The trip through the Bordeaux appellation was bound to be great.  Our Uniworld River Cruises ship, the River Royale, was decked out in the usual Uniworld fashion which is anything but "usual".  Luxurious, beautifully sumptuous and totally comfortable, I felt like I was at home in a magnificent floating palace!  More on Uniworld in a later blog...

Even if I never stepped off the River Royale it would be a great trip, but that's not how I roll.  I love seeing the land, embracing the culture, learning the history, eating the food..and drinking the wine! I was ready.  Our first stop was the refurbished 14th century Chateau de Cazaneuve in the Sauterne area of the Bordelais region.  We found it in a park like setting, complete with a dried moat, goats and an inner courtyard.  We were treated to an outstanding lunch with a flight of 3 Sauterne wines accompanying the courses, each one getting progressively sweeter.  I never imagined you could drink a Sauterne with lunch, instead of just as an after dinner treat.

If you've ever had a Sauterne wine, you know it is sweet and prized for it's complexity.  The sweetness comes from the botrytis cinera or "noble rot", a mold that concentrates the sugars in the grape.  The mold is present because of the many misty days that occur there in the area of the River Ciron.  It always amazes me how even a short distance between vineyards produces a totally different wine.

The next day we cruised north on the Garonne and made a short stop at Patiras Island in the Gironde Estuary (which empties into the Atlantic). It was very small and grew some grapes but mostly wheat and corn.  It was truly laid back and the folks there treated us to a French picnic with music, artichokes, olives, breads, wine and a tower from which to view the river and look west into the Medoc region.

We broke up into smaller groups for our visit to the Medoc, not knowing which chateau we would eventually get to explore.  After stopping to walk around in a vineyard, we drove past Chateau Lafite Rothschild.  It may be the most famous of the Medoc chateaux.  A bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, rumored to have belonged to Thomas Jefferson, sold for $156,000!  There they grow Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot grapes. The blend of those varieties changes each year.   Sadly, we couldn't stop in to say "Hey".

We headed on to our surprise destination, Chateau Beychevelle.  This was a grand, sprawling chateau, initially built in 1565,  with a view across a large expanse of grass and fields to the Garonne river.  There are many ancient and modern art works enhancing its courtyards and vast gardens. Some call it the "Versailles of the Medoc".   Inside were beautiful rooms of antique French furniture, tapestries and a Grand Cru wine for tasting.  It has had many owners, one of whom married a woman from Louisiana.  The soil or terroir of the Medoc is very gravelly which is good because it gets lots of rain from the Atlantic.  When summers get hot and dry, the roots reach deeply into the soil to get that moisture.  The average vine is 30 years old.  The wine tasting there was  a real treat and we got more of their  wine with dinner on the ship that night.  Fantastique!

The next day it was on to St. Émillion and the region of Cognac.  Gosh, I love wine!