Finsatsea: April 22 and 23 - Wine, wine and more wine

Continuing where I left off in my last post, our guide told us all about Bordeaux wine. Here’s a little of what I remember.

Bordeaux as I mentioned lies on the Garonne River. Because of the proximity to the ocean the area has an oceanic climate which borders on semi-tropical. The soil on the left bank of the river is more gravelly which provides for good drainage and the right is primarily limestone and clay which provides more moisture for plantings. The terroir dictates which varietals of grapes are planted in the more than 10,000 wine estates in the region. Cabernet sauvignon vines like the good-drainage on the left bank and merlot, cabernet franc and several other varietals do better in the other soil. There are rules established for what may be called Bordeaux wine. First and foremost is that all Bordeaux is a blend of varieties of grapes. About 60- 65% of the red grapes grown in this area of France are Merlot, with 22% Cabernet Sauvignon and about 9% Cabernet Franc. White wine grapes which are not nearly as widely grown are primarily 45% Sémillion and 45% Sauvignon Blanc. There is a sweet wine, Sauterne, produced in the region. This wine is produced from the two white varietals and muscadelle grapes which have been affected by a fungus which causes the grapes to become raisined and accentuates the sugars.

In 1855 the area around Bordeaux was divided into “Appellations,” which included both geographical districts and apparently also caliber of wines produced. It all became very confusing as Barbara, our guide explained it. There are evidently four vineyards which fall in the top category and those include two Châteaux with the name Rothschild in them. The vineyard we went to, Château Kirwan is in the third appellation, which is one of the highest quality ones. As we rode into the countryside one of the first thing I noticed was that the vines are not very tall. Whereas in most places, including Virginia, they grow to at least waist height, here they are very low to the ground. Barbara told us this is done to retain the moisture (they don’t irrigate their vines at all) and to allow the grapes to get more warmth from the ground. She told us much more, but honestly I don’t remember it all.

My visit was to the Château Kirwan which is in the Margaux Appellation, a part of the Médoc area, in the Bordeaux area. (How confusing this all is to me.) The vineyard covers 94 acres, planted with 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and the remainder Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Sauvignon Blanc. As I mentioned earlier all the wine is blended. We first visited the cellars and got a little history of the place and instruction in the wine-making process. I found it interesting that the name Kirwan came from the first owner who was an Irishman from Galway who bought two adjoining vineyards back in the late 18th century when some Irish businessmen moved to this area. In the 19th century a German bought the vineyard and at some point in that century it passed to a different owner. But in the 1920’s members of the first German owners bought it again and the descendants of that family own it still. In fact, in the summer there will be a 100th anniversary celebration.

The château

This little guy was snoozing in the bushes around the front of the château

Our guide explained that at Château Kirwan the grapes are mechanically picked but sorted by hand. After the sorting they are placed in large concrete tanks because those can be precisely temperature controlled so that the yeast and bacteria used in the fermentation process can be used optimally. After about three weeks the wine is placed into barrels which are entirely made of French oak for two years before bottling. The wine in the barrels is rotated and tasted by the master winemaker every three months to check its progress. Of course, as we walked through the various parts of the building and cellars we sampled several of the wines. I’m not a red wine lover but it tasted good. The canapés we had with it tasted better. We had some lovely foie gras, prawns, prosciutto wrapped around a radish, smoked salmon and a lovely samosa filled with vegetables. Oops, I just realized when writing this that I took no photos of the food. I wish I had because it was good and beautifully presented. Oh well.

After our tasting we moved into a lovely dining room where we had a wonderful meal starting with seared ahi tuna, followed by roast chicken with a great truffle sauce and finishing with a double chocolate cake. Each course was naturally paired with a wine from Château Kirwan. I was at a table with a very nice gentleman from San Diego with whom I've cruised before and with a gay couple from Melbourne. They were all pleasant dinner companions. We got back to the ship at nearly 11:30 PM so it was actually too late to go to the Club. I went straight to my cabin which was about the earliest I’ve gone to bed. Orrin, the gentlemen from San Diego, was kind enough to give me his arm and walk me around at the winery. I sailed with him on a previous voyage and he's been on my trivia team.

That's Orrin and me on her way to the cellar. Ignore the person on the right.

This was a special sculptural door to the cellar at Château Kirwan that if you look closely you'll see words pertaining to wine and wine-making. It's hard to see, but it's the best I could.

The sorting machine where the grapes are sorted by hand.

Concrete vats that Kirwan stored its juice in until the fermentation process and bacteris process are done.

100% french oiak where the wine is stored for two years

Thursday morning the 23rd I awoke to another beautiful day still in Bordeaux. I had an afternoon tour booked to a different winery for another wine tasting along with a scenic drive through Bordeaux. I must have bad luck because every site that the guide pointed out on our drive turned out to be on the other one from which I was seated. I could get a glimpse but a photo was virtually impossible.

One of the old city gates

Some city scenes on our drive

This was the most expensive shopping area. That's a Hermès store where you can buy $10 K scarves!

The spires of the Cathedral of St. Andrew

The vineyard we went to was still on the left side of the Garonne, the one with the gravelly terroir, but this was south in the Pessac-Léognan Appellation. I confess that I don’t understand this whole Appellation business; I only know that evidently here in Bordeaux the system came about in 1855 when Napoleon III was Emperor of France and it was apparently done for the purpose of show-casing French wines at an early international fair. Anyway, the vineyard we went to grows more cabernet grapes than last night’s château, but once again all the wine is a blend. We tasted two, a white and a red, and I liked yesterday’s better.

These photos are of Château Bouscat, today's vineyard

Our guide today told us a little about the history of Bordeaux during our ride and I found that very interesting. The Celts established a town named Burdigala around 300 BC. In the 1st century BC the area was conquered by the Romans and it became an important trading center for tin and lead. As the Roman Empire weakened it was sacked by the Vandals followed by the Visigoths and then the Franks. After the Moorish Arabs conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula they moved across the Pyrenees but were defeated at the Battle of Poitiers not far away by the then ruler of the region which was known as Aquitaine. That name may be familiar to many of us because there was a famous woman, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who as the Duchess of Aquitaine in the 12th century married an English duke who became King Henry II of England. Through that marriage England ruled and claimed much of France as its territory and wars were fought over those claims. Most notably the Hundred Years War was fought. Eleanor and Henry were the parents of two English kings many of us learned about in history classes, Richard the Lionhearted and King John who was forced to sign the Magna Carta. This is all a very abbreviated version of a complex history, but I know that I and my fellow travelers who included many British people found it interesting. Natalie, our guide who was as French as one can be, obviously was not in love with that period of her country’s history.

We stayed docked in Bordeaux until just after 1 AM on Friday the 24th. Seabourn was actually very misleading in the presentation of the itinerary because the it inerary made it sound like we would be in Bordeaux for three full nights. Some Australian friends were all set to go to lunch at a place they had passed. I know there is a big tidal shift on the river and so I think our time in port and departure were based on that, but I think Seabourn could have been a little clearer. I had a nice time and I think Bordeaux is a lovely city. If I were inclined to make land trips, it’s a place that I think I would like to come back to, but as a solo traveler I don’t think it would be as much fun.