68 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
SEPTEMBER 2016
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK
WINE
THERE ARE SOME experiences in life that are so bizarre, they
are indelibly carved into one's memory years aer they happened —
in all their sordid details.
e year was 1989. e occasion, Vinexpo in Bordeaux — at that
time the world's largest international wine exposition. is bien-
nial event is held over four days in June and is usually blessed with
fine weather. Except 1989 when it was blisteringly hot. So hot, dogs
were sticking to the sidewalks.
ere was no air conditioning in the kilometre-long exhibition
hall then, and temperatures of 47°C were recorded on the upper
level of the booths. e corks were rising in the wine bottles as the
alcohol expanded, and attendees were drinking more water than
wine. e Australian contingent le en masse.
I have this one defining image from Vinexpo 1989: the great
Soave producer Roberto Anselmi with trousers rolled up to the
knees, dangling his feet in the fountain, with bags of ice and bottles
of his wine floating in the water.
I was staying at the Terminus Hotel in the city centre, away from
the exhibition park by the lake. Now, Vinexpo coincides with Fête
de la Musique, when local musicians perform at all hours of the day
and night. Loudly. But the hotel had no air conditioning, so I was
forced to open all the windows. I couldn't sleep because of the noise
and I complained to a colleague from a western liquor board. We
had both been invited to a black-tie dinner at Château Mouton-
Rothschild that night, and he suggested I bunk in with him where
he was staying: the Relais de Margaux, a four-star hotel in the Mé-
doc. His room had single beds and it was air-conditioned.
I accepted gratefully.
I changed into my tuxedo and took a cab to a local station, from
which a private train would transport the 200 guests to the château
in Pauillac. But the cab driver didn't understand my French, and he
took me to a station that was boarded up and abandoned. e train
was due to leave in 15 minutes from a station that I had ascertained
from a passerby was "pas loin d' ici."
| DETOURS |
A Day in the Life ...
... of your intrepid wine columnist. And it isn't always a glamorous affair
"I ASKED MY HOSTESS IF SHE WOULD SIGN THE LABEL FOR ME
AS A MEMENTO OF A GREAT MEAL, AND SHE GRACIOUSLY DID SO."
