TRAVEL TO BORDEAUX

by Brian Kramer

In April of 2006, my wife Lisa and I were fortunate enough to be able to travel to Bordeaux to celebrate our 20^th anniversary. We only had a few days to explore the area because Lisa is a high school biology teacher, and we traveled during her all too short Spring Break. Both of us love wine, and are Life Members of the Napa Valley Wine Library Association, so this seemed like a dream destination. Prior to the trip, many people began to warn us that visiting wineries in Bordeaux was nothing like wine tasting in the Napa Valley, and that we should expect to be treated badly. Of course, we had heard the same sort of thing about visiting Paris, and have never found that to be true. The good news is that we found Bordeaux to be very friendly, but if you are planning a trip and want to visit any of the Châteaux, it is quite different and requires a different approach and better planning than you may be used to. We’d like to share some of our lessons learned with the members of the NVWLA, and direct you to a few web sites that may save you some time. We’ll also throw in a little bit of background information that we learned along the way that might help put French wine in perspective.

Travel Arrangements

In general, we tried to make all of our arrangements in advance over the internet. Because of the 9-hour time difference between California and France, this turned out to be convenient and fairly straightforward for airfare, hotels, cars, trains, and museums. You can also use the internet to arrange visits to many Châteaux in Bordeaux, but this can be a bit more challenging, as we’ll explain shortly.

We chose to fly non-stop to Paris on Air France (www.airfrance.com). This wasn’t the cheapest airfare we found, but the travel time was considerably shorter than any of the flights that stopped in London or other hub. The direct flight from LAX to Paris took us North on a polar route. You have to ask yourself how you would prefer to spend 12 hours (about 6 hours each way) of your vacation, on a plane or exploring Paris. We chose Air France because on previous trips we flew on other carriers and noticed that Air France flights always seemed to be given priority with air traffic control and had the nicest terminals. Is that really true? We have no idea, but we had a very pleasant flight.

We also decided that we’d like to have a cell phone so we could stay in touch with family and business associates. Depending upon the phone you have, you may be able to use it in France. We purchased a French SIM chip for my cell phone before we left home (www.cellularabroad.com), and we were able to make relatively inexpensive cell phone calls home and locally while we were there. It's much easier and cheaper than using hotel phones or phone booths

After a couple days in Paris, we took the TGV (bullet train) to Bordeaux. We bought our TGV tickets and Paris museum passes online (www.raileurope.com), and received them before we left for France. The TGV tickets automatically came with seat reservations, which are required for the TGV. If you are spending any time in Paris, and plan to go to some museums, definitely look into buying a museum pass. With the pass you can bypass some pretty huge lines at popular museums.

Once we arrived in Bordeaux, we picked up a rental car at the train station (www.avis.com). We’ve also heard that Europe by Car (www.europebycar.com) has good rates, but we’ve never tried them. Unlike Paris, the Bordeaux region doesn’t have nearly as much public transportation, so if you plan to tour the countryside and visit wineries, you will probably need a car. Make sure that whichever company you pick has an office at the train station or nearby.

Arranging Château Visits

A major difference between Bordeaux and other wine regions we have visited, is that visits and tours of wineries in Bordeaux are a much more formal affair. To begin with, it is not advisable to simply show up at a Château and expect to be able to take a tour of the facilities or taste their wine. Most Châteaux request that you make a reservation two weeks or more in advance of your visit. It is well worth the effort to make a reservation because each place we visited rolled out the red carpet, and in every case provided the tour in English. Unless your French is pretty good, this is a huge plus. Lisa and I took a year of French through UCLA several years ago, but currently would embarrass our teacher with our poor conversation skills. A tour and tasting normally take a minimum of 1-hour. Although the hours vary, most of the Châteaux seemed to be open for 1-2 hours in the morning, closed for 2 hours at lunch, and then open for another 2 hours in the afternoon. This means that about the most aggressive schedule of visits would be one Château in the morning, and two in the afternoon, with plenty of time for a nice local lunch. Arranging for a visit can usually be done by phone, fax, or email.

Although it is easy to make a reservation for a visit, it is a bit more difficult to figure out the logistics of which Châteaux to visit, and in what order, so that you won’t spend all of your time driving, and so that you can find a nice place for lunch. I have to confess, I’m not a big fan of organized tours... in fact I normally hate the idea (yes, I’m the kind of guy who also refuses to ask for driving directions). But, because of the obvious benefit that local knowledge could bring to our visit, I started hunting around for organized tour programs. As it turned out, I was unable to find a program that started before May each year. Just when I was about to give up and try making my own arrangements, I stumbled on what turned out to be our best discovery of the trip, Mr. Dewey Markham Jr.’s website (www.dmjwineworks.com). Mr. Markham is an American who now resides in Bordeaux city, and among his many accomplishments, Mr. Markham is the author of “1855: A History of the Bordeaux Classification.” He spent 4 years researching the book, and is well known in the region. He teaches wine appreciation courses, and fortunately for us, he also conducts personalized tours of the Bordeaux area. We told him that we were interested in getting a broad view of Bordeaux, from the famous Châteaux down to some up and coming boutiques operations. The catch was that we only had two days to squeeze it all in, with a day off in between to relax and explore on our own. Mr. Markham put together a great itinerary for us, and filled every available minute with additional history and insights. This turned out to be a perfect way to maximize our understanding and appreciation for Bordeaux in a short time.

