Bordeaux Region

I went to Bordeaux with my 20 year old niece. We visited Cite du vin. I learned a lot that I did not know from the exhibits covering winemaking around the world. It was very interesting so much that my niece ended up taking a course on winemaking as a part of her elective studies at Cornell. The visit ends at the top of the museum with a tasting of your choice from the selection that they have.

I would guess the large font is the result of a symbol you used in your original post. Did you use the pound (number) sign? It's almost certainly something like that. It should work right if, instead, you use the numbered-list icon above the posting box.

I recall reading a negative comment or two about the Cite du Vin--perhaps not on this forum. Since I wasn't going there to take in the exhibition on wine-making, I didn't pay attention to the details. Since you're pretty serious about wine, perhaps you'll find the displays too basic for you. But I'm just guessing.

The food hall located near the Cite du Vin had some interesting options but not much in the way of indoor seating; I believe there were some outdoor tables. It would be a good place to pick up picnic (or in-room) fodder, I believe. I did buy something to eat on the spot; I consumed it at a stand-up table. I have no idea whether there are any wine offerings.

I suspect the very picturesque St-Emilion is more of a zoo on weekends than on weekdays. I went on Friday, May 31, and the lower part of town, where the restaurants are located, was busy but not ludicrously so. On the other hand, you might find some places closed on a Monday (maybe?).

I think that the Bordeaux area is probably the worst place in France for the following:

We are looking for more casual experiences. We have fond memories of tasting with winery owners/producers in other parts of Europe

I've visited every wine region in France, and although I've visited Bordeaux itself several times, I've never visited any wineries there except for a couple of dessert wine producers in the St. Croix du Mont/Cadillac/Loupiac area. In fact, you might want to look into that if you want a more casual wine tasting experience.

Acraven, you have it right! I used the number sign. Won't do that again. We will be in St. Emilion on a Thursday or Friday. We will try to make it the Thursday.

Jazz and acraven, thank you for your thoughts on the Cite' du Vin. I hope I will get a bit more input though what I read in the guidebook gives me the same impression as what acraven said.

Robert, Bordeaux was a good starting point for a much longer itinerary. The city itself looks lovely. I am pretty excited about Blaye. I'm dumping Cognac it's not by anything else in the itinerary. If Bordeaux is a bust, we will have La Rioja to look forward to!

We are planning a 6-week cycling trip to France arriving in Bordeaux on August 24 and staying for 4 nights before heading via bike to the Medoc for the start of our 38 days of cycling. We love wine and are definitely planning a visit to Cité du Vin on the advice of friends who really enjoyed it, finding it informative and quite educational.

We are also planning on going to Musée du Vin et du Negoce which has mixed reviews so I'll be happy with just a tasting session. There are a number of wine tours to the nearby Medoc vineyards from Bordeaux but I can't comment on them as we are planning on riding through the area for several days so have planned several rides through the area. I believe that some tours might be via bicycle but don't quote me on that. The Graves region is just south of Bordeaux and we will ride through there later, staying in Martillac.

I have used the Michelin Guide "Wine Regions in France" as well as "Exploring Wine Regions - Bordeaux" by Michael Higgens to give us a sense of places that might be open to visitors, albeit many require appointments. Biking doesn't really lend itself to structured visits to wineries. If nothing else, we have a list of chateaus to ride by and gawk at! There are also a series of books: Lewin Guides Wines and Top Vineyards that list all the major wineries by region. I'm using the Bordeaux Left Bank guide and the Languedoc-Roussillon guides from this series and they are very detailed with comments such as "they are not very friendly at the Chateau xxx, especially if you turn up late for a rendezvous..." I purchased all of these books on Amazon and they were all reasonably priced.

We have cycled in the Right Bank/Dordogne, the Loire and Burgundy and have found that some of our best wine experiences have been in small wine stores and wine bars or smaller, chef-focused restaurants where they really understand the local wine and are happy to share with interested tourists like us.

you can edit your original post and remove the offending symbol and your OP will go back to normal

Great tips KAS, I will look for those books! Thank you and fixed, Nigel. I'm scrambling to get this trip planned in a shorter time frame than what I'm used to.