Wine Tasting Trip to France, Part 1 - Bordeaux

Part I – Wine Tasting in Bordeaux

After spending many hours reading about all of the great wines of the world for the WSET Diploma, I figured I should actually try to visit one of those regions outside of the US so I wouldn’t have to cram it all in my head three weeks before the test. The following is what I found and how I found it. And of course I say I found it, but really my wife helped me find it in the first place so she deserves a lot of the credit.

Itinerary:

If you want to go wine tasting in France you can hire a company and get a great idea of the absolute best wines ever created. However that would mean you would have to be rich, which I am not. Here’s how we did it on our own for a lot less money:

· Day 1: Flew from San Francisco to Paris. Connected a flight to Bordeaux. Picked up a car (Altea Manual Transmission).

· Day 2-5: Visited the city and surrounding areas of Bordeaux.

· Day 6-8: Drove to Loire (Vouvray and Chinon) visiting the surrounding areas

· Day 9-10: Drove to Paris, dropped of the car and visited the city

· Day 11: Flew back to San Francisco (via an unplanned detour to Boston)

A more detailed Itinerary is included at the very end of part II of this Guide to wine tasting in France

Tips and Tricks:

Now I know many of you aren’t going to read much past the first page, so I’ll get this out of the way early. The first thing that we did right was rent a medium/small car. We stayed in downtown Bordeaux for part of our trip and the roads are very small. The last thing you want to do is drive a gas guzzling SUV down the streets of a city that was planned out in the 18^th century.

As a corollary to driving a small car, packing light is important. The dress isn’t too formal so you can re-wear a lot of clothes. Of course I wouldn’t suggest doing shorts and a T-shirt; the French know how to dress even when it is “dressed down” and you don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb. Dark jeans and a button down shirt or sweater work great. The other reason packing light is important is due to all of the stairs. Much of France is hundreds of years old and not handicap accessible, aka you are going to have to be Heman or She-Ra to carry your heavy bags up those stairs.

Driving in the French country side is actually very much like driving in the United States. The cities can be a little tricky, but because many of the wine cities like Bordeaux are not huge, the traffic and people don’t tend to be too aggressive. Paris is a little bit of a different story but we only drove there for an hour to drop off the car, so I can’t comment about driving around the city too much.

If you are wandering around France without appointments, you can generally find where you need to go. Most (but not all) street names are on the side of buildings and destination cities are clearly marked. However if you really need to get places on a time schedule, the Garmin is a very helpful tool. We were able to rent one for just $30 through Europcar with preloaded French Maps, and it definitely was worth the money. The Garmin lady only tried to drive us down a couple of 15% grade roads, but after cursing her out, we usually got to our appointments on time.

Tasting is a commitment in France. Especially in Bordeaux you need to take you time to enjoy the wine and let it evolve in the glass. More than a couple of times we ended up on tours with fellow wine tasters (American and other English speaking origins) where the wine was poured into the glass and emptied quickly into the gullet. Bordeaux wines can be closed when first opened and the true complexity often comes out after sitting in the glass for 30 minutes. In addition spitting is important because it can reveal flavors sometimes hidden by swallowing. I usually employed a policy of spitting and swallowing so I could enjoy and evaluate the wine.

Finally, I would say that the Loire is probably a better place to visit in the warmer months. It looks like it could get quite hopping in the summer, so maybe the height of summer might be too much, but starting in mid November, a lot of restaurants/wineries/ shops close. Plus, it was really cold, so I’m not sure how much you would enjoy the tasting rooms that are 0 degrees Celsius (get used to Celsius, they don’t use or want to convert anything to Fahrenheit). We had a great time in Chinon and Vouvray, but I couldn’t help but think that we missed some highlights of the region.

Bordeaux – Soup to Nuts

I’m not going to profess that I know everything about Bordeaux. In fact, I think this trip opened up my eyes to how much I don’t know about Bordeaux. However, I can tell you that what we did end up visiting and experiencing was very educational and exciting.

A couple of tips about Bordeaux wine tasting:
This is not California. The French expect that you know something about the winemaking process and the basics of varietal composition. I would suggest that if you are a real beginner, the Windows on the World wine book is a great place to start. Visit some California/Oregon/ Washington or other state wineries first and ask them about terms such as malolactic fermentation and grafting. Then you will go to Bordeaux with an idea of how the wine is made. For better or for worse, we were immediately treated better as soon as the tour guide figured out that we knew the details of the winemaking process and could ask educated questions.

