shots from adajent to the Chateau. As you can see the vines are bare pretty much. The work now is tightening the wires in around the vines to keep them straight. They are hoping for a dry spell, but being so close to the Gironde and the coast, it rains, and the weather is largely unpredicatble. La Gatte encompasses a total of 12.9 hectares (about 28 acres) of vines:
- 70% merlot (largely replanted in 1971)
- 28% cabernet sauvignon (replanted in 1971)
- 2% sauvignon gris & blanc (replanted in 1985)
I could get into more of the viticulture drivel, but you have most likely skipped this part anyways. Those of you that haven’t, tres bon, I owe you a bevy…
Status Report:
Current Events – This section is officially discontinued. I think I’ll probably write about food instead. I need that to live, whereas the other, I don’t.
Literature - Finished Kitchen Confidential — friggin’ loved it. This guy gets slotted right next to Keith Richards in that; I can’t believe he is still alive/functioning as a human/having normal children section of humanity. I found this passage regarding Bourdain’s limited knowledge about fine wine rather amusing:
“I am vaguely aware that California seems to produce drinkable product these days. But I couldn’t tell you grape variety with any more assurance than I could talk about stamp collecting or phrenology. And to be truthful, I’ve always felt that I’ve survived enough dangerous obsessions in my life; the knowledgeable appreciation of fine wine has always seemed to me to hold potential for becoming yet another consuming habit—an expensive one. When you know what it’s like to squat on a blanket on upper Broadway in the snow, selling off a lifetime’s accumulation of rare books, records and comic books for drugs, the idea of spending next week’s paycheck on a bottle of red seems like, well, something I probably shouldn’t be doing.”
Err, yep AB. Good move.
Currently in progress: Into the Wild by John Krakauer. Riveting. Can’t put it down and will probably finish it by the time this Chapitre goes to screen. Learn about Alexander Supertramp.
Cell phone: Still don’t have one. Tomorrow may be the big day! I might go for broke and open a bank account also. We’ll see. Big news though, I did buy a watch. It was inevitable. Over here, they use what we call military time in the States (I think). 2:00 PM = 14:00, 3:00 PM = 15:00, and so on. My brand new hip, happenin’ Swatch has both. Check it. Dad, please forgive me for I have sinned.
After finally getting online, it looks like the O’s took two of three from the Yanks and the Caps forced Game 7. Hook me up again Clay!
Enough for now. It looks like we’ll be bottling some white and rose on Wednesday which should be chill. I’ve made it know that I’m here to help as much as possible. I think Michael has plans for me to mow the fields or something. Maybe some deliveries up North. It all sounds cool from where I’m sitting. Adios. (apologies to R. Zizmor)
