Winery Visits

There are plenty of places to visit in the locality, starting with the legendary trio of First Growths in Pauillac, Château Lafite, Latour and Mouton Rothschild (which are close together, as Pauillac is quite a small village). It takes about 90 minutes to get there, as there is no motorway for a large section of the road. We would also recommend visiting Château Pontet Canet, a Fith Growth, but more importantly the most well known biodynamically-farmed property in Bordeaux.

On the road to Pauillac there is a place called La Winery which is open till late and great for wine tasting and buying wines from all parts of France. If you are into the Merlot-based charms of the Right Bank Pomerols, then we would recommend going to Vieux Château Certan or L'Eglise Clinet, but please make an appointment first.

A day in St Emilion, a mediaeval walled city, is also highly recommended, with its large number of wine retailers and artisan shops not to mention the multiple al fresco dining options. We would also suggest a visit to Le Hameau de Bages (the Bages Hamlet) which is a whole village dreamt up by the Cazes of Lynch Bages fame wine trade family. It is located close to Lynch Bages in Pauillac.

Le Hameau de Bages is a visionary endeavour, where the Cazes family owns Lynch Bages, Les Ormes du Pez and Villa Bel Air in St Morillon among others (so we are neighbours, almost) recreated and reinvigorated a village community which had essentially ceased to exist. It goes without saying that it is well stocked with all their wines.

Andrew frequently bumps into the latest generation of the Cazes family, Jean Charles Cazes in Asia, typically on a plane on the way to his next tasting of the latest vintage of their fantastic stable of wines, whilst Andrew is, sadly, often heading into something infinitely less glamorous, a tough, all-night negotiation.