Vin, wine and more Bordeaux

Bordeaux, France

Bordeaux is beautiful city and far more friendly that Paris. Apparently the two cities are enemies, and while the Parisians see the English as inferior, people from Bordeaux are proud of their English abilities. After finding the local tourist office, we signed up for a wine and cheese evening (winery tours were only run on a Wednesday or Friday). As you can imagine in a wine tasting class, you make some very good friends. Our group for the evening comprised three German law students, and a French-Canadian blogger, and the guide, who spoke English for the entirety (thankfully). We learnt a few things: Wine glasses are designed with a long stem keep your hands away to maintain the temperature and stop your hands from contaminating the scent of the wine. Also, the glass should only ever be a third full in order for the wine to breathe. Bordeaux wines are very strictly controlled by laws. You are not allowed to water the vines, a Bordeaux proper is certified by a laboratory to make sure it does not contain much sugar (which apparently hides the taste of a bad wine), the label is only allowed to contain a certain amount of information and depict your estate accurately (no making up a chateau if you don’t have one). You should always smell your wine twice: the ‘first nose’ (the first smell – straight after its poured into the glass) should be the same as, or not as nice as the ‘second nose’ (which is only taken after the wine has been well swirled around the glass). The difference is amazing. I didn’t believe all that posh nonsense about aerating wine until that demonstration. If the first nose is about the same as the second, the wine is finished maturing and is ready to drink, but if the first nose is better than the second, you should drink it without aerating. We picked out some cheese from the cellar to have with the wine, and taste the difference in the wine when eating. All in all a very good evening. On our final day, we wandered around the town centre and bought ourselves some gourmet chocolates to enjoy on the train the next day.