A Tribute To My Father, Five Years On
January 17th 2012, by Gavin
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the funeral of my father, Jeremy Chavasse Alden Quinney. It was held in the Warwickshire town of Alcester, not far from the village of Sambourne where he’d lived all his life, a dozen miles from Stratford-upon-Avon.
I gave the address, or eulogy as it’s often called, and I’d written everything down in case the nerves got to me in front of the hundreds of people who had come to pay their respects. Near the start, I repeated a line from one of the readings: “For as long as we ourselves live, holding memories in common, a man lives.”
Bearing that in mind, I thought I’d publish my tribute to Dad for family and friends. Five years ago, some of his grandchildren were too young to really understand, and some hadn’t even been born. My stepmother Gel hosts a ‘Bluebell Day’ in his honour each Spring for close family – which we try to get to, with varying degrees of success. Anyway, here is the address I gave.
If it hadn’t been for Steve Jobs…
October 6th 2011, by Gavin
If it hadn’t been for Steve Jobs, I wouldn’t have read the sad news on my iPad this morning, or be typing on my Mac now. Our kids wouldn’t be playing games on my wife’s iPhone, and there wouldn’t be any iPods lying around.
Of course, we’re not the only family surrounded by all things Apple but if it hadn’t been for Steve Jobs, the company’s co-founder, we probably wouldn’t be living in this château.
It was the announcement of the original Apple Macintosh in 1984 that got me into the micro-computer industry (as it was called back then) which would eventually give me the chance to buy a vineyard. Before then, my CV consisted of two jobs in different fields, and two dismissals.
Bordeaux 2011: A Year of Living Dangerously
September 30th 2011, by Gavin
After two great Bordeaux vintages, 2011 has been a year of living dangerously. “It’s complicated,” Christian Moueix explained when I asked what he thought of the millésime, as his team picked in St-Emilion. If one of the most respected winemakers thinks it’s hard to generalise, it might be foolish for the rest of us to rush into snap judgments.
Let me try and explain what’s been going on in the Bordeaux vineyard this year, and forgive me for the amount of detail. My fascinating weather charts will follow later.
Here’s a summary:
1. Early start, warm spring, then drought.
2. An up-and-down summer.
3. Early harvest, September sunshine.
4. When to pick: balancing ripeness with the risk of rot.
5. These magnificent men (and women) and their sorting machines.
6. Volume 5% up overall but yields vary from one estate to another.
7. Finally, a Tweet showing how the growing season compares.
The Bartons Buy Another Château
September 29th 2011, by Gavin
This article appeared in the blog of Livex – the Fine Wine Exchange – and in the subscriber section called Inside Information on JancisRobinson.com.
Anthony Barton and his daughter, Lilian
It has been a few years since the Barton family of Château Langoa-Barton bought a château. Not since the 1820s, in fact, when Hugh Barton, having first acquired Langoa in 1821, purchased part of the Léoville estate in 1826 that would later become Château Léoville-Barton. Both Langoa and Léoville were included in the famous 1855 classification and, along with Château Mouton-Rothschild, are the only Châteaux since 1855 to remain under the same family ownership. Anthony Barton and his daughter Lilian run the two Saint-Julien estates today.
So when Lilian told me last Friday, on the final day of their harvest, that they had just purchased a property called Château Mauvesin in Moulis, I was quite surprised.