2004 CHATEAU HAUT SOCIONDO

Introduction

This is a special wine because it was given to me by co-worker whose family is originally from Scotland. One branch of the family migrated to France more than 200 years ago and became a prominent producer of wine in the Bordeaux region. There will be more about that below.
I actually drank this wine back in July before I left for vacation. I just have not had a chance to address my backlog of wines to write about, but I have had a meeting cancelled this evening and I decided to use the time to add to my blog.

Wine Impressions

I have recently become more fond of Bordeaux wines. This one only added to my increasing fondness. It has a very nice, clean slightly sweet taste. If you like red wines, I would very much recommend this one.

The bottle is the classic red wine bottle. The label is very long and is packed with information. The top of the label expresses that it is a “Grand Vin de Bordeaux” from 2004. There is a graphic of a vineyard with a building in the background. It then indicates that the producer is “Chateau Haut Sociondo” and that the appellation is “Premieres Cote de Blaye,” which is a sub-region of Bordeaux. The label also indicates that it was bottled for Nath Johnston et Fils (which, of course, means Nath Johnson and Sons).

The wine came with a good quality natural cork. It was inscribed with the name of the producer and the year of the wine.

The Company: Nath Johnston et Fils

The label on the back of the bottle indicates that the company began in 1734. It also says that it is the oldest family business in the Bordeaux wine trade. It has been exporting to the United States for more than 200 years!

The company web site provides additional information. While it was founded in 1734, a major expansion took place in 1804. Its cellars were expanded to hold 25,000 barrels and 2 million bottles!

Beginning in 1876, the onset of phylloxera and mildew began a long decline in the business. It was not until the 1950’s that the company to seriously recover.

The company is located in the Chartrons district of Bordeaux. It has relationships with many chateaus, over which it exercises close quality control.

The Region: Bordeaux and Cote de Blaye

Bordeaux is often called the greatest wine region in the world. Oz Clarke’s New Encyclopedia of Wine says that Bordeaux does produce many world-class wines. However, the areas that produce these wines, on gravel banks, limestone slopes, the banks of the river Ciron in Sauternes, represent a small part of Bordeaux. The book says that most of it is ordinary and produces unexceptional wine. Again, although the first vineyards were planted by Romans, it was apparently the English that put the region on the path to its current standing as a world-class wine region.
The Bordeaux region is south of Paris and is relatively near the Spanish border. Blaye is a city on the eastern bank of the Gironde River. According to Wikipedia, it is about 35 miles north of the city of Bordeaux. Wikipedia explains that Blaye was an ancient port city for the Santones (good name for a musical group!). Its population is only about 4600. It has small port on the river and through which it ships wine, brandy, grain, fruit and timber, Its industries (besides making excellent red wine!) include building small vessels, distilling, flour-milling and making candles.

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

As I had said under miscellaneous Comments, I had written a post earlier about my California trip, but it somehow did not get published. When I write about wines, I do so in a Word document first and then copy and paste onto the blog. In that case (and when I write various other comments like this one), I write it directly into the blog. Anyway, while I won't be able to remember the details I had written before, I will briefly discuss the trip as it is somewhat wine related.

My wife's family had a wonderful reunion in San Diego at the end of July. It included a Hawaiian-themed party (during which I tasted an Amarone for the first time thanks to my brother-in-law), a day at the beach, and a great breakfast in Old Town among other events. My son and I slipped off for a tour of Petco Park, which is a beautiful stadium. I learned an excellent rule from someone who has commented on this blog before (and who I met for the first time here). The rule is "Over 90, under 20," meaning that it has a rating of 90 or above from one of the rating entities and cost less than $20 bottle.

After the reunion, my wife and I took the Pacific Surfliner (Amtrak) up the coast to Ventura. It was a beautiful ride, mostly along the coast with a stop in LA. After an enjoyable time in Ventura, we rented a car and drove up to Arroyo Grande (near San Luis Obispo). Along the way, we stopped for a vine tasting at the Brander Vineyards where we sampled five wines. Brander is in the Santa Ynez Valley. A little further along we stopped at the Melville Vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills (which is its own appellation) and I sampled another 8 wines. My wife then assumed driving duty and we completed our journey to Arroyo Grande where enjoyed a lovely time in a Starbucks with my in-laws, had a lovely dinner on the waterfront in Morro Bay, and a nice lunch at Avila Beach.

No sooner have we returned than we are making plans for our next trip to California right after Christmas -- this time to Monterey and Pebble Beach for the wedding of our niece. I hope to get in a winery visit on that trip as well.

MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS

Wow! September 24 and this is my first post of the month! What a slacker! Even worse, I haven't posted about a wine for quite some time. I have a lot of catching up to do.

I am a little upset that one of my posts somehow got "lost." I had written about my trip to California this summer (technically, I guess it is now officially "last summer"). I will do a short version of that a bit later.

I do have an idea for the blog, which I will implement shortly. I now have two linked blogs for various reasons. They are the link to "The Vino By Gino Story" which explains my purpose in writing this blog and how I got started. The other is specifically devoted to "Wine Suggestions/Discussion" which is primarily intended to allow suggestions for wines I should try without necessarily being linked to any wine that I discuss. I now have an idea for a third linked blog. Despite my recent sloth, I think it is time to add an "Index" of the posts. I am not yet certain as to exactly how I will organize it, but at a minimum it will list the wines I have posted about as well as the regions I have discussed. It will make it easier to find posts than searching through the archives.

Finally, I have purchased and have now used for a few weeks a device called a Vacu Vin that removes the air from open wine bottles. I also am looking at inexpensive wine coolers (the refrigerator-like storage cabinets, not a mixture of wine and soda!). I am also considering taking an on-line wine class. I will write about my experiences with all of these items as they progress.