Day 3 - 29th May 2008
Today was our private tour with Frederic from 'Rendezvous au Chateau' wine tours. He had a very comfortable and clean people carrier vehicle. Frederic was very friendly and informative. He had worked for many Chateau's and knew a great deal about Bordeaux wines.
We started our trip with a stop in at Planet Bordeaux on our drive out to St Emilon. This was a tourist facility/collective specilising in Bordeaux wines that did not come from a specific region under the the Appellation Control guidelines, but were still from Bordeaux. There was a separate set of rules for this type of Bordeaux red (not as strict as the appellation rules).
Planet Bordeaux had a tour which gave a visual understanding of what happens to the grapes at harvest time, followed by a room showing various historic winemaking tools, and a blind sniff and guess aroma area. The self guided tour ends with a tasting.
First on the agenda was a visit to Chateau Beauregard in Pommerol. An exclusive appellation, with sort after wines. The two wines we tasted were fantastic.
We drove into the medieval city of St Emilon for lunch at '?'.
Next was a small family run winery in St Emilon called Chateau Bienfiesance. The owner showed us around her small winery with concrete vats! Similar to what we had seen in Mendoza, Argentina. Nice and afforable wine.
Next stop was Chateau de Bel. This is as small as it gets. Their young children and puppy greeted us with enthusiasm as we headed to the cellar for a tasting straight from the barrel. Outside the cellar, in the picturesque garden we sat down for a tasting of his range of wines. For a small producer, he was certainly very generous in opening fresh bottles of all his wines for us to try! His wife, son and daughter joined us in the garden, which ended in a lovely, personable afternoon with the winemaker. Naturally we had to take some back to the apartment for later.
Today was our private tour with Frederic from 'Rendezvous au Chateau' wine tours. He had a very comfortable and clean people carrier vehicle. Frederic was very friendly and informative. He had worked for many Chateau's and knew a great deal about Bordeaux wines.
We started our trip with a stop in at Planet Bordeaux on our drive out to St Emilon. This was a tourist facility/collective specilising in Bordeaux wines that did not come from a specific region under the the Appellation Control guidelines, but were still from Bordeaux. There was a separate set of rules for this type of Bordeaux red (not as strict as the appellation rules). Planet Bordeaux had a tour which gave a visual understanding of what happens to the grapes at harvest time, followed by a room showing various historic winemaking tools, and a blind sniff and guess aroma area. The self guided tour ends with a tasting.
First on the agenda was a visit to Chateau Beauregard in Pommerol. An exclusive appellation, with sort after wines. The two wines we tasted were fantastic.
We drove into the medieval city of St Emilon for lunch at '?'.
Next was a small family run winery in St Emilon called Chateau Bienfiesance. The owner showed us around her small winery with concrete vats! Similar to what we had seen in Mendoza, Argentina. Nice and afforable wine.
Next stop was Chateau de Bel. This is as small as it gets. Their young children and puppy greeted us with enthusiasm as we headed to the cellar for a tasting straight from the barrel. Outside the cellar, in the picturesque garden we sat down for a tasting of his range of wines. For a small producer, he was certainly very generous in opening fresh bottles of all his wines for us to try! His wife, son and daughter joined us in the garden, which ended in a lovely, personable afternoon with the winemaker. Naturally we had to take some back to the apartment for later.