The Wine Enthusiast recently did a special feature on what they think are the World’s Best Wine Tour Destinations for 2016. Here are some more details on one of the destinations on their list: Bordeaux in France.
You can see the Wine Enthusiast’s full list of best wine travel destinations in my previous post here.
2. Bordeaux, France
Bordeaux, the world’s most famous wine “brand” and wine region is of course on the list.
This is what The Wine Enthusiast has to say about it in their intro:
“Bordeaux is the second-most visited city in France, trailing only Paris. With beautiful architecture, a thriving restaurant scene, new shops and tourist developments in the works, travellers find strolls through the medieval streets or along the river-front a joy. And then there’s the renowned wine, of course.”
Bordeaux should be on every wine lover’s list of places to visit at least once. But why not more than once? There is so much to discover. (And psst, the Wine Enthusiast, there IS already a high-speed train to Bordeaux. Just three hours from Paris.)
Bordeaux is of course on our list of wine tour destinations.
What to expect
Bordeaux city is a very elegant and urban city. It is a good place to stay and then to make day excursions. When you travel up through the Medoc sub-region you will see many of the world famous chateaux, the ones that you will find on the tables of many of the most exclusive restaurant tables across the world.
It is a big region, almost 120,000 hectares (300,000 acres) so it will take you quite some time to get from one end to the other. You will need to spend a few days here to get to see all the main parts of the region, the Medoc, Graves, Saint Emilion, Pomerol etc.
What you should not miss
Even if many people come here to see and taste the most famous wine brands in the world (the “classed growths”) that is just the tip of the iceberg, and often a very touristic tip too, unless you rely on a reputable organiser. You should not miss all the smaller producers that represent more than 90% of the total production. Go visit some of the not-so-famous chateau and you will get a quite different welcome than at the big-and-famous. The smaller wineries are often family run and don’t get all that many visitors. And the reception will be all the better for it, more personal. You might even get to tour and taste with the winemaker and/or the owner of the winery.
One more thing you should not miss: the great white dry wines. They have fallen out of fashion but are delicious. And often a bargain.
Travel with us on a wine tour to Bordeaux!
