Bordeaux, in their own words

The passing of Baroness Philippine de Rothschild was only the second-saddest event of last weekend (behind all that wine destroyed by the Napa earthquake), but it provides a good reason to pass along the bon mots (and mal mots) of key Bordeaux wine figures:

• “I don’t need people to talk about it. The pleasure of drinking is more important than what one can say about it.” − Baroness Philippine de Rothschild on Mouton-Rothschild (left)

• “All American wine tastes the same … like Coca Cola.” − Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Philippine’s dad

• “To me, opening old bottles is not very interesting; except if you are very rich and you can open three bottles in a row to find one good bottle.” − Marcel Ducasse of Chateau Lagrange, on bottle variation.

• “Tradition is only an experiment that worked.” − Emile Peynaud, enologist, discussing the Super Tuscan movement.