Our last trip of the year and in terms of wine tourism, the best. Like Pichon, I had visited Giscours twenty years ago and had been fairly underwhelmed, but I was inspired to go back by the excellent website:
There are lots of possible visits at prices ranging from 15 to 60 euros. We chose “La Vie à Giscours”, at 60 euros, which turned out to be an excellent idea.
This is the view of the château when you arrive:
On the left is the building containing the offices, normal tasting room, bar and shop:
On the right is the cuvier and cellar:
And here you can see Cinderella’s glass carriage - well, a golf cart - our transportation for the visit:
Our charming and bubbly hostess, Eva, began by driving us to see the vineyard:
Like Pichon Baron, no plans yet to go organic, but they certainly have changed their methods in the vineyard compared to twenty years ago - no more weedkiller between the rows.
Then we visited the huge park and woods. This is the château from the park side:
And from the lake:
The large wood has several redwoods and sequoias:
This is Giscour’s cricket pitch (!):
They also have sheep and a cows (in the distance you can spot the rare local breed - Bordelaise - that Giscours are helping to protect:
This is where they organise weddings:
Our tour of the grounds complete, we visited the cuvier:
All the vats looked to be the same as when I last visited - all concrete. They have been spruced up and fitted with temperature control systems, but otherwise no obvious changes.
The cellar is also the same as before, but with added air-conditioning:
We then went to the château itself for our tasting:
We tasted the three wines blind, which was fun:
La Sirène 2015: we all got this one right - it was in the same style as Giscours, but slightly lighter. Actually it was quite a nice surprise and at around 25 euros would be very good value.
Giscours 2009: I mistook this for the 2010. It was an odd wine - perhaps a bad bottle, but very evolved and already showing signs of tiredness - not what I was expecting at all. I’ll have to try one of mine to check.
Giscours 2010: sumptuous, the best I’ve tried since the 2000, the 2010 is quite full-bodied, with classic cassis and blackberry, plus violet and a typically dusty finish. None of the spicy tones of the vintage, very pure and just a great Giscours. Glad I have some!
All three were from halves, opened just before our visit.
So that was it - the visit lasted around two and a half hours and was really good fun - this is one that children would enjoy too, because of the golf cart cross-country trip, but also the majesty of the château rooms - which you don’t get to see with the cheaper visits.
So from the point of view of wine tourism, very highly recommended - great fun and fascinating. Giscours have really invested in the whole idea of giving visitors a fun time - and as you can see on the website, there are loads of other possibilities, ranging from concerts to dinner at the château, to picnics in the grounds, to staying the night in one of the buildings.
As for the winemaking facilities and general impression…well, less good. On the photo of the outside of the cuvier and cellar, you can spot on the right the inox vats which are used for the final blend before bottling - and which are outside (!). There is a clear lack of investment. The air-conditioned cellar is fine - but I couldn’t see any sign of proper insulation and there were doors left open.
I think the problem is that the Albada Jelgersma family still (to my knowledge) only own 51% of the business, the remaining 49% belonging to Nicole Tari. There has been a lot of friction over the years between the two families and I understand that the Taris are now trying to get back control of Giscours. All this must restrict the level of spending by the current team on facilities and equipment. This does not of course mean that they’re doing a bad job. Giscours under the management of Alexander Van Beek has produced far better wines than the previous regime and is probably better than ever. Anyway, I hope the situation is resolved and that whoever wins the latest battle is able to make further improvements.
On our way home, we stopped off at Sociando-Mallet to buy some Cuvée Jean Gautreau. I love it there - it’s not just the wine, the view is magnificent:
These are the current vintages available and their prices:
As you can see, despite the fact that Cellartracker now lists it as “Hommage à Jean Gautreau”, the Cuvée JG’s name is actually unchanged. I wanted some 2015 and 2016, but temptation got the better of me so I bought some 2002, 2008 and 2017 too! Unlike other châteaux, there really is a point in buying at the property, because the Cuvée JG is impossible to find anywhere else, except at auction. They will happily ship anywhere in Europe.
Well that’s it for another year - thanks for reading!