Bordeaux Day One - Arrival

There’s something about stepping off a plane and savoring the arrival in a new place.  In this case, it was the third plane we were stepping off of – New York to Boston; Boston to Paris; Paris to Bordeaux – so the prospect of no longer having to readjust my legs every 6.3 minutes in a seemingly Sisyphusian effort to find “comfort” in Air France’s Voyager class seating made this arrival that much more welcome.  And that the next seat I took was behind the wheel of a convertible Peugeot 206 with manual transmission made quick work of me forgetting the in-flight meals, which I normally find to be better than average on foreign-flagged international flights but wasn’t the case this time, an issue I blame on having started off from Boston!

Next to me in the car was my friend Heather E., who had flown from Newport, California the day before to join me on this trip.  We literally met on the first day of classes at the University of Arizona when I found one of the only vacant seats in a lecture hall of about 300 people was next to hers.  That was back in 1989 and over those 20+ years we traveled to Israel together as well as trips to wine country in southern and northern California.  So when this trip came together it was an obvious and easy choice for her to accompany me and share in the experience.

It was just before 11 when we arrived at Chateau Clement-Pichon and after a quick nap our host, whom I met following last year’s NYC Marathon when he dined at my former restaurant (more about that later), treated us to lunch at the café of a friend of his nearby.  Le 1902 Restaurant has a sleek yet welcoming interior and a nicely constructed menu.  It has only recently opened but the plates prepared by the kitchen were well presented and flavorful   However, what makes the restaurant most interesting and worth noting here is not what is inside or on the plates themselves but that it was opened by and connected to a local cooperage.  Walking from the parking lot to the restaurant entrance you past the stacks of slat wood that will be crafted into the wine barrels one sees at throughout the region and the air is full of the smell of roasting of the wood that wafts from the open air production floor.

Also over lunch, we had our first tastes of Bordeaux wines.  Yannick, our host, who is the managing director of three chateaux, brought with him two vintages of Chateau La Dominique and one each of Chateau Fayat and Chateau Clement-Pichon.  Even despite our somewhat lethargic tasting skills due to the jet lag, the 1996 La Dominique stood out as a supple and wonderfully flavorful glass of wine, displaying medium tannins, nice cooked fruit, and the earthy undertones indicative of a old world wine made with care and devotion.

From lunch it was a beautiful drive up the Left Bank to Chateau Beychevelle.  A note about French roads should be made here.  They have high-speed, dual carriage-ways and even limited access toll roads that allow one to blaze along at a posted speed limited of 130 KMPH, or over 80 MPH, as well as more rural highways with speed limits on par with their American counterparts of around 55 MPH.  The difference, however, is that these French country highways are only about half as wide as those in the States, often just space enough to allow two cars to pass each other, with each having to run their outer wheels at the pavement edge, or even on the gravel – yes, gravel, no shoulder or breakdown lane here!  Perhaps the roads are kept intentionally narrow between towns because once they pass through them, with the houses creating an immovable canyon set at a distance more apt for horse-drawn carriages than automobiles and trucks, drivers have to pass quite close to one another, albeit at much slower speeds or maybe, and more likely, to widen them would mean loosing valuable vineyard acreage.  Whatever the reason, driving the roads requires close concentration but also yields an incredibly fun and exhilarating   experience, not to mention made me happy to have rented a narrow car!

But back to the drive to Beychevelle itself.  There is a scene in “French Kiss” where Meg Ryan and Kevin Klein are walking in Paris and she, an American, is seeing the city for the first time and keeps waving her hands back and forth exclaiming “gorgeous” and “beautiful” at everything, even otherwise mundane things, around her.  I’ve yet to see Paris with my own eyes but this reaction of being so overwhelmed by the beauty around you is something I had thought was little more than cinematic excess.  That was until my first drive into the heart of the Left Bank because as much as US 29 has stunning views as it climbs its way through the Napa Valley, it is of little comparison to the D2 through the Haut-Medoc.  I literally felt like Meg Ryan with my head swerving from side to side to take in each chateau and vineyard as they passed by as well as gasping at the picture-perfect little towns, hugging the narrow road, through which we passed.  Also, unlike in California, the roads weren’t clogged with other cars nor was the surrounding scenery obscured by gaudy commercialism or even gaudier McMansions clustered along the hillsides and encroaching on the vineyards – the very thing that draws so many to the area only to rip them up and build houses right alongside them.  In other words, but for the smooth black-top road, overhead power lines and occasional modern water tower, it is very easy to imagine the area as it looked a century or more ago; an area pristine and dedicated to the production of some of the world’s finest wines.

At Beychevelle we had our first tour, and what a way to start off the trip.  Legend has it that Beychevelle's name derives from the phrase "Baisse-Vaille" meaning "lower sails" because ships passing by the property would lower their sails as a sing of allegiance to the the original owner, Jean-Louis Nogaret de la Valette, who was the Admiral and Governor of the Guyenne and the property and chateau are about as impressive as one can imagine.  Just walking around the building and grounds it is easy to see why it has been referred to as the "Versailles of the Médoc."  We were taken on a tour of the vineyards, vat room where the sorted grapes are gravity pressed into juice, and then the barrel room where the magic of oenology takes place.  After we met with the general manager, Philippe, and tasted Chateau Beychevelle from 2005, 2009, 2010 and a barrel sample of 2011 with him.  Needless to say, the wines were fantastic, even the barrel sample which while young clearly displayed the characteristics of the more mature wines.

Even though we were still jet lagged, we left Beychevelle but didn't go back to Clement-Pichon directly.  Instead we drove further toward Pauillac and stopped at Village de Bages, a small and picturesque collection of shops near Chateau Lynch-Bages.  Purchasing a small baguette and piece of cheese, we sipped on a pair of glasses of wine and enjoyed the perfect weather.  Even though the area initially felt like a tourist-type "village," it was clear by the people coming and going from the charcuterie and other shops surrounding the that this was where locals did shopping on their way home and we were glad to have taken the detour that led us here.

Now sated from the snack and wines, we headed back to Clement-Pichon.  It was an amazing first day in Bordeaux and I was already thinking about our itinerary for day two, which included one of the highlights I had for the trip:  Chateau d'Yquem.