Bordeaux - Chateaux Meyre barrels
Chateau Suduiraut
Château Beychevelle
Château Franc-Mayne
Château Latour in the Autumn
Bordeaux Vineyard Walk
10 - 16 September 2012
Walk with us through the greatest vineyards in the world just as the exciting preparations for the harvest are underway. Our unique Bordeaux vineyard walk (which we first offered over 12 years ago) gives you a rare insight behind the scenes and deep into the countryside of this stellar wine region rarely seen by those rushing by with their cameras in coaches and cars! You’ll stay throughout the trip in great comfort, at fully working winery chateaux (not just chateaux-hotels) in Sauternes, St Emilion and Margaux – adding further to the special experience of this walk which has been totally created, designed and walked out personally for you by the A&C team.
Walking through the heart of the vineyards, we see the differences in ‘terroir’ between the communes, the varied viticultural practices and the visual differences between the grape varieties used in the Bordeaux blends. This is a unique way to discover this classic wine area; which is often pre-conceived by many to be flat and dull. However, much of the countryside that we will walk through is surprisingly untouched and rural in a way that you don’t expect to find just beyond the manicured vineyards of the illustrious chateaux. You’ll walk through the rolling countryside of the Entre-Deux-Mers and the “right bank” around St. Emilion, the Fronsacs, and the Côtes de Bourg and Blaye. The Medoc is indeed flat, it is of course a great alluvial plain, but there is the compensation that this low-lying land is lined with the magnificent architecture and the romance of world famous chateaux.
Our first base is a very charming wine chateau sitting on a gentle hill immediately above the surprisingly low-key hamlet of Sauternes. Sitting in a small hollow, the village still has a washhouse on the stream that runs through it next to the ancient church. Other than that it is comprised of little more than a cluster of houses and a few simple auberges that are often shut!
We’ll meet you in the morning at Bordeaux airport and from here start with a chateau visit in the Graves and a light lunch. We’ll then drive on to begin our Bordeaux vineyard walking on our first afternoon starting in the Premières Côtes de Bordeaux, which has views to the south of the Garonne river and in the region that it encircles, Loupiac. Here, we’ll taste wonderful sweet wines at Château Loupiac-Gaudiet, where the wines are matured in bottle for at least two years before being released. The chateau is situated amongst its vineyards on clay-limestone hills with some 40-year-old vines. If the harvest has not yet begun and the conditions are right, we may well see first hand the development of Botrytis cinerea on the grapes. This evening we’ll have dinner together at our private wine chateau, tasting their Grand Cru Classé Sauternes, red Graves and Bordeaux Blanc wines over supper.
Next day we explore the twin appellations of Sauternes and Barsac on the left bank of the Garonne. We start our walk from Barsac, the oldest wine village in the region, with Roman remains. It is here and in the neighbouring appellation of Sauternes that the secret of the sweet wines of Bordeaux unfurls each autumn, due to its special micro-climate – the cold morning mists lying over the vineyards that encourage the growth of the fungus Botrytis causing ‘noble rot’ in the grapes, turning their juices into concentrated syrup. Our first visit today is to an outperforming estate in Barsac.
We continue our walk, crossing the Ciron River into Sauternes – which of course is known for producing the world’s most iconic sweet wine. After a rustic picnic lunch in a vineyard, we stop for a tasting at Château Suduiraut, 1er Cru Classé. This beautiful chateau adjoins the illustrious Château d’Yquem vineyards and has performed extremely well in recent vintages. The gardens here were designed by Le Nôtre who also designed the gardens at Versailles and have recently been replanted according to the original designs. Our walk today will also take us through the vineyards of the great Château d’Yquem and finally back to our beautiful chateau accommodation.
Next day, we check out and our mini coach will then take us to the Entre-Deux-Mers region. We will walk in the rolling valleys around the historic town of Rauzan, home to a beautiful 12th century castle, the Château de Duras and to one of the largest wine co-operatives in Europe. We will visit our selection of top performing chateau for a tasting.
