Bordeaux!

​It was the best of wines, it was the worst of wines…
Your intrepid explorer has again crossed the Atlantic Ocean, back to the origins of the wine industry.  This time, my wife and I took a Viking Cruise to Bordeaux, one of the leading wine-producing regions in France.  As the misquote of Dickins above implies, some of the wines we tasted were quite good, but some were among the worst we have ever run into.
Over the next few weeks I will review four wineries that we visited.  As per my general approach, I will not review the wineries that had, let us kindly say, less than desirable offerings.  We also visited a barrel making facility, which at some time I will discuss in the About section.  But, first a review of our trip.
We began in Bordeaux where we boarded the Viking river boat and met the amazing crew.  They were great, but the really great part of the trip was making new friends among the other passengers.  Of course, it was cold and rainy the entire trip, so we probably spent more time with the other passengers than normal….
At the end of the trip we spent a couple of days in Paris:

​Now Bordeaux is an unusual part of France in that it was under English rule for three hundred years, beginning when Eleanor of Acquitaine married Henry II of England in the 1100’s.  The area became a trading post of the English, and many of the towns are market centered rather than Church centered.  The Bordeaux region is split by an estuary fed by two rivers running southeast to northwest.  The area can be divided into two regions – the left bank and the right bank, left and right determined when facing downstream.  Now wine has been produced on the right bank for many centuries.  On the other hand, the left bank was mostly marsh until Dutch engineers helped the French with water control, recovering the land for agriculture sometime in the mid-nineteenth century.  Now soil in the recovered land is really not soil – it’s mostly rocks.  Not much you can grow there accept grape vines….
The two leading red grape varieties in the area are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and grapes from these two varieties must dominate any red wines made in the area.  It is generally believed that the rocky soil on the left bank produces better Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, while the clay soil on the left bank is better for Merlot grapes.  Most of the wines produced in Bordeaux are blends of these two, sometimes with small additions of Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot, Malbec, and the recently reintroduced Carmenere.  Some of the most expensive red wines in the world come out of Bordeaux.  However, our guides were quick to point out that the average bottle of red wine in Bordeaux sells for around ten dollars!  More about this in my reviews.
The southern part of Bordeaux is considered to be better suited for growing white grapes, specifically Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscadelle.  Sauvignon Blanc is the primary grape for dry white wines, whereas Semillon for sweet white wines.  Of particular note is the wine Sauternes, a sweet white wine made from grapes that have been attacked by “Noble Rot”.  I kid you not.
OOPS!  Getting boring, so here are some more pictures of Paris:

There are technically no wineries in Bordeaux.  Rather, wine is made in Chateaus, such as Chateau Margaux or Chateau Mouton Rothschild.  OK, enough blather about Bordeaux that you can easily find on the web.  I found it interesting, but cruising the rivers in the region extremely boring.  So more pictures of Paris: