Worshipping at the temple of Bacchus

There are many regions in the world in which to do wine tours but.......there is only one Bordeaux!  We had an early morning tour and tasting booked at Chateau Mouton Rothschild and had to hit the road early, without catching a coffee or something to eat.  So our first caloric intake today just happened to be a barrel taste of the yet to be bottled 2014 Chateau Mouton Rothschild.  I have had worse breakfasts!

We have hit pay dirt on this trip.  We are in arguably the most important wine region in the world in the middle of the vendange.  Great good fortune.  At Mouton Rothschild we were able to experience the entire process, from the pickers in the field, to the first pressing being carefully placed into primary fermentation barrels less than two hours after the grapes were cut from the vines.  After a few centuries of doing this, they seem to have it down to a science.  Wine is everywhere.  Roadside signs warn that the vendangeurs (pickers) are near at hand and to drive carefully.  Restaurants are alive with discussions of the current crop (thought to be very good) and wine tractors line the tiny country roads, hauling fresh picked grapes to be pressed.  Visitors in the yards of wineries seem almost invisible to the workers, as each fresh load of grapes is whisked through the the process and into a fermentation vat.

D2 is the tiny wine highway which winds its way from Bordeaux through Sainte-Estephe, Paulliac, St-Julien Beychevelle, Medoc and Margaux.  Many of the storied wine chateaux are on, or just off, this road and they are magnificent to behold.  We took in as many as we could but finally had to return to our new digs outside Bordeaux in an area sadly surrounded by fields of corn rather than grapes.  When we first arrived, "our" chateau seem quite imposing however after visiting the "real deal" all day, it is a rather humble abode albeit very comfortable with a great view over the Garrone River into the city of Bordeaux.

The pics are: 1- At Mouton Rothschild the grapes are lifted to the top floor for processing, so that no pumps will be needed at any point in the process........I guess wine flows downhill. 2 - less than 2 hours after being picked, a batch of crushed grapes is loaded into the top of the first fermentation barrel. 3- this is the fermentation barrel room.  The grapes have been loaded from the floor above. 4- a close up of one barrel.  Mouton Rothschild has developed a barrel with two transparent plastic staves so you can see the crushed grapes in the barrel.  Fermentation is just starting. 5- At Chateau Lynch-Bages at traditional method is used to load grapes into the crusher.  They will have to be pumped up into the fermentation barrels.  6- Pichon Longeuville is just one of the many imposing chateaux along D2.  7- the sun was rising behind Chateau Palmer as we drove out this morning.  7- Chateau Fraser is surrounded by corn fields.  Corn wine is likely not to catch on!