St. Emilion

During my stay in Bordeaux, we took a trip to St. Emillion, on the right bank of Bordeaux. The ride from Bordeaux to St. Emillion is beautiful, on each side of the winding roads is a sea of wine vineyards stretching as far as the eye can see.

Bordeaux is a realitivley flat area, but St. Emillion is pearched on a hill high above the vineyards.

It is a small town consiting of 300 inhabitants and too many tourists. Our trip to St. Emillion included a trip to the catacombs underneath the city center, and an underground church carved out of one giant limestone rock.

After a morning wine tasting, we headed to a wine lunch which included a lot of free wine and a lot of authentic delicious southern french dishes.

After the wine lunch we headed to another vineyard, for another tour and tasting.

After that I'm not quite sure what we did, I think it involved sleeping. I've found that visiting Bordeaaux is best done with 30 twenty year olds, a bus to chauferre you around and someone else planning it.

Pit Stop in Sauternes

Before hitting the main area of Bordeaux on my weekend wine adventure, we took a stop in Sauternes, a wine region in South Bordeaux known for its sweet wine that is made by waiting for the grapes to be attacked by Bostrytis, a type of mold (Known to the Frenchies as "Nobel Rot"). It is a white wine that is usually made from two common grapes to that area, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion. The grapes are attacked by the Nobel Rot in this area because of the climate, which is foggy and damp in the morning then turns very warm.

I was excited to visit this area because my GM made a big to do about this wine when we added it to the wine list at the restaurant and I quite enjoyed it when we had a tasting at pre-meal one day. And its sweet and very expensive so it's right up my alley.

We took a tour of the sprawling Chateau Guiraud, a beautiful vineyard in the heart of the Sauternes region.

After the tour of the bottling room,

and the barrel room

and vineyards,

we finished by sampling two different Sauternes wine, which were both delicious.

(Best Giftshop Ever)

More Adventures in Wine Country coming soon