We’ll cross the river past Castillon-La-Bataille, (the site of the fateful battle where the English lost the Bordeaux region to the French, in 1453). Formerly a fortified town with a large fortress, today only a few remains of the town walls can be seen near the Porte de Fer, on the south side by the river. We lunch at a picnic spot on the banks of the River Dordogne. One of the prettiest but longest sections of the walk then takes us past the imposing Château Laroque, which was the German headquarters during the occupation. We hope to visit Château Troplong-Mondot, St Emilion 1er Grand Cru classé B, one of the largest chateaux in the Saint Emilion appellation, before we climb up to the St Emilion plateau where we’ll be rewarded with superb views of the surrounding area.
From this visit it is only a short stroll into the walled town of St. Emilion and then down to our chateau base, which is a respected St Emilion Grand Cru Classé. This will be our base for the next two nights. St Emilion is a very picturesque medieval hilltop town, which is a maze of steep cobbled streets and ancient buildings, undoubtedly the loveliest town in the region. The two dominant monuments are the hilltop spire and the keep, both commanding good views over the rooftops. Probably the most famous curiosity in St Emilion is the Monolithic church, which is the largest underground church in Europe and was hewn out of a solid limestone cliff between the 8th and 12th century. Apart form the numerous wine shops in the village (where you can often taste some wines too) you must try the other local speciality, macaroons. We’ll dine this evening at our chateau to taste their wines and those of their two partner chateaux.
From our private chateau base in St. Emilion we are able to cover the area of great vineyards between the town and Pomerol, a relatively small appellation with world-famous red wines. Compared with other Bordeaux wines, Pomerols are more intense, richer and charming owing to the complexity of the soils. There is no classification here, but Château Pétrus is universally recognised as “hors classe”, and subsequently one of the most expensive wines in the world. We walk past this iconic château this morning before visiting Château Bon Pasteur or one of their other excellent neighbours.
This afternoon our walk takes us north into the St Emilion “satellites” including Montagne-de-St. Emilion with its delightfully untouched countryside. We’ll stop for lunch at a favourite café of ours perched on the hilltop, where we’ll tuck into a “plat du jour”. We continue our walk to St Georges-de-St Emilion culminating in a visit and tasting at Château St. Georges, probably one of the most beautiful châteaux outside the Médoc, owned by M Pétrus Desbois. The evening is free in St. Emilion for you to make your own choice of restaurant or to order a platter of cheese or charcuterie at our chateau accommodation.
Next morning we check out and our mini-coach will take us to the start of the next walk. Here we start in the heart of the vineyards in another wonderfully rural and relatively unexplored area of countryside, the Côtes de Bourg and the Premières Côtes de Blaye. The town of Bourg is set on the northern bank of the Dordogne River, just before it joins the Garonne to form the Gironde Estuary. Most of the wines from the Côtes de Bourg and the Premières Côtes de Blaye are red, and very agreeable. Our visit this morning is likely to be at Château Falfas, in the appellation of Bourg, which was acquired by its present owners; John Cochran and his French wife, Monique in 1988. Falfas is one of the few truly organic producers in the region. There will be free time to explore the riverside town of Blaye at lunchtime, before crossing the Gironde on the ferry to the Médoc. The Médoc lies to the northwest of Bordeaux and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gironde. The area is divided into two major appellations – the Bas-Médoc and the Haut-Médoc. The latter is located in the south and contains the highly rated appellations of St. Estèphe, Pauillac, St. Julien-Beychevelle, Margaux, Listrac and Moulis-en-Médoc.
This afternoon we’ll stroll in the vineyards of Margaux, walking past many of the great names – the illustrious Château Margaux itself with its elegant plane-tree lined avenue, and classic architecture. We’ll also see Châteaux Palmer, Malescot-St-Exupery, Rauzan Ségla and Kirwan.
We check in this afternoon to our next beautiful wine chateau accommodation in the illustrious commune of Margaux. This pretty wine hamlet has several restaurants (in addition to some of the world’s most famous chateaux scattered liberally around!). Dinner tonight will be at Château Lascombes. The chateau has 84 acres of vineyards in Margaux and under the new management and investment that it saw in 2001, there are great plans to re-establish Lascombes as one of the leading châteaux of its rank, by concentrating on the vineyards’ geology; planting Merlot in more suitable sites; increasing the planting densities and reducing yields.
Our walking next day will start in St Estèphe, from here we’ll continue past the oriental turrets of Château Cos d’Estournel, before continuing towards Pauillac with a brief look at the gardens of Château Lafite-Rothschild en route. Our walk then takes us through the park of Château Mouton-Rothschild and near the famous tower of Château Latour. Overlooking the Gironde estuary, we will walk between the two Pichon Longuevilles; Château Comtesse de Lalande first and then to Château Pichon-Longueville Baron, with its fairy tale features and mirror lake where we will be invited to lunch. From here we cross into St. Julien, passing the dominant wall surrounding the Clos of Leoville-Las-Cases. Our walk finishes in the lovely gardens of Château Beychevelle, stretching down to the River where we’ll hear the story of how the chateau is reputed to have got its name and of course taste the wines.
On the final morning our guide will take us through the parts of Margaux that we haven’t yet explored and we will enjoy a light lunch together to end the tour. We will then return to Bordeaux and you can either be dropped off in time for the evening flight, or we’ll take you into Bordeaux so that you can stay on for a few days if you wish to explore this wonderful city.
10 - 16 September 2012
£2,350.00 
per person
Places available.Price includes:
- Six nights in private wine chateaux, all either very good 3* or 4* equivalent, though not officially rated.
- Continental breakfasts (coffee, tea, croissants, baguettes, jams, juice (ie. not cooked breakfast).
- Three dinners with wines, all at wine chateaux.
- Six lunches which include picnics or light lunches.
- At wineries, wines are offered at the winery’s discretion. Picnics and dinners which are not at wine chateaux include Cru Bourgeois level wines (a couple of glasses at lunch time and half a bottle per person at dinner).
- Wine visits and tastings as per the itinerary.
- Local simple mini-bus for pick ups and drop offs during the daytime.
- An A&C Walk Manager, who has a good knowledge of the wines, route and area.
The maximum walk group size will be just 14 participants. There are just two places available for sole occupancy at the price shown, as the chateaux we are staying at are small. Once these are taken, the per person price for sole occupancy will increase dramatically – so early booking is strongly recommended.
Travel: Meet at Bordeaux airportSole Occupancy: £500.00
Deposit: £350.00
Room Upgrade: N/A
Bordeaux Vineyard Walk
Outline Itinerary
Day 1. Meet the BA2786 flight at 10:20 (Current timings as of October 2011, please check when you book for the latest flight times) and transfer to the Graves for a chateau visit and tasting, then a light lunch. Continue to the Premières Côtes de Bordeaux for our first walking with a visit and tasting. Dinner at our chateau hotel. Overnight at private chateau, 3* equivalent, Sauternes.
Day 2. Walk Barsac to Sauternes with a chateau visit and tasting. Picnic lunch in the vineyards. Visit a Sauternes chateau. Continue walking to Sauternes village and directly back to our hotel. Free evening. Overnight at private chateau, 3* equivalent, Sauternes.
Day 3. Walk in Entre-deux-Mers. Picnic lunch. Walk Castillon-la-Bataille commune, visit wine chateau. Walk to St Emilion. Free time in St Emilion for dinner. Overnight chateau hotel, 4* equivalent, St Emilion.
Day 4. Walk in Pomerol, visit and tasting in Pomerol. Walk past Château Petrus. Plat du jour lunch at an attractive café. Visit & tasting. Walk back to St Emilion and free time for dinner. Overnight chateau hotel, 4* equivalent, St Emilion.
