BORDEAUX & THE MEDOC

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After a somewhat fitful night of sleeping we work to a sunny French day. Today’s agenda was the wine region known as the Medoc. Within the Medoc there are 8 or 9 sub-appellations. We were hoping to hit at least 2 or three. After showering we went up to breakfast (yes up the breakfast room is on the 4^th floor). Before I continue I do have a brief aside on the shower issue. The shower was perhaps the smallest shower I have every seen. It was hard for Jerry to move around you can imagine how much fun it was for me. Ah the joys of two stars.

Tourism Office

Our first stop of the day would be a walk to the Masion de vins and the Tourist office. According to Fodor’s the Masion de vins could help with wine tours and appointments at various Chateau. Fodor’s was wrong. They were not interested in organizing torus or making appointments they only wanted to sell you expensive glasses and bottles of wine. Across the street however at the tourism office, they were all about booking bus tours, private chauffeur tours or making your appointments at the chateau. In Bordeaux, especially Medoc almost all of the chateaux required appointments to visit and taste the wines. There are over 10,000 wineries in the Medoc and during the season there are hundreds of thousand of people wanting to visit. For a small fee of 6 Euros for every two bookings, the tourism takes all of the stress of your wine visit away. They speak perfect English, are friendly and will spend as long as it takes with you to book what you want.

I was hoping to get an appointment at Chateau Lynch Bages, my favorite Bordeaux wine, but they were booked solid. Instead we were booked in to Chateau Gruaud Larose and Chateau Lafon-Rochet.

Drive to the Medoc

After the tourism office we walked back to the car and started out. It is pretty easy to find your way to the Medoc, once you get out of the core of the city it is. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the vineyards in general. A lot has changed in the 18 years since I was here last; it took me about an hour before I recognized anything from my earlier visit. Our first appointment was not until 2 in St. Julien (one of the sub-appellations) so we took our time, Jerry taking pictures me just enjoying the day. Our first stop of the day was in the village of Margaux, also the heart of a sub-appellation and one of the more expensive as well. We stopped at a small wine shop offering tastings and since we rarely get the opportunity to taste a Margaux we stopped. They of course spoke English in the store, we were first invited to look around then we had the tasting. We tasted two different wines a Margaux and a Haute Medoc (see the section on Wines Tasted later in this blog). After that stop we headed for our first appointment. We drove buy it the first time, but the second managed to find it. We were about an hour early so we drove on to Pulliac to find something to eat. We stopped at a small shop on the water front and each got a jamon & fromage with tomatoes and lettuce on baguette. We ate them on the way back to the Chateau. When we arrived back we were still a little early so Jerry took some picture.

Chateau Gruaud Larose

We were met by a blond woman, whose name I don’t remember, she was British. We had a very detailed tour of the chateaux and learned a great deal of the wine making process from planting to harvest to barreling to bottling. IN fact they were going to be bottling the next day. The tour lasted about an hour and ended with a tasting of two of their wines. One from their first label (the Grand Cru, or that which meets all of the standards of the appellation of St. Julien) and one from their second label, typically made with grapes from younger vines. Both were very good.

Chateau Lafon-Rochet

After our tasting at Larose, we headed north of Pulliac (home of Lynch Bages) to St. Estephe, the second chateau was easier to find as it was painted yellow. We were again a little early so we drove through the village of St. Estephe, very nice and small village surrounded by vineyards. Upon return arrival a group from Estonia was just finishing up. We were given a much shorter tour of these facilities, it was 4 pm by a young French woman, we got much of the same information but did learn a few new things as well. At the end of the tour, the owner of the Chateau himself did our tasting. He was a very funny older gentleman, who didn’t have much nice to say about the Estonia’s before us. We tasted 4 different wines, one from the second label and three from the first label. It is a much smaller operation than the first, but the wine was more interesting and we bought a few more bottles here. Trust me none of it is making it home with us.

