Bordeaux is one of France’s biggest wine regions and the biggest for quality wines. More or less all wines that are made here are AOP wines, appellation d’origine protégée. But despite this fact, you find in Bordeaux wines at all price levels. Bordeaux has many faces and we will discover some of them during our […]

“A little bit over ten years ago a group of winemakers in Bordeaux decided to band together to be more effective in marketing their wines. They created Les Côtes de Bordeaux, or simply Les Côtes. It is one of the rare occasions when French appellations have been simplified to make it easier for the consumer, […]

Bordeaux is not only France’s most well-known wine region but also France’s most elegant city. We stay here during our Bordeaux tour in April. From Bordeaux you can easily reach the chateaux of Médoc, Saint Emilion, Pessac-Léognan and so on. In April the vines have just started to grow again and we will have plenty […]

Bordeaux has some very beautiful chateaux, that’s no surprise. What is less known is that some are small family-owned chateaux with the owner-winemaker family doing all the work. Others are big and impressive. We visit both these categories and we taste new and older vintages of classic Bordeaux wines. Our fantastic chateaux lunches are memorable. […]

Bordeaux is a classic wine district that is a must on a wine lovers’ travel bucket list. On our wine tour to Bordeaux, you will get to know both small family chateaux and big, world-famous prestigious chateaux. Our lunches, that we have at some of the chateaux we visit, are unforgettable. We will take you […]

“Broadbent described Mouton 1945 as ‘a Churchill of a wine’, and not just in reference to the wine itself, either. An Art Deco label was commissioned from the poster artist Carlu for the 1924 Mouton vintage. To commemorate the end of the war, 1945 was the second vintage of Mouton to feature a bespoke label, […]

Seeing all the well-known Bordeaux chateaux in real life is a great experience. Some of them are very impressive. However, some of the most famous ones, like Château Petrus or Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, are small and not so imposing but when you know the price of the wines you are a bit impressed anyway. Many chateaux […]

Many wine consumers associate Bordeaux wines with tannins and a long ageing. On our wine tour in Bordeaux in October you will discover for yourself if this is still true. During our tastings at high-class chateaux you will discover both young Bordeaux wines and older ones. What you prefer is a matter of personal taste. […]

It is perhaps not surprising that Bordeaux is among France’s top destinations if you want to eat delicious food. Here you will find top- quality French gastronomy, at least on the lunches that we have on our wine tour to Bordeaux. They are often at one of the chateaux that we visit, yet they are […]

Is the consultant oenologist the most important person in the Bordeaux wine cellars? Maybe, maybe not, but few Bordeaux chateaux nowadays make their wines without one. One of these consultants is Stéphane Courrèges whom we met recently when he was in Paris for the day. Sometimes they are simply called “wine consultants” or even “flying […]

Bordeaux is one of France’s largest wine regions with 112 000 hectares of vineyards. There are about 7000 chateau (“castles”). Everyone does not make their own wine. Some sell their grapes to a negociant or belong to a cooperative. The chateaux exist in all sizes and looks. Some are no more than a regular little […]

The Atlantic Ocean is 50 kilometres away from the wine district of Bordeaux. But the Ocean still plays a major role for the climate and the weather. There is a lot of water around Bordeaux. The elegant city of Bordeaux is located on the river Garonne. Garonne merges with the Dordogne, another large river, north […]

Jacques, our host at Château Franc Mayne in Saint Emilion, opens the cellar door and tells us to stay close to him, making sure to count how many we are. The cellar is actually an old, enormous limestone quarry. It’s easy to get lost in here. (He’s supposed to count us when we leave too, […]