When I first dreamed of a post-tech-startup-global-travel-extravaganza, I envisioned a wine tour of the world. I wanted to visit the Old World and the New World, seeing as many wine regions in as many continents as possible and becoming an expert in my beverage of choice. While my travel visions expanded and diversified, wine remained a constant. When in France, I knew I had to drink lots of vin, and Bordeaux was a must-see destination.

Getting to Bordeaux & My Accommodations at Yndo Hotel

To get to Bordeaux from Antibes, I determined that flying would be the quickest and easiest option. The flight from Nice to Bordeaux was just over an hour and cost me $80 on Air France Hop (the regional arm of AF had originally been branded HOP!, which was a much more comical name, but I somehow felt like I was in better hands flying with the more conservatively branded Air France Hop). While I was forced to pay extra for my over-sized bag, (AF Hop didn’t give AF about my Delta Diamond status; thanks for nothing, SkyTeam) the rest of the flight experience was relatively lovely and efficient.

For my accommodations in Bordeaux, I chose the highly-rated boutique Yndo Hotel. Set in a converted mansion near the center of town, the hotel featured only 12 rooms and had incredible reviews for its hospitality. I had booked the entry-level room category for just $250/night, but was upgraded to the next category upon arrival. The proprietor was onsite for much of the time I was around, and the entire staff was absolutely wonderful. While the Intercontinental seemed to be getting a lot of attention online as the most popular luxury hotel in town, I was happy to be staying in a smaller, more personal property. My only regret was that I wasn’t staying for longer.

I’m afraid I don’t have much to say about my first night in Bordeaux. I walked around a bunch and affirmed what everyone in France had been telling me about the city: it was beautiful, manageable, and had a great lively Thursday afternoon vibe. Even though I was in Europe in July, I spotted very few American tourists, and most of the people that I did see appeared to be locals or visitors from other parts of France or Europe.

I eventually started chatting with the women sitting next to me, discovering that they were sisters from Australia (yay, Aussies!) One lived in Bordeaux, one lived in London, they had just met up for a long weekend together, and they were absolutely hilarious. They even invited me to meet them for dinner the following night, which I now regret turning down, but I had a big agenda for myself.

Wine Tasting in Bordeaux

Time for the main event already, right?! Despite my newfound appreciation for private wine tours after Montalcino, I opted to book a group tour through Bordovino that would allow me to see Saint-Émilion in the morning and Medoc in the afternoon. The itinerary was a bit rushed, but I only had one full day in the region and I wanted to see as much as possible.

Next we stopped at two wineries for tastings: Clos de Menuts and Chateau Haut-Boutisse. I won’t go into much detail about either winery because I honestly don’t remember much in terms of differentiating characteristics.

While we drove from the city to Saint-Émilion, and between our winery visits, our guide gave us a jam-packed lesson on Bordeaux wines. I was loving all the information, and did my best to absorb everything, but it was a lot of detailed facts. The French were incredibly specific with their wine rules and regulations – this was not Italy, nor was it the United States. The main takeaways that I am doing my best to remember from my Bordeaux visit:

• The region is divided into the Left Bank and Right Bank by the Gironde estuary, fed by the Garonne River
• The Left Bank includes the Médoc and Graves, both of which are then further sub-divided into smaller areas
• The Right Bank includes the Libournais, Bourg and Blaye, which are again sub-divided into additional areas (Saint-Émilion is part of the Libournais)
• Within Bordeaux, there are about 50 AOCs, which is kind of like the Italian DOC
• As is the French tradition, “Bordeaux” refers to the region where grapes were sourced, although there are also requirements on the types of grapes used. Bordeaux wines are essentially all blends, and mostly reds. Red Bordeaux blends can be a combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. White Bordeaux blends can be a combination of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle grapes.
• There are even more classifications, and each sub-region has its own rules, which I’m not even going to attempt to go into here. The final takeaway I’ll wrap this lesson up with is that if you really want to impress someone, or just ball out for fun, get one of the five Premiers Crus from the “1855 classification.” These include Chateau Haut-Brion, Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux and Chateau Mouton Rothschild.

Okay, lesson over. Time for a break.

One interesting aspect of the Bordovino tour was that it was designed with flexibility. I did the morning Saint-Émilion tour with one group, stopped back in Bordeaux for lunch, then ventured out to Mèdoc with another group. Most people had just booked a half-day tour, with the exception of myself and a sadly awkward Norwegian guy. Other people kept thinking that the two of us were together; I didn’t want to offend the guy (he was nice enough), but I also wanted to be sure that people were clear about the situation.

After a lackluster lunch, I headed out with my new group (same guide, same awkward Norwegian guy, four Japanese girls) for Mèdoc. Our guide (I sadly can’t remember his name – he was great) had warned me that I would have to take over guiding responsibilities for the second half of the tour so he could focus on driving. It was a complete joke, but I was ready to rise to the occasion. While Bordeaux was difficult because it had so many different regions and sub-regions and classifications and rules, it also made it easier in a way because everything was so cut-and-dry. You just had to memorize everything and you were golden.

At the first winery, we had to try a scent-pairing exercise where we matched a scent to its wine note. I was embarrassingly terrible, while the Japanese girls got a perfect score. Damn. I thought I had been teaching them about wine with my newfound knowledge about Bordeaux earlier.

Unsurprisingly, we did not get to taste at Chateau Margaux, as they are 100% not open to tour groups, and will only meet with industry folk upon appointment. I recalled the one time that I had drank Chateau Margaux – my dad had held on to a 1982 vintage (my birth year, which also happened to be a very good vintage) so we could enjoy together when I was of age. It’s too bad that my palette was more accustomed to Boone’s Farm and Red Bull & vodka at that stage in life.

Looking back at my pictures, I’m realizing now that each of the properties don’t seem all that different. They were pretty French chateaus with plenty of leafy greens and vineyards. The surrounding grounds were delightful, but they were pretty flat, which meant the scenery wasn’t as visually stunning as some of the wine regions I had visited in other places of the world (Mendoza, South Africa, Montalcino, for example). The wine was of course great, so I can’t complain there. I particularly enjoyed learning about the region – there’s so much history, and the French take it all so seriously.

I enjoyed Bordeaux, and I would love to go back to explore more of the area. For now, my quick visit would have to do. I needed to catch a 6:03am train (yikes) to Tours the next morning so I could pick up my rental car, drive to my chateau in the Loire Valley, and meet my guide for my next wine tour. Au revoir, Bordeaux.