During Vinexpo, the world’s premier wine trade exhibition from June 17–21 in Bordeaux, Wine Enthusiast will be at the booths, on the ground and in the chateaus. Vinexpo continues through Thursday. So join us and check back daily.

Best barrel bed in Bordeaux
A charged weekend began Friday at Château La Mission Haut-Brion with the Dillon family owners Duchesse de Mouchy (Joan Dillon) and her son Prince Robert de Luxembourg. A new barrel cellar (probably one of the most expensive and sumptuous ones a barrel has ever seen) was the reason for the party. Of course, the wines of La Mission were great but the surprise star of the evening was the white Laville Haut-Brion 1989. For a change of pace, some Napa Valley vintners including Michaela Rodeno of St. Supery joined an informal party in the far eastern reaches of the Gironde on Saturday with biodynamic wine from Jean-Michel de Robillard and a chamber orchestra that is still “in training.” 

Tour de France
Despite a lightning and thunder extravaganza, Domaine de Chevalier in Pessac-Leognan, always awarded “best party of the week” by the global select invited, wines from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 2000s were “tasted” with abandon. And who wouldn’t? Jaboulet Aîné, Domaine Leflaive, Olivier Leflaive, Pol Roger, Zind-Humbrecht, Faiveley, Château de Fuissé, Alphonse Mellot and Domaine de Chevalier. In fact, it is called the Tour de France. It’s an informal get-together of friends and wine and Chevalier owner Olivier Bernard’s other passion, jazz. Jaboulet’s La Chapelle 1983 was a big hit with the Wine Enthusiast. Each year the group invites another winery and this year it was Sassacaia. Unfortunately, Marchese Niccolo Incisa della Rocchetta was called away at the last minute. But the whisper was that the marchese had horses running in Milan and opted out. And, as an aside from Vinexpo, though he lost the Derby, Jess Jackson (Kendall-Jackson) got the roses at the Preakness. Does this bring a whole new meaning to “sweaty saddles” as a wine descriptor?

Goliath gutted by the Gauls  
This woman is:
1. a martian 
2. a martini 
3. miserable
 
Leave it to the French to stymie the power of Goliath. It’s not often that one of the world’s largest and most influential wine companies runs into a brick wall. But, after having spent beaucoup bucks on a prestigious lakeside pavilion at Vinexpo, Gallo’s wines got held up by a single French customs man at the French border. But it wasn’t a Mondovino revenge. Fosters (Australia) and Wines of South Africa were among others that spent the weekend languishing on the French Belgian border. This was Gallo’s first time as a big presence at Vinexpo. Will it be the last?

Just spell my name right
There is the axiom that any press is good press, just spell my name right. Not sure this applies to Alain Juppé, mayor of Bordeaux, who was supposed to make a national political comeback in the French elections on Sunday. President Nicolas Sarkozy had appointed him Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment; he just had to win a Senate seat. Well, dramatically socialist Bordeaux (chateaus excepted) had other ideas, so Juppé got the boot. But, the consummate politician, Juppé still showed up on Monday morning for the official opening of Vinexpo. And then dodged the press with a side door exit.
 
Wine: the Dating Game
Have you ever considered using wine as a love tool? Who hasn’t. But Soif de Coeur (Thirsty Heart) has gone for the looking-for-love category of wine buyer. A Bordeaux-based company launched a new appellation wine with blue and pink labels and an invitation to sign on to a dating service. The concept, launched this week,  is to buy the wine (only in France at the moment, for 3 euros), drink the bottle, revealing the secret log-in code on the back of the label, sign into the dating Web site and find your soul mate (or at least one who likes 3 euro wine). The wine can come from anywhere on the west coast of France. There is no such designation for the date. It appears to be targeting the heterosexual market, and this may be one time when being left out is a preferred option. 

Breaking news
At times like these there is an incredible range of wines to taste. And then go to dinner and to drink. Who wouldn’t want to sip a practically unlimited range of 25+/- year old Burgundies, Bordeaux and other wines from around the world? But a Canadian wine merchant revealed the secret at a dinner in Pessac-Leognan on Sunday. Go ahead, get glasses with all the wines you want to taste at dinner. Taste, swallow and then taste again and spit back into the glass. That ends the drinking of that wine (for non-wine fanatics, honestly, it does). Of course, this heretofore never revealed tactic will probably result in heart attacks in some classified growth chateaus.

