After consuming a great deal of the area’s bounty at dinner last night, we were scheduled for a field trip today to the town of C adillac and a visit to one of the chateaux that produces the region’s famous Sauterne wines.  But first we had to go through the required safety drill, with everyone evacuating to the top deck with our life jackets on.  Because we all look so fabulous in orange!  

Cadillac still has several vestiges of it’s Medieval roots, including two city gates, several sections of the city wall, and an entire street of houses from that era.  The stroll took about an hour, then back on the bus to the vineyard: Chateau Rayne Vigneau.  We passed mile after mile of rolling hills highlighted by the neat and tidy rows of grape vines, punctuated occasionally with chateaux and small villages.

We toured through the vineyard itself, learned about how the vines are grown and maintained, and how the different soil in the region will produce different types of grapes, even within the same area.  I did not know that older vines produce better grapes for wine making than do the younger ones – some of the vines are 40 or 50 years old and are still hearty producers!  To make the “sweeter” Sauterne wines, the grapes are not harvested until they are almost raison like in appearance and texture; the purpose is to allow the sugars in the fruit to concentrate in the grapes.  But, this results in less juice in the fruit, therefore it takes a lot more grapes to produce a Sauterne than other types of wine – about twice as many! That’s one of the reasons Sauterne can be more expensive than other wines – the yield per acre is much smaller.

The barrel room was interesting – above and beyond the row upon row of French oak barrels with the aging wine.  The owner of the chateau was fascinated with the birds of North America, and purchased several stuffed specimens during a visit to the US.  They are perched on top of the barrels all through the barrel room!

We had three wines starting with a very light vintage that wasn’t sweet at all, progressing to the sweetest of them – a rich golden colored 1^st Grand Class Cru.  It was almost syrupy in texture and flavor.  It also runs 90 euro (or more depending on year) a bottle!

After the tasting, back on the bus change for dinner, and another evening with our old and new friends on board the Foresti!

All the photos from our trip so far are under "Our Travels-Bordeaux"