Hotel Accommodations

We visited two major areas in Bordeaux, the Haut-Médoc AOC (www.medoc-bordeaux.com/default-eng.htm) and Saint Emilion AOC (www.vins-saint-emilion.com/Anglais/index2.html). Although the two areas are not very far apart by California standards, we decided to stay somewhere in between the two regions. The old-town portion of Bordeaux city could be a nice home base, but traffic around the city is pretty bad. There is a great deal of construction currently, and it is difficult to drive anywhere in the city quickly. Since we live in the LA area, that’s probably not a good endorsement. Based on some searching on the internet, we picked a fantastic place called Châteaux Mirambeau (www.Châteauxmirambeau.com) about 45 minutes from Bordeaux, but didn’t quite grasp it’s location. The Château is beautiful, the staff was extremely nice, and the restaurant was amazing. The downside was that although it is adjacent to Bordeaux, it is on the opposite side of the Gironde estuary from the Médoc. In good weather there is a ferry crossing at the city of Blaye (www.bernezac.com/Blaye_uk.htm), in bad weather it would be about a two hour drive South to Bordeaux and then back North to the Médoc. Luckily, the weather was cool and clear for us, and we enjoyed seeing the Gironde by boat.

Another great home base would be in the village of St. Emilion. The only hotel located within the village is the Hotel Plaisance (www.hostellerie-plaisance.com/anglais/default2.htm).  The Hotel Plaisance appears to be very up-scale, and is considered to be the most desirable “address” while visiting the area. There is another very nice place just outside of town called the Grand Barrail Château (www.grand-barrail.com). There are also many options for staying in bed & breakfast type arrangements or in people's homes. One web site I’ve found has some listing for this type of rental, which can often be much cheaper than a hotel (www.gites-de-france.fr/eng/index.htm).

Touring in the Médoc

The Médoc region is located just North-west of Bordeaux city. If you are new to French wines, some of the labeling can be a bit intimidating until you learn something about the history. We’ve included a bit of extra information at the end of this write up if you’d like to learn a little bit more, but for now I’ll just say that pretty much all of the wines from the Haut-Médoc are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc blends, with Cabernet Sauvignon being the dominant varietal.

We started the day with a brief drive around the Haut-Médoc area.  We were able to see that all of the premium vineyard sites in the Haut-Médoc were on rather rocky, well-drained soil.  The vines were trained much lower to the ground than those we were used to seeing in the Napa Valley. The lower height allowed the heat absorbed by the rocky soil during the day to keep the vines warmer during the night. The lower training also allowed the use of lower tractors while spraying and tending the vines.

Our first visit was to Château Mouton Rothschild (www.bpdr.com), a Premier Grand Cru Classé. Lisa and I were first able to try this wine about 4 years ago at a family Thanksgiving feast. It was a 1999 vintage, and is probably at least partially to blame (or credit) for this trip. We were met by Alexandra, who gave us a nice tour of the vineyards and winery facilities. The morning was quite cool and a misty rain motivated us to cut the vineyard walk short.  Inside the winery, we were able to watch a small crew racking a recent vintage using a traditional candle to watch for sediment near the bottom of each barrel.

Next we enjoyed lunch at Café Lavinal in the Village of Bages, in Pauillac.  Although we enjoyed a very nice lunch, we would suggest avoiding fish in France that is not described as being a fillet, unless you enjoy many small bones.

Our first visit after lunch was to Château Pontet Canet, a 5^th Growth Grand Cru Classé.  We were very warmly greeted and guided by Mlle. Mélanie Tesseron, the owner’s niece.  The winery has received a great deal of investment in recent years, and has adopted a winemaking procedure that relies heavily on gravity with minimal pumping.  The wines were excellent, and we were happy to learn that they are not extremely expensive (generally under $60).

Our final tour of the day was at Château Phélan Ségur, a Saint Estèphe Cru Bourgeois Exceptional.  Fabrice Bacquey, the assistant winemaker, was our guide and poured several interesting wines for us.  The 2005 vintage was truly exceptional, but we were also able to compare it to the 2003 vintage.  2003 was an extremely warm year, and the wine tasted more like a very ripe Napa Valley cabernet than a traditional Bordeaux.  Fabrice recently won a competition that will allow him to travel to the Napa Valley to study.  We hope to see him again in California.

