Bonjour Bordeaux

 We arrived into the Bordeaux airport close to 11:30 pm. After collecting our luggage, we were met by Sara from Rugby Travel Ireland. It seemed a long walk to the bus, but at that point we had been up for going on 18 hours, so maybe it wasn’t really that far. We had to wrestle our own luggage under the bus and a fellow traveler remarked: “Look at that man’s huge suitcase.”  That was Nick’s. It was 30 minutes to the hotel - we arrived at almost 1 am. Someone asked if the pub was open, no she said. He asked, can we get it open. No, she said. It’s that kind of crowd. 

There were keys waiting for us, but the names were mixed up. Mary Van Lieshout was with Nick Vollendorf and Susan Kelley was with Julie Harmon. We laughed until Mary and Julie found their room had one big bed, as did Sue and Nick’s. Mary called and they moved to the room next door with two beds. Not knowing it had been quickly sorted, Sue tossed and turned for considerable time before finally falling asleep. Everyone else slept well but at 7:30 am, we were all up and getting ready for our first day in Bordeaux. Due to an issue with hotel space, we also had to check out of that hotel and into another at 5 pm. 

The included breakfast hit the spot, and at 9:30 am, we turned in our keys and waited for our bus for our first wine tour.  Again, we loaded the luggage under the bus and climbed aboard. Our tour guide Sara was joined by retired Rugby player Donal, and Maria, wine expert and mom of a famous Rugby player. There were lots of inside jokes that went over the American heads. 

It was a good hour or so to our first Vineyard. There were several striking chateaus and churches along the way that Maria pointed out. We got to Chateau Siran in Margeaux, and divided into two groups (there are a total of 53 on the tour.) Our tour guide Justine was excellent. She explained the 6 types of grapes they grow in that area which they blend to make the wines. These include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Petite Verdot. If they want to receive a classification (which they all do in order to sell the wine for the best prices), they have to follow many rules, including how they trim the vines, how close they plant them, how many years before they can harvest them, they must harvest by hand, and amazingly, they cannot irrigate the vines. Apparently they can irrigate the young vines for the first 2 years, but for year 3 on, they have to rely on Mother Nature. With climate change, they are looking to plant more merlot and Malbec, which do better in dry conditions. Justine also told us about the aging process and the use of the oak barrels. They cost 900 euros new and they only use them for 3 years, rotating the wines in and out. There is a toasting of the barrels that gives varying levels of complexity. She also gave us some history of the family that has owned the chateau for five generations. There was an Irish connection as one grandmother was from Ireland and some relative of Toulouse-Lautrec also figured in the mix. The current family still lives there. They also had a “museum” with some cool pieces, such as plates, amphoras and wine glasses. We tasted 3 wines which included a young wine that none of us cared for (8 euros a bottle), a medium one that cost 15 a bottle and the top wine which was 40 per bottle. It was easily the best of the three. We climbed some steps to a rooftop patio but didn’t stay long as the temperature was rising past 90 degrees. We had a lunch of cold cuts, cheeses and cold quiche, along with the wines we had just tasted. We made some new friends at the table who were excited about a former Irish Rugby player who is the new punter for the Packers. Dessert was a delicious apple cake. 

We left for our next wine chateau with Maria giving us more info along the way. She said there are 9,000 vineyards in the Margeaut region, and many were organic and some were biodynamic - organic on steroids, meaning they don’t use pesticides to protect the vines. They plant rose bushes at the end of the row to monitor the plants. At harvest, which starts next week, teams of skilled pickers will move through the area picking the grapes by hand. They will have started in Spain and Portugal and picked there first. Maria pointed out names like Chateau Kirwan that were owned by Irish who had come to the area, worked in the port in Bordeaux, intermarried and worked their way into owning vineyards. 

We arrived at Chateau Gruad Larose which has Grand Cru Classification wines. We had a wonderful tour guide Stephanie who explained the process of sorting the grapes by hand, then crushing and fermenting them (two stages). They are placed in barrels and then the wine is meticulously strained and moved from barrel to barrel. There are several people involved in determining the exact blend that makes up each year’s wine. The icy cold barrel room was only half full as 2022 was a hot dry year and they only produced half (2000,000 bottles) of a normal year. We went up in a large metal structure to a viewing deck. Stephanie opened the side panels and we could see for miles. The sight of the River (an estuary with tides from the ocean nearby) and miles of vineyards was striking. The land had been swamp until Dutch engineers came in to drain it creating the flat fields suited for the vineyards. A most interesting aspect was the hail cannon - needed in early summer to prevent the sometimes tennis ball sized hail from destroying the young grapes. The cannon fires some chemicals into the clouds every 7 seconds which breaks the hail into smaller pieces or turns it to rain. We did not actually see the hail cannon but it sounded fascinating. We then tasted two wines, including a 2011 that retails for 115 euros per bottle. They both were delicious and we considered purchasing but decided to wait. We will have several more opportunities.

We drove the hour or so back to the new hotel and arrived around 5:15 pm. Again the names on the rooms were mixed up and again Julie and Mary’s room did not have two beds. We switched and all is well. This is an Apart-hotel which means the rooms have a little kitchenette area. The bathroom is weird - the toilet is in a room near the door with no sink. The sink, stand- alone shower (yay) and tub are in another room near the bed. 

At 7:00 we walked to La Brasserie Noelle (Sue found on Trip Advisor) to meet Sue’s brother John and wife Missy for dinner. John and Missy are on a river cruise and had the night free. On the way, we saw a choir singing on the steps of the beautiful Grand Theater (which hosts the opera and other performances) and 4 acrobats suspended on trapezes above them. Dinner was delicious. John suggested some white wine from Graves that we enjoyed. Mary, Julie and John had duck, Nick had hake, Missy had chicken and Sue had scallops. 

We had memorable conversation and then said goodbye to John and Missy who catch an early plane tomorrow to cruise in Burgundy. We walked into the festive streets where the opening World Cup Rugby match was showing everywhere. It was France v. New Zealand, and was a back and forth affair until the end when France pulled away, much to the delight of the host country. People were ecstatic and dancing in the streets, including Mary, who randomly selected France in her office pool.  We enjoyed more Graves as we watched. We walked back to the hotel via a circuitous route as the streets were crowded with revelers. We saw many picturesque cafes and passed the beautiful cathedral. We finally arrived back at the hotel and tumbled into bed, excited for our first match day tomorrow, when Ireland will play Romania at Stade de Bordeaux. 

Photos above from wine tours; below from this evening.