Day 5. Walk Côtes de Bourg to Blaye, wine visit and tasting. Free time in Blaye. Ferry to Left Bank – Lamarque. Transfer near to Margaux for further walking. Visit & tasting. Dinner at a Margaux chateau. Overnight private chateau, Margaux.
Day 6. Walk Saint-Estèphe and Pauillac, past châteaux Cos d’Estournel and Lafite-Rothschild. Chateau Visit & tasting. Lunch in a wine chateau. Walk from Pauillac. Visit & tasting in St Julien. Free evening, so you can either dine in one of the nearby restaurants or treat yourself to a Michelin Two Star feast at the Château Cordeillan-Bages.
Day 7. Walk in Margaux. Light lunch. Transfer to Bordeaux airport in time for evening flight BA2789, departing at 20:00, arriving at Gatwick at 20:30 (as of October 2011).
This is the planned itinerary for the walk, the chateaux are currently being contacted to confirm the visits, although these are all chateaux that we have previously visited. Therefore we have a reasonable expectation of our request being viewed favourably.
Chateaux accommodation:
These are small private chateaux and have a limited number of rooms. If you are travelling alone it is essential that you book early as there are only a maximum of two places that can be allocated to sole occupancy. Once these two places have been allocated there will be a very significant increase in the sole occupancy supplement to cover all the associated costs.
Chateau in Sauternes, 3* equivalent: This Charming wine château originally dates from the 17th Century. It now has just 9 rooms. It is in an extremely peaceful & attractive location in the middle of its own Sauternes vineyards and will be for our exclusive use.
Chateau hotel, 4* equivalent: It has recently been refurbished and is now not only a Grand Cru Classé but is also a ‘Relais’ with a handful of luxurious bedrooms, a private dining room, billiard room and lovely garden and outdoor freshwater pool. The château has superb chalk-pit cellars and the views across the vineyards are superb.
Private Chateau Margaux, 4* equivalent: This lavishly furnished château offers 9 rooms of differing sizes and decor in a beautiful setting overlooking the vineyards of Château Margaux. The rooms are elaborately furnished in different themes and the château also has a private dining room, lounge areas and an outdoor pool.
Travel Details:
We will meet the party at Bordeaux airport from the BA2786 (currently departs Gatwick at 07:40, lands in Bordeaux at 10:20) and also arrange one pick up in Bordeaux town after this. On the last day, we will drop you off at Bordeaux airport for the BA2789 morning flight departing at 20:00 arriving at 20:30. Times are correct as of October 2011, but are subject to schedule changes by the airline.
Getting to Bordeaux by plane: There are a number of different operators who now fly direct to Bordeaux. At the time of writing (October 2011) these are: British Airways, Easyjet, BMI and Flybe.
If you would like us to quote for your British Airways flight tickets please do not hesitate to contact us. The full price of the ticket as advertised on the website is charged, plus a £30 administration fee. Flights are payable in full at the time of booking and, in line with airline regulations, would be non-changeable and non-refundable. We cannot book low cost operators for you – it is best in any case to do this yourself direct on the web – just be aware that routes can and do get dropped by the less reliable and cheapest carriers.
Getting to Bordeaux by Train: There is an excellent train service from Paris, so you could get the Eurostar to Paris and TGV to Bordeaux. Look up www.raileurope.co.uk or call us and we will be pleased to book the train for you (administration fee at £30 per booking as above). Trains can only be booked within 4 months of the departure date.
Getting to Bordeaux by Car: You can also enjoy a leisurely drive out to the region – ideal if you want to stock up on wine! You can meander down via the Loire or stop off in Cognac, for example. You will be able to leave your car at the first chateau (on the very quiet country track outside the chateau – so not a locked car park) and we suggest that the drivers are dropped off at Bordeaux airport on the last morning back and catch a taxi from here.
Wine Notes...
Click here to read wine notes by Tim Clarke and Andrew Williams on wine regions visited.
