Day 10

10 October 2022

A slow start as our first appointment is at 10am. Another great breakfast courtesy of Estelle who has given us homemade yoghurt each day and this morning some stewed apples, plus all the usual cheese, ham, bread, croissant and the home made lemon cake as well.

The first winery today is in Pomeral, about a 10 minute drive away, provided you don’t miss any turnings, so we took about 20 minutes but arrived on time. The winery was called Chateau Bonalgue, one of 4 owned by the owners in the area and all making different wines although it is the same wine maker and production team. It is simply the different soils that produce different wines. They are about 80% Merlot and 20% Cabinet Franc, which is a pretty standard split around here.

They are also bio-dynamic and organic, although our tour guide was also a bit sceptical about the use of the phases of the moon in the production and vineyard processes. She was very informative, and took us through the vineyard, production areas, storage areas and finally a tasting of 3 wines from 4 of the properties. We liked the one from the winery we were at the best.

The tours are great, and very personal. There was just Kirsty and I, at it took about 1 hour, so you get a lot out of it. I think it was 20 Euros, irrespective of whether you buy a bottle or not.

We had only planned 2 visits today, given how long each takes, and once you know the processes it is a bit tedious each time they run through the whole blurb. So, we set off instead on a driving adventure, not a fixed route, just a general idea of doing a very large circle with Saint-Emilion as the epicentre.

It was great fun, and just about wherever you look there are vines. Even in the small amount of time we have been here the autumn colours have come out.

Back in Saint-Emilion we searched out the post office for a couple of post cards to the Grandies, and had simple lunch of Panini and a Sandwich (ham and cheese baguette, of course). We have eaten sooooo much, you just can’t put the bread down.

A bit of drizzle today, but nothing you needed an umbrella for. Our next appointment was at 4pm at Chateau Guadet, in the heart of Saint-Emilion. It is a Grand Cru Classe winery. It is on the main street, if you could call it that, being Rue Guadet. So, there is a lot of history to the place. You access the winery through the owner’s home and out the back is the winery and below are the extensive cellars.

Our host, the owner, Guy Petrus Lignac was delightful and cheeky. The part of his name “Petrus” is a direct link to the wine “Petrus”, which the cheapest bottle you can buy is about 2,000.00 Euro. His cousins, I think, ended up with the Petrus vineyard in Pomeral, and his side of the family with Saint-Emilion. Anyway, he has strong connections to the whole wine making area.

There were 8 of us on this tour, and the cellars were amazing, running under his house and who knows where under Saint-Emilion. We tasted 2 wines, one from 2011 and one from 2014, and the 2011 won easily. So, more bottles to our little collection.

So, our last night in Saint-Emilion. We have loved our time here and learnt so much not just about the wines, but the general history of the place. Not too sad to leave, as we have done well and done the town justice. We have certainly walked every inch of the place!!

Tomorrow, I have mapped out a route to Kerry and KT’s that avoids anything other than D roads, that is, no express ways, tollways and freeways. The usual 3 hour trip may take about 5-6 hours, time will tell. It will test the navigator’s skills and the patience of the driver, but life should be an adventure.