Highlights from the year 2002

2002 ends on a high!  The highlights of the year-end are many. We doubled our sales at Lille compared with 2001 and we shipped a special order of Lady Masburel red 2000 Magnums to the Netherlands for Christmas. At the Decanter magazine Fine Wine Encounter in London, our Château Masburel red 1999 was chosen as one of the best 100 wines at the show. And Chateau Masburel arrives in Manhattan! Our friend Frank Locker  of  Is-Wine in New York has imported his first shipment of our wine to the Big Apple. www.is-wine.com 

Sell, Sell, Sell, Sell! That's the challenge for November.  We start with the "Spirit of Christmas" fair at Olympia in London from 7th to the 10th November. Then it's the Salon des vignerons indépendants in Lille from the 15th to the 18th. Then it's the UK again for a fair in Reading celebrating wines of the Dordogne organised by Laithwaites, before moving to the Landmark Hotel on the 23rd and 24th for the Decanter magazine wine tasting extravaganza of the year. The best producers from around the world will be presenting their wines and, naturally, Château Masburel will be there

The French wine magazine, Revue des Vins de France awards Château Masburel red wine three stars. In the November 2002 edition the 'must have' wines for every wine cellar were chosen. This means that both our top white and our top red wines have been selected by the leading wine authority in France for special mention.

'Buzz' has chosen Château Masburel for it's customers! One of only 4 vineyards in the Dordogne to be chosen, Château Masburel will feature in the 2003 Buzz in-flight magazine. As a special offer, British flyers will be able to order wine and have it shipped anywhere in the UK for only £10 per case. Customers will not even have to fly with the wine so, at last, we will be able to supply our growing UK client base directly from the Château, and at French prices!!!

The 2000 Château Masburel red is in bottle. The 2000 vintage has been rated as the best since 1990 and the Château Masburel red rates the hype.  Elegant and harmonious it is a wine that will drink young as well as age beautifully in the next ten years.

The UK's September Decanter magazine features buying wine in the Bergerac. Norm Roby reviews how and where to buy wine in the Dordogne and lists Château Masburel as a top ten vineyard and one of the top three "movers and shakers" in the Montravel appellation. Read article

'Buzz, the low cost European airline flies into Bergerac'.  Now connections from the UK to the Dordogne are even easier and a lot cheaper.  The newly published Buzz around the Dordogne guide to the region, written by Jane Hanslip, features Château Masburel as a place to visit and to taste the wines.

The latest excitement is the Château Masburel Jazz concert/picnic on the 16th August featuring Hayati Kafe, the internationally acclaimed crooner and Dick Majors' jazz combo.  Our intimate gathering for 50 friends has blossomed to over 200 at the last count. We were very lucky to have brilliant weather and a fantastically successful event............demand for next years event is already high!

The August 2002 edition of Good Housekeeping, a UK monthly mass circulation magazine, has a two page spread on Château Masburel and an interview with Olivia Donnan talking about her personal experience as a woman in the mans' world of wine. Read article

Better late than never! The 2001 Rosé is finally in bottle after a precocious upbringing.  We are used to our red and whites being sensitive but to get the right quality of Rosé we have worked a bit harder this year. It is fabulous, all fresh summer strawberries on the nose and in the mouth.

Château Masburel goes 'arty'!  The latest addition to the vineyard is a shop and an art gallery.  We've converted an old storage area into a pukka tasting room and shop for entertaining our increasing number of visitors. Upstairs on a mezzanine we have a purpose designed art gallery.

In August, Catherine Senard-Sorin from Bordeaux is exhibiting bright acrylic and pigment canvases of her interpretation of a tour through archaeology (pictured).

Our previous exhibition featured Micka with pastels of vineyard scenes and Yan Lacour's vibrant and colourful landscapes.

Our first local artist was Ann Ward, exhibiting eight of her latest pictures.  One was sold on the opening day!  Also exhibiting has been Gunnar Olofsson who makes furniture from recovered barrel staves.  One of his chairs is a must for every wine lovers cellar! 

The July edition of Wine Magazine, published in the UK, features a special supplement on the Bergerac region.  Needless to say, Château Masburel gets a mention by Robert Joseph, the Wine Magazine editor, as a property to watch for the future.

The 2000 Lady Masburel Rouge est arrivé!!!  Our latest baby has arrived.  And it's fantastic, elegant, rich, smooth and deeply fruity.  Bottled on the 29th April, it will soon be ready for despatch to an eager audience.  We produce less than 15,000 bottles and every vintage up to and including the 1999 is completely sold out;  In fact we had to "buy back" stock from our local wine merchant to complete an order for Canada and we have no personal stock at all.  If you live in Ontario, snap up every bottle you can. The 2000 promises to be a similar runaway success..........

Recent competition medals and awards

The March issue of "Revue de Vins de France" has tasted the wines of the South West of France and titled the experience the "Reawakening of the Bergerac".  Our Chateau Masburel 2000 white wine was awarded four stars(****) and the top position for the Montravel Appellation.

Our "Lady Masburel" 1999 red wine has won an 'Oscar'!  A recently published book in Belgium, The 300 Best Wines under €10,  awarded this rare accolade for the wines 'exotic' quality and value for money

The 5th edition of the Hugh Johnson World Wine Atlas, edited by Jancis Robinson, features Chateau Masburel as one of the best producers in the whole Dordogne region.  Published by Mitchell Beazely it is available in English , French and German.

Guide Hachette 2002, the bible for French wine lovers, has selected Chateau Masburel and Lady Masburel red wines and awarded them both two stars** for the 1999 vintage.  This follows the same award in the 2001 edition and puts Chateau Masburel at the forefront of Bergerac producers.

Chateau Masburel 'Special Cuvée' 1999 red wine has won a "Grande Médailles d'Or" at the International Wine Challenge in Brussels this year.  From over 1100 entries for French wines only eight Grandes Médailles were awarded.  This is a great achievement after winning the Gold Medal for the 1997 and 1998 Millisimes.