Wine Tasting in Saint-Emilion

There are several wine-growing appellations here in the Bordeaux area.  All produce blended wines, but the blends consist of different percentages of each grape variety.  For example, the Medoc region makes wines that are more Cabernet Sauvignon-based and tannic, while Saint Emilion produces smoother-drinking wine blends with a majority of Merlot.  We had scheduled one last tour to do some tasting at a couple of wineries here.  Of course, at each chateau we did the required tour, walking around the grounds and hearing about the picking, fermentation, and oak storage process.  At least this time the tour was in English.

Enough with the tours, already!  We want to taste some wine!

At Chateau de Ferrand, we saw case after case of wine being stored.  They mentioned that some of it was ready for shipping to the US.  Their main re-seller?  Total Wine.

Cases of wine at Chateau de Ferrand

The gently rolling hills in Saint-Emilion are covered in vines.

The second place we visited was Chateau de Pressac, which was a beautiful and historic property (the treaty to end the 100 Years War with England was signed here in 1453).  Kevin took this photosphere to give you an idea of the place (put your cursor inside the photo for a 360 degree view).

Views: Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse, France by Kevin Salt

The tasting room at the Chateau de Pressac

After some nice wines, we went into St. Emilion again had a chance to explore the town in the sunshine.  Our guide Remi took us to a couple of wine shops.  Most of it was very high end, so we opted to just browse and not buy (now that we know we can just go to Total Wine at home, haha!)

Oldest house in Saint-Emilion; at least one wine-seller had a sense of humor.