Pauillac - Saturday 2 September

This morning we left our temporary docking in Bordeaux, and cruised down the 'maritime river' section of the Garonne River, towards the estuary where the Garonne and Dordogne rivers come together nearer the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic Ocean. This wider, more open area is then called the Gironde. Large ships can sail on this waterway, as far as Bordeaux itself. The rivers are all brown due to the tidal effect which is quite profound and affects the rivers many kilometres inland. We docked at the town of Pauillac around 11am.

Pauillac is the largest town in the Médoc region, and the wines in the area are considered to be of premier quality. The vines grow in a gravelly soil, and are sheltered from wind by pine forests (many of these are planted in this whole region). The predominant grape is Cabernet Sauvignon, but it is invariably blended with other grapes in the wines produced.

North of the town is a floating platform where the very large A380 wings and fuselage sections are transferred from sea-going ferries to barges for transportation to the assembly plant near Toulouse.

Everyone had enjoyed the later and more relaxing start to the day, and sitting in the lounge listening to Anja's commentary as we sailed along. It was a bit cool and breezy to be sitting outside. After an outline of the afternoon's programme, lunch was early at 11:45am. The pastry chef had a special treat for me - a creamy rice pudding for dessert.

We were in one of the first groups to head out, from Pauillac, to visit a Médoc family-owned cooperage and to do some wine-tasting there too. The wine-tasting was explained by an oenologist (you can look that up)! It was quite interesting, and there was a fair bit of humour involved. Then we had an hour with the French-speaking cooper, ably translated by our guide. It was more interesting than I would have thought. Next we had a 45 minute drive through this Médoc region, passing many of the big, top-rated chateaux and estates. Vineyards spread out in the distance as far as the eye could see - Cabernet  Sauvignon is the most prominent grape grown in this area, followed by Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Malbec.








Back at the dock at 5pm, David and I had a quick walk into Pauillac but, being a Saturday and at that later hour, everything was shut, and the place looked quite run down.





Dinner was a Gala Dinner, which means it was a bit more special than the always excellent meals.