Wine Tasting Marathon Continues: Bordeaux, France

The month of September has turned into a wine tasting marathon.  Two weeks after just having visited Napa Valley, work took me to Bordeaux, France -- the wine capital of the world.  The team from work was in the Bordeaux area for the opening of a new site in Martillac, which is just outside of Bordeaux.  I envy my French colleagues who get to work at this new site, which is literally next door amidst some of the world's finest vineyards.   However, on this business trip more so than others, it was mostly all work and little play.  We were stuck in meetings everyday, all week, inside the hotel.  As we were staying outside of the city, I didn't really get a chance to fully see and experience Bordeaux.

Although it was mostly all business on this trip, the company did arrange to have a wine tasting for us as a team event.  The biggest difference that I found between wine tasting in Napa versus Bordeaux is that I found Napa to be a bit more commercialized compared to Bordeaux.  I recall having seen limo's driving along the main road running through Napa and the wine clubs in Napa try to offer more bells and whistles to lure you to their wineries.  Things just seemed a lot simpler in Bordeaux -- there just seemed to be less pomp & circumstance and a simpler focus on the wine itself.  It's always so cool to see the wooden barrels and tanks that get filled with wine...

Although we were stuck in the hotel for most of the week, the food we got was actually quite good.  However, there was a lot of raw food, such as beef carpaccio, smoke salmon, smoked duck, etc.  I would have taken more pictures of the food, but since I was surrounded by colleagues and senior leadership, I didn't feel quite comfortable taking out my camera at the dinner table as often as I normally would.  Though, somehow I did manage to snap several photos of a lot of tasty desserts that were served.  This was definitely one of the better dessert trips I've taken...

And, of course, I will never forget the strategizing that I had to do to make sure I brought home bottles of Bordeaux wine as souvenirs.  First obstacle was figuring out what to buy.  Thank goodness I had a colleague with a car and we managed to find a local wine shop where we could ask the owner for some recommendations, though she knew little English.  Second obstacle was how to pack 6 bottles of wine.  I ended up "stealing" all the towels in my room to wrap my bottles.  Third, I had to sweat it through the weight issue, as my luggage was super heavy.  Thank goodness for the extra weight allowance flying on business class.  But, every taxi driver made a comment at how heavy my luggage was.  You can't imagine how relieved I was when I got home and the first thing I did was unwrap each bottle from my luggage with bated breath.  I'm happy to report that all 6 bottles made it home safely...

 

I will definitely have to return to Bordeaux someday to fully experience the city itself.  If you've been following my blog, you'd recall that Zurich has been my favorite European city.  Based on what I did see of Bordeaux, I'd have to say Bordeaux would be my second, and that's only getting a very small taste of the city.  While it's not a large metropolis like Zurich, it still offers a lot of city life, European history, but with a contemporary and clean feel to it.  I only wish I had thought to extend my stay into the weekend had I known.  At least my souvenirs made it home safely to add to my collection of souvenirs...