Food, wine, history and culture are at the forefront of my interests as a traveler, and a recent trip met — and often exceeded — many of my expectations.
My wife and I took a seven-day Bordeaux cruise aboard Viking, signed up for the cruise line’s pre-cruise extension trip to Bilbao and San Sebastián, Spain, and added our own independent post-cruise excursion to the Pessac-Léognan area right outside the city of Bordeaux in southwestern France.
Here are the main highlights of our trip, in case you’d like to plan a similar journey:
Spanish Basque Country
Bilbao is the capital of Biscay, a province in northern Spain’s Basque country. Bilbao and San Sebastián are both celebrated as examples of cities with excellent Basque cuisine.
Where to stay in Bilbao: The century-old Hotel Carlton is centrally located in the city, and near a metro station plus other public transportation.
Where to eat in Bilbao: We had a great experience at Ola Martin Berasategui, a one-star Michelin restaurant inside the Tayko Hotel in Bilbao. Pintxos (small bites) bars abound throughout the city. We scheduled a pintxos food tour with Viator, and visited Sorginzulo, Motrikes, Restaurant Amaya, a cheese shop called Gazta Denda, and a pastry shop during a walking tour in the oldest part of the city.
Where to eat in San Sebastián: Ixtaropena, a restaurant dating back to 1910, offered delicious hot pintxos. Cold pintxos are prepared well in advance, and hot pintxos are made once they are ordered.
Highlights of Bilbao and San Sebastián
Guernica: Outside of Bilbao proper, Guernica is on the Biscay coast. The Assembly House and the ancient tree of Guernica, where governance of this Basque province began, are quite impressive. There is a Peace Museum and a large tile replica of Picasso’s Guernica painting displayed outside on a public street. It’s an anti-war mural showing the effects on people and animals of the horrific bombings during the Spanish Civil War.
Itsasmendi Winery: Located not far from the Biscay coast, you can taste Txakoli (pronounced cha-ko-lee), the signature white wine of the Basque region. Txakoli is a crisp, dry white that has bright acidity, pairing well with seafood and traditional Basque pintxos.
Guggenheim Museum: Architect and designer Frank Gehry designed this building made of glass, limestone and titanium that is a sculpture of undulating lines. Modern and contemporary artworks are displayed inside and outside the structure in permanent and temporary exhibitions. Outside, you’ll notice a huge spider sculpture, a stack of 73 highly reflective stainless steel balls, and during the summer, a large dog sculpture made of blooming flowers.
Mount Igueldo Viewpoint, San Sebastián: High on a hill facing La Concha Bay, you can see how the city of San Sebastián grew to encircle the entire bay.
Bordeaux
Seeing Bordeaux for the first time conjures up memories of Paris. Bordeaux underwent a major modernization in the 18th century. The person that Napoleon III hired to modernize Paris in the early 19th century had lived in Bordeaux in the past, and remembered Bordeaux’s use of grand boulevards and elegant neoclassical façades.
The Place de la Bourse and the Monument aux Gironds are outstanding examples of spacious grand open areas and neoclassical architecture. Even the Paris Opera House has similarities to Bordeaux’s Grand Theatre.
Highlights of Bordeaux City
Cité du Vin: This museum along the riverfront is said to look like wine swirling in a glass, or some say a decanter. It offers a high-tech excursion through Bordeaux’s wine history and culture. Tickets are about 23 Euros and entitle you to a glass of wine at the panoramic Belvedere Bar on-site.
Musée du Vin et du Négoce de Bordeaux: The Wines of Bordeaux Master Class, offered as a Viking excursion, was held here at the wine museum and wine shop. The knowledgeable lecturer was Chiharu Hayakawa, and the program she presented was quite comprehensive. The subject matter was, of course, tailored to Bordeaux’s varietals and five different regions.
We tasted and evaluated a white wine from Graves, a red wine from Entre Deux Mers (between two rivers), a red wine from the Medoc on the left bank, a third-growth red wine from Pomerol on the right bank, and a final mystery wine. The last wine was golden in color and had honey and apricot tones with a long crisp finish. It was definitely a sauterne. It turned out to be a 2008 Château d’Yquem!
Bassins de Lumières: Offered as a Viking excursion, this is an immersive sound-and-light show in a former Nazi submarine base, now an exhibition center. Walkways and viewing platforms enable you to view digital art projections on the concrete walls of the bunker reflecting onto the water below.
Highlights of other ports along the river via Viking Excursions
Libourne: Gateway to the right bank wine regions of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol regions. We visited Château d’Abzac for a tour, tasting and a three-course lunch with wine. Afterwards, we strolled around the beautiful hill town of St.-Émilion and its wine shops.
Bourg: At the top of this hilltop town, we found ourselves in an old town square sitting in the shade of the marketplace. After giving us a brief history of the local area, our tour guide surprised us by distributing little purple brown fig-shaped confections in gold foil cups to the group. The Figue de Bourg is prepared with fig, almond, white chocolate and fig liqueur, and is only made in Bourg. The Blanleil Patisserie’s recipe is a closely guarded secret!
Blaye: Twenty minutes away from Bourg on the right bank of the Gironde River, Blaye has an enormous and very well preserved citadel. The walls are massive and extremely high. The panoramic view of the river from the top of the walls provided early warnings of invading forces.
Pauillac: From this port, you have access to the Medoc and Margaux areas of the renowned château with views of Château Margaux, Château Lafite Rothschild and Château Mouton Rothschild.
