Day 154 : St Emilion

Located 30 minutes by train from Bordeaux is St. Emilion.

Saint Emilion is a small well-preserved medieval town, famous for its prestigious red wine, its notorious appellation with Grands Crus Classés and for its magnificent chateaux and vineyards.

Saint Emilion’s village has also been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its unique historical and viticultural landscapes. 

There were lots of vineyards the moment I stepped out of the train station, and so I decided to walk into the 1st Château I see along the way to do a wine tour - Château La Gaffeliere.

There was a private tour running at 10.30am for an Italian couple that was on the same train as I, and I was lucky they allowed me to crash into their private tour.

Our guide provide us a quick introduction on the Grand Cru classes in St. Emilion, which is renewed every 10 years, and the Château La Gaffeliere is one of the handful of wineries that had been awarded the Premium Grand Cru classification. They also have a non premium brand sold under the Clos branding.

This Château is owned by Conte Leo de Malet Roquefort, whose family owns 3 other Château in France (total 2 are in St Emilion). The business is currently run by 1 of his 5 sons. 

On this Château, they have 35 hectares of land, of which 22 hectares are with Premium Grand Cru classification. In comparison, we were told most chateaus only have 10 or 12 hectares maximum.

Everything in green and yellow are the plots owned by the Château. Dark green are Cabernet Franc grapes, light green Merlot, and yellow is Chardonnay. Chardonnay is for own consumption only, as only red wines are allowed to be made at their St. Emilion Estate.

These grapes were grown in the same year as the year Conte Leo was born.

The grapes are harvested between mid September and mid October. They are then fermented in these vats. They spend a maximum of 2 months in the vat.

Once the vat is drained, the skin and pits are put into this machine to obtain the "pressed juice". They are then added to the drained wine to introduce tannins into the wine

They are then aged in barrels for about 14 to 16 months. Each barrel hold 225 Lt, which is about 300 bottles.  The barrels are stored based on the plot where the grapes are taken. They are later then blended by the oneologist.

The best quality is from the older grapes, which are further segregated by the best being base #1, followed by base #2 etc.

Premium Grand Cru wines are made using base 1 and 2, while Clos wine is made using a blend of the younger grapes and base 3 older grapes.

And lastly wine tasting. We got to try 4 wines.

The most expensive wine we tried costs €71 per bottle, the cheapest was €21 per bottle.

Even the cheapest wine we tried tasted really good.

I asked the guide which wines were the best year for the vineyard and he said 2009 and 2010 is the best. 2018 and 2019 is also good.
And 2011, 2012 2013 not so good.

Wine Tasting

Clos La Gaffelière 2017
with Merlot 85% and Cabernet Franc 15%. Using new wine and base 3 of old wine.
Can age for 10 years. Fruity with some woody notes

Clos La Gaffelière 2018
with Merlot 90% and Cabernet Franc 10%.
Slightly better year. Slightly sweeter than 2017 with more tannins.

Château La Gaffelière 2013
The baddest year
with Merlot 80% and Cabernet Franc 20%.
Still very rounded in flavour, black Berry flavour, woody.

Château La Gaffelière 2016
One of the good years
with Merlot 70% and Cabernet Franc 30%.
More Berry flavour, slightly more heavy body

We finished the tour at about 12pm and then I made my way to the tourist information centre before heading to a restaurant (Chai Pascal) that was recommended by tourism office.

For starters, I ordered Squid with mushrooms and chorizo. This appetiser was 👍👍👍

And for my main, I opted for their daily menu, which was Veal with white asparagus and potatoes

I next made my way to Porte Brunet, the last remaining medieval gate of the city  with a nice panoramic view of Fongaban Valley.

A short walk away was Les Cordeliers Cloister, the partially ruined cloister where Crémant de Bordeaux has been produced since 1892.

The cloister itself dates from the 14th century when Franciscan monks were permitted by the Pope to construct it within the walls of Saint-Émilion. They occupied the cloister for four centuries, before abandoning it during the French Revolution in 1789 when the Cordeliers order was banned.

It sat with the ivy taking over nearly every inch of the crumbling walls until the 19th century, when it was purchased and the owner had the foresight to utilize the 3 kilometers of underground tunnels to age sparkling wines in the Champagne method.

The tunnels beneath the Cordeliers Cloister are perfect for fermenting and aging sparkling wine with their constant darkness and steady 12°C temperature.

There is the option of a Tuk Tuk or walking tour to visit the tunnels if interested, but I decide to just sit in the open air to enjoy a glass of bubbly and ordered the Grand Vintage Blanc de Moor Brut, which uses Cabernet Franc (red grapes) but without the skin, thus a white bubbly wine. 

I was surprised there were no gas when poured, and I questioned the staff, and she mentioned that the bubbles are very fine, and indeed it was still very bubbly. The glass was Euro 9.50. A little too pricey in my opinion and I've had better bubblies before.

I next headed over to Maison Galhaud Caves Du Manoir, which is located in the city centre where they have an underground area to store wine in barrels. Entrance is free but there's no write up or information when walking through, so it wasn't as interesting as the Château.

I did a wine tasting of their premium wines at €10 for 3 glasses.

Château La Rose Brisson St Emilion Grand Cru 2018 Euro 26
Age 15 mths in barrel
85% Merlot 15 % Cabernet Sauvignon

Le Donjon du Roi
St Emilion Grand Cru 2010 Euro 31
75% Merlot 20% Cabernet Franc 5 % Cabernet Sauvignon

Grand Vin Moulin Galhaud
St Emilion Grand Cru 2014 Euro 41
Age 18 months in barrel
95% Merlot 5 % Cabernet Franc

They were still really good wines but the 1st Château I went to was better.

Walked around the city fringe towards Palais Cardinal where the old walls still stands. And a short distance away is the Grand Murailles.

I then randomly walked into a church (Eglise Collégiale) and was pleasantly surprised by the cloister. From the cloister it exits into the town square, which I then realised it was just next to the tourist information centre!

This is where the Bell Tower of Monolithic Church of Saint-Emilion is located and there are also good views from here.

I then made my way down to the lower part of the city on these extremely uneven cobbled stone paths. Nice to look, but extremely hard to walk on... Probably one of the most difficult cobbled stone path I had been on.

I continued along the way and came across this, which is apparently where the villagers wash their clothes in the past. It's possible some of them still do it here.

There are only about 150 people living in this town

And then it was time to head back to Bordeaux

On the way back, I visited the La Bastide area, located on the opposite side of the river of Bordeaux.

This area is supposed to offer a bohemian, hipster vibe.

They do have some really interesting architecture on this side though

Darwin Ecosystem, where renovated warehouses feature film festivals, pop-up bars, restaurants, and gig space, reminds me a little of LX Factory in Lisbon, although Lisbon has more to see and do

Loved how they have all the graffiti art on the building, or what remains of the building. 

Indoor skate park with a very cool set up with a train cart in here too!

And then there was also the outdoor skate park. Some start really young! 

I walk towards Pont de Pierre, passing through Place Stalingrad, just in time to see the sunset from the bridge, before heading back towards the centre of Bordeaux.

Grabbed a quick dinner in Burger King which strangely came with a lot of extras, such as an additional texas burger that I didn't order and instead of a double cheeseburger, I got a triple cheeseburger!

Couldn't finish it all, so going to have the texas burger tomorrow.