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The Beauty of Bordeaux Revealed

May 24, 2015 by Dave4 Comments

The fairly tale looking Château Pichon Longueville

The fairly tale looking Château Pichon Longueville

Today was arguably the highlight of our visit to Bordeaux as part of our Viking River Cruise, Château, Rivers & Win). We spent the day touring the Left Bank (Gironde River) of Bordeaux including Medoc and Pauillac, Saint-Julien, and Margaux.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much white river cobble as I have in the vineyards of the Medoc region. It seems the higher the volume of these rocks in the soil, the higher the quality of wines and the more expensive the vineyard terroir. The overall elevation of the land is very low in this wine region; some of the most premium estates seem to be located slightly higher than the flat vineyards of much of the land here (and some of their vineyards are almost white with rounded river cobble). And the vines are planted extremely low to the ground – to absorb as much heat and reflection from all the rocks.

The mood changes dramatically when the sun is shining and as the weather warms up – as does the visual beauty of seeing all the new growth in the vineyards and the impressive historic châteaus under bright blue sunny skies!

We have been hobbled by the grey weather and the cold temperatures the past week; today was like an emotional release with spirits soaring.

medoc-wine (4)We now have stopped by all the First Growth wineries on this trip – all are equally impressive but just as much so are the lesser known smaller châteaus (and with approximately 8,000 châteaus in Bordeaux there is no shortage of these). It is a short drive outside of Pauillac to “Château Row” – at times it felt like being on Rodeo Drive people watching, only in this case it was Château spotting!

One impressive estate well worth a visit is Château Pichon-Longueville for its dramatic architecture and surrounding grounds.

Another, Château Prieuré-Lichine offers a very informative tour of the winery and aging facilities combined with a tasting in their hospitality center. The wines are well made and priced reasonably.

The culinary team on our Viking Cruise ship setup ahead of time at Château Kiriwan so by the end of the day they were waiting with a number of courses already prepared. After a full dinner (as in several hours!) there was still more food and drink; we were treated to cheese and fruit complemented by a Sauternes wine back on board.

The pace of this trip so far is ideally paced and for me, a chance to relax after the hectic travel schedule of the prior few weeks. The itineraries are flexible enough that you can take the sightseeing activities at your own pace opting for one or opting out of another. At least one included off board excursion is offered each day (not always the case on ships) and there are additional off-board trips offered as well.

Chateau Pichon Longueville
Château Prieuré-Lichine
Château Prieuré-Lichine

Medoc Vineyards
Château Prieuré-Lichine
Château Kirwan

Château Prieuré-Lichine
Château Kirwan
Château Kirwan

Château Kirwan
Château Kirwan
Château Margaux

Village de Bages
Village de Bages

Village de Bages
Village de Bages
Village de Bages

Related posts:

Crossing the Pond, Start of Bordeaux Viking Cruise Breathing in the Beauty of Santa Catalina Island A Romp in the South of France – Day 1: Bordeaux – St. Emilion Jordan, Oasis of Peace & Beauty The Power & Beauty of Sub Saharan Africa

Filed Under: Europe · Tagged: Architecture, Art, Cruising, Drinking, Food and Wine, Vineyards, Wine Tasting

Comments

  1. Michael Zullo says

    May 24, 2015 at 1:26 pm

    Bonjour Dave,

    Thanks for the tour. Wish we were there…Excellent article – fantastic photos. A Bordeaux river cruise is on our list as soon as we can make it back to Europe – – and, the USD$ is a lot stronger compared to the inflated Euro when we were in Italy last year. (1 Euro equaled USD$1.36).

    Au revoir,
    Michael and Gina Z
    Kyoto, Japan

  2. Dave says

    May 24, 2015 at 9:14 pm

    More tours coming up in the following weeks 🙂 Yes it is very nice with the € so much closer to the $ than it is been

  3. Izy Berry - The Wrong Way Home says

    June 9, 2015 at 7:14 pm

    Bordeaux is very nice city. The restaurants in the center are amazing, with great wine collection.

  4. Dave says

    June 10, 2015 at 1:04 am

    Yes it is – so much good food to choose from 🙂 I’m looking forward to the new wine museum that is currently under construction.

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