Days 14 & 15 Route des Vins Bordeaux
On Wednesday the day started with
rain. We had intended to go to the city
but we thought that walking around in the rain would be a less than pleasant
activity. Instead we headed out to the Medoc
to visit a winery or two.
One of my favourites is Chateau Siran but
when we visited there was no one there despite the “Ouvert” (open) sign. Given it was after 12pm, it was probably due
to everyone being at lunch. Our next
stop was Chateau Lanessan where initially there was no-one there but eventually
a woman arrived and we had a tasting (at some considerable expense). We got a bottle or two for consumption – it
is a not top wine but is a good producer.
We found out a little about the family who own the property which was
interesting. It has been in a French
family for several generations and the workers at least are keen to keep it in
French ownership.
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| Water mirror |
We had lunch in Pauillac before heading
back and calling in at Chateau Siran.
At Chateau Siran we were greeted at the car
by a couple of young people. The tasting
if we were to have one was quite expensive so I decided against that and
instead I bought a good bottle of wine to
bring back to NZ and a bottle to drink later.
The young man and woman it turned out were at the University of Bordeaux
studying wine marketing. The young man was from Tours near where we will
staying soon. The young woman was from
India and spoke both fluent French and English.
They were both doing internships at Chateau Siran. So we had a nice discussion with them about
what they were doing.
On our return to the apartment I cooked
some vegetables for dinner that night which was nice as we both feel a little
bereft of them at times.
Thursday
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| Le Fermier/The famer |
This time it was not so rushed. Our bus (a 20 minute ride from our apartment)
dropped us off near the river front where we wandered alongside a very muddy
river. There is a water mirror called Le
Miroir D’eau in front of the parliament buildings which initially showed no
reflection but then viewed from a different direction, it suddenly it did. It was quite spectacular.
We then began our walk through the
city. It is well maintained and quite
beautiful, in some ways similar to Paris but not on the same scale. We stumbled upon a market called the Marché
des Capucins which sells everything from
vegetables to phone cases. While Bev
went back to pay for a coffee that we had inadvertently overlooked , I wandered
around and looked at the vegetable and fruit offerings. I found some white asparagus and other bits
and pieces for our dinner and two delicious canolés to enjoy. When Bev arrived
back we wandered around the market a little longer.  |
| Artwork Ville de Bordeaux |
We were looking at some cheese and the
vendor who was having a passionate and animated discussion with a woman, turned
to us and invited us to try a chunk off one of the cheese balls he had.
He then said he would be with us shortly when he finished serving his
current customer. The cheese was so good
we stayed a while longer. He spoke a few
words of English so the conversation was mostly in French. It turned out he was a farmer from the
Pyrenees and the cheese was made from the milk of Brebis sheep. He explained that the different cheeses were
from different villages. He was so
passionate about his cheese and it tasted so good that we bought some. He vacuum packed it so we could take it with
us on our journey to Saumur. He wanted
to know where we came from so I told him and it turned out he knew about New
Zealand through his interest in rugby.
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| Mairie - Le Bouscat |
I think that the picture I took presents
him accurately.
We spent the rest of the day wandering the
city, with Bev taking off on her own for a bit to do some shopping. This involved replacing her cycling pants
which she had managed to damage in Porto when riding alongside some wire on a
narrow path. I was surprised more damage
to the credit card was not done.
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