Bordeaux visit. Who to visit?

[Raymo]

Hi folks,

I will be in Bordeaux town for a day or two in late April and wondered if anyone could suggest any cellar doors or wine shops worth a visit. I know there is a newish, modern wine tourist complex there, but what I've read suggests it is a place to avoid. So, leaving aside the great estates as they are beyond my pay-grade, are there any particular chateau or cellar doors in town or nearby worth a visit?

Thanks, in anticipation

[brodie]

Hi folks,

I will be in Bordeaux town for a day or two in late April and wondered if anyone could suggest any cellar doors or wine shops worth a visit. I know there is a newish, modern wine tourist complex there, but what I've read suggests it is a place to avoid. So, leaving aside the great estates as they are beyond my pay-grade, are there any particular chateau or cellar doors in town or nearby worth a visit?

Thanks, in anticipation

A few thoughts for your consideration. Firstly Bordeaux is a huge and spread out area. You will need a car to get around. I would recommend focusing on a single sub region if your want to visit a couple of chateau. Getting from St Estephe to Margaux (all within the Medoc) might take 40mins depending in traffic. The town of Bordeaux is quite big and traffic around the town is often very heavy. Bordeaux does have an old town area that is nice.

The village of St Emilion is very pretty (and also very touristy- fascinating wine shops everywhere with true nose bleed pricing). The other famous appellations have a tiny village or nothing at all. Most of the chateau are by themselves in amongst the vineyards.

There are not really any "cellar doors" in Bdx. You will see signs for "vente et degustation" which means tasting and sales. Anywhere that has this sign should be avoided as a general rule. Basically none of the serious or high quality makers will have this sign out. I would recommend identifying a few chateau that you really enjoy and emailing them for an appointment. If you do make an appointment, you must be on time and you should dress smartly. No jeans and you should have a sports coat! Be careful to leave plenty of time between appointments, do some google map research so you can estimate travel time between chateau. I would not try and do more than 3 in a day. Need to leave time to have a nice lunch somewhere.

They will speak English but will appreciate any efforts you make to speak French.

cheers and good luck
Brodie

[Mahmoud Ali]

I've not been to Bordeaux but your suggestions appear well considered and certainly will keep them in mind if ever I get a chance to visit.

Mahmoud.

[daver6]

I visited in October and used http://www.bordeauxwithelodie.com/ to organise a day trip to St Emillion and the surrounds. This was a great option for our small group of five adults and a minor. Probably an expensive option for just an individual though.

[simon1980]

It's been a few years, but here are some thoughts:

I personally love the Left Bank, so just driving up past the great chateaux was pretty exciting. The Pichons, Palmer, langoa...splendid!
For easy visits, Lynch Bages and Pontet Canet...they are set up for lots of people.
For more personal visits, just choose which Chateaux you really like, and contact them. I went to Palmer, Calon Segur and Langoa (Leoville) Barton. I loved them all.
St Emillon is indeed very pretty, and very nice to look around.

Hope that helps a little,

Simon

[Pej]

Do they seriously have dress codes? That's not a good sign in my books.

[TiggerK]

Do they seriously have dress codes? That's not a good sign in my books.

When in Bordeaux...... All part of the region, traditions and it's own self-belief. I would expect nothing less.

Overripe, extracted, jammy Bordeaux made by certain contract consultants/winemakers to please certain affluent target markets (US & China), now that's not a good sign, and IMHO all too common nowdays. And then there's the prices....