Château Haut-Brion in Pessac-Léognan

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Château Haut-Brion in Pessac-Léognan

Cellars in Bordeaux

Bordeaux ‘en Primeur’

8 - 12 June 2009

A rare opportunity to taste the latest Bordeaux vintage just as it is being released onto the market. This tour takes place shortly after the trade tastings where professionals and journalists will have judged the most recent vintage. This is your unique opportunity to taste the wines soon after they have been launched to the trade, ahead of other consumers and with the benefit of comments from the wine press already available.

However, unlike the wine trade tastings, this will not be a marathon tasting through the youngest clarets, there will be comparisons with older vintages, superb meals as guests of great chateaux and all important lessons in how to evaluate the wines at this stage in their development. We take each of the three most important Médoc communes a day at a time, which gives an in-depth insight into each.

We stay in the heart of the Médoc at a luxury private wine chateau in Margaux. Before dinner our wine guide hosts an illustrative comparative wine tasting before a gourmet meal at which we will taste a further selection of wines.

Our Margaux day, takes in the famous Château Palmer and prestigious First Growth Château Margaux. We plan to lunch at Château Rauzan-Gassies and dine at Château Lascombes. As distances between all these châteaux are short and on the flat, today we will be on foot.

The next day we enjoy a scenic drive up the ‘Route des Châteaux’ to St Estephe to Chateau Montrose and onto Pauillac, home to several Premier Cru chateaux where we lunch in the newly renovated . Lunch is included nearby at the superb bistro in the newly recreated village of Bages. Our afternoon rendez-vous is at no less than the great Château Lafite. This evening you can choose to treat yourself to a gastronomic experience at the Michelin double rosette Château Cordeillan-Bages or dine nearby in Margaux.

St Julien is our next destination with a morning visit to Château Gruard-Larose followed by lunch at Château Beychevelle, once home to the Admiral of the French fleet. There is time to relax this afternoon before our private invitation to dine as special guests at Château Léoville-Barton, Irish owned since 1821.

On our last morning we are kindly received as guests at Château Haut-Brion in Pessac-Léognan, the only First Growth outside the Médoc. Lunchtime is free to explore Bordeaux. Tour ends Bordeaux.

As Bordeaux is now easily reachable from around the country by regional flights, and indeed overland by car or TGV, we leave the choice of travel arrangements to you. So you could fly out, stay on for a few days (we will be happy to book you into a chateau hotel, or a chateau and spa even) or perhaps you might like to drive down via the Loire.