The other tip is to make appointments in advance, in some cases way in advance. I’m sure that you could find wineries in Bordeaux without an appointment, but almost everything we saw was strictly by appointment. The appointment times were usually at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The French take a 2 hour lunch from 12 to 2 so it is impossible to get more than three wineries in during a day (at least in Bordeaux). You have to remember that a lot of Bordeaux is sold on futures, so there is no need to open the tasting room for sales. The tour and tasting are mostly marketing tools and not a means to an end as in the US, although they do appreciate when you buy the wine. We purchased sparingly what we could not get in the U.S.

Day 2 (arrival in Bordeaux and Dinner in the City):

The first thing that we noticed when flying above Bordeaux, was the expanse of the city. It is talked about in a lot of books as a wine capital, but until you get there, you don’t

Ecolodge des Chartrons, Bordeaux France

really realize that it is home to many other businesses and occupations. The size however is not daunting, and at just under a million people within the surrounding area, it is not much different than say Portland, Oregon. The size of the city does allow two great opportunities. Great places to taste wine and great places to eat.

After checking out our car from the Bordeaux airport, we drove about 30 minutes to our Bed and Breakfast, Ecolodge des Chartrons, north of the city centre (but still in downtown). My wife had done a great job booking this Bed and Breakfast because the owners were very helpful and they had a parking space. Veronique (one of the owners) suggested that we visit a wine bar and then head out to dinner before crashing for the night.

After walking downtown around the beautiful Opera House, we stumbled upon the suggested wine bar: Bar a Vin (what a creative name). All I can say is that this might be the best wine bar for the value in the entire world. My wife got a Cremant de Bordeaux for 2.50 Euro, while I got a Grand Cru Saint Emillion and a Grand Cru Pessac-Leognan for 5.00 and 4.00 Euro respectively. The server thought it was strange that I wanted two glasses, but the prices were so cheap that I thought it was just a 2 oz pour. Ends up it was a 6 oz pour and the wines were top notch (and I was a little woozy after all that wine). I read in one of my wine books that Cremant de Bordeaux was not something to get giddy about, but this sparkling wine had impressive depth and fruit, with a nice subtle hint to Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion on the finish. It was a great way to start the trip.

The next place we stopped was Le Carre in the Chartrons area of Bordeaux. Let me first preface by saying that the food quality in France was a notch above US food in almost every way (freshness, creativity, subtlety) and the food in Bordeaux was another notch above that. Not to say there isn’t great food in the United States, it just that you usually pay big dollar for it and $40 meals at Red Lobster don’t even come close to what is available in France. The bed and breakfast owners said that Bordeaux had the most restaurants per capita for a city in France and I think the competition must elevate the food. Le Carre was a good example of what appeared to be a street side dinner that actually was fine dining. The fish selection was their specialty and even though I couldn’t tell you what white fish I ended up ordering, it was prepared perfectly and was very tasty.

Day 3 (First Tasting day in Saint Emillion)

I was a little nervous for our first tasting in Saint Emillion. The directions to Chateau Angelus were a little spotty and we had no idea how well the Garmin was going to work. Luckily I had looked at the Google Maps picture of Angelus before we left in the morning and recognized it when we accidently drove up to the back of the winery. We were greeted by Laurent and given a fun little tour of the winery and tasting of the wines. The Angelus first wine that we tasted (the 2004) was outstanding. It had a fruit forward nose of blackberry, plum, and black cherry, but where it really excelled was on the secondary flavors. Those tightly wound flavors of black coffee were originally singular, but after 15 minutes the coffee morphed into toffee, caramel, espresso and mocha. It was the greatest example of why you need to take 30 minutes to taste a wine such as this. I think if I had 165 Euros to blow, this would not have been a bad choice.

The second wine (Le Carillon de L’Angelus), which we ended up buying, was not as full bodied, but it had many of the same complexities and at 40 Euros was a steal. I will definitely look for that wine in the US because it was better than pretty much any $60 bottle of Napa Cabernet or Merlot that I have tasted.

After tasting at Angelus we ended up driving in to Saint Emillion for lunch after a couple of wrong turns and a drive down a narrow road that is only fun after you have driven on it. The city is a relic to an age of winemaking that is over 1,000 years old and walking through it is an experience. We found a wine bar that had the most interesting meal of the day (squid) and some pretty good cheap Bordeaux Blanc.

For the afternoon appointment we took a trip to Chateau Franc- Mayne in Saint Emillion. We were unexpectantly greeted in English by AJ. It turns out she was an UC Davis graduate that stayed in France to make wine there after she matriculated. We were able to glean a lot of information from her because there wasn’t a language barrier. She took us on a long walk through their incredible limestone caves. The wines were very good from the 2004 vintage, although they were from the old owners of the winery so they had more of a rustic, earthy style. Since the owners of Franc-Mayne also have a number of other wines, we were able to purchase a half bottle of Pomerol from the 2007 vintage that was more modern and quite complex.

