It is hard to believe, that it is only thirty-three years ago, that I met my Bride, though there are some days that she thinks that maybe she shouldn’t have gone to that dance. 

I knew it was right, as I told her that evening that we were going to get married.  We actually got married three years later and we danced to “Love is Lovelier the Second Time Around” as crooned by Francis Albert.  While there are highs and lows, it has been great and eventually we will even figure out how to enjoy retirement; I have been practicing for around seven years, she is still deciding, though she is more pro than con these days.  Not to mention that we have a cellar to drink up.

We have lasted longer than the 2003 Crus Bourgeois Classification which included three tiers of quality – Cru Bourgeois, Cru Bourgeois Superieur and Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel.  Actually, the first attempt was in 1932 for a designation for the Medoc region wines that were not recognized in the 1855 Classification of Grands Crus Classes.  The 2003 attempt fell apart amid disappointment, infighting and legal action, and was annulled by the courts in 2007.  A new attempt was begun starting with the 2012 vintage, and this classification will be reviewed and renewed every five years.  It is an ideal marketing tool, as it makes another group of wines look affordable and appealing.  There is a small additional label affixed to the bottle affirming the Crus Bourgeois of a wine.   

All of this leads to my Bride just going out for an Antipasto and a Pizza for our anniversary celebration dinner.  And you thought being a wine blogger was glamorous and prestigious.  Much to my Bride’s chagrin, I selected a new wine, instead of our normal pizza wine, after all I do have a blog to write.  We had Chateau Bel Air Gloria Haut-Medoc Cru Bourgeois 2017 from Domaines Martin.  Henri Martin had Chateau Gloria, and then he was part of the group that reunified Chateau Saint-Pierre and eventually owned.  In the eighties he bought Chateau Bel Air in Cussac, adjacent to Saint-Julien Beychevelle and added Gloria to the name.  The estate is 37 hectares vines averaging thirty years of age planted on fine gravel ridges of blue clay.  The wine is a blend of sixty percent Cabernet Sauvignon and forty percent Merlot.  Initial vinification is done in Stainless-Steel vats and the aged for twelve months in French Oak of which twenty-five percent is new.  This deep purple wine offered notes of blackberry and currants, along with violets, tobacco and licorice.  On the palate this medium-to-full bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of black cherry, blackberry, spices blending with grippy tannins and ending with a medium-to-long-count finish of fruit, spices and terroir; a good chewy wine.