Adventures in Bordeaux

When we were planning a trip to France this spring, we decided we needed to spend a few days in Bordeaux.  We've always loved Bordeaux wine, but really we knew next to nothing about the Region, the city, or the history...and we had such a magical time here that I knew I had to capture it in my blog...   Being that it's July now, the memories are starting to fade, so I had to get this written now, or never..... 

In one of the wine cellars at a Chateau in St. Emilion Region

We spent three days in the Bordeaux region, one in the city of Bordeaux, one on a wine tour on the East bank in the Saint Emilion region and another day on a wine tour on the West bank in the Medoc Region.  Two days of wine tours, I know I know..... but these really weren't JUST about drinking the wine....   We were immersed in the magic of the chateaus, the history of the regions, the incredible complicated rules of French wine making, and the terroir (the earth) and all that makes the wine what it is.... so when we drank that wine it took on a whole other dimension.

One Winery we visited still gets the second press of their grapes by hand

I could probably spend the next 3 pages of this blog talking about all that we learned on the wine tours. I REALLY geeked out over this french wine stuff, the geography, the traditions and the rules; and it helped that we absolutely loved our tour guide Julie.... but I don't want to bore the heck out of everyone so I'll just say GO TO BORDEAUX!

And if you do, Ophorus Tours does an amazing tour. https://ophorus.com/bordeaux-wine-tours/

Chateau Hortin Ducasse

Now if you don't have the luxury of two days of wine touring, I'll say that the St. Emilion Region grows more Pinot Noir and Merlot, and the Medoc grows more Cabernet Sauvignon, so if you have a preference of one or the other you could pick that way.  But really if you can.... do both....

Streets of St. Emilion

St. Emilion is a Unesco World Heritage Site, an ancient monastery dating to the 2nd Century, and the wines we had there were quite possibly the most amazing liquid we have ever tasted, so maybe I will say St. Emilion was my favorite..... but then our absolute favorite winery was in Medoc, Chateau Hortin Ducasse. We loved them so much that we checked a box with 8 of their bottles, and missed our flight home to Denver so we could get that wine home safe and sound.   And the chateaus in Medoc were like fairy tale princess castles, which were a sight unto themselves.

A Chateau in the Medoc Region

But back to Bordeaux, the city itself.  Not so long ago, it was a gritty shipping town, and from what I've heard not much of a tourist destination, but they have cleaned it up, literally.  The mayor several years ago required EVERYONE to clean their limestone walls and the transformation was incredible.  It is a completely charming little town, with a whole downtown area that is cobble stones and no cars, fantastic restaurants, and of course amazing wine!

One of the gates into the City

I went for a run there in the early dawn one morning and it was euphoric to run down the cobble streets and along the river long before the shops were even open for the day.

The City square at Dawn

Lodging

So we stayed at this very trendy somewhat unusual hotel called Mama Shelter.  I think we are showing our age because the amount of social media available in the room itself was a little unnerving (a wifi camera in the room???)  but a great centrally located option if you are up for something different.

Eating

The food here was fantastic.... absolutely fantastic.....  you will need to get a reservation for dinner, because most of the restaurants are quite small and really only do reservations.  We found making a reservation on thefork.com  was incredibly easy, once we made one just 30 minutes before dinner.

At the recommendation of the hotel, we ate at Bistro Reno, which was a fantastic dinner.  In a lot of places in France they only serve what's on their chalkboard special that night, so they just bring over their board for you to look at while you decide.  Google translate and some discussions, and voila you have an incredible dinner with a fantastic bottle of Bordeaux from the Graves Region.

At the recommendation of our tour guide, the last night we ate at the Bistro Gloutton, which was beyond fantastic, it was sublime!   I remember my white asparagus with hollandaise sauce, and just thinking how can something so simple be so incredible?

We also found a great bread shop there for breakfast, Le Boulanger de 'Hotel de Ville, where we got croissants and an incredible praline sweet bread.  Our tour guide told us it's the best boulangerie in town, so there you have it...  you must stop by if you are ever there. And while I'm talking about sweets, the special dessert in Bordeaux is the canele, which is a sweet cake made with egg yolks.  In Bordeaux they use egg whites to separate the sediment from the wine, and so with so many egg yolks left over this became something of a hallmark dessert for the region. You will find a ton of shops selling caneles, pralines and beautiful chocolate, all things that go great with wine.

And if you still haven't had enough of wine yet, then you can go to Cite du Vin, the WINE MUSEUM.  Yes, of course, Bordeaux has a fantastic wine museum that talks about wine making all over the world, and finishes up with a wine tasting on their top floor overlooking the beautiful countryside.  

The highlight of our travels so far this year; Bordeaux, France.  

Happy Travels!