Wined & Dined in Bordeaux

The last few weeks have been hectic to say the least. Flat-hunting, moving (more on that to come), a ton of work and a trip to Bordeaux. I started this blog when I moved to Paris, because I wanted to not only document my time discovering, getting to know the new city, and my personal style, but also how I and others can and are living better, whether that be through food, fashion, travel or interiors. It's been happening slowly but surely - often a case of one step forward and two steps back, but I'm heading in the right direction. Visiting Bordeaux was definitely one of those steps in the right direction. 

I've been wanting to visit this beautiful city and its surroundings for a while now, not only to take in the architecture and ambience, but also to discover the food and of course the wine. Let's just say I may have developed a bit of a taste for French wine since I moved to France. Hard not to. Last week, I was lucky enough to be invited by Bordeaux Wines UK on a fun-filled four days literally chateau-hopping my way around the region. I visited six chateaux, got wined and dined for lunch and dinner, and generally had the most amazing time learning as much as I could. The sun was shining, the weather hot, people lovely, food incredible and then there was the wine. I tasted around 70 different wines in total, and got to have a wine-tasting class at the L'Ecole du Vin, which I really recommend if you stay in Bordeaux as it'll give you a great overview. Although I do still feel a little weird spitting wine out in front of others, especially when it kept dribbling down my chin - not a good look (I'm sure this is just something I have to perfect with practise, which of course I'm not adverse to), but if I'd drunk everything that had been put in front of me, I would have been under the table by 11am! I'm admittedly a terrible lightweight.

We not only learnt about the wines, the different regions - Saint-Emilion, Graves and Medoc to name a few, the grapes - Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, but also the 'terroir' (the soil and land). It's just one region, but the land is so diverse - wine produced on Bordeaux's Left Bank is so very different from wine on the Right Bank because of the type of soil. Luckily every chateau owner gave us a tour of their property and talked us through their vineyards and how they make their wine. It was fascinating and eye-opening, and above all delicious. I left a little fried from trying to retain so much information, but I do now feel that if I see a Bordeaux wine on the menu I would be able to order it with confidence. The parents would be proud. Anyway enough of the chat, I will let the images do the rest of the talking.  

Saint-Emilion

Le Bristol Chef Sommelier, Marco Pelletier, telling us about the vines

Chateau Candale owner, Jean-Louis Vinter talking about his wines

Chateau LaTour-Martillac in Graves

Harvest in progress at Chateau Pichon-Longueville in Pauillac

Bordeaux