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Published: August 20th 2008
Day 1 Bordeaux, Aug. 19th, 2008
I arrived into Bordeaux via the night train at 8:20am. On the night train I only had a reclining seat and because I am a picky sleeper I was only able to get 3-4 hours of sleep. Before arriving in Bordeaux I checked out the tourist website for Bordeaux wine tours.
Sidenote: Bordeaux is on the southeast side of France near the coast is the largest wine producing region in France. They are known for their red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. They also produce some excellent white wines but in MUCH smaller qualities. I know a little bit about wine and thanks to my girlfriend who bought me a great book I am becoming more educated.
When I arrived in Bordeaux the weather was terrible. It was raining and thundering a little bit so I knew that a wine tour was most likely out of the question. I took the tram to my hotel where I had my own room which was very nice. I then promptly went to the tourist office which was only 5 minutes away so I could get information about their wine tours.
The wine tours were sold out for the today and they detailed the tours tomorrow for me. They had 2 wine tours, 1 full day (9-630pm) and 1 half day (1-6pm). I decided I am going to disregard my rush to get back to Paris and spend 85 Euros (125 dollars) on the full day tour.
To pass time for the current day I spent 5 Euros on a Bordeaux city tour where a tour guide explained the history of the region. The tour lasted two hours so it was well worth the 5 Euros and it ended around 7pm. With nothing else to do and the hotel offering no environment to meet other backpackers I headed back to my room and read an E-book. I went to bed at 9:30pm which was the earliest I had been to bed my entire trip.
Day 2 Bordeaux, Aug. 20th, 2008
I woke up the next morning refreshed and headed to a bakery for breakfast. Then I headed to the Office of Tourism for my Bordeaux tour. There were only 20 people going on the tour and it was an even mix between English and French speakers. We
did not arrive to the first Chateux until 10:40am. Once we got there we were greeted by an English speaking tour guide who explained the terroir (soil/earth) of the Bordeaux region and why it was excellent for Cabernet grape species. The Bordeaux wine producers blend varietals of wine with a usual blend of 65-75% of Cabernet Sauvignon, 10-15% Merlot, 5-10% Cabernet France, and a small percentage of Pedont. This blend gives the wine many bouquets and flavors.
***There were many times in this trip that I had wished I had one particular travel partner…and this has been my dad. And at this time during the wine tours I really really missed him and wished we could’ve done the tours together***
During the wine tours I met an Australian couple between their 40-50s. They owned their own vineyard in Australia near the Margaret River and they produced 60,000 bottles of wine per year. Wanting to learn as much as possible during this excursion I stayed close to this couple because they were very friendly and taught me a LOT about tasting, smelling, and the production of wine.
For example..I never knew that there were 3 main types of
oak barrels. These include France, Hungary, and the United States oak. The French oak is used the most because it imparts well accepted smooth flavors. French oak is around 70-80 yrs old. Hungarian oak is around 125 yrs old and is the lowest quality oak and those wineries on a budget use this type of oak for their barrels. American oak I’m not sure how old it is but it imparts very course flavors on the wine, with notes of eucalyptus and mint sometimes.
At our second winery we tasted wine and then had lunch where I met 2 more Australians. These 2 girls sat beside me at lunch and we talked about school, wine, and traveling. They had been traveling for 8 months. I’m so jealous. So at our lunch table sat myself with 5 other Australians and it was a lot of fun.
It was not until the last winery where we received the best wine. Save the best for last huh? It was a 2004 vintage containing 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 12% Cabernet France, and small amount of Pedant. It has a great fruity flavor with an undertone of spice. Sometime a wine will
Blast from the Past
in the 1700-1800s this is how they prepared the grapes to be put into their wooden vats. The large are is for crushing the grapes (by foot) and the small area is for removing the stems.have a great nose (smell) but terrible taste, but this wine had both.
After this I made sure to get contact information from the Australian couple so I could buy some of their wine back in the States. The other Australians and I went to grab a bite to eat near the Office of Tourism at a place called Bar de Vin. In there we got different entrées and took turns trying each other’s food and it was a lot of fun even though they picked on me for being a dentist.
After this I grabbed my internal frame backpack from the hotel and immediately headed to the train station to grab the French high speed train called the TGV. The train left Bordeaux at 7:45pm and arrived in Paris at 10:42pm. Now its time to go to my hostel!
Thank you all for reading my blog and posting your comments. I have enjoyed writing the blog for all of you and reading your comments!
I have been astonished by how many “hits” the blog gets each day. So far I think I have counted over 120 views total which is quite impressive considering I
decided to do this at the last minute.
J’aime vous tous (I love you all)
Eugene
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Grandma & Grandpa Gard
non-member comment
Love your blog
We have really enjoyed reading your blog. We have checked every day to see if you have added anything. You are going to have to teach me some French so we can take a trip there sometime. Glad you had a good time and hope you have a safe trip home. Love you.