Friday to Monday, May 31 to June 2–Entre-Deux-Mers
We spent a few days in the Entre-Deux-Mers wine region, yet another part of the vast Bordeaux wine region. This is a much more low-key area than the more vaunted Medoc and St-Emilion areas. It is filled with bastide towns and miles of vineyards, dotted with winery chateaus.
We stayed just outside the little town of Creon at an old chateau in pretty grounds. We pulled into our chateau hotel grounds, and then began a strange little saga. Though we had a confirmed reservation (fortunately, I had printed it off and had it in my hand), it took us the better part of an hour to find a human. And it was clear that the place was not open for the season yet. When the owner read my confirmation, which he had sent me, he agreed to let us stay. Our modest room in the annex was not ready for guests (nor were most rooms), so he said he would put us in a room in the chateau—“two upgrades” he assured me. So we found ourselves in a very unusual situation of having this place essentially to ourselves (plus a rather cantankerous owner). Strange indeed. It worked, but it was actually a rather stressful stay. A beautiful property, but at a bit of a price.
One of the highlights of our time in the Entre-Deux-Mers was a visit to La Sauve-Majeure, an old Romanesque abbey. It was built in the 11th to 13th centuries and is famed for its carved capitals relating stories from the Bible.
Entre-Deux-Mers, which means “between two seas,” in this case refers to the land area flanked on one side by the Dordogne River and on another by the Garonne River. We saw lots of vineyards and vineyard chateaus. We weren’t doing any tasting (except with our dinners), but enjoyed getting a feel for the setting.
Monday to Thursday, June 3 to 6–Sauternes, Graves, and Pessac-Leognan
We next headed for a brief stay in the Sauternes region. Again, our focus wasn’t tasting but seeing the region.
Right off the bat, we bumped into Chateau d’Yquem, the premier Sauternes winery. Pretty place.
We stayed at a pretty little chateau that overlooks the town of Sauternes. A very nice stay.
Our first night, which was when we were having temperatures in the 90’s, we had dinner at a farmhouse B&B. We were right on the edge of the vineyard and had chickens crowing periodically. The husband was our chef (and sometime server), and the wife was our primary server. Such a pretty evening. It was so idyllic we felt like we needed to pinch ourselves.
On Tuesday, we drove through the Pessac-Leognan area and on to the Graves region—both favorite wines. We stopped at the Maison du Vins for Graves. We have found these helpful places all over Bordeaux. They are supported by the local producers. You can get information, shop for wine, and get free tastings.
On Wednesday, we focused more on Sauternes. It was raining really hard, so we truncated some of our planned route. No reason not to visit the Maison du Vin for Sauternes, though.
Our time in Bordeaux and the Dordogne has come to an end. We’ve revisited some places we’ve been before, and we’ve seen many new places. We’ve seen lots of history and beautiful countryside. We’ve had hot, sunny days and days of pouring rain. All in all, it has been quite a wonderful trip. And we got to share a bunch of it with our special companions, Jill and Randy. What a time we’ve had! A bientot (until later), France.
I hope that you are already planning to have summer breakfasts on your patio to bring back memories of the beautiful terrace setting at Chateau Camiac.
Have a smooth and uneventful flight home.