A Fronsac in Vietnam

2000 Château La Vieille Croix, France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Fronsac

Well this was kind of crazy. Spotting a 13 year old minor Bordeaux in an Italian restaurant in a small mountain town in northern Vietnam. A roll of the dice, but since I hadn't had a glass of red wine in over a month of traveling through SE Asia I thought I'd go for it. The staff at the restaurant didn't even know what it was.

In fact this is a nice, fully mature, very enjoyable red wine. Not terribly complex, but has a good herbal element. More balanced than powerful. Tannins are fully resolved. This is drinking nicely. A very good drink, even if it's been hanging around with less than perfect storage for a while.
C+/B-

Matt, i was in Vietnam until last week, and visited a small mountain town in the northwest - Sapa.

Where did you find this wine?

Yes, it was in Sa Pa in an Italian restaurant called Delta. They had Bordeaux from 2006, 2007, 2009 and more recent vintages. I think I got the last 2000.

From what I understood they order a lot of Italian wine and get a few bottles of Bordeaux along for the ride.

We are on our way back to Hanoi. Sa Pa was wonderful. Hope you enjoyed your visit as much as we did.

Now that's vintage Matt- he manages to find 2000 Bdx in Vietnam.
I remember liking the 98 of this.
Safe travels. Hope to see you in NY (May?)

Sa Pa was an eye opener Matt. We were disappoitned twice by "local" food options at Nature Bar 7 Grill and Cafe Fansipan. Option three would have been to give up and go to Delta for a Pizza!

Good luck with the Hustle and Bustle that is Hanoi. We were ony there one nigh ton the wya to Halong Bay. Quan An Ngon was good for a relatively inexpensive meal,

Well and truly back in Australia now though

Ha Noi can seem crazy, but it's manageable. Lots of great places to eat.

The local wine, Dalat, is worth trying. We consumed a few bottles while on Ha Long Bay.

Aside from the air quality, Hanoi is an amazing city and Sapa is stunning. Didn't see any worthwhile wine while I was there though!

I've yet to try Dalat, but I will soon. I almost bought one off of a lady in a rowboat hanging around our ship. My wife was worried about storage issues. She was probably right.

I've yet to try Dalat, but I will soon. I almost bought one off of a lady in a rowboat hanging around our ship. My wife was worried about storage issues. She was probably right.

I liked the white better than the red, which was reminiscent of a Beaujolais, with a touch of sweetness.