A night at Aperos vintage de Bordeaux

I finally managed to get to the Aperos Vintage de Bordeaux in Antwerp at Café Vitrin last week. I really like the concept of Aperos Vintage, they looked for great locations that change every week. On top of that they always manage to have great music live music or Dj’s , this week’s musical part got done by Bent Van Looy (Das Pop) and last but not least a wide variety of Bordeaux wines. Also the vineyards that introduced their wines change every week. So basically all the ingredients for a successful event! I must really say that they succeeded in their aim. The location was really great, I had already passed by Café vitrin lots of times, as the name might already reveal that there are a lot of windows 🙂 and this actually made the café look bigger. Another reason why they can call it a success is because there were a lot of people, I even bumped into some old friends of mine 🙂 which is always great.

But ofcourse the Key element of this event is/were Bordeaux wines. My first question would be, what do you guys actually know about Bordeaux? Besides maybe a few names like Margaux, Saint-Emilion, Pomerol…you might have picked up. Did you know that there are also white, rosé and sparkeling Bordeaux wines? Something that I personally find very important is at least knowing where Bordeaux is located

And also what the different are in this region vineyards or ‘Terroires’ like the French call them.

Don’t worry I’m not going to stuff your heads with tons of information about wine. But I’m convinced that there are always things that one should know… This way you’ll be able to jump into the conversation when the wine topic comes up next time :-).

Red Bordeaux wines are mostly made from 3 kinds of grapes Merlot, Carbernet-Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (some also add some Malbec or Petit verdon). For those who want to know more about grapes, check this website . Personally I do prefer the wines that have a higher percentage of Merlot, as they are more fruity. A Cabernet for example would be much more powerful and herbal like.

For the white wines the grapes that are mostly used would be Sauvignon, Sémillon and Muscadelle (some also add for example Merlot Blanc). For the white wines the Sauvignon will mostly give a more citrus kind of flavor to your wine, so basically it gives the wine some freshness.

I think that will do for the moment 🙂 I could keep telling you guys more things, but I have to stop somewhere. But for those who are interested, let me know, and I’ll get you some more info.

Back to Aperos. The best part of the evening, trying the wines 🙂

I tried following wines:

White wines:

– Château Merlet – Cuvée Les Collines Fleuries by Cordier

– Château Montfollet – Le Valentin by Chateaux Solidaires

Red Wines

– Château Le Clairiot by UniVitis

– Château La Grosse Pierre – Cuvée la fontaine by Tutiac

– Château Beauséjour Hostens

– La source de château Goubau

My preference went to the ‘Beauséjour’ and ‘La Source’, both stronger wines (I like). The La source was more fruity and then the beauséjour and had a nice aftertaste. This thanks to the higher percentage of Merlot. My personal nr 1 would be the La source. The other 2 wines Grosse Pierre and Le Clairiot are lighter wines and are more as apero.