That jolly old tippler and gossip Samuel Pepys couldn't go out for a drink without noting in his diary where he had been, what he had drunk and what malicious whispers he overheard. One day in 1663 he was in London's Royal Oak Tavern when the host offered him a glass of red wine.
Dutifully, the old scribbler knocked it back with enthusiasm and that night noted that 'Ho Bryan hath a good and most particular taste'. He meant, of course, Haut-Brion, and for three centuries since connoisseurs have been praising the wines of Graves.
It was the English whose thirst for quality wine gave birth to this region. When they grabbed the province of Aquitaine and its great port of Bordeaux in 1152, there was an immediate demand for more wine to be shipped back to British ports. The vineyards, then confined close to the city, spread inexorably, including a region of gravely low hills. The wines from these terraces became known as vins de graves, because of the soil, then simply Graves.
It was the wines of Graves that established Bordeaux' reputation for quality. By the 14th century, the area was studded with gracious mansions among them the Chateau Roquetaillade La Grange, one of several built by the family of Pope Clement. This magnificent building on top of the highest hill in Graves, 113 metres, still looks over the 65 hectares of vines.
Brothers Bruno, Dominique and Pascal Guignard have run the winery for three decades, producing vintages noted for good, solid, honest wines. They are pleasing vintages, especially when they reach the retail outlets of Hong Kong at an affordable $119, which is not bad for a good Bordeaux.
The three brothers make a good team. One grows the grapes, another makes the wine and the third is in charge of quality.
They produce a rather soft white blended from semillon, sauvignon and muscadelle.
