You've heard of the 100 mile diet......how about the 100 meter diet

OK OK possibly a bit of poetic license with the heading however, at dinner last night, Christine, our hostess, started off our dinner with a choice of one of 6 aperitifs, all produced by her neighbours.  These included a cognac, two flavoured vodkas, pineau (a new favourite of mine and only found around Cognac - it is Cognac, cut with lightly fermented grape juice just before bottling), fresh grape juice and something else????  For the rest of the meal, Christine described which neighbour provided the products and whose grandmother developed each recipe, all local.  The piece-de-resistance was the after dinner Cognac, produced by yet another neighbour, aged in much more heavily charred barrels and, barrelled for much longer that the commercial producers.  Wow.  Only way to describe it!

We set out in yet more rain this morning, after learning that yesterday's storm had in fact included local tornados that had ripped off roofs and caused more deaths in the region.  Sometimes it is good not being continually plugged in to what is going on around you.  We made our way to Sauternes just in time for the rain to stop (more and less) and to find a lunch spot in the village recommended by Jonathan and Meghann from their trip a few years ago.  Tres Bon!

Our much anticipated tour and tasting at Chateau D'Yquem was booked for 3:30 and, we did not want to be late.  The facts and figures rattled off during the tour border on the unbelievable!  Each grape is picked individually with up to 11 passes made through the vines by the pickers, to get each grape at its best.........meaning with the right level of botrytis (noble rot) on each grape.  On average, each vine will produce one glass of finished wine!  There are many steps along the way where large percentages of the grapes and/or intermediate products will be rejected, to the point where on many years Chateau D'Yquem will not produce any wine.  No wonder the damn stuff is so expensive.  We tasted a bottle of 2005, of which we could have purchased a full bottle at the winery for a mere 650€.  Oops....forgot to!

From the winery, we set out to find our new lodging for the next 4 nights, on the other side of the city of Bordeaux..................right at rush hour!  I am now ranking Bordeaux as right between Toronto and LA for traffic.  We took over 2 hours to travel 11 kilometres...................wish we had purchased that D'Yquem!!!  At least the new place is great and located in a pastoral setting right on the bank of the Garonne River.  I sure that I will be less PO'ed from the traffic by the morning ;-)

The pics are: Christine proudly displaying her neighbours' handiwork at the making of aperitifs; a selection of Sauternes at our lunch spot in Sauternes (odd huh?); the grand entrance to Chateau D'Yquem; the chateau itself; only 2 grapes in this bunch are ready to pick........remember these are white grapes; this bunch could all be picked at once........this is a perfect bunch; what is left of a bottle of 2005..........could not get it into our pockets; a tour of "Deux Chevaux" was roaming around the vineyards.  These can be rented by groups for a wine tour and are followed by their own tow truck........I am seeing a future party here!