The highlight of this excursion was ending up at Château Kirwan for a multicourse dinner with wine, prepared by the Viking culinary team. The meal began with a lobster and cream soup, followed by a trio of small bites: pork pâté wrapped in pastry, a traditional duck terrine and a mini veggie quiche. The entrée was Black Angus beef fillet in a red wine sauce accompanied by a potato gratin with porcini mushroom sauce, asparagus and carrots. Dessert was a chocolate sponge cake with chocolate cream and pear. Château Kirwan wines were delicious and paired well with each course.
Cadillac: Pronounced ka-dee-yak, this charming fortified town is the gateway to the Sauternes wine area. The tour and tasting was quite enjoyable. Sauternes are usually a blend of Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle grapes. The wines are known for their balance of vibrant acidity and sweetness. They have aging potential of up to 40 years, depending on the vintage.
Extension to Pessac-Leognan
Where to stay: To really enjoy the ambiance of French wine country, you really have to immerse yourself in it. Château Leognan was a great pick because there were many amenities right on property: a beautiful château, a small chapel, walking paths, horse-drawn carriage rides out to the vineyards, a wine tasting room, and a free-standing restaurant. A breakfast buffet is offered daily. Though not included in the daily room rate, it’s well worth the extra fee.
Another invaluable asset to the property is Gilles Piqué, the concierge who magically makes taxis appear, who arranged a last-minute tasting appointment at a château we wanted to visit. He also found a way to secure lunch reservations at what turned out to be our favorite meal of the trip.
Where to eat
Le Manège, the free-standing restaurant at Château Leognan, has both inside and alfresco dining available. Recommended items include foie gras with cardamom, beetroot and prune chutney with buckwheat toast; pea gazpacho with verbena berries, almonds and fromage blanc; veal rump with pressed celery, spinach, herbs and rich brown butter sauce; duck breast with carrot tops, date ketchup and a rich carrot reduction sauce.
The inventive, flavorful food matched well with the Château Leognan 2019 red Bordeaux blend dominated by merlot and cabernet sauvignon.
On the second night, we sampled the Château Leognan 2011 Cuvee Phoenix, which spent 16 months in new oak. Rich overtones of black raspberry and mushrooms paired well with the veal dish.
Caroline’s Restaurant (our favorite meal of the trip) in Leognan is a small, unassuming place serving deeply delicious, inventive fare. From our visit, we’d recommend the beetroot mousse. It’s a mound of lighter-than-air cold beet mousse that contains fennel sorbet hidden in the middle with diced beets and walnut crumbles at the bottom. An array of flavors and textures explode on your palate.
For more culinary excitement, Caroline’s Guinea fowl with celeriac purée and buckwheat topped with a buttery cream sauce and celeriac chips was phenomenal.
La Table du Lavoir, inside the hotel Les Sources de Caudalie across the street from the Smith Haut-Lafitte Château, is another nearby option. It offers such items as pig’s trotter croquette and slow-cooked pork shoulder with pressed potatoes, pea cream and a rich jus. The rum baba also was quite good with strawberries and basil sorbet.
The wine
Pessac-Leognan is a major appellation of the Graves wine growing region, and there is no shortage of châteaus in the area where you can sample some of Bordeaux’s best wines. Reservations are recommended in advance for tours and tastings. From both the standpoints of quality of wine and hospitality, I’d recommend the following châteaux for their varied experiences.
Château Pape Clement: This well-known château is named for Pope Clement V and is currently owned by Bernard Magrez, who happens to own 42 wineries around the world, including four Grand Crus in Bordeaux. The first vines were planted in 1250, and you can find bottles in their cellars that date back to 1893!
Many different tours and tastings are available to book online, including blending your own bottle to take home with you. Check out the full-sized aluminum sculpture of a Rolls-Royce outside in the garden courtyard.
Domaine de Chevalier: Assistant Director Remi Edange provided an in-depth walk through the vineyard and wine production facilities. His knowledge was encyclopedic and his passion for the vines and the property was unsurpassed.
Winemakers may be responsible for many decisions in the winemaking process, but mostly Remi’s philosophy is to “let the magic happen.” The 2020 red blend that we tasted with Justine Bouchut, in charge of wine tourism, had a great bouquet with flavors of black cherry and black currants.
Château Carbonnieux: This property, dating back to the 13th century, has a reputation for producing some of the best dry white wines in all of Bordeaux. The whites sing with pineapple and peach aromas and other tropical fruits as the wine ages. These white wines are also able to age well. Marc Perrin purchased the property in 1956, and the family is still involved in all aspects of wine production.
Château Haut-Bailly: The château was built in 1872, and some of the vines that are still producing fruit are 120 years old. While honoring its distinguished past, the winery has modernized the production facilities so as not to detract from or upstage the original châteaux. The winery built the new multistory facility into a hill where all tanks and wooden barrels are housed. The domed roof of the facility is completely covered by a garden with flowers, trees, shrubs and a stone terrace completely in keeping with the surroundings.
The philosophy of tradition blended with modernity was linked together seamlessly by our tour guide, Eloise. We opted for the Collectors Tour which included a tasting of four older vintage wines paired with savory snacks. Three Grand Cru classé wines were included: a 2015, 2014 and a 2010. It was a treat to experience a mini vertical tasting and see how the age of the wines affects what you smell and taste.
In summary, Bordeaux is a treasure trove of fine wines and excellent cuisine. Most of the great growth châteaus are not open to the public unless you own a winery yourself, are a wine distributor, or a relative of an owner!
However, for those intrepid travelers who have their hearts set on the crème de la crème of Bordeaux’s wine châteaux, contact www.winetourinfrance.com or email bordeaux@winetourinfrance.com. Nonetheless, there are many high quality wineries to visit with advance reservations. The hospitality we experienced was peerless.
If you are a gastronome and an oenophile, you’ve come to the right place. Vive la France!