After that we headed back to Bordeaux. Wine making in France especially Bordeaux is very different than Oregon. My experience with most Oregon wine makers is that it is less hi-tech and more art. In Bordeaux it is very high tech, but nothing replaces the wine makers taste and nose when it comes to the final blend. All Bordeaux are blends, no big wood biting cabernets, but typically 60% or more cab if from the Medoc and 60% or more merlot if from St. Emilion. The other grapes typically blended with the cabernet sauvignon in the Medoc is merlot up to 30%!,(MISSING) cabernet franc, about 5 percent and petit verdant less than 3%! (MISSING)

Bordeaux

The city of Bordeaux can most easily be described as the Portland of France. It is close to the coast two major rivers are near and it is pretty laid back. You see more jeans than high fashion here and the entire ambiance is so much different than Paris. Bordeaux while known for its wine is not much known for its food. We won’t have much time to explore the city itself this trip as we are using it as a hub to visit the surrounding wine country. We will have dinner here every night, and hopefully will be better than what I am about to describe next.

Unremarkable Dinner

We choose a place out of Fodor’s because it was late, and we did not have a lot of time to explore to find something more interesting (although we did find a nice looking restaurant next to the ATM machine). In any event, we headed to Place Pay-berland. In the center of the square is the main cathedral in Bordeaux St. Andre. It is undergoing serious renovations.

The restaurant Fodor’s lead us to Café Francais, which was a one dollar sign which means good by inexpensive typically. Fodor’s direct correct was “for solid subsistence at reasonable price, it’s hard to beat”. Nothing could be further from the truth. The food was less than mediocre, the service typical nice to the French but not so nice to tourists, and it was not cheap. It was like eating at Sizzler with out the salad bar. Yes it was outside seating, and nice ambiance but for and average plate price of 25 Euros I expected a lot more. At least the wine was good.

After this unremarkable dinner we strolled back to the hotel and called it a night. Tomorrow off to St. Emilion.

TODAY’S EATS

Breakfast: Standard French breakfast, croissant, bread, yogurt, apple sauce, coffee and juice.

Lunch: On the road, Jamon & Fromage sandwiches

Dinner: As mediocre as it was: We split a charcuterie platter (including tripe, I ate it Jerry didn’t, it didn’t kill me but I wouldn’t go out of my way to order it. The meal started with a chive garlic puree with tiny tomatoes and champagne. Jerry had a filet with pomme frittes I had a steak with bordelaise and marrow. The steak was bigger than the plate and tough. We passed on dessert. Had a 2008 Fugue De nenin, Pomerol Bordeaux.

WINE TASTED TODAY

La Cave D’Uyssee (Wine shop in Margaux)

Segla 2007 Margaux (8 years left on it)

Château Columbe Peylanye 2009 Haut Medoc (also 8 years left)

Château Gruaud LaRose (St. Julien)

1^st wine 2007 St. Julien (Grand Gru)

2^nd wine Sargent de Grauaud LaRose 2002

Château Lafon-Rochet (St. Estephe)

2^nd wine 2010 Les Pelerins de Lafon-Rochet

1st wines: Gran Gru Château Lafon-Rochet 2010, 2009 and 2006

REVIEWS

Bordeaux Tourism Office. This is the place to go to make all of your arrangements to tour the Bordeaux wine region. From private tours to Bus tours, from do it your self to chauffer driven, they will do it all with a smile.

Café Francais: I don’t know how Fodor’s chooses there restaurants but they were way off the mark, neither good food or inexpensive. If the waiters knew you weren’t French or didn’t speak French, then expect your service to be sub-par, reminiscent of very old Parisian attitudes that I personally have never experienced other than here.

DAILY TIPS

Get an early start to your trip to Medoc and pack a lunch, no need to spend a lot of money on a long lunch, when the reason your there is for the wine.

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Photos

Wine flowing free
There must be a law against this

Chateau Lafone-Rochet
You can't miss this one.

Comments

[rob]

room
Delighted to see you'll have too for me in your new home. You won't even hear me snore.