Despite the fact that the southern French balaclava-clad grape growers had threatened bodily harm if French President Nicolas Sarkozy didn’t make the state give them more money for their grapes, so far, nothing has happened. But security is tighter than in previous years at Vinexpo. Some chateau owners contacted were surprised when asked. Then again, many of their chateaus survived the revolution of the late 1700s that made France what it is today.

Bordeaux’s International Fair is a huge exhibition of culture and cuisine which is visited by 300,000 visitors over the ten days.

Businesses come to the fair to display and sell their wares, with four separate areas within the exhibition to separate the huge number of stalls.

There will be an international area, emotions and spare time area, life and house zone and an agricultural area for you to explore.

The international area offers delightful aromas of Moroccan spices and Colombian coffee along with Egyptian furniture and Brazilian dance.

Life and house involves a number of items for a living space and the agricultural area gives people the opportunity to understand Bordeaux’s agriculture and wine industry.

The exhibition is open from 09:30 local time to 19:00 local time and is ideally positioned close by to roads and airports.

Mere mention of the name "Bordeaux" is enough to make any wine lover’s spine tingle. It evokes visions of seductive white wines and beautifully complex reds, as well as stately chateaux and pedigreed vineyards. Sadly, the thought of Bordeaux can also make one’s wallet feel instantly lighter. Think of the wines that cost up to thousands of Euros a case! Imagine the economic toll of nights spent in luxurious chateau hotels, and of wine-based beauty treatments in posh spas.

But maybe, I asked myself recently, maybe Bordeaux doesn’t have to cost the proverbial arm and a leg. Might it be possible, I wondered, to find an array of appealing yet affordable Bordeaux wines? Furthermore, could one realistically contemplate a visit to Bordeaux on a reasonably priced budget?

These questions are the reason I find myself now on the TGV whisking from Paris down to Bordeaux (with 25 trains a day to and from Paris, and 140 flights connecting it to various other cities, Bordeaux is certainly accessible). My goal is to spend a handful of days in the city of Bordeaux sampling wines, eateries, and accommodations, all in a reasonable mid-price range.

Arriving in town on a Sunday night — not a great time to go anywhere in France since most restaurants are closed on Sunday — I check into my hotel, then head out to the streets to look for a place to dine.

I could hop on Bordeaux’s spiffy and efficient new tramway, which covers most of the city. Installed in 2004, the high-tech tram is efficient, inexpensive, and non-polluting. It has greatly reduced downtown traffic congestion, and since it operates on an underground power supply, there are no ugly cable systems overhead. But instead, I think I’ll walk. For those of us who like both the exercise and the expediency of getting about on foot, Bordeaux is an idyllic city, with plenty of car-free zones, and easy to navigate with the help of a basic map.

I saunter through town slipping easily from one neighborhood to the next. Bordeaux is divided into several different districts, each with its own charm. Saint-Michel is very cosmopolitan, with a colorful outdoor market on Saturday mornings and a flea market on Sundays. Narrow, cobbled streets characterize Saint Pierre. The Grands Hommes district (known also as The Triangle) is lined with elegant boutiques and townhouses, while the Chartrons, the former heart of the Bordeaux wine trade, features magnificent architecture.

By chance, I happen upon Chez Paulette, a delightful little bistrot embellished with walls covered with pictures. The somewhat funky decor is well matched by a menu that sums up the essence of bistro cuisine with items such as gratineed pigs’ feet, porcini mushrooms (cepes) baked in a deep dish to luscious perfection, delicately sauteed sweetbreads. One simple measure of good bistrot cooking is the success of the omelettes, and Chez Paulette turns them out classically golden on the outside with a voluptuously soft interior. Tender and tasty white asparagus is a Bordelais favorite, especially when accompanied by refreshing local Sauvignon-Blanc/Semillon white wine. The wine list at Chez Paulette offers good and affordable selections such as Domaine de Grandmaison, Chateau Coufran, and L’Abeille de Fieuzal, none of these more than 30 Euros.

It’s less than a 15-minute walk back to the Hotel de Normandie. Situated in the heart of the historic section of the city, the Normandie’s windows look out over the tree-lined Esplanade des Quinconces. With the exception of the spacious "Grand Confort" rooms on the top floor, guest rooms are generally smallish, but they are clean, serviceable, and modestly priced, ranging from EU 55-120. But what the Normandie is really all about is location. From here, it’s a two minute walk to the famed Grand Theatre, and less than 5 minutes to the banks of the Garonne River. Most conveniently for any wine lover, a scant block separates the hotel from the CIVB (the Conseil Interprofessionnel de Vin de Bordeaux — the Bordeaux Wine Council).

