France

I had never visited this part of Bordeaux before and was surprised to see how lushly green it is with rolling hills and many ancient chateaux and fortresses. It was only a 20 minute drive from the restaurant to Chateau de Crain, and yet it felt like we had quickly entered another world. Entre Deux Mers is one of the oldest parts of Bordeaux and it seems to have a magical unspoiled quality – almost as if fairies might live in the fields and trees. We found Chateau de Crain quite easily as there were signs posted, and even though [...]

Since May 8 is a holiday in France, we were not sure if we would find restaurants open. So the evening before we attempted to make an online reservation at the very famous Jean Marie Amat in the gutted Chateau du Prince Noir. Barnard from Chateau Monlot had recommended it – providing a nice article written by the New York Times. However, by morning we had still not heard back from them, so I telephoned and was delighted to hear them say they had received my request and were holding a table for us at 1pm. Unfortunately finding the restaurant [...]

Only about a 5 minute drive and we arrived at Haut-Bailly to be greeted by Noemie, the Marketing/PR Director who provided an excellent tour. We started in the vineyards, where we saw that they had a mixed field blend of cab, merlot, and CF – fascinating. The soil is gravel and sand – very porous and as they are on a small hill (48 meters), it is excellent for cabernet sauvignon of which they have 64% planted on their 30 hectares of red. Some of the vines are quite old – up to 90 years. Double guyot, 8 buds. 1x1 [...]

On Friday we woke for the first time to cloudy skies, but the day was still rather warm at around 67F. Rather sadly, we got in the car to head out for our last day of winery visits. Once again Google Map failed us and we had to call Ch. Carbonnieux to apologize for being late and to ask for directions. They told us to go all the way to the town of Leognan and then to turn left at the cemetery. This worked beautifully and we were happy to arrive and meet the owner, Philbert Perrin, who provided a [...]

It was only about a 10 minute drive from Yquem to Ch. de Malle outside the small town of Priegnac. We were met by the winemaker, Vincent Labergere, who was also the general manager and wore other multiple hats including direct sales to visitors. While we were there, several other people dropped by, and soon we had a small party of people touring and tasting with us. It was quite enjoyable. Vincent explained that they had 27 hectares of sweet wine (70% sem; 27% SB; and 3% muscadelle), but they also had 13 hectares of red Graves and 3 hectares [...]

Our appointment at Yquem was rescheduled to 3:30, which turned out to be a blessing because we actually didn’t arrive until 3pm. Taking the back roads in France – though scenic –takes much longer than the freeways. We met with David Marc, the assistant winemaker, who provided a very informative whirlwind tour of the estate. Beginning in the vineyard, he explained that Yquem is situated at the highest point in Sauternes – 80 meters – and that the region gets 92 days of fog per year. He said that fog and wind are needed to make good sweet botrytised wine, [...]

After our very pleasant visit at Haut Brion, Naomie invited us to stop by La Mission, which we did. Another lovely estate. From there, we decided to drive the 45 minutes west to the ocean and have lunch on the beach at Archaron. The drive took longer than we thought because of road work, but we enjoyed the charming seaside town with its colored houses of white and red stone. Wandering along the beach boardwalk, we found a café and purchased sandwiches and sparkling water and sat on a beach to watch the waves. It was around 70F with a [...]

I was surprised to see how close this very famous chateau is to downtown Bordeaux. Since it is so old – dating from 1525 – I’m sure that the old city of Bordeaux was much smaller when Haut-Brion was established, and that no one expected the Bordeaux subdivisions to spring up around such a famous wine estate. We were greeted by Laetitia, the PR Director, and she began our tour with an overview of the vineyards using a model of the property. Haut Brion has 48 hectares of red grapes (45% merlot, 45% cab, 9% CF, 1% PV) and 2.8 [...]