Our new wine tour program to Bordeaux has a lot to offer for the lover of fine things. There are few other wine regions that are so luxurious and grand as Bordeaux. We combine the impressive places with equally amazing wines and gourmet meals. Here is a brief introduction to the new wine tour program.
As soon as you arrive in the city of Bordeaux, you notice that this is not a small country burrow. The city is today on the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage. Over the last decade they have put a lot of energy on polishing and sweeping and re-planning the city so that it should be friendly and welcoming to visitors. A walk along the river in the newly created park along the water gives city stroller a fabulous view over the spectacular riverfront.
This use to be a place for many a wine warehouse and wine business, the negociants, but they have now moved out of the city. Instead you find restaurants and cafés with everything from a simple cup of coffee to exclusive gourmet foods. Walk a bit further away and you arrive at the old “hangars” (port stocks) that are now converted into shops and restaurants. Most amazing of all is the Place de la Bourse, The Exchange Square. Illuminated at night it almost looks as if the whole square is surrounded by gold…
But we are of course here primarily to visit the wine country. If we stick to the “left bank” for the moment we find many of the famous châteaux. They lay almost like a rosary along the route des châteaux north from the city of Bordeaux. On the Médoc day we head north through Margaux, Pauillac, Saint Julien and the other wine villages here in the most famous part of Bordeaux.
We will of course not only to look at the elegant chateaux façades from the outside. We will also go down in the wine cellars. Here you will find cellars filled with barrels, sometimes many hundreds of oak barrels at the larger chateaux. The wine rests here for up to two years and is “educated” in oak barrels. Anyone who wants to know all about oak barrel ageing is guaranteed to get their fill.
At one of the chateaux they also open their doors for us to their dining room. The chateau will serve us a gastronomic meal second to none. Not surprising, since the chef has been trained in top restaurants in Paris and in Champagne. Accompanied by some excellent wines of course…
On the other side of the river, the “right bank”, the environment is different. Chateaux are smaller, but sometimes just as grand. But they can also be not much more than a small house, and still be called a chateau. If the left bank is flashy and impressive then on the right bank the atmosphere is more intimate and personal. The chateaux are often run by families. Here we have, for example, Saint Emilion, Pomerol and Fronsac. The relatively flat landscape of the Médoc (though it is not as flat as you think) is here replaced by rolling hills with alternating vineyards and lush woods.
Here we also find the old medieval town of Saint Emilion. One cannot come to Bordeaux without making a visit to this charming town. Though “village” would probably be a better epithet.
Bordeaux is also known for what are perhaps the world’s best sweet wines, from Sauternes village and its neighbours. Here you will get another very special wine experience: sweet wines that develop magnificently with age.
And if you really want to go into depth with the world’s best sweet wine then you should try a meal with only Sauternes. Yes, you read that right. You can do a meal with only sauternes. It may sound strange or odd, but I promise, it works just fine. Try it!
This was just a small selection of what is on the program for our Bordeaux wine tour. There will several meetings with winemakers, cellar visits, tastings and many other exciting things.
Read more about what is on the new wine tour to Bordeaux in the detailed travel program.
Wine tours like no other.
