22/09/08 - Biking among the vineyards.

A chilly morning was had amongst the grapes, but soon we were on the
move and off to the supermarket, before heading back to St. Emilion to
hire our transport for the day - bikes.

Kerryn was armed with the list of wineries that looked like they may
be accommodating to a bunch of amateurs like us, so we headed into the
countryside. First mission was to make it up a hill to get the view,
then feel the wind as we flew down the otherside with vineyards and
chateau's all around us (just a point - a chateau doesn't mean a grand
castle type house, just the estate that is on the vineyard - although
some were pretty nice, and all were very old!!).

A nice picnic lunch of baguette, cheese, ham and all other things
French, beside a pretty little lake, then it was time to taste some
wine. After being told by the first vineyard that tastings and tours
were by appointment only, the second was kind enough to enough to let
us in. We decided our host was very French, you wouldn't call him the
most welcoming man, but we got to taste a couple of vintages from the
vineyard that has operated through 9 generations in the same family.

A bit more biking, then another tasting by a very welcoming French
lady and a young Québecan translator. It was very interesting to
learn about the different blends of grapes they use - 70% Merlot, 20%
Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. We took a stroll amongst
the vineyards tasting all of the grapes trying to distinguish the
different types, followed by a walk past the big vats which housed the
previous two years harvests. The 2006 brew is due to be bottled this
week - in time to make room for the 2008 harvest.

Of course with all this great service and education, we had to buy a
couple of bottles to add to our collection - the general consensus
from our two visits from Marea, Kerryn and Dave was that the older
(1998, & 99) bottles were alot better than the more recent vintages
for the fact that they have been able to age a little. It was only me
who thought the opposite - I guess that makes me a poor connoisseur of
fine wines?