Saint Emillion- Wine Country!

Following our airbnb hosts recommendation we head to Saint Emilion to visit the "chateaus" for some wine tasting. When he first explained it he said the chateaus are castles, where you can go for tours.. our response was not very enthusiastic until we realised that they are actually wineries that take you for a tour of their estate and end with a wine tasting- we're in!

The wine tasting in the area is quite different to what we are used to: you need to make an appointment to go. First stop we head to Saint Emilion town centre which we discover is a beautiful little historic town. Next we head to one of the chateaus of the day, Chateau Bernateou- a family run business that has been handed down 8 generations, they produce only 100,000 bottles of wine each year. We get a very personalised and detailed tour of the winery, including the vineyards, hoppers and barrels. We are impressed by the level of detail that goes into the wine making- they use an optical sorter to check every single grape! The wines are delicious so we pick up a few bottles for our picnic lunch and Deb orders a case to ship home.

Next stop a fancy looking winery with the prestigious "Grand Cru Classic" classification for their wines. We actually weren't that impressed by the wines (and at 10euro each for the tasting it was a bit steep) but their estate is gorgeous, sat on top of a hill overlooking the entire region and complete with fancy looking castle, so was definitely worth the visit.

Back to Bordeaux for dinner and a walk down the riverside.. there are people everywhere still at 11pm, just wandering around, chatting and dancing! Got to love the lifestyle here :-)Читать далее