Happy Easter everybody. Granted, it’s probably not Easter when you’re reading this because I published it a couple of days late so unless you get lucky and read it next year on Easter, just ignore this bit. I mentioned it because as we walked out in the morning, the cruise company, AMA Waterways had put small Easter baskets outside of each guest room. Nice touch. I’m not a big chocolate fan but Karen was already predatorily eyeing my chocolate bunny with such fervor, I actually felt sorry for the little rodent…pretty pathetic when you think about it.

This is where the fun really starts…Medoc in Bordeaux. Sauternais was nice but as we mentioned in our last post, sweeter wines aren’t Karen’s and my favorites. This is where we start to get to the areas we are really interested in and Medoc was one of the two at the top of the list. It’s home to some of the top winemakers in the world. Medoc means “between the waters” because it’s situated between the Garonne river and the Atlantic Ocean. I won’t even try to explain how to pronounce Garonne in “American English”. It sounds so smooth and romantic in French. When I try and mimic it, (thankfully only in private) the “r” comes out sounding like a cat coughing up a fur ball.

As a proud Californian, I love many of our wines (and loathe quite a number as well). Almost all of the early winemakers in California were either French, Italian or German but with apologies to the Germans and Italians, it’s the French wine making traditions that California adopted as its own and the best known California wines were originally modeled after the Bordeaux wines. If a few of you are getting ready to argue that Pinot Noir and Chardonnay deserve their places in California lore, they really didn’t become mainstream until the 80’s or later.

Bordeaux is home to some of the best known (and some of the most expensive wines) in France, and Medoc is home to more than its share of the most prestigious wineries, known as Chateaus in Bordeaux.

We had a great two hour guided walk in the morning, in and around some of the most well known vineyards in Medoc. We started in Pauillac, a very sleepy town except for the local marathon that happened to be going on at the same time. Of course, this is France and we’re just leaving winter so the rain started about 15 minutes after we left which put a damper on part of the walk (no pun intended). Carla, our guide worked in several wineries for the past nine years so was able to illustrate the differences between several of the vineyards. Several are moving into Biodynamic vineyard management, a curious practice that involves not only organic farming but being in touch with local soil conditions, phases of the moon, and even how the presence of living and non living things impacts all things wine. It’s kind of a cross between Celtic nature worship and Star Wars “the force” where everything effects everything else. I’m a big believer in organic wine farming but candidly, I find a few things about biodynamic practices pretty farfetched. About the only way it could get more esoteric is to actually sacrifice a virgin on midsummer’s evening. Of course, this being France, virgins may be in short supply so maybe that’s why they leave that part out.

The highlight was walking through one of the Grand Cru Wineries, Château Lafite Rothschild. Two hours later and 11K steps (the curse of the Fitbit while on vacation), we were ready for our Medoc wine tasting.

A quick bus ride took us to Chateau Leoville Poyferre in the Medoc in a beautiful Chateau that dates from the mid 17th century . Most Medoc wineries are based around Cabernet Sauvignon due to the gravel and sand that is so prevalent. To an American eye, the vines are trimmed very low to the ground but that is done to keep them closer to the rocks in the soil which radiate heat in the evenings. Our guide through the Chateau was from San Francisco originally. Seriously? We come all the way from the San Francisco bay area to get a guide from an hour’s drive from home. Actually, she was fantastic…energetic, knowledgeable and friendly.

As an added bonus, one of the owners accompanied us as well and she was happy to add additional detail whenever anyone asked a question. These are big Bordeaux wines that need to be laid down for a number of years. They will improve for well over 20 years. We tasted wines that ranged from brand new, which was only in the bottle so they could show it at the biggest gathering of Sommeliers and wine distributors in the world.  It was happening the following week.  The best wine was a fantastic 20 year old blend. Unhappily for our wine collection but happily for our bank account, our bags have no room for wine so we had to make do with a couple of very flat signs for our bar at the cabin.

The ship moved to Blaye that evening so we took a stroll through town that was unsettlingly quiet due to it being Easter, except for the noisy Americans roaming the streets (wait a minute…that was us). We finally found a small restaurant where a few other people from the cruise had staked out a table so we joined them for another bottle of wine before heading back to the ship.

Winery-Sage is an online Winery Encyclopedia designed to help you compare wines, wineries, and regions by using a unique database. Cross-reference varietals and the wineries that produce them, as well as discover events sponsored by wineries and associations. We’re not here to sell you anything or pass you off to paid advertisers, just share the love for wine