Spit, don't swallow: And what else a holiday in Bordeaux taught me

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2 days ago

I'm a cyclist. Not a Lycra-wearing, hand-signalling cyclist, more of an urban approximation, so when the opportunity came up to velo my way through the peaceful rhythms of rural Bordeaux and its wineries, I was saddling up quicker than you can say merlot, dragging my (cycling-averse) sister and friend with me.
It's hard not to romanticise Bordeaux: France's wine capital is a panorama of sleepy villages and medieval châteaux with a beautiful city at its heart, the backdrop of many a French masterpiece. It's also vast, divided by the Dordogne and Garonne rivers with the left bank known for its cabernet sauvignon blends, gravelly soils and structured wines and the right bank hailed for its merlot, clay and limestone soils and softer, fruitier wines. The plan was to sample the lot, without spitting. Easy by bike, right?
We got off to a good start, freewheeling our way through leafy French forests near Créon, a small village in the Entre-deux-Mers region on the left bank, just 45 minutes after disembarking our plane. The former train line between Créon and the village of La Sauve is now a greenway anchored by the L'Aiguillage restaurant housed in the original train station in La Sauve, where we stopped for lunch, lazing in the pretty garden to the cacophony of a nearby French family celebrating their grandmother's 100th birthday.
As we soon learnt, cycling in France requires some level of self-discipline and so we forgo the second glass of wine for a tour of the nearby Benedictine abbey in La Sauve, a Unesco world heritage site and a masterpiece of Romanesque art, where we climbed to the top of the 11th-century bell tower for a bird's eye view of Entre-deux-Mers. It's a scene of such sylvan tranquillity we almost forget we have to hightail it to our next stop, a 30-minute cycle away.
My sister is complaining about my failure to book electric bikes as we huff our way up hills until we turn down a dirt track signposted for Château Thieuley and arrive at a beautiful sandstone château where we all gasp. We are met by Sylvie Courselle who, together with her sister Marie, now runs the family estate. Sylvie is charming and knowledgeable, taking us through the vineyard's history and philosophy, which includes combining 'tradition with modernity'. There's a certain mettle to their metier, devoting half of their production to bordeaux blanc, a brave move considering it's something of a paradox in the region. We retire to the bar to taste their rosé, claret and white blends — all easy drinkers with plenty of substance and flavour for their €8-€10 price tags — before picking up some homemade pâté, olive oil (and a couple of bottles) . It's a family affair, one that feels effortlessly charming and personal.
There are about 6,000 wineries in Bordeaux and 57 different appellation d'origine contrôlées (AOCs — indicating the geographical area), all of which taste different depending on the terroir: the subtle differences in soil, slope and climatic exposure. This we learnt in depth at the Cité du Vin, Bordeaux's sleek, shiny swirl of a building and a seriously impressive wine museum, not just any museum but one that manages to engage, educate and delight both oenophiles and the mildly curious (aka us) alike.
In truth, you need to know nothing about wine for a successful trip to Bordeaux but it's a hot day and the museum is a cool lung in which to spend the afternoon, flying over vineyards in Greece and Chile by means of giant screens, learning about the origins of wine through 3D models, holograms and displays, strolling through galleries of civilisations from 6000BC to 19 th-century Paris detailing the history of wine and sitting back in dark rooms with plush velvet couches wrapped by large screens to be seduced by the romance of wine making. It makes wine fun even for those who can't tell a cabernet from a Coke. We ended our tour with a tasting on the top floor overlooking the river before crossing the street to the Halles de Bacalan food hall for a cheese plate and accompanying glass of minerally white wine, no spitting.
Bordeaux is smart and elegant, all those honey-coloured buildings shouldering up handsomely together, a miniature Paris of sorts. But it wasn't always the case. It has been coaxed back from its gritty past by the former mayor Alain Juppé, who metamorphosised the soot-stained shipping hub into an intoxicating city, brimming with history, galleries, bustling markets, boutiques and enough wine bars and restaurants to shake a stick at (there's more restaurants per capita here than Paris, which is saying a lot).
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As much as we'd love to linger, we're after a slice of Bordeaux in just two days. We wander the old town with its fairytale towers, baroque churches and grand vintage buildings, past the swish designer shops of the Golden Triangle and on to the riverbank via Place de la Bourse and Miroir d'Eau — a reflecting pool where kids play in and out of the misting machines. It's Sunday and the Quai des Chartrons food market is in full swing along the promenade, where you can smell the briny freshness of seaside oysters and Basque sheep cheese. We dogleg on to Rue Notre Dame, normally buzzing with boutiques and bars but it's Sunday and the street is sleepy, save for one restaurant, Le Bistro 111, where we stop for a lunch of warm burrata served at tables outside.
Our hotel, Villas Foch, is a ten-minute stroll from one of the city's best wine bars, Le Bar à Vin, located in the Bordeaux Wine Council's headquarters, where we sample some of the best regional wines accompanied by local cheese and meats before heading to bed. On a tree-lined avenue that ends in the famed Place des Quinconces, Villas Foch is a quiet, unassuming and sophisticated boutique hotel housed in a former bank. It's a step up from our first-night lodgings at Hôtel Konti, a smart budget-friendly option but heavy on the retro furnishings. Villas Foch is small but manages to pack a punch with everything you need for a stay in the city: a sauna, gym, pool, elegant bar, breakfast room and bedrooms that riff on 'modern library' style with high ceilings, bookshelves, objets d'art, bathrooms stocked with Hermès toiletries and views over the rooftops.
