On Foot in Bordeaux

Sunday morning, while Vicki rested her sore

knee, I undertook a brief walking tour of old

Bordeaux, the St. Pierre district; above, the

huge Monument to the Girondins in the

Esplanade

Part of the fountains

Part of the antiques market in the Esplanade; it really is a big

park

The Maison du Vin

The Grand Theater, with the 12 muses across the front (12?

I thought there were only 7; maybe that's why my aesthetics

are not so so well rounded)

Another huge and beautiful square I could only get a piece of

in the lens; the Place des Douanes, with the national customs

(as in duties, taxes, etc.) museum

Looking back northeast along boulevard of quays

Esplanade de Quinconces By Night

The Esplanade's twin towers, "commerce"

and "navigation," which pretty well sum

up Bordeaux's history

The arc of the Garonne (later, the Gironde estuary), with

Bordeaux on both sides, for miles

Looking back from the Footpath, to the two

towers and the Monument to the Girondins

in the distance

Navigation, pointing the way

Our stroll took us back to the Esplanade and down to the river Garonne and views from designer Tadashi Kawamata's "Footpath" bridge out over the river.

Christmas Market in Bordeaux

It was dark when I got back from the wine tour, but Vicki
wanted to stroll about the old town, especially the marche de
noel

There were shops of every description, every nationality

The customary French double-decker, very popular

I told her he was roasting snails, and she bought it!

Shopping district, all Christmas bedecked

What the Mouse has to do with Xmas I do not know (maybe

the rampant commercialism?); but, hey, these people think

Jerry Lewis was brilliant...

Chateau Kirwan, Margaux

Typical Medoc vineyard; the soil is extremely rocky and chalky

...almost looks like snow in places; "to make great wine, the vine

must suffer"

St. Julien country

Chateau Bycheville, "the Versailles of the Medoc"; actually,

the guide said most of the great chateaux now are owned

by banks and insurance companies, uninhabited and unvisited;

I was disappointed with the Medoc, scenically, no comparison

with Burgundy; except for the boarded-up chateaux, it was

mostly pastoral squalor; maybe it's just the season....

Chateau Kirwan

The Schiffer family still live there, the guide said, although

they did not personally welcome us, as the Reverdis did

Kirwan cellar; actually, there are few actual cellars in the

region...high water table

Sitting area outside the cellar; nice place to sit and watch

over your investments

Margaux chateaux; Kirwan is on the left, second or third down

Actually, I was surprised at how generous the servings were;

she gave me three; maybe it was my excellent "Merci! Sil

vous plait! Bonjour"; Kirwan is a far older grand cru; I forgot

what we tasted, a 2004 maybe, but I do remember the price,

49 euros; lots of tannin; I preferred the mellower Reverdi

Chateau Reverdi, Listroc-Medoc

I have always been reasonably confidant that Bordeaux wines

come from Bordeaux (see earlier post), and so, while I was
touring Hennessey's, Vicki booked me onto a Medoc tour
Saturday afternoon. We drove into Bordeaux, a big beautiful
city, and as is our habit, right into the center, and parked
innocently at the disused tour bus section of the Esplanade
de Quinconces, Europe's largest city square (they say) and
huge park and market. The Office of Tourism said the police
are generally very tolerant of camping cars, especially
tourists, and we probably could even spend the night, which
we eventually did. I boarded the tour bus after lunch, and,
with a very mixed crew of French, Italian, Spanish, Brits,
several Americanskis, set forth to the Mecca of wine (they
say). Apart from scenic driving, narrated in French and then

English, we stopped for long tours and tastings at two

chateaux, Reverdi, a new, family operation that has been

winning awards (cru bourgois), and Kirwan, which is an

old grand cru. Above is Chateau Reverdi's fermentation

hall.

Big modern vats

Bottled inventory

Vat interior view; this is the last thing the

grape sees before the lights go out

About 80% of the grapes are machine-picked

these days, but still have to be separated from

leaves, stems, etc.

Grape crushing machine; they do not do it the old-fashioned

way anymore

Over in the cellar/tasting area, the tables are set

2009, aging; they are using American oak in the barrels,

adding complexity and spice (they said); damn, I was proud;

but then, all the wine root-stock in France is American,

but that's another phylloxatic story

We tasted a 2006 and a 2004; I bought the 

now-drinkable 2004 (alas, the Grey

Wanderer does not have a wine safe or cellar)

But the 2006 wasn't bad

Grande Dolmen

On the way south from Cognac, next day, near the river Ny,

out in the vineyards, we ran into a colossal dolmen, completely
unidentified, but huge limestone

Really huge

Lots of modern carving on this fallen stone, but nothing to

reveal its name

Tour of Hennessey's

The tour begins with a ride across the Charente in this boat

--just a bit of French flourish that a bridge could not provide;

incidentally, I was joined on the tour by two others, both

French, but they graciously consented for the tour to be

entirely in English, for my benefit

But, before the tour, at Vicki's suggestion, urging even, I

tasted the "Paradis" blend, the best normal people can buy,

$700 a 70cl bottle; well, the tasting was only 19 euros; and

worth it! Hey, you have to establish standards...

Stills, where grapes go in and eau-de-vie comes out

Barrels of fun; cognac, like scotch, is largely about the wood

and the aging; and blending...unlike single malt scotch

In the "paradis" section of the warehouses, whey they keep

the treasures, going back to 1830; 1947 was a good year for

many reasons, and several barrels remain

Row after row of barrels, dozens of warehouses; Hennessey's

does about 41% of the market; the scent is, um, intoxicating

So, there we were, parked on a quiet street right outside the

door to Hennessey world headquarters, on the Charente,

swans ambling by; we decided to have dinner and then spend

the night

Vicki's delicious galette complet and Normandie cidre; I

already had had my quota of cognac

End of a pretty good day

Museum of the Arts of Cognac

While I awaited my Hennessey's tour and tasting, I visited the Museum of the 
Arts of Cognac (the beverage, man), which is a superb collection of historic 
artifacts, high-tech,and high-touch displays, art, and marketing history

Ancient press

Some wonderful cognac-related paintings

Pleasant surroundings for high-tech presentations

And some savvy displays about how the stuff has been 
marketed over the years