Chateau Margaux

Chateau Pichon Longueville, where we stay

Tasting at Chateau Latour

Chateau Haut Brion

Chateau Latour

Chateau Lafite

Chateau Cheval Blanc

Bordeaux First Growths

15 - 19 November 2010

The splendid setting of 2ème Cru Classé Château Pichon Longueville is our privileged base for this special tour. This is not a hotel, nor is it open to the general public, so we are truly honoured to be able to extend this invitation to you and with just 6 rooms, the party size is limited to just eleven (pictured front cover).

Escorted by respected wine correspondent James Lawther MW, this top level tour includes visits to every châteaux rated as Premier Grand Cru Classé, except Mouton-Rothschild which is closed for renovations, but whose wines we will taste with James during the week.

On arrival we tour the cellars of Pichon and taste the recent vintage. We enjoy further wines from Pichon and others from Axa Millèsimes, including Ch.Pibran, Petit-Village, Suduiraut, and maybe even Quinta do Noval or Disnóko from Tokaj, over a gourmet dinner in the chateau's formal dining room.

Our first day wine touring is in Pauillac with visits to the two great châteaux in the commune recognised as 1st Growths, the mighty Châteaux Latour and Lafite-Rothschild. Latour has produced monumental wines for generations. Modernisation of the vat house and improvements in the vineyard has simply made the wines more accessible.

We enjoy a privileged visit to a noble 1st Growth in the Médoc who we have respectfully agreed not to name, as it is strictly not open to the public. We experience the exquisite wines said to typify its commune more than the other 1st Growths.

We then head to the Right Bank for a gourmet lunch in St Emilion, at the famous ** rosette Michelin restaurant, La Plaisance. This afternoon we continue for a tasting at Château Cheval Blanc. This legendary chateau is classified 1èr Grand Cru A, St Emilion and is on the border with Pomerol.

Your wine guide will set the scene with a tutored tasting before tonight’s VIP dinner invitation at Rauzan-Segla, 2ème Cru, where we have been warmly welcomed for nearly two decades.

Next morning we taste the wines at Château Haut-Brion, the first non-Médoc chateau to be awarded 1st Growth status. We visit Haut-Brion’s sister chateau, La Mission. It is possible that due to building works, we will only visit La Mission and taste both wines here.

For lunch we continue to another of the stars of Pessac-Léognan, the delightful Domaine Chevalier, where owner Olivier Bernard or his assistant Remi Edange warmly welcome us.

We then continue to the Sauternes, where we complete our First Growth tour with the illustrious Château d’Yquem. No property in France dominates its appellation in the way that Yquem dominates Sauternes.

At 113 ha, Yquem is the biggest property in the A.O.C. Yquem is one of the most difficult wines on earth to make, yet the tradition of quality and selectivity is such here that it is one of the most consistent of all great wines. The hilltop dome on which Yquem sits is composed of sandy gravels over limey clays. We have the huge privilege to taste a vintage of their choice.

For dinner this evening we move on to St Julien where, at Ch. Leoville-Langoa Barton, we will be welcomed by a family member (the truly charming Anthony Barton or his daughter Lilian). Léoville and Langoa-Barton have been in the same family since 1821, thus pre-dating the 1855 classification of the Médoc.

This morning we head off for our final visit to Château Pichon Lalande, Deuxième Cru Pauillac. Since Mme de Lencquesaing took over the chateau in 1978, the reputation of Pichon-Lalande has soared into the top category of Second Growths and this continues under the recent ownership by Champagne Louis Roederer. The wines have always had great finesse and breed. The fact that part of the vineyard lies in St Julien helps to give the wine a special character, more opulent and feminine than a Pauillac but richer than a St Julien. The introduction of the Réserve de Comtesse has led to a more rigorous selection and a corresponding rise in quality. This is now one of the most prized wines in the Médoc after the firsts.

Our Wine Guide is James Lawther M.W., a respected wine correspondent who lives in Bordeaux he retailed wine at Steven Spurrier’s Caves de la Madeleine in Paris in the 1980s. James Lawther passed the MW examination in 1993 & is a contributing editor to Decanter as well.

As with every Reserve Collection tour we limit the party size. So call soon to reserve your place on this superb tour.