Hôtel de Pierre Delfau

We headed off from our digs around 30 minutes before we were due to meet up for the wine bar tour so that we could take in the sights on the way. It was very warm and there were people everywhere. Toulouse is a lovely city with interesting architecture.

Toulouse is the fourth-largest city in France and is often referred to as the “Pink City”. It derives its name from the pink terracotta bricks used in the construction of many of its most prominent buildings. Stone is rare around this area, whereas clay with a high concentration of iron oxide, which gives it a pink colour during firing, is plentiful.

We met Jessica and the rest of our group at the allotted time. There were six of us taking the tour, Amy and Betsy from the US and Celia from Ireland. Jessica our tour guide is originally from the US but moved to Toulouse in 2017 and now calls it home.

We headed off and our first stop was L’Alimentation, Le Bar a Vin, where we tried Crémant from Limoux. Crémant is a type of sparkling wine, like champagne but cheaper. It was a lovely sparkling wine (even for this champagne snob!). Crémant de Limoux is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Chenin Blanc.

Our next stop was Maison Sarment. Our sommelier, Nico, had spent some time in Melbourne and worked at Milk The Cow Licensed Fromagerie in St Kilda. Nico gave us two very nice wines to taste; Secret de Pierre 2022, dry white (IGP Côtes Catalanes, 100% Muscat d’Alexandrie) was the first. The second was Château Adélaide - Cuvée Tradition 2016 rouge (AOC Gaillac red wine; 80% Duras, 20% Braucol). We also had a delicious charcuterie board to accompany the wine to ensure we didn’t get too drunk too early!

Our last stop was Le 5 Wine Bar, voted World Best Wine Bar for 3 years in a row, from 2017 to 2019. They have forty wines on tap with helpful tasting notes. You get a card that you swipe to select your wine and you can have a splash, a half serve or a full glass. You pay for what you drink. It was a really fun place with a nice vibe and friendly and helpful staff. As part of the tour you get a couple of half glasses of your choice.

The tour concluded at 8.30 pm and Jessica left us, as did Amy and Betsy (they had a dinner reservation). Celia stayed on with us and we got our own swipe card so that we could try some more wines. We also had a couple of share plates ,which were delicious, and finished with a fig dessert.

Side note - during the evening I was speaking to Amy and Betsy and we got onto our heritages. It turns out they have some Hungarian ancestry and all they know about it is the name which is Szecsodi - which is the same surname as my uncle - so I will need to check with him about any of his family who may have migrated to the US.

It was a really fun tour, Jessica is passionate about local wines and we had a fun group. It is a nice way to get a first look at the city.Read more