Saint Emillion, Bordeaux Wine Region, France

 

Sarina and Amber at lunch in St. Emillion

 

Sandy and Sarina at lunch in St. Emillion

 

Bordeaux France October 24th to October 29th 2005

We spent 5 days in the Bordeaux area of France. We learned a lot and got to meet many of the winemakers from the various chateaus. We had many experiences from the corporate tours of Mouton-Rothchild and Haut-Brion to the personal and down home experience of spending time with the winemaker from Raymond-Lafond. We spent several days in the Graves area, then 2 days in the Margeaux/Paullac area and then one day on the right bank in St. Emillion. We spent time and toured the following chateaus; Malle, Raymond-Lafond, D'Yquem, Guirard, Haut-Brion, Carbonniex, Smith-Haut Lafitte, Doisy Dane, Reynon, Lynch Bages, Landscomes and BelAir. We also enjoyed a ten course lunch at the 2 star michelan rated Cordelian Bages. All in all it was a great way to open up our appetite and appreciation for Bordeaux wines!

Chateau Mouton-Rothchild

http://www.bpdr.com/

We took a tour and had a tasting of the 2004 wine samples from Chateau Mouton-Rothchild.

We visited Doisy Dane and Chateau Reynon

http://www.denisdubourdieu.com/

We had the pleasure of spending time with Denis Dubourdieu and his two sons Jean-Jaques and Fabrice. We toured both the Doisy Dane Chateau in Barsac and Chateau Reynon in Cadillac.

We enjoyed a tour and tasting at Chateau Lynch Bages

Chateau Lynch Bages. We enjoyed a wonderful tour and tasting. Sarina even wrote about it and drew a picture in her journal. Her jounal entry read "I learned how to make wine at Chateau Lynch Bages." Not a bad place to learn....even though it is only a 5th growth wine...

This is Mr. Meslier, the winemaker at Chateau Raymond-Lafond

We were fortunate to have the pleasure of a private tour, tasting and lesson on Sauternes Wines from the winemaker at Chateau Raymond-Lafond located directly across the street from Chateau D'Yquem. What a treat! We even drank from the vats where the current 2005 grapes were being crushed, it was a wonderful experience and he is a delightful man.

Our visit to Chateau Haut-Brion

http://haut-brion.com/home/en/chateau/chb-initial.php

The Baratta Adventure team after a week of fun on the Canal du Midi in France - October 24th 2005

WE MADE IT!!!!

Castenaudry

After 7 days on the canal du midi we finally arrived in Castenaudry. We were greeted by a beautiful rainbow and ate some cassoulet (this is town is famous for this dish with sausage, white beans and pork) for dinner!!!

Amber holding the boat at the lock!

Amber on the boat....

"I thought Sandy and Joe said we were going yachting so I wore my white capri's."

I love barging in the rain!!!!

Getting through the locks...

We traveled through 65 locks over 7 days - 25 in one day and many of the days in the rain! But it was fun and we became ecperts by the last day!

Captain Joe at the helm!

Amber driving the boat while captain Joe looks on....

She looks pretty proud of herself doesn't she?

Sarina driving the boat!

The winemaker of the Monlou Winerey

We met this wonderful wine maker along the way. He makes some fantastic red wines. While we were in his winery a young little girl stopped by to buy a jug of wine for her family for dinner. She handed him a few euros, he filled up the empty jug she brought him and sent her on her way. We thought that was pretty neat, so we bought a jug as well. We called it our jug of "Barge Red" which we managed to finish by the end of the trip!

Crossing a bridge on our bikes

We made is across this bridge with only one casualty - one tire blow out!

Our new Friends, Jacque, ALex and Marthe

One day we decided to take a bike ride from one of our overnight stops to the town of Narbone (25 km away) we had a nice day and then we were on our way back to our boat, we decided to ride along the canal. At one point 3 bodies of water came together and we could not pass. We did not know which way to go and everyone we asked answered us in French. We thought they were telling us togo over a railroad bridge? Then along came a lost winemaker Jacque - he was riding home on his new bike and did not which way to go. So we told him what we thought they were telling us in French, he said "I speak French" so he asked and sure enough we had cross a crazy bridge. Jacque was great and graciously invited us to his home. Of course we showed up a few days later and enjoyed some wine with our new friends!

The Glasses story

Joe lost his glasses somewhere along the way. We searched the boat inside and out and could not find them. These are the new glasses that were made by our friend George in Greece in August. That night Sandy has a dream that the glasses are laying in a pile of leaves on the side of bank at one of the stops we made a few days earlier. The next day we get off the boat and are back in the car again. Sandy convinces Joe that it is worth the 50km or so to go back to the scene of the crime, she is convinced they will find the glasses.....Guess what? we found the glasses - very strange, Sandy's esp powers are stil in tact, Joe knows he has married a crazy woman, Amber is not surprised by any of this (remember the purple bear in the dumpster story) and Sarina was convinced we would find the glasses! ANd the fun continues....

The French Midi Canal

The French Midi Canal : index

After almost 5 weeks on the French Riviera with side trips to Provance and Cote du Rhone (the Sonoma of France) we are packing up and heading for Canal du Midi. We rented the apartment of our friend Anne Radmacher's mother Reine. Congratulations to Anne on her next phase of life (baby and retirement, ha, ha) Hopefully, Reine will be permitted to return to her apartment (we met the neighbors and they met us!!) Some of the highlights of our time spent here are; our family bikerides to Antibes, Nice, the entire coast from Nice to Menton. Our short stopover back into Italy to do some grocery shopping, but of course we cannot forget Geant (the Raley's of Villenue-Loubet... can you tell we have been reading too many guidebooks, Sarina thinks Rick Steve's lives in Michelin with his dogs Fodor and Frommer and has been an Eyewitness to everything on this Lonely Planet).


We also enjoyed a visit from Steph and Bill Noryko, just in time for Sarina's 6th birthday celebration on September 24th! We had a great time together and it was nice to see our friends from home. We miss everyone!!!


So tomorrow we head for the Canal du Midi where we will rent a self driving Barge - yes Captain Joe will lead the way....and after that we head to Bordeaux for more wine tasting and then on to Spain.........

Love

Joe, Sandy, Sarina and Amber

Sarina and her French friends. 

Sarina with her friends Yann and Julia. 

Sarina with her friends Lucy and Julia. 

Sarina on her birthday being pensive...turning 6 in the south of France is not easy... 

Sarina relaxing on the deck 

Nono taking a picture of Sarina blowing out her candles.. 

Sarina toasting her 6th birthday with mommy and daddy. 

Sarina with Mommy and Daddy at her party 

Sarina in her horsebackriding outfit! 

Villa Kerylos at Beaulieu-sur-Mer. The Greek palace replica built at the turn of last century. 

Our friends and guides in Villaneuve Loubet (Riviera). 

As you may have suspected I am still carrying ...pulling...pushing......my bride. 

Our friend Laurant (spelling?) in Villaneuve Lubet demonstrating the subleties of French cycling. Apparently the trick to looking huge on a bike is to ride a tiny bike....simple. Why not. 

Amber and Sarina making cheers and mementos for Team Gullick (who knows). 

Sarina pruning her jardin.