Today I went on a wine tour to one of the most important regions of Bordeaux - St Emilion. There are 8,000 wine growers in Bordeaux and 700 of them are in St Emilion or what is called the St Emilion region. We visited two wineries. The first one was a small, private winery. And the second was a larger, more commercial winery. Jean-Paul, the owner of the first winery, was a lawyer in Paris and 10 years ago bought the house and the winery from the owner and started making wine. So, he is relatively new to the wine business, but has developed some very wonderful wines. We learned more about the growing process, fermentation, and how the various wines produced by different grapes are blended to produce the final outcome. Winemaking is definitely a mix of science and art. I liked Jean-Paul’s comment, “You don’t choose the wine, the wine chooses you.” In other words, just because you like a particular kind of flavor profile, you might not get that in the land that you plant and grow the wine. You must allow the type of grape to choose where it wants to grow best. I find this true about much of life. Sometimes we aren’t happy with our circumstances, but in most cases there isn’t a lot we can do to change it. So, learn to be satisfied and even happy with what life gives you. There’s a saying that we use a lot, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” But sometimes you just need to be fully and completely satisfied (and even find joy) with lemons.
Here are some pictures:
I don’t know if I wasn’t impressed with the second wine stop, or if it was something else, but I didn’t take many pictures.
We then toured the ancient town of St Emilion. There are only 300 residents in the village, but it receives over 1 million tourists every year.
And of course, there’s a church:
Tomorrow I’m going on a gastronomy tour.
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