Sweet surprise

I know just enough about wine to sound like a poseur when I talk about it. I certainly feel, in retrospect, that I did far too little research about Bordeaux before embarking on this trip. Thus it is perhaps understandable that I did not immediately realize where we would be bicycling today when I first saw the route (or booked the trip, for that matter). And so it was that my heart and mind did a tandem happy back flip when we pedaled around a corner and saw this:

As it happened, our route would take us directly through the Sauternes AOC – exactly where we had planned to take a day-trip after the bicycle portion of our journey was concluded!

We bicycled through gently rolling hills covered with vines, and salted with stately looking chateaus. It is here that the mystically sweet Sauternes wine is produced. The sweetness is imparted in the most part by the juice of late-harvest grapes, which have been acted upon by the fungus Botrytis cinerea, known as Noble Rot.

The grapes start out white, and purple late into the season. Above, you can see the fungus acting on the bunches. Such grapes are painstakingly hand-harvested and selected for inclusion in the wines. The process is laborious and yield of acceptable grapes is low, but results in a sweet white wine of exquisite subtlety and complexity.

There is one Premier Cru Supérieur (1855) vineyard in Sauternes: Château d'Yquem. Stately and aloof, the chateau sits upon a hill, obscured by a stand of trees. Tourists are not welcomed, nor tastings provided to the masses. So I took a picture from the road.

One does not simply walk into Château d'Yquem

However, there are eleven Premier Cru Classé vinyards in Sauternes, and one of them, Clos Haut-Peyraguey, was right there on the other side of the street. Clos Haut-Peyraguey is a smaller vineyard, something on the order of 17 hectares. And they welcome American tourists on bicycles.

We learned that the primary harvest had been conducted over a two week period and had been concluded a week previously, and that next week would be the harvest of the nobly-rotted (my term) grapes.

We were shown the fermentation cellar. Various quantities are sold commercially, but I had previously only seen Sauternes in half-bottles. So it was pretty trippy to see entire casks of Sauternes maturing.

We were treated to samples of their two main products. Symphonie had a more reserved sweetness, and was perhaps slightly more accessible to our inexperienced palattes; their flagship offering, however, though slightly sweeter, had greater complexity, and a far longer finish. [I have now used up all my wine words. – ed.]

We let none of our samples go to waste, and made some additional purchases. Score!!

Approaching Sauternes

Our route took us right into the village of Sauternes itself. A picnic here was imperative. All along today's ride, we had been looking for a place to purchase supplies, but had been frustrated at every turn. In the country, shops tend to close shortly after noon, and not reopen until much later in the afternoon, if at all. In some villages, everything is closed on Wednesday. We were, however, able to purchase wine from a shop in the Sauternes town square, and when we remembered that we had some mimolette and bread left over from the day before, it was a simple matter of kicking back on a park bench and having lunch.

How to pack your spare wine flat to save space

When you have a wineapus handy, picnic cleanup is a snap.

Our journey continued through the countryside, past medieval structures and their accompanying towns, such as this fortress just outside Budos

Château de Budos

Or this, in the village of Villandraut, the shops and restaurants in which closed two hours before we got there and would not reopen until an hour after we left.

Château de Villandraut

We continued on our journey, and the scenery changed from vine-covered hillsides to cultivated pine forest.

This path was the site of an old railroad track, reclaimed and paved to provide a scenic bike route. We travelled along it for 10 Km, and into the town of Saint-Leger-de-Balson. It was here that we found a bona fide supermarket! We provisioned heartily for the next day’s picnic…

***

Cycling experience: Today, Julia ate a bug. Level up!!

***

We arrived in late afternoon at our destination for the day, La Maison Rose, in Origne. I have not spent a lot of time describing our lodgings (which have been universally pleasing), but will definitely do so here. La Maison Rose is a guest house run by Gérard and Corinne de Rochefort.

We rang the bell at the front gate, and Gérard came out to let us in, greeting us warmly. Our room was in a house down beyond what is visible in the picture above. The house in which we stayed contained four or five individual rooms, with a large common area, and patios that look out upon a lush meadow.

Julia and I thought it had the feel of a French manor house, which I guess is a thing you can feel if you have never been to an actual French manor house. Everything was comfortable and tastefully well appointed. We really wanted to not track dirt inside, without feeling uptight about it. There was all about an air of peaceful tranquility.

Our hosts dined with us, and had lit the first fire of the season to keep the chill at bay. We dined as well with another couple who have been coming here on holiday for a number of years.

The menu was uncluttered, the dishes simultaneously straightforward and yet unfamiliar, and the preparation sublime. All of the dishes were prepared by Corinne.

The meal opened with a cream of zucchini soup. This was followed with green mashed potatoes and roast chicken.

The green mashed potatoes were simply potatoes and other green vegetables combined and mashed; the roast chicken was simply roast chicken, accompanied by a (mostly) clear dressing made from drippings. But ooooh la la! Absolutely exquisite. I have given up trying to identify what seasonings are used or how exactly it is possible to attain the subtle nuances I am coming to appreciate in French cuisine. It is beyond my understanding how the most seemingly basic dishes are possessed of an understated yet compelling flavour that will not abide anything other than a clean plate at the end of all.

Every bite of every item Corinne prepared left me amazed.

A cheese board was brought out. We were delighted. I am certain you, dear reader, are not in the least surprised. There was a soft goat cheese, something in between Brie and Camembert (in character, but precisely because it came from a place located between Brie and Camembert), a sheep cheese, and a harder mountain cheese. Naturally, we sampled some of each.

Finally, for dessert, a scoop of ice cream atop a bed of fresh pear, itself topped with (homemade, of course) chocolate sauce.

Simply tremendous.

It is to my chagrin that we did not think to ask for a photo of, or with, our hosts (this shot is cropped from a larger photo taken at dinner). Gérard and Corinne’s hospitality stands out, in a trip already filled with wonder, as a warm and friendly experience we will never forget. 

Merci!!