If you know anything about me, you know I love wine. Even more than wine, I love to travel. Put the two together and you get, well, the perfect trip.
I had just come back from a trip with my husband eating our way around Paris + Italy and was recounting it in great detail to anyone who would listen at a family event we flew back early for. My dear friend texted me a few days later and said “Should we go to Paris?”. The answer was really truly obvious to me and that was the start of planning our trip to Paris + Bordeaux.
My friend, a fellow wine enthusiast, laid back traveler and overall lover of all things delicious and beautiful literally didn’t have to ask me twice. This type of travel companion though, is few and far between and you really have to know you’re going to travel well with a friend to make this commitment. We both agree. And it was absolutely perfect.
We booked our flights and we were off to planning.
How We Planned
I had used Zicasso to plan our trip to Italy a few months before and was paired with a fantastic company in Italy which helped big time in our planning. So, since I knew almost nothing about wine regions in France, I went back to Zicasso to help. They paired us with Adam from Smooth Red and it was the best decision we made.
We knew we wanted to hit as much as we could in the week or so we would be there but we also wanted to make sure we had enough time to unwind and explore at our leisure. It was the best of both worlds. Now, let’s get to the highlights.
We went at the end of February which ended up being the PERFECT time of year to go. We had spectacular weather the entire trip so I think that really made it wonderful.
Itinerary
We flew into Paris and opted to take the high speed Train from Montparnasse to Bordeaux. When I had been in Italy, we did a combo of being driven and taking a train and we felt the train was much more relaxing and low key than being driven for longer trips. The train was great and fast definitely the way to go. 2 hours from Paris. Montparnasse station was a bit hard to navigate so either learn French or figure out where your train is departing from ahead of time 🙂 we also had just come off a long flight so it also that may not have helped. We ended up getting on an earlier train then we had scheduled but trading the tickets was easy. We worked with our local contact to have our driver pick us up earlier in Bordeaux which made it super easy.
We stayed at the Intercontinental Bordeaux. This lovely hotel is right in the heart of Bordeaux City Center and we were definitely glad we stayed there based on Adam’s recommendation. The service was excellent and the room was lovely. The restaurants here were also adorable, complete with a snow globe outside for afternoon cocktails.
We loved the city center of Bordeaux and every place we went to eat was just wonderful. And the wine, OH THE WINE! Everywhere you went, the table wine was some of the best wine we had ever had. Just lovely.
Wine Tours + Hotels
Our driver/tour guide, was just wonderful. The car was clean and comfortable and he was flexible with letting us stop and get photos. The first day in Medoc was beautiful and he gave us a great history of Bordeaux on the way to Beychevelle.
Chateau Beychevelle – The tour we had there was impressive (it was also our first so we were just really happy and fresh into the trip!) This was probably our second favorite tasting we had. We did a blind taste of 5 wines which was really nice.
Chateau Dauzac was next and was also very lovely. We really liked the guide there. It was definitely different than the first tour but very nice.
Restaurant Le Saint-Julien – we loved this place. The food was wonderful and the vibe was great.
Les Sources de Caudalie – This place is truly magical. The room upgrade made this the definite highlight of our stay. The spa was lovely and relaxing and despite the one restaurant being closed, the other restaurant was where we had one of our favorite meals. The tapas restaurant was just ok – very limited menu and was closed for a private event when we arrived. Still the food was good and the atmosphere was nice when we were able to get in. We rode bikes through the vineyards and walked the grounds and we just loved every minute of our time there. So much so that we actually cancelled the last tasting in Saint-Emillion so we could go back to the hotel and just relax and be there.
Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte – We were really really excited for this tour (given the look of the chateau, the amazing grounds it was on, all the artwork on the grounds and how much we loved the hotel – and from what we knew about the family – also we had already had a few bottles of their wine which we loved!) I and this tour was – to be blunt – not great. The wine was delicious and the grounds are worth checking out but try to get a local tour guide there, not the american in training 🙂
Chateau de Ferrand – The sommelier there was unbelievable and the tour was by far the best and gave us the most relatable experience when it comes to wine and tasting it. Unfortunately the sommelier, Charlie, is leaving for New Zealand (I think – or Australia) so he is no longer there.
Logis de la Cadene – highlight here was the pairing of the wine and the quality of the food. It was definitely a well run restaurant with great authentic french food but as you know at these types of restaurants, the formality was a lot for I think what we wanted to be a more casual lunch. We were the only ones there at first so it was all eyes on us from the staff. I think if someone wants fancy Michelin star, it is perfect, but I think we would have liked something a bit less formal.
Le Pavillion de la Reine – This was our least favorite hotel. It was nice but we really didn’t feel it was 5 star. The room was small and a little dark (and really hot). A few things to note: the service at the lobby bar at night was not good at all. There is an honor bar but it was not well maintained. No corkscrew, the wines all only had drops left and even though there were 4 staff in the lobby overall, none of them seemed to be tending to the bar or food area. At one point there were 4 guests standing around in front of the front desk asking for things and no one seemed to be taking care of it. It was just strange as it was a Sunday night at 8pm. The check in and checkout staff was good but overall a lot left to be desired.
To sum up which wine tasting experience we liked the most, it was definitely Chateau de Ferrand.
Transfer Drivers
All were professional, helpful and knowledgeable. Cars were all pristine and comfortable. The one driver in particular from Montparnasse to our hotel in Paris was just a wealth of information and told us about secret stores and amazing museums that were under the radar which was nice.
