Day 4 Pauillac FR and Medoc wine region

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We slept in to 8am today and went down for breakfast. We hung out this a.m. And had lunch on the top deck today. Our tour to the Medoc wine region left at 1pm and we headed off in the motor coach with our guide for the day, Priscilla.

She explained to us that in the 1600's the French brought in Dutch engineers to drain what was the swamp of Medoc. Then in the 1700's they started to plant vines where the former swamp was. Medoc means the middle area between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gironde estuary. This region receives no snow, lots of rain is humid. The wines made here are always blended. Today, most wineries are very large with several hectares each. They are mostly owned by corporations such as banks, insurance companies, etc. The reason is that owners pass away and leave the estate property to family heirs then due to the size of the estates, the beneficiaries cannot afford to pay the taxes so the heirs are forced to sell. Sad indeed.

We noticed several vineyards had these brown containers set about around the vines. What was explained to us was they use a method they call "sexual confusion". The containers contain female hormone scent. The male insects arrive at the vineyard and rather than attack the grapes, they search for the female and then go crazy searching and ultimately go crazy and drop dead. Wild huh!!

We visited several wineries but the most fun was the Chateau D'Arsac where they do a wine tasting that includes 6 varieties of white and reds along with a questionnaire they created to determine your individual wine personality. It was really an entertaining exercise. I am Gourmet with ascendant of Refined and Jim is Refined with ascendant of Eternal.

We returned to the ship around 5:30pm and quickly showered and got ready for dinner as tonight was the Captain dinner. We had champagne, white and red wines along with great dinner. It was a full and HOT day today. We understand that just east of bordeaux all the way to Paris there is heavy rain and even hail!! We are so glad that we have not experienced this bad weather!

Bonne nuit.

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