We started out very early as we had to walk a few blocks to the Maria Christina Hotel to meet our guide at 8am for an all day Rioja wine tour. Our guide from San Sebastián foods was Lourdes and the driver was Pedro. Our group included a young couple from Australia and a gal from Cleveland. Off we went in a large Mercedes Benz van on our discovery journey of Rioja wines. We drove about 1.5 hours through countryside that varied from reminding us of Colorado with the rolling hills by Genesee; to some pretty good sized mountains to vineyards as far as the eye can see. Very beautiful and as much as we dislike long coach rides while on holiday, this was really enjoyable. We arrived at our first vineyard of the day, Muga ... read more

We arose early so we could eat breakfast before we had to have our bags outside our cabin for the crew to take them to the staging area. Katell arranged for a cab at 9am to take us to the bordeaux st jean gare (train) station. He dropped us right at the car rental side of the station. Unfortunately it's Sunday and they open at 10am so we had to stand outside and wait. I was annoyed we were so early but by 9:30 there were probably 30 people in line and we were #2. All thanks to Jim wanting to be there early, Yeah, so glad he insisted we get there early. The agent gave us a really nice Opal SUV and to top it off the numbers on the license plate is 077!!! That's ... read more

This is the day to expand our pallet and go out and taste the sweet wines of Bordeaux, the Sauternes. The boat sailed during the night from bordeaux to cadillac. We took a lovely drive through the countryside of this region and it was just beautiful. Everywhere you look as far as the eye can see are acres and acres of beautiful vineyards and the French chateaus with the grey slate roofs. We stopped at one vineyard for a tour of the winemaking process and cave along with a wine tasting. The real treat of the day was the lunch that Uniworld arranged at Chateau d'Arche. Ooh la la was it fantastic. Three courses each paired with a sweet Sauterne wine. Now, I know you would think you could not enjoy that much sweet wine but ... read more

Today we went to the charming town of Bergerac. The ride to this town on the motor coach was about 1 1/2 hours which seemed like a long journey. About 30 minutes in we stopped for a 'technical stop' or 'happy stop' or 'Water closet' or restroom...we thought the technical stop was quite funny. Upon our arrival we were given a walking tour by our guide. Quite a bit of history over the centuries with war between French and the English and then the Christians and the Protestants. After our walking tour, we head to a restaurant that Susan made reservations for lunch. We walked a few short blocks and located the restaurant, L'Imparfait restaurant. We were seated outside under an umbrella and the matre d' pulled out the chalk board with the 3 course pre ... read more

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, ... read more