Visiting Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s Vineyards in Bordeaux
The region of Bordeaux was legendary to me. I had heard of it long before I ever thought I would visit it. To me, Bordeaux was superior wines, it’s romantically undulating landscapes that the grapevines so needed to grow, the warm weather and the rustic lifestyle of grape harvesting and wine making.
Even though my knowledge of wines is limited to be able to recognize a good wine when I am served one, I expected to hit every single chateau in sight for some wine tasting, inspect all barrels of wines in different stages of aging and come away with much greater knowledge than before I set foot here.
It was such a disappointment then, that the day we had set out to explore Bordeaux, was a French national holiday weekend and all chateaus were closed!
With a sunken heart, we decided to travel around some and take a look at the vineyards and chateaus anyway, targeting one of our favourites, the Rothschild’s vineyards in the Médoc area just northwest of Bordeaux. Since the history of the Rothschild family, as well as the history of the vineyard and the wines all have approached mythical proportions, we decided this was worth doing even if there would be no one on grounds to meet.
A signpost leading the way to maybe the most famous of all vineyards in Bordeaux. The vineyards and chateaus are generally easy to find, following the signs.
The roads were tiny and winding slightly up and slightly down. They were also bare of any vehicles or crowds due to the holiday.
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