Tag Archives: Bordeaux

St-Émilion Part 1: Bordeaux and Merlot’s Vinous Sea

Posted on March 3, 2014 by waywardwine

This Monday’s EU Austerity Drinking Tour sends us to St-Émilion: right bank home to Bordeaux’s greatest, Merlot-based reds.

After some credit card, train-related malarkey, we leave the city of Bordeaux and cross into Entre-Deux-Mers.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWoq7cUdgAA&w=560&h=315%5D

That flatland is Entre-Deux-Mers (not Pomerol…dummy). As its name implies, it is the land “between two seas”: the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers. It’s a great region for value Bordeaux. But our aim is Saint-Émilion, hanging over the Dordogne’s right bank.

Soon, châteaux actually start looking like Châteaux and not somewhat homely barns.

Landed, we leave the train with a few other tourists. One road points to town. Our march uphill begins. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bordeaux, merlot, St-Emilion | 2 Comments

Négociant Cellars in Chartrons: the Merchant Heart of Bordeaux

Posted on February 17, 2014 by waywardwine

We are 94 days deep into our EU Austerity Drinking Tour. My birthday has arrived and we are in Bordeaux: capital city of wine. I dreamt of tasting at the finest châteaux and wine bars, purchasing rare and astronomically priced bottles from posh shops. But my wife and I feel horrendously sick. Yesterday’s free tour of Graves sapped our energy, palates, livers, and relationship.

So today we explore the city sober. We start at Bordeaux’s Musée des Beaux-Arts. It is free thanks to construction (the austerity gods smile upon us). After a light breakfast of art, we stop outside St André Cathedral. My wife furiously knits my Irish wool birthday scarf, while I sketch the Cathedral: Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bordeaux, Bordeaux Musée des Beaux-Arts, chai, Chartrons, Garonne, La Maison Des Chartrons, Negociant | 3 Comments

Graves Open Doors 4: The Final Frontier: Château de Roquetaillade la Grange

Posted on February 10, 2014 by waywardwine

This installment of Monday’s EU Austerity Drinking Tour finds us sick, drunk, and headed to the fourth and last winery in Graves in southeast Bordeaux.

To recap: a free van picked us up for “Portes Ouvertes dans les Graves” (Open Doors in Graves) in the sleepy town of Langon (below):

We tried Bordeaux’s just-fermented varietals at Château Pont de Brion (here), ate rotten grapes at Château La Croix (here), and met a red-only, family run, micro-winery at Château Caillivet (here).

Well-smashed, our white tin chariot takes us to Bordeaux’s Southern-most winery: Château de Roquetaillade la Grange:

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Luckily, we didn’t walk.

Soft hills roll with vine rows. This is the highest vineyard in Graves: roughly 100 meters above sea-level. Not a mountain, but unlike la Croix’s river-side, rotting grapes (tricky, but perfect for dessert wine), dry breezes and more drainage keep Roquetaillade’s vines happy. With all this rain, that matters.

Also unlike the rest of Langon, this “Château” has a château: Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bordeaux, Château de Roquetaillade la Grange, Destemmer, France, Graves, merlot, Portes Ouvertes, Roquetaillade, Sauternes, Semillon, Starship Enterprise | 2 Comments

Graves Open Doors 3: Château Caillivet in Bordeaux

Posted on February 3, 2014 by waywardwine

Today continues our exploration of Graves: Bordeaux’s diverse, left-bank, value region that struggles in the shadow of famed and pricier Haut-Médoc. A white van has toured us around the village of Langon, visiting its wineries for free (this is an EU Austerity Drinking Tour after all).

We leave “Château” la Croix’s rustic charm. A new driver asks for our next winery. The local girls say something. I blankly agree. But my wife’s glare cuts me down.

“They don’t like you”, she growls. “I know. But it doesn’t really matter which winery we go to.” “Yes, but you choose one, they don’t want us around”. “Fine”. Angry, tipsy, and both of us sick and stuffy we continue to whisper/fight. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chateau Caillivet, Château la Croix, France, Haut-Médoc, Langon, Medoc, merlot, Oak, wine | 5 Comments

Getting Dirty in Graves: Château la Croix

Posted on January 27, 2014 by waywardwine

We pick up last Monday’s EU Austerity Drinking Tour post south of Bordeaux, sick, but thirsty. Our free, Open Doors, van tour of Graves had started decently. Château Pont de Brion let us taste a mini-enprimeur of 2012’s just-harvested varietals. They were tidy, well-branded, but too clean to be outstanding. Then I kicked a dog (accidentally), and they kicked us out.

Today, our van bounces to its next stop: Château la Croix.

The word Châteaux clearly gets applied to anything in Bordeaux. A child plays with gravel in the driveway. A stable-winery glares orange. The center tree shades a large, black dog who greets with a lazy bark.

But superficiality be damned. We came for wine, not glamor. Our van clatters off, leaving us and three, twenty-something ladies in the parking lot. Continue reading →