Day 12: Bordeaux

The city of Bordeaux is a big old French city on the Dordogne River, but most people think of Bordeaux as wine country, and it is. We headed to St. Emilion in the heart of the Bordeaux region to check things out.

St. Emilion is a lovely little medieval city with narrow cobblestone streets and lots of wine shops. There are about 15,000 acres of grapevines around St. Emilion, all owned by some 500 grape and/or wine producers. Some of the hills are known to have been producing grapes as far back as the 3rd century BC. The soil in Bordeaux is apparently a magic combination of clay and limestone, and the sun in the area completes the formula for great wines. Most of the grapes are Merlot, with some Sauvignon Cabernet and some Sauvignon Franc. The final wines are a mixture of these grapes.

The wine cellars are actually carved into the limestone rock underlying the vineyards. Wines are fermented and stored in oak barrels for about 2 years, then mixed and bottled and stored for a varying length of time.

And just like me, this wine gets better with age!