Well, it’s about time to wrap up the trip to Bordeaux. The last few days we were very lucky to be accompanied by glorious weather as well as our friends Sally and Michael. Fittingly enough, at least as far as we were concerned, we spent the end of our trip in St Emilion and Medoc where we tasted lots of wines. Mostly reds and an occasional Rose. We did have the occasional white Bordeaux, but for the most part the vineyards produce reds. 

The wine business is very labor intensive and migrant workers, often from Spain, Italy and Portugal come to pick the grapes. The larger producers claimed to have about 70 to 80% of the grapes picked by machine. Some of the smaller ones (and some that were not so small) had their grapes picked and sorted by hand. 

Bordeaux is the the premiere wine producing region in France, and arguably the world. The region boasts thousands of producers, most of them small. Estimates of total production vary wildly. We heard estimates that ranged from 200 million bottles to 700 million, so take your pick. I suppose 200 million probably refers to the better quality wines. 

About 90% of the wines produced are red, with the remaining 10% being white. The red wines rely primarily on three grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. A little but of Malbec finds its way into the mix as well.  (Lots of the Rose that is produced comes not from Bordeaux, but from Provence.) 

All in all a good time was had by all; and it’s probably not the last time we’ll be spotted in France. 

Au Revoir

JFB

As our trip to Bordeaux was drawing to a close, our good friends Sally and Michael Oxlade, from the time we lived in England, flew down to Bordeaux to join us. We spent the next several days catching up, tasting wines at various vineyards and touring around. 

After meeting in Bordeaux, the next morning  we drove out to the beach resort town Arcachon  where we spent the night. While there we took a ferry out to Cap Ferret and had lunch at a fabulous restaurant. 

Arcachon and Cap Ferret are famous for their oysters and other sea food, which we had along with, of course, some great wine.

Easily seen from the beach area is the Cap Ferret Lighthouse.

For some reason or other the oysters cling to sticks planted nearby in the ocean (see photo above) where they are easily caught and ready to be eaten—for those who like raw oysters. Mary Anne and I can be counted out on that score. 

The beaches at Cap Ferret were very peaceful, probably because it was just before the tourist season really gets rolling. In any event, there were people on the beach, but not many were in the water, almost certainly because the weather hadn’t yet warmed up enough for swimming.

After dinner back in Arcachon, we turned in and headed off to do some wine tasting in St Emilion the next day. More about that in another post. 

JFB

We had beautiful weather during our day trip to Cognac. The next day, Sunday, was also very nice in Bordeaux. We hiked over to to the Basilica (Basilique Saint-Seurin) for the 9:00 AM Mass which was, of course, all in French. 

The building of the Basilique Saint-Seurin de Bordeaux (Basilica of Saint Severinus in English) was begun in the 11^th century.  At first the construction was in Romanesque style. Later additions incorporated Renaissance and Gothic styles. In 1998 UNESCO designated Saint-Seurin, along with three other churches, as World Heritage Sites. 

In the late afternoon we trekked over to the Bourse to see if the fountains that constitute Le Miroir d’eau de Bordeaux had been turned on, but as of today the fountains are still off. So: no fountain, so no water, so no reflections. Oh well. 

Since we were in the neighborhood we killed a little time with some vin rouge and then had a casual dinner in the area. And later what did we do? We got ready for French class on Monday morning. 

So now we are in the last week of the Road Scholar program. We’ll meet our friends Sally and Michael in Bordeaux on Saturday and do some touring in the surrounding area. Without having homework to do. 

Au revoir

Joe

After a mildly harrowing week, five of us set off for a guided tour of Cognac. The guide picked us up at our hotel and we drove off on our way to Cognac. It’s a pleasant drive of about an hour and a half through the French countryside, similar to the drive to the Médoc region. But now that we are a couple of weeks into Spring the scenery is noticeably greener.

