For those of you who don’t know my friend Jeff Garneau by now, he’s one of the big reasons I got into Bordeaux in my late twenties. Jeff and I worked together on the retail sales floor for over ten years and during the long, lazy Sunday afternoons or an early Tuesday morning before the customers came into the store, he and I would talk about wine. What we drank last night. What we ate last night. What we planned to eat and drink later in the week. Over the course of those conversations, I learned a lot about Bordeaux.
Jeff is a rare specimen in the wine world. He’s a complete nerd for the details, like a professor digging through an old library, but he’s also entirely customer service oriented. Usually, those two things don’t go hand in hand. In my industry, you generally meet knowledgable, yet condescending pedants or friendly faces who can talk about the basics, but lack the true depth of knowledge. Jeff will completely geek out with you about Bordeaux, but his educational style is 100% focused on your enjoyment rather than his ego.
That’s why I love bringing Jeff on to talk about Bordeaux. In this installment, we dig into second wines. Think Weller 107 vs. Van Winkle 12, but the French wine version.
-David Driscoll