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| I noticed these barrel tops hanging at the retail shop for Clos des Menuts, which we visited. I quickly took this picture as the group left the facility in Saint-Émilion. I intend to file it away under future inspiration for decorating my house. |
After the 6 glasses of wine this morning, I grab a sandwich and water and sit in the shade on the steps of the Grand Opera House. Today I am having a turkey sandwich with thick chunks of roast turkey, lettuce, and tomato before I head over to the Monument aux Girondins, the designated meeting place for the tour this afternoon. At about 130 pm, I walk up to the fountain and find my guide, Carole. She asks if I speak French or English; I tell her, "Les deaux marche (Both work)." She says, "Oh, I love the accent, Québéc?" I nod. "Well, the rest of the group are Anglophones. So the tour will be in English. Is that ok?" she asks. Yep, I can make that work. We head to the shade to meet the rest of the group. Alec and Megan, two attorneys from Washington D.C., are on a trip to find a wedding destination for 2025. A family of three from Houston, Texas. The patriarch is a Law Professor. Lastly are Megan and Sean from Halifax, Nova Scotia. After a quick meet and greet, we board the minivan, which has A.C.!
Carole plays driver and tour guide for the group. She tells us we are heading to Saint-Émilion to tour two Châteaus. At the first stop, we will get a tour of the vineyard, the history of the Château, and see the wine-making operation. Then we will spend a little time in the town of Saint-Émilion, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lastly, we will tour a second Château for some additional wine tasting. Carole is from Bordeaux and lets the group know how strange it was to see a river near Paris that was not brown like the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers. "Bordeaux used to be an ugly city until 15 years ago. Then, the Mayor set out to increase tourism and was convinced the town needed to clean up its image. That is when the building restoration started. When I was a kid, all the limestone buildings were black from oxidation," she says. Below you can see what is left of an unrestored limestone building in Bordeaux. Imagine the whole city looking this way, which is what Bordeaux was 15-20 years ago.
During the 45-minute car ride, we cross the Entre-Deux-Mers wine region, located between two rivers, not between two oceans as the name suggests. Vineyards abound on both sides of the road until we finally arrive at Château Saint-George in the Saint-Émilion region. Carole leads us up the entryway, where she leaves us to get our local expert. Below is a picture of the principal residence at Château Saint-Georges. People wrongfully believe that Château, in French wine country, means castle. In reality, it means "wine estate," and sometimes they include castles.
A young French man with a powerful French-English accent begins to tell us about the Château's history. "Henry da IV, the French King, lived here. Nots ze English one," he says. King Henry IV of France ruled from 1594-1610. This is why the Château has vases with flames around the roof line, a sign of nobility; notice them in the background of the picture below. Later, the front was renovated by a famous Paris architect, but it was done around the time of the French revolution, so the coat of arms above the pillars was left blank. Below is a picture of the central courtyard. Since this is a private estate, the tour does not include a tour of the living quarters, pictured here. 
After the intro, we head to the vineyard. "For us, vines are rotated out of production every 40 years. It is a balance between quality and quantity," our guide tells us. Château Saint-George is the most important vineyard in the Appellation Saint-George. To fight rot and fungus, they regularly keep the grass short and till the soil along the vines. He tells us, "Eighty percent of the vineyard is planted in Merlot, 10% Cabernet-Sauvignon, and 10% Cabernet Franc." This is their mix for their premier wine, Château Saint-Georges. Below is a view of part of the Vineyards. Leaves are either left or removed from the vines depending on the sun's orientation. Vines that face East-West have the east-facing leave removed while the west-facing leaves are left intact. This encourages the morning sun (east-facing) and shades the grapes from the hot afternoon sun (west-facing).
Below is a map of the vineyard at Château Saint-Georges. Each polygon represents one vineyard. Orange vineyards are planted in Merlot (80%). Red ones are Cabernet-Sauvignon, and yellow are Cabernet Franc, 10% each. The green areas are non-planted areas where the Château and wine production facilities are located.
He leads us into the labeling room, where he says they only label wines once per year, and into the vat room pictured below. Here he discusses the wine-making process and tells us the difference between natural wine and pressed wine. Both are processed and fermented separately. This holds true for the other grapes too. There is no mixing until everything is fermented. Wines are harvested from Mid-September to Mid-October. However, a later harvest is usually preferred meaning the grapes matured at the right pace. Processing the grapes takes about 4-5 months before it is transferred into barrels to age for the following year. 
Next, we head into the wine storage cave. Château Saint-Georges' facility is above ground but is an interior space with concrete walls to stabilize the temperature. They have stored wines in this facility dated to 2011. This winery only sells to private buyers; some orders are only processed annually when they label bottles. Each of these cages is filled with unlabelled wines from different vintages, marked on the crates. There are > 1 M bottles stored here, which is impressive for a newer and smaller winery.
Then we enter the barrel cave. Oh my goodness, what a lovely smell this room has! It is a mix of wet French Oak wood with a subtle scent of red wine. The smell is beautifully intoxicating! I could stay in this room all day. Barrels are purchased for 1,000 euros, used 3X, then sold for 60 euros to whiskey makers. The wine in this room is 2021 vintage. It was barrelled in March 2022 and will remain here until March 2023 before it is bottled. As the wine evaporates, every 3 weeks, they top off the barrel using pressed wine. This is done to keep it from spoiling because it removes air in the barrel.
