While there are plenty of logistics that go into biking across the Bordeaux region, adding visits to wineries introduces a whole other dimension to your planning. Not only will you need to determine which wineries are convenient to your cycle route, you’ll need to narrow it to those with tours and tastings that fit your schedule, and fit your own individual taste.
Not all wineries are created equal: some are boutique, some are large commercial establishments, some have gorgeous grounds, others are bare bones, and some produce wines that simply may not be to your liking. It pays to do a little research ahead of time.
So, where to begin? As Lewis Carroll put it, begin at the beginning! That is, it’s helpful to have a quick lay of the land before diving into the wineries themselves.
A Quick Tutorial on The Bordeaux Wine Region
Contrary to what you might think, the Bordeaux region is not just a single uniform area of wine making that is “Bordeaux.” (Oh, just me?) There’s a lot more to understanding what wines are produced where, and how their classification and naming systems do (and don’t) work.
Left Bank v. Right Bank
The Bordeaux region is split by several rivers, the largest of which is the Gironde in the north. Further south, the river splits into two smaller rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne. The city of Bordeaux itself lies near the center of the region, along the Garonne.
As you can see, the region is subdivided by about a million. We barely scratched the surface on our bike route. However, we came away with this very elementary understanding of the regions and their wines, which is a good primer for anyone planning a visit to the area.
Bordeaux Left Bank (the areas to the West of the Gironde)
Left bank wines are primarily cabernet sauvignon. They are big reds, structured, and best aged around 10 years before drinking. Left bank wines (but not right bank wines) are subject to the 1855 Classification system whereby wineries are rated from 1st to 5th growth (crus, i.e. premier cru, deuxième cru, etc.) with 1st being the highest quality and 5th being…well, just further down the list. There are plenty of wineries that aren’t even rated so being 5th is nothing to sneeze at.
However, with that said…the classification system has become a bit of a joke because it was originally created based on how expensive the wines were, not on how they actually tasted. Furthermore, since 1855, basically no changes have ever been made to this list. Needless to say, the classifications are seriously outdated. That doesn’t stop wineries from tooting their horns about it. Sure, some are still top tier producers; but the point is, having “Premier Cru” or “Deuxième Cru” on the label really only reliably tells you that “even a long time ago, this wine was expensive.”
Bordeaux Right Bank (the areas to the East of the Gironde)
Right bank wines are mostly merlot, although other varieties can be found here. They are softer and more supple than the left bank wines, and can be drunk much earlier. (Earlier than ten years, not like breakfast wine or something crazy.)
Since this side of the river was left out of the oh-so-fancy 1855 Classification, they came up with their own: Grand Cru Classe A, Grande Cru Classe, and the simple but still impressive sounding, Grand Cru. These rankings are slightly more meaningful because each winery is re-evaluated every decade and at that time a winery can move up or down on the classification list.
We visited Château LaRoque just outside of Saint Émilion. I was surprised to find that I preferred the heartier left bank wines. I always thought I was a merlot girl. (Who am I kidding, it’s bubbles forever.)
Incidentally, there is a sparkling wine producer right in Saint Émilion. Les Cordeliers is a former cloisters that now produces sparkling wine and stores it in their underground cellars. The sparkling wine is a crémant, meaning it’s not made in the champagne region. It was fun to visit, but more touristy/gimmicky than actually good wine. It’s no longer even made on site, just stored there, probably to keep the tours and tastings going!
Riddle Me This: When is a Château not a Castle?
Answer: when you’re in Bordeaux! Turns out, “Château” is a naming convention for wineries in the Bordeaux region. While some actually do have a castle on site, being called a Château has nothing to do with what buildings are or are not present.
However, it isn’t completely without meaning.
In order to be called a Château, there are several requirements that must be met:
- The grapes must be grown at that vineyard (they cannot be purchased from somewhere else)
- They must make the wine on site
- The wine must be bottled on site
So when you see a wine with Château on the label, you have some automatic information about what is in the bottle.
Next time you’re at a store and you see a Bordeaux from “Château something-or-other” + the name of a specific place (Margaux, Pauillac, etc.) you can have a more reasonable expectation of quality than a wine labeled “Wine of Bordeaux” or the even less specific “Wine of France.” Those can also be good wines, for sure. But in general, the more general the label on the bottle, the fewer rules, restrictions, and quality control it must adhere to.
Visiting Châteaux
There were three types of Château I came across in Bordeaux:
1. Large, well known Châteaux: Famous producers like Lafitte Rothschild and Latour are not open to the public, although some welcome those in the wine industry. There are some tours that will drive you by them, but we found the châteaux hard to spot from our bikes as they’re often set well back from the road and sometimes protected by high walls.
2. Medium sized Châteaux: These wineries will often offer a more commercial style of tour – either private or in a group. You can usually book these through their website at preset days and times.
3. Very small Châteaux: These boutique producers do not have tasting rooms that are staffed for walk-ins. You’ll need to make a reservation usually by emailing them directly. They will often offer tours and tastings but the times will be less structured and more according to both their and your schedule. If you need a tour in a language other than French, be sure to specify this in your email!
Regardless of whether you’re visiting a small or medium sized Château, you really do need to make advance reservations. These are not the kind of places you just walk into. Most wineries will be open in the morning and afternoon and closed for lunch between 12pm and 2pm.
Speaking of Lunch…
It’s a good idea to make separate plans for meals as most wineries don’t serve food. I know this varies across wine regions but in Bordeaux, the Château are mostly working wineries who are working at…wine. If you need a snack or an appetizer in between tastings, you’ll need to go somewhere else or pack your own.
Most tours and tastings will take about 1 to 1.5 hours. After a tour there won’t be a hard sell of their wines, but if you like what you taste, you can usually get them for slightly less than you would in a retail store. Some won’t be available in stores so if you really like a wine, buy what you want while you’re there.
Using AI to Help You Plan
Once I had a general understanding of the Bordeaux area (and if you made it this far, so do you), I used ChatGPT to help me narrow my plan. It was helpful with finding wineries and giving me high level overviews about their reputation, size, ranking, grounds, tour offerings, and wine type.
My initial prompt was something like this:
“I am going on a bike tour and will be biking near x, y, and z winery. Tell me which wineries offer tours, if they have food, what their wine quality is like, and which have beautiful grounds that are worth a longer visit. Also include other wineries near the ones I mentioned.”
From there, I could whittle down choices with additional requests like which ones were near restaurants or other points of interest.
While great at suggesting wineries and giving me a big picture idea of them, it was less knowledgeable about specific tour offerings, schedules, and hours. So once you have narrowed your choices to the wineries that will suit your tastes, you’ll need to finish up the legwork the old fashioned way.
I hope this was helpful. If I’ve left something important out or you want to know more, leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you. 🙂
Bon cycling, and bon boivage!
My wife and I have done two trips to Bordeaux in the past three years, and loved it. You have great insight about who is open, how they handle tastings, and much more of the details are are necessary to know to maximize a visit. Terrific post!
Very useful, indeed. I once booked a tour to Saint-Emilion from Bordeaux and, just as I’d feared, we didn’t visit any real châteaux (in the architectural sense) – what a disappointment.