Friday 18th July 2014
22.42
This afternoon we went on a wine tour of the Graves et Sauternes wine regions, which are all in the Bordeaux area (putting my expert knowledge from the previous last couple of days’ wine museum visits into play already, eh?). We were part of a big group of winos tourists, so I’m gonna try and do this post documenting the afternoon in the style of a tour guide (not with the simultaneous translation though – my crap French would get annoying). Hey, you might even learn something.
Hello everyone, we’re now on our way leaving Bordeaux and heading into the countryside. On your right you will see another Carrefour and on your left some one-horse French villages that once produced butter for the court of Louis 14th or something and has never really picked up since.
The Romans were the ones responsible for planting the first vineyards in Bordeaux over two thousand years ago, but curiously it was not until much later that an aristocrat came back late from a hunting trip to Russia and discovered that a lot of his grapes were rotten – he decided c’est pas grave and picked them anyway, and so we discovered sweet wine, that Sauternes is famous for. It would have taken a brave man to do that because the grapes with the so-called ‘Noble Rot’ would give most people the boak. [Vocabulary paraphrased.]
Anyway, we are now approaching our first chateau. See all the vines cut to the same height, and how intensive it is to harvest them all in September. We are going to see the presses and barrels the wine is kept in, and go through the fairly complicated production technique. If you get lost in the translation, spend some time trying to work out which of the couples around you look as if they have a Mail-Order Asian Bride with them.
As we taste the wine, swirl it around your glass to release the bouquet: smell the different fruits, melon, apricot, citrus… Did I already say melon?
Now we go on to our second winery. Did I mention that in the thirteenth century due to troubles in Rome the Pope moved to Bordeaux to live? He brought with him many aristocrats who of course planted fine wine. The Pope lived in a huge house which you could say was a type of ‘Pope Palace’. I’m not going to go into any more historical details just to infuriate those of you who like history, but isn’t it interesting how the Pope was here, and how Jesus Christ talked a lot about wine? Hein?
I see that in the middle of the bus an angry Australian couple had a scrap with two young lads who had snuck into their seats in an effort not to have to sit beside a proper George R.R. Martin character in the back… But come on everyone, I thought you might all have had enough wine without water biscuits not to cause a problem.
The final two wines to taste are a dry white and a red. Note how different the red wine feels in the mouth as it as only red wines contain tannins. And how different the legs are in these wines compared to those of the sweet ones when you swirl the glass! Feel free to explore this chateau and to check out the cellar and the old ‘Brum’-esque cars kicking around too.
As we finally come back to Bordeaux, I wish you a pleasant evening and that you enjoy the 4€ bottle of wine you pick up from Carrefour on your way home to drink with a bunch of cheese and meats because you’re in France and want to be ‘continental’. God, tourists, amirite?
I don’t think I’d even last a Merkat Tour like that. Whatever though – I’m saving all my ebullience for my birthday tomorrow.
12 Weeks a Maeve 