Touring Around Saint Emilion

Saint Emilion is located about 45 minutes East of Bordeaux city. The village of Saint Emilion is about 800 years old, and built entirely from limestone that was quarried from under the town.  There is a tour that is available that shows you the tunnels under the town, and includes where Monk Emilion, the founder of the city, originally lived.  We didn’t get to see this, but would do it next time. That would be one of the big advantages to staying in town. The town itself seems like a great home base, with several restaurant choices and many wine shops. During the summer, we understand it can get crowded during the day, but in the evenings it is very pleasant to stay there. There are many famous Château very close by as well.  Dewey Markham really did a great job setting up the visits, and we think we had much better access (we were able to taste several 2005 wines) and treatment than we would’ve had if we had done it all ourselves.  We’re also positive that we never would have learned so much about the area and the history in such a short time without his insights.

In the St. Emilion area, we visited three wineries, Château Pavie, Château Canon, and Château Ripeau.  Château Pavie (www.chateaupavie.com) is a Saint Emilion First Great Classed Growth “B.”  A fascinating tour of the property was provided by Mlle. Delphine Rigall. The property is owned by Gérard Perse, who is a very quality minded and innovative producer.  His new barrel room was beautiful, and had hollow walls to allow air-conditioned air to cool the building without dehumidifying the air. The masonry arches were salvaged from the old Bordeaux train station. The wine was also a work of art, and reminded us of the very concentrated style of wine produced by Harlan Estate.

We had lunch in the heart of St. Emilion at the restaurant Logis de la Cadene under a vine-covered terrace.  The lunchtime entertainment was watching tourists navigate the extremely steep cobblestone walkway that passes by the restaurant.

After an enjoyable lunch, we proceeded to Château Canon, which is also one of 11 Saint Emilion First Great Classed Growth “B.”  Mlle. Béatrice Amadieu gave us an unforgettable tour of this estate. Ch. Canon has also invested heavily in improving its winemaking process and facilities. We were able to sample Ch. Canon’s prerelease 2005 vintage, and again we were very impressed by this vintage. Everyone jokes about each year being the vintage of the century, but perhaps with 2005, fewer people are joking. Perhaps the highlight of the tour was a trip below the Château. The entire village of Saint Emilion is built on a large limestone hill.  The limestone has been quarried for over 800 years, leaving a honeycomb of tunnels that is 4 layers deep in many places. Much of the village is built from limestone that was removed from beneath the village. Apparently, there are several places where these tunnels have resulted in cave-ins over the years, some under parking areas and some under vineyards.  Because reinforcing the ground with concrete would change the composition of the soils, every modification must be approved. In one area under Ch. Canon, the seepage of water through the limestone has actually created stalactites.

Finally, our last tour was of Château Ripeau. Mme. Françoise de Wilde is the owner and driving force behind this Saint Emilion Great Classed Growth. The estate has been in her family for 3 generations since 1917.  After a tour of her facilities, Mme. De Wilde invited us to enjoy several of her wine in her beautiful château.  The wines were wonderful, and the experience was terrific.

St. Emilion is also a great central location to explore the region from.  In addition to the many incredible wineries in the area, we should mention the prehistoric caves and paintings in the area.  There are probably two top spots to visit, the cave at Lascaux II (www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en), and the museum of prehistory (www.leseyzies.com/musee-prehistoire).  These are both an easy drive from Saint Emilion.  Another interesting medieval town that isn’t too far away is Sarlat.  Depending upon how much time you have, it looked like renting bicycles or kayaks would be a fun way to explore the area along the river.

Additional Information for Wine Nerds:

Here’s a little bit of extra wine information that you may already know.

Grape Varietal versus Place Name

Most traditional French wines do not list the type of grape used to make the wine on the label. That is because centuries of experience in growing wine in certain spots has taught vintners what works best for that climate and soil. California and other New World wine regions don’t have all of those years of experience and tradition to draw from, so there is much more experimentation. However, some areas are beginning to be known for excellence in more narrow areas.  For example, Carneros AVA is best known and perhaps best suited to producing outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Likewise, when you think of a red wine from Oregon, chances are you think of Pinot Noir.

AVA versus AOC

The French have developed an appellation system that is quite different from the newer American Viticulture Area (AVA). In the USA, if you see a wine that is designated as being from an AVA, such as the Oakville AVA, all you really know about the wine is the area that the grapes came from. In France, the Appelation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) is much more strictly controlled. When you see an AOC designated wine, you know a lot more about the wine than where the grapes came from. The AOC designation typically also defines the type of grapes allowed, the viticulture practices (maximum yields, minimum sugar levels, irrigation rules, etc.), and the winemaking techniques (whether acid or sugar can be added, time in oak, etc.). That is because the French system has evolved over hundreds of years of experience (thousands really, reaching back to the Romans). A great deal of trial and error has taught the French which grapes grow best at certain sights, and what viticulture and winemaking techniques produce the best results for those grapes. Part of what contributes to what the “best” choices are, has a lot to do with pairing the wine to the local cuisine. We definitely indulged in both.