After filling up on the hotel's generous buffet breakfast we make a beeline for Saint-Émilion, known for its medieval town and for producing some full-bodied reds, and into the throng of tourists. There's a distant rumbling of thunder from the leaden sky and so we head underground with our guide to marvel at the monolithic 12 th-century church, which is partly subterranean and one of the most important religious monuments along the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. We fuel up with coffee and a croissant from Le Médiéval and we're back on two (electric) wheels, much to my sister's delight, cycling the 15km loop around some of Saint-Émilion's most prestigious wineries. We ride under a heavy sky, through sloping vineyards, past manicured vines to the soundtrack of thunder and lightning.
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Just as the downpour begins, we roll into Château La Dominique and retire to La Terrasse Rouge for lunch. Château La Dominique is one of a smattering of wineries marked with the hand of an ambitious architect, in this case Jean Nouvel, whose modern touch includes the wine-coloured metal cladding and a terrace laid with thousands of glass 'grapes' inspired by the artists Jeff Koons and Anish Kapoor. From here you can marvel at the perfect parcels of vineyards as far as Pomerol, including the modernist splendour of neighbouring Cheval Blanc, one of only two châteaux that earned the premier grand cru classification. They are so close in proximity I wonder whether their blends are similar? 'Yes and no,' says Christian, our guide. 'It's all about the blue clay ridge, which only a handful of wineries in the region have, including Cheval Blanc. It's their secret weapon,' he explains. 'A type of clay that is rich in iron and allows them to age their wines for longer than everyone else. We have a small section of it and our best wine comes from that parcel.'
A hectare in Saint-Émilion costs in the region of €100,000 and upwards — it's a profitable business but you have to start with deep pockets. At 29 hectares Château La Dominique is a medium-to-large size vineyard, owned by the Clément Fayat family — the fourth largest construction company in France … deep pockets. We head to the cellar to see how their premier wine is made. A grand cru classé means strict processing rules involving 22 separate steel tanks for the 22 different parcels of land and ageing the wine in oak barrels, which are only used twice before being sold on, usually to whiskey distilleries. There is so much riding on the quality of wine, it's dizzying. The terroir, which can change from one side of the road to the other, clay and oak storage vessels, the weather — it can all dramatically affect the quality, and price, of the wine.
At Château de Ferrand, a 30-minute cycle away, we learn that a vine that yields a 'good' wine is one that is suffering. 'If you don't trim it, it's going to try harder to grow,' says Elliot who, together with his colleague Josephine, is passionate and knowledgeable. 'We don't irrigate, we don't trim, we stunt it so it produces the biggest, juiciest grapes.' Château de Ferrand is another family-run estate. Not just any family, but the Bich family, responsible for bringing us Bic pens, razors and lighters. Pauline Bich then married Philippe Chandon-Moët, giving it additional kudos in the world of wines.
This place is more than just a winery; it is a seriously smart château that feels like an art gallery-cum-winery. We are greeted at the front door by a very amiable and friendly team framed by a large sculpture of a chewed pen lid. After a tour of the wine cellar and vat room, we are ushered into a tasting room so pretty we forget to sit down, marvelling instead the 360-degree wall mural of the château, hand-drawn with Bic pen. 'Look at the colour of the wine against a white surface,' says Elliot as we sit down to taste. 'Then swirl and smell. Is it fruity, floral, herbal, buttery, oaky? Now sip.' We sip, they spit, we follow suit. Full disclosure, I don't actually like red wine, preferring the light and crisp swell of white wine. But I may well be converted. It's silky, fruity, delightfully fresh with just the right hit of oak. 'It's a wine full of pleasure to drink with friends,' he says, smiling.
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The team here are eager to press the point that Château de Ferrand may have accommodation — three stunning bedrooms that walk the line between luxury five-star hotel and comfortable family home — but it's all about the wine experience. Dinner can be arranged in the dining room among the family's private art collection (original Picasso included) or group tastings, tailor-made tours, parties and events can all be organised in the cellar or one of the newly renovated rooms. Our elegant dinner was an exquisite experience. It felt at times too formal: at the big polished dining table surrounded by expensive art, but that comes with the territory. It is after all the most expensive wine region in the world, but not exclusive. After three days of touring the best of it by bike I remain a bit of a wine beginner, but I do have a renewed appreciation for what goes in to making it and in future I will remember to spit.
Aer Lingus operates daily flights from Dublin to Bordeaux between June and October; aerlingus.com
Hôtel Konti, double rooms cost from €112; hotel-konti.comVillas Foch, double rooms cost from €285; villasfoch.frChâteau de Ferrand, double rooms cost from €350; chateaudeferrand.com
Rustic Vines runs a day trip from Bordeaux, which includes transport, bike hire, three tastings and lunch and costs from €175pp; rusticvinestours.com
bordeaux-tourisme.co.uk