The beautiful thing about Chateau Franc Mayne is that you can take a walk from their property to Saint Emillion. It is about a mile walk, but you get to walk by some of the Grand Cru Classé properties of Saint Emillion, and since I was still a little nervous about my driving skills in France, it was a welcome break from the road.

Day 4 (The Medoc)

I’m pretty sure this was our most memorable day in France. It may have been one of my best days wine tasting ever simply because of three wines, the Chateau Palmer 1996, the Chateau Palmer Alter Ego 2007 and the Lynch Bages 2004. Not usually vintages to write home about, these wines showed character and style unique to the Medoc, but more about that later. Also we had a wonderful dinner at La Tupina in the city of Bordeaux.

The first order of the day was to drive to Chateau Palmer with help from our little Garmin. However, once again it was a good thing I had looked at the picture of the Chateau before because the address provided dead ended us at a Church in the little commune of Issan. When we started to drive through the AOC Margaux designation, I started to realize how large it was and how many different 3^rd growths (and 1 first growth) called the appellation home. Apparently, Chateau Palmer, Chateau Rauzen- Segla and Chateau Margaux sit on the same loam, clay pebble mixture, which our tour guide suggested made them excel even in not so great vintages.

The tour of Chateau Palmer was very interesting because it is a winery that has gone through a lot of modernization over the last 30 years. One of their most interesting “modern” creations is their second wine, Alter Ego, which is much more fruit forward than you would typically see in Bordeaux. Additionally, not so subtle was their desire to move up in status as they made a big picture window in their barrel room that looks right out at Chateau Margaux, suggesting that this was their target.

And with the two wines we tasted, I think they hit the target. The Palmer wines were possibly two of the most compelling wines I have ever tasted. As a disclosure, Chateau Palmer has always been one of my favorite wines, and until recently I was usually able to afford it in “off” vintages. The 1996 was that perfect balance of fruit and age and while a little more age may have mellowed the tannins out, the fruit was peaking. The leather from the bottle bouquet was also starting show, but not dominate along with some interesting secondary aromas of cedar, spice, coffee and chocolate. This was another wine that needed 15 minutes or more to evolve in the glass, which it did about 2 or 3 different times.

Next to the 1996, we tasted the 2007 Alter Ego which could not have been more different. There were big black and red fruits, with a hint of cedar, tobacco and cocoa, and a hauntingly long finish. This was a very modern wine, but without the 15% alcohol. I think I made a mistake in not buying some of this from the winery because when I got back to the room and checked the prices in California, the wine wasn’t even available to purchase. I guess I will have to break down and buy some futures. This type of wine would be be a great $50 bottle to help someone transition from Napa Valley Cabernet to Bordeaux. Its fruit forward style makes it easier to understand, especially for those of us who have been weaned on the fruit bombs from California.

We had some time to wander around after Chateau Palmer so we took a driving tour of the Medoc, which is rustic and in parts very beautiful. It looked like unfortunately some of the area had come under hard times. There were a lot of closed building and not a lot of eating options. We finally found a place to eat on the waterfront in Pauillac, which was one of the few cities of major size within the area. Luckily a young man at a wine shop gave us a map so we could find Chateau Lynch Bages since nowhere was there an accurate address to the winery.

Once at Lynch Bages we were given a tour of the winery by a nice young gentleman. The new winery looked like much else in the Medoc, but the older winery equipment (they stopped using it in the early 70s) was fascinating. They had everything from old fashion tanks, to crushers and presses that dated back to the 1800s. At the end of the tasting we tasted the 2004 Lynch-Bages and the 2004 Second wine, Château Haut-Bages Averous.

Some of the criticism of Lynch Bages I have heard in the past is that they have a lot of brettanomyces in their wines that Robert Parker and Wine Spectator have a hard time picking up in their reviews. I would agree that the second wine had that earthy barnyard “fault” to it. The first wine however was a powerful wine with fruit and earth balance that did a good job hiding the little brett that may have been in the wine. It evolved in the glass (can you guess a theme?) and it was outstanding. The ending of this tasting was rather hilarious as they dumped you out at the square of Bages and told you to go to the store to buy the wine. It was a nice abrupt way to end a tasting. The only alarming thing about the wine was the price. 90 € for Lynch Bages, and an off vintage none the less. I purchased the 2002 futures for $30 for my best friend in the US in 2003. I guess the Asian market has driven up the prices.

