When in France, do as the French - which obviously means drink more wine. First step, learn as much as possible about wine, and what better place to do that than Bordeaux.
Bordeaux was an hour drive from Lacanau, so we spent a morning learning a great deal about the different regions of France, the different grapes that are used to make Bordeaux wine, all about the vines and how they are grown and alas the tasting. We learned that you're supposed to hold wine glasses by the stem, not the base, as your hand would warm the wine. Who knew? We also learned how to read french wine labels, which, as it turns out, are very different than the labels we are used to reading. For example, the wine is not labeled "Cabernet" or "Merlot", it is simply marked by the estate that produced the wine and perhaps the region. It is up to the buyer to know what varietal he is buying. Also, only first production wine from a particular year is allowed to be called "Chateau" - all others from that year must use another name.
We passed our class and headed out for a quick dejeuner before returning to Lacanau, feeling ripe and a little more educated about the french culture.
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| Learned quite a bit about wines and vines |
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The wine regions in France - they all use a different combination of grape varieties
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