Adventure 16.0: Wine Tasting in Bordeaux

June 9-12, 2011

Bordeaux - home of famous wines, but how good are they? Well, that is subjective and all depends on you. It was a beautiful trip. I gained wine barrels of knowledge about the wine process - how it is classified, what the nose is of the wine, how it is made, where it is grown, and on and on.

I traveled to Bordeaux by train. I had a stop over and Paris. During my layover I well around the Luxemborg. Then just outside the train station I decided to get a Crepe. Finally, I had a delicious crepe in France. Just incase you didn't read the previous French adventure, this is why I say I "finally" had a good crepe. I spent 4 days in the Paris area and had the most disgusting crepes of my life. So if you want a crepe, go to the train station.

Day 1: This wine tour took me to the Entre-Deux-Mers region. This area is know for dry white wines. We visited an amazing Chateaux where we had a tour and tasting. The owners, who live in the Chateaux, walked us throught the wine making process, how you tell the type of grape by the leaves on the vines, and took us up to the roof of the Chateaux for a wonderful view of the grounds. Next we had a tasting at the a wine shop. This should have been the end of our tour, but the Brazilian guy talked our tour guide into taking us to her friends vinyard. They had a fabulous wine called Magic 7. This wine is barrelled in oak from Pennsylvania. You know I had to buy a bottle! We even got a taste of a dessert wine straight from the barrel. See the picture to the left

Day 2: This wine tour was an all day event. We started the morning out with a trip to the historical wine merchant district of Bordeaux. Here we toured a wine museum and had a tasting. For lunch we when to a great restraunt called Baud Millet and had a 4 course meal with wine. Course 1: Baked goat cheese with bread. Course 2: Orange duck with potatoes. Course 3: A cheese tray with Blue Cheese, Ew Cheese, Goat Cheese, and Brie. This was all very delicious. They also had an interesting toilet seat. The second half of the day was going to the Medoc region of Bordeaux. This region is world famous for its dry red wines, mainly Merlot and Cab Sav. We went to 2 Chateauxs. I did not like the wine at either of these places. It was far to dry for me and left me craving a gallon of water.

On the day 2 tour I met 2 Aussie couples. We went out to a really nice place for dinner. I had prawns, a steak, and a dark chocolate cake with white chocolate drizzle. It was fantastic!

And it was also gay pride weekend in Bordeaux as you can see in the picture.