Château Saint-Georges bottles 1/2 bottles (375 ml; 12 fl. oz) up to a massive 6 L (1.5 fl. gal), see below. In the tasting room, our host opens two bottles. The first is the Château Saint-Georges 2019 vintage. This wine has the strong and distinct taste of pepper, definitely a Merlot blend. After everyone is done, we are offered a second tasting, the exact wine but a 2016 vintage. Wow, is that different! Much smoother, and the pepper taste is now very subtle, taking a backseat to the beautiful fruity notes of the wine. This is what a Merlot ought to taste like, in my opinion. It appears that I prefer older vintages in Merlots. The host pours a glass for himself and tastes each wine. In between, he uses the giant barrel spittoon in the corner of the room. We thank our host and head out once the group from Texas has made their purchase of a case of 2015 vintage to be shipped to the U.S. According to our host, 2015 is his favorite vintage and was a great year for grapes.
Next, we drive to the little town of Saint-Émilion and briefly explore it for about 30-minutes. First,
Carole shows us the old church, a combination of Romanesque and Gothic-Styles. Then she takes us to the town overlook. Below is the quaint little town. The town has a unique appearance and is very different from other French towns. Unfortunately, it is blazing hot today, around 102 F (39 C). Carole gives the group a choice, 1) Explore the city center; or 2) Explore wine caves in the area. The group wastes no time in picking the much cooler caves to explore.
Château Clos des Menuts stores its wine in in caves in the town of Saint-Émilion. We enter the caves through two sets of stairs inside their retail shop that lead us down about 30 ft (10 m) below the city. The beautiful stained glass window sits above the staircase.
The site is magnificent! The "cave" is actually an old abandoned limestone quarry. The
Clos des Menuts promotional video shows just how spectacular the site is. In addition to the barrels, the Château stores all their bottled wines here. The oldest vintage in the public rooms dates to 1986. The purple room in the video is where the oldest and most valuable stock is stored and is closed to the public. This site doesn't smell as lovely as the Château Saint-Gorges, but it offers unparalleled beauty. In the photo below, you can see the marks on the ceiling from the quarry.
Each wall or niche has a different vintage, identifiable by the year stamped on the cork. The bottles are not labeled. One downside of storing wine bottles in this environment is that they accumulate large amounts of filth. On the other hand, I think it gives the bottles a natural vintage feel. Every 5 years, the bottles are removed, cleaned, re-corked, and then re-stacked. In the meantime, bottles are removed and groomed to fill sale orders.
After leaving the caves, we load up and drive about 10 minutes to our next Château, pictures below. This Château has a matrilineal heritage that dates back to 1643 AD. The Château was owned and passed on to women for over 300 years. Recently, it was sold to a group of investors. The Château is now vacant. Current owners live in another more prestigious Château. They hope to renovate this site and convert it into a bed and breakfast.
Here we start the tasting with a glass of white wine from the Entre-Deux-Mers region. Our host at Château de Les Roches Blanches (Château of the White Rocks) is a young French girl who speaks excellent British English; she tells us that she thought we might enjoy the white wine since it is so hot today. She is right. The wine is not produced here in Saint-Émilion, nor is it affiliated with this Château, so we don't discuss it much. The Entre-Deaux-Mers wine (Wine Brand) is a Sauvignon-Blanc, Semillon, and Muscadelle blend. It is refreshing and not nearly as dry as other Sauvignon-Blancs I have had in the past. It is a lovely wine and perfect for today! This wine has a distinct floral and refreshing grapefruit aroma. Sauvignon-Blanc wines originated in the Bordeaux region.
We then head inside the Château, where Carole has set up vials from her kits for us to sample and charcuterie boards. The first wine we sample is Clos de Les Roches Blanches (Clos means this is not their primary blend); this one is 100% Merlot. I enjoy this wine; it is neither as complex nor peppery as other Merlots. The second wine, pictured here is a 2013 Château de Les Roches Blanches from the Saint-Émilion Appellation. Maybe it is the heat or the 2013 vintage, which is not a good year, but I find this wine challenging to enjoy. Most of the group seems to prefer this one over the Clos. Following the tasting, we make the 45-minute journey back to Bordeaux.
I enjoyed this tour though it was expensive. There are many wine tasting tours available in a variety of price ranges. Most of the less-expensive tours I came across for Saint-Émilion were more focused on providing guests with free time to explore the town of Saint-Émilion. Undoubtedly, I would have enjoyed this very much, but I wanted to focus more on the winery tour portion of the trip. Subsequently, I opted for Carole's tour provided by
A la Francaise! I thought it was worth the 100 euros, considering we had 5 glasses of wine, 1.5 hours of travel time, and a guided tour of Saint-Émilion. A great way to spend my last day in Bordeaux!
I spend the rest of the evening wandering the streets of Bordeaux before finally grabbing a burger. Then, I head back at a decent time to prepare for my flight tomorrow. While waiting at the bus stop, a young lady asks me if Bus C stops there. I tell her yes and laugh in my head; I am giving French nationalists travel advice. I ask her if this is her first trip to Bordeaux. She replies yes, and we begin to chat. Nora is here on work detail and congratulates me for Profiter (taking advantage of the opportunity). She also spent time in Ireland. We discuss the differences between Irish and French people. I tell her, in my experience, the French are very kind; however, they are more reserved. I tell her I've been traveling for 64 days now and have many more adventures ahead of me. She jokingly asks if I have any room in my suitcase as she is jealous. Chatting with Nora is an excellent way to end a full day in Bordeaux. The bus arrives at my stop about 20 minutes later; I tell Nora, "Bon Soirée (Have a good evening)," and I make my way home.
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