Our last stop in France on this trip would be Bordeaux and the surrounding area. To be honest, Marissa and I knew very little about this region other than their reputation for producing some of the best red wines in the world. France is always #1 or #2 in the world in amount of wine produced in any given year (next to Italy) and the Bordeaux area is the largest producing region in France. That was enough reason for us to visit this region as it was a quick train ride from Tours where we were previously. This was also an area that neither of us had ever been to so we were excited about exploring a new area.
When we arrived in town, we were surprised with the awesome architecture of the town. We learned that Bordeaux is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site because of it’s architecture. The style reminds you a lot of Paris. We were told that when they were designing certain parts of Paris, that they used Bordeaux as their inspiration. After our first day walking around the town, I’m not surprised by that fact.
On the second day in the region, we headed east into the wine country! We took a quick 30 min train ride to the town of Saint Emilion (another UNESCO world heritage site). This town was dramatic as we walked up to the town area from the train station at the bottom of the hill. We learned that the romans planted vineyards in this area beginning as early as the 2nd century. They have been perfecting their art ever since then. The town was named after the monk Emilion, who settled in the area. Ironically it was the monks who followed him that started up the commercial wine production in the area.
The town was a real treat to walk through. It’s cobblestone narrow roads or paths snaked around the village. Every road seemed to have a steep incline. It was amazing how intense some of the climbs were. On either side of you was paradise: wine tasting, wine shops, wine accessories, wine restaurants, wine bars, wine trinkets…you get the point. All of this was picture perfect with the backdrop of the ancient architecture of the city and sandstone tiled roofs. When we first entered the village we walked to the Monolithic Church and it’s tower. To our surprise, we found the basement door cracked open so we opened it and ascended up the 196 STEEP church tower steps to gain a perspective of the city and get the lay of the land. The 360-degree panoramic view from the top was amazing! You could see the medieval town and all of the surrounding vineyards. Pretty awesome start to the day! Later on we discovered that you were supposed to pay to go up in the tower but somehow we slipped through the cracks – opps!
After our workout for the day, we descended the tower stairs and made a visit to the local tourism center. There, we asked the lady at the counter how we could get local wine tastings at a c
hateau near the town center. This was harder than we imagined. Wine tasting in France is much different than in Napa or anywhere else in the states. In the US, you can visit almost any winery without reservations and stop in for a tasting. Not the case in France. We had many factors against us. First, many wineries are private and don’t open their doors to the public. Next, we were there during harvest time when all of the activities at the vineyard centered on harvesting of the grapes, not dealing with tourist. Also, we did not have a car to drive to the ones further from the town. And lastly, we were American which do not speak French. Many vineyards don’t conduct tours in English. This gives you a flavor for how proud the French people are with their language and their reluctance to speak English. This was pretty eye opening.
Nonetheless, we managed to find a chateaux that hosted a tour (in English) that started in 20 mins, so we moved quickly to join that tour at Chateau Soutard. We learned that the primary grape varieties used in the wines were Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. This was right up our alley because most of the wines that we love come from those grapes. The tour did not disappoint. We enjoyed learning all about their wine production process and the tastings in their wine cave where they stored and aged the majority of their wines. We timed it right because they were start the harvest the next day after our visit so I’m not sure if we could have done a tour had we gone there the next day.
After the tour and tastings at Chateau Soutard, we hit the town once again and indulged on some of the local specialties (wine!). We really enjoyed the time in the village. It was small, quaint and was just relaxing. Afterwards, we headed back to Bordeaux for our last night in France before flying to Portugal.
Overall this was a great end to the France portion of the trip. We had seen a great variety in France spending time in Paris, the Loire Valley and the Bordeaux region. We feel that we really got a feel for the country. We concluded that September really is a great time to visit France. It rained some while we were there but it didn’t stop us from doing anything that we wanted to do, the temperatures were pleasant and it wasn’t overly crowded. The language barrier was an issue in France and can be frustrating at times but we are in their country so we need to be a little sensitive to that and just roll with the punches. It all worked out fine and we had a great time!
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