Dinner that night was at La Tupina. The owner of the bed & breakfast said it was the second best bistro in the world, which makes me wonder which one was the best. We had some very memorable dishes like duck carpaccio and the black Pyrenees pig. The chocolate cake was the definition of seductive and I’ve never seen my wife eat all of her dessert like she did that night. Probably our best meal in France turned out to be 150 Euro with wine, so while not cheap, it didn’t max out my credit card.

Day 5 (Graves and Sauternes)

Day five had been up in the air for us. For some reason we had a hell of a time finding places to taste in Sauternes. Luckily my wife had on a whim booked a tour at La Mission Haut Brion, which I didn’t realize at the time was under the umbrella of the Haut Brion family of winemaking. Also at the last minute, she was able to book a tasting at Guiraud in Sauternes which may be the hardest winery name to say in English.

The drive from Bordeaux to La Mission Haut Brion was short (distance wise at least) as the suburbs of Bordeaux have been expanding into this once rural growing area. From the city center, Pessac-Leognan must only be three or four miles. However it did take us a half an hour to get there because the Garmin took us down the busiest street in west France. Once there, we sat down for a short video explaining the history of the vineyard and its association with the church. The guided tour focused on the winemaking side of the Chateau and it was interesting to find out how cutting edge this winery and its sister winery were. At one point the tour guide explained that they used to use natural yeast, but the last couple of years they had purchased a strain from UC Davis to accommodate the higher alcohol levels. I never thought I would have heard that in France.

For the tasting at the end, we again tried wines from the 2004 vintage. The surprise treat was that we got to taste the Haut Brion as well as the La Mission Haut Brion. I hadn’t gone on the trip expecting to taste a first growth, but I wasn’t complaining when she pulled the wines out. It was interesting to taste the two wines together because they were made by the same winemaking team, with the difference mainly being in the vineyards and some minor differences in oak treatment.

I think my wife and I agreed that the Haut Brion was a superior wine due to its depth. The La Mission had more fruit when it was first opened, but its palate was decidedly mid palate, where as the Haut Brion had a back to front palate feel and a longer finish. The first growth also evolved over the 30 minute tasting to reveal its black fruit along with the leather, cigar box, chocolate and cinnamon. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the fellow Americans that had taken the tour with us as they had gulped down the two wines in the first 10 minutes. I think they missed out on what the first growth had to offer.

From Pessac-Leognan we took the 25 mile drive to Sauternes, which is off a toll road, so bring some Euros with you. It was 2,20€ each way and luckily we had some coins on us. Sauternes is somewhat like the Medoc with lots of small communes and not a lot of places to eat. I would suggest driving to the town of Sauternes because there are apparently a couple of restaurants there for lunch. We didn’t know that and spent some time wandering the communes before our appointment to try to find lunch. Eventually we found a pizza place in Langon where my wife was able to convince the gentleman in broken French to make us an 8 € pizza. It was very good I might add and the owner understood our time constraint.

After eating in the car, we hurried over to Guiraud to make our appointment and hung out in their warm tasting room. The tour was very informative because I had never stopped to think about the complexities of making Sauternes, you just usually accept the noble rot thing and move on. Due to certain parts of the same vineyard plots having to be picked at different times, the amount of different lots required could be staggering. Even individual clusters will often get picked in two or three rounds. It takes one vine per glass of Sauternes, versus one vine per bottle on average for dry wine. It makes sense why the Guiraud land holding are so big but the case production is only about 8,000 cases in an average year.

The wine tasting at Chateau Guiraud was especially interesting because the tour guide decided we were going to try the 2001 vintage. Of course that was supposedly the best vintage of the last 20 years according to the critics. The Chateau Guiraud 2001 was a blend of fruit and spice. Lemon, peach and apricot first showed bright on the nose, while the secondary aromas of orange peel, spice and floral notes. It was another wine that evolved during the tasting and I would suggest was more along the masculine side of Sauternes I had tasted. In the past I had purchased Suduiraut because of its subtle complexity and it was funny to realize that the two Sauternes that I have come to love have Chateau Y’quem sandwiched between them.

That night we wrapped up our Bordeaux trip on Thanksgiving night by going to a cheese shop, a charcuterie and supermarket (to pick up some Power-Aid). The Ecolodge des Chartrons was kind enough to let us use their table downstairs, where we enjoyed the fresh cheese, bread and salumi. It was a very memorable Thanksgiving dinner.

Part 2 to be continued soon!