When we got to Cognac we visited the village’s outdoor market. Apparently just about every village in France has a market where the townspeople buy produce and other groceries while the tourists buy souvenirs. After a stroll around town and the market we made our way to a first rate restaurant for a delightful lunch before heading out for some Cognac tours and tastings.

Cognac (the drink) starts off as a white wine, but after several distillations it turns into hard liquor. By the rules (in France there are rules for everything) the alcohol content of Cognac is 40%. Anything more or anything less and it cannot be called cognac. It’s still a brandy—just not cognac. And it has to be distilled by the March 31 deadline to be labeled a cognac. April 1 and you are out of luck. Rules, rules and more rules.

Anyway the info about alcohol content brought a dawning realization to me. It explained why I felt so awful the next morning after a late night that included—cognac. 

Leaving that aside we visited one large cognac house (Hennessy) and a newer and much smaller family operation that also served as a supplier to Remy Martin. As it turns out the big houses (among them Hennessy, Remy Martin, Martell, Courvoisier) all rely on smaller operations to supply them with the raw material that their Master Blenders use to make the final product. 

There are thousands of small farms that act as suppliers. They are all in the cognac region and they are all subject to the same rules e.g. — the March 31 distillation requirement—before the large houses will even consider them. Among them, the small farms supply about 70% of the raw material the Master Blenders use. 

The Master Blenders are so named because they may mix vintages to produce a consistent taste for their respective houses and brands. 

Needless to say we did our share of tastings. One was at Hennessy; the other was at a producer named Raison Personnelle. At Raison Personnelle we were also treated to a series of pairings of cognac and chocolates. They were all quite delicious. 

A little known factoid about the cognac business: about 20 years ago the industry hit a rough patch and sales were declining. Then  Courvoisier began to advertise using rappers and sales once again took off. Sweat pants, shirts and gold chains turned it around. At least according to the lore. 

Anyway that sums up our very excellent visit to Cognac, along with several photos. 

Au Revoir

Joe

This week—during the week—we’ve been kind of hanging out in Bordeaux and going to French class. Among other things we took a couple of boat rides up and down the Garrone river where we could get a view of some of the bridges that cross the river including the Stone Bridge that we cross every day on the way to class.

From the river La Cite du Vin is clearly visible as is Le Bourse and other famous buildings. 

We visited the public gardens again, and it is amazing how quickly they turned green from just a week or so.  

Finally we went to a light show in an immersive art center known as Des Lumiéres. The art center is essentially a converted submarine basin the Germans built and used during the occupation. Since it was almost indestructible, France repurposed it as an art center.  

Some photos from our travels are included in the post. This Saturday we are planning a day trip to Cognac. We hops to have photos from that trip to post next.

Joe

Along with Gerry Ponto we went took a train ride out to Sarlat in the French countryside for a weekend visit. Sarlat, in the Dordogne valley, has a reputation for being a stunningly beautiful village. It is undoubtedly that, and much more. Sarlat is surrounded by other beautiful and picturesque villages, complete with medieval castles and houses. And the Dordogne river snakes through the whole area. 

One of the villages we visited was Domme (a shout out to Tom McGuane who told Mary Anne not to miss it). It is a tiny, picturesque village with the Dordogne river running alongside it. Among other things we watched a small bit of a Petanque game in a park. Mary Anne caught a photo of it.  

One of the more amazing things to see in the Dordogne Valley is the Beynac Chateau. (Chateau is the French word for castle). And it is quite a castle. Actually it looks kind of familiar. That’s because lots of movies have been filmed there, largely because it is so well preserved. 

Turns out the Beynac castle was so well constructed and fortified that it was never overtaken by force. All was not light and sweetness though, because invaders would periodically lay siege on the fortress and try to starve them out. Apparently Amazon doesn’t deliver during sieges. 

It’s a 2 ½ hour train ride out to Sarlat from Bordeaux albeit through gorgeous scenery, so the time passed quickly. And we had a guide to take us around on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday we went to a local Mass and hopped back onto the train. A good time was had by all. 

Au Revoir

Joe