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Bordeaux Wine & City
24 - 27 April, 23 - 26 October & 20 - 23 November (Thursday - Sunday)
Attempting to arrange a Bordeaux wine tour on your own can be frustrating and the result can, quite frankly, be rather disappointing. Hardly surprisingly, the wine-makers and owners of the great chateaux are not just waiting in their chateaux for you to drop by for an in-depth visit with a vertical tasting followed by lunch! Bordeaux is a complex subject and the regions charms are discreet. You need introductions, a good wine guide and someone to do the driving. So join us for a weekend wine tour with a series of good visits and tastings, plus lunches at two chateaux. On the ½rst evening, you join a private introductory tasting. This is hugely informative and enjoyable, and will set the scene for the weekend. Our ½rst wine touring day will be spent in the Médoc with visits in several of the famous communes including Pauillac and Margaux, stopping for a private invitation to lunch at one of the chateaux. To give you an idea of the level of the visits, in the past these have included very good chateaux such as Lynch-Bages, Maucaillou, Giscours, Rivière, de Sours and Smith-Haut-La½tte. Because of the complex négociant system, most of the chateaux would normally only have the most recent vintage to offer you. This is all very well if you are an experienced professional wine taster, but young clarets can be very dif½cult to appreciate. So, we visit chateaux where we arrange for you to have the opportunity to taste at least one older vintage to give you an appreciation of how the wines develop. Our second full wine touring day will take in a good cross section of regions from St Emilion, across to Entre-Deux-Mers, where we stop for lunch, and continue on to the Graves or Sauternes for our ½nal visit of the day. Bordeaux is a lovely city with elegant boulevards, classic 18th century buildings and an attractive riverside setting. The city has just been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status and has just experienced a major face-lift. Bordeauxs great wealth was based more on the sugar trade than on wine. Nevertheless, the warehouses of the wine merchants on the Quai des Chartons are impressive and the great vineyards of Graves Pessac-Leognan actually start inside the city.
PARIS
Gironde
Bordeaux
St Estephe Pauillac St Julien Margaux
Short Wine Breaks
Pomerol
Bordeaux Premier Côtes Graves Sauternes & Barsac
St Emilion Dordogne Entre-Deux-Mers
Atlantic
Garonne
There are chic shops and many excellent bars, bistros and Michelin starred restaurants that you can explore in the evenings. Depending on the programme, you might also attend a concert at the magni½cent theatre. We stay in the centre of the city, in a charming, comfortable family run hotel near the Allèe des Tournèes.
Outline Itinerary
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Early evening meet at hotel in Bordeaux. Comparative tasting. 2 / 3 visits in the Médoc, including chateau lunch. 3 visits Graves - St Emilion including chateau lunch. Depart after breakfast.
Includes
3 nights good 2* hotel in central Bordeaux, breakfasts, 2 lunches at chateaux. Visits & tastings, introductory tasting, coach. Wine Guide for ½rst evening tasting and the touring days. The maximum party size is 24. Upgrade option to a nearby 4* (There are fully escorted, more in-depth tours in the Reserve Collection).
Meet at Date Meet 24 - 27 April Bordeaux at Date Meet 23 - 26 Oct Bordeaux at Date Price Sole Deposit £pp occupancy £ pp Price Sole Deposit 399 occupancy 90 100 £pp £ pp Price Sole Deposit 425 occupancy 90 100 £pp £ pp 4* Hotel Upgrade 4* Hotel N/A Upgrade 4* Hotel 160 Upgrade
20 - 23 Nov Bordeaux
Tasting in the Médoc
399
90
100
160
17
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