Around mid-morning the next day I make my way over to the 18th-century building that houses the CIVB, and head upstairs to the Ecole de Vin for a quick Bordeaux primer with Gabrielle Shaw. Shaw, a British Master of Wine, offers classes geared either to wine professionals or to interested amateurs, ranging from a two hour general introductory seminar to four-day intensive courses. Under her tutelage I brush up on Bordeaux’s important wine regions, including the Medoc (home of some of the most impressive chateaux and prestigious Classified Growths), the Blaye and Bourg districts (known for picturesque villages, Romanesque churches, and vine-covered slopes overlooking the Gironde River), Saint Emilion (as famous for its eponymous medieval town as for its fine, elegant wines), Entre-Deux-Mers (Bordeaux’s largest winegrowing region, named for the two rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne, that mark its borders), and Graves (stretching bucolically along the west bank of the Garonne to the Landes pine forests).

With appetite fueled by a late-morning wine tasting at the CIVB, I stroll over to the bustling Place de Quinconces for lunch. A decade ago it was a challenge to come up with more than a handful of Bordeaux restaurants that were worthy of a great wine capital, but that picture has improved considerably. At the popular Bistrot de Quinconces, I order a glass of Chateau Tour de Mirambeau from Entre-Deux-Mers, a fresh and lively white wine that is a perfect partner for a dozen oysters shimmering in their shells before me (Bordeaux’s Arcachon oysters, raised on the coast due west of Graves, are notoriously sweet and plump). Sticking with the sea motif, the oysters are followed by a filet of carrelet, a diminutive Atlantic fish with the pure white flesh and delicate flavors of sole.

I devote the next couple of days to simply roaming around Bordeaux. This is a town that has impressively reinvented itself, evolving through the 1990s from a gray and sullen provincial outpost into a dynamic, welcoming metropolis. In addition to the fine new tramway, other municipal improvements include the creation of new parks and the renovation of public squares. Bordeaux’s elegant 18th-century buildings have been restored and buffed clean to reveal the pale, golden stone that had been obscured by centuries of grit and grime.

Bordeaux’s praiseworthy museums include the CAPC, where contemporary art is exhibited in a cavernous former colonial warehouse. The hulking old stone building provides a spectacular setting for the art, and it also houses an attractive cafe that is a great place to grab a bite to eat while resting one’s feet after a morning spent plodding around museums. In temperate weather the museum’s roof provides a restful haven as well as stunning views over the city.

I while away another couple of hours at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, with its varied collection of furniture, glass, ceramics and metalwork displayed in a pristinely preserved 18th century mansion set at the back of a cobbled courtyard. Just up the street from the museum on the tiny rue Bouffard, is an exceedingly agreeable Bed & Breakfast named Une Chambre En Ville. I spend my last couple of nights at the B&B to get a feel for what it’s like to stay in this section of town. Although it’s right in the center of the city, rue Bouffard is a fairly quiet street lined with antique stores (the double-paned insulated windows at Une Chambre further guarantee a quiet night’s rest.) The five guest rooms are stylishly furnished, and although a couple of them are small, mine (the Bordelaise Suite) is large and airy. (Rooms range from EU 79 to 89).

Heading further into the center of town, I pop into Thierry Lalet Dessert, a tiny shop where mouth-watering pastries are displayed jewel-like in glass cases. At Saunion, fine candy makers since 1893, I sample lightly salted chocolate meant to be enjoyed with wine. I also drop in at Jean d’Alos, the finest cheese store in Bordeaux (Jean d’Alos is widely recognized as one of the country’s finest affineurs). I make my way over to bustling Baillardron to sample caneles (unique to Bordeaux, caneles are little fluted cakes, caramelized on the outside, with a soft interior lightly flavored with vanilla and a hint of rum). At L’Intendant, a retail mecca for wine lovers, I climb the spiral staircase that corkscrews up four floors lined with shelves holding thousands of bottles of wine.

Among my favorite eateries in the city’s historic district is the informal and inexpensive Jool D. Le Bistrot de L’Huitre, where I slurp up oysters garnished Bodeaux-style with sausage, washed down with Clos de Beau Site Graves. For heartier fare I spend my last evening at La Tupina, where the substantial cuisine of Gascony reigns. At La Tupina the decor is casual, and both the menu and wine list cover a wide range of options and prices. Just walking past the open fireplace where ducks, chickens and steaks sizzling over the flames release heavenly aromas into the atmosphere is enough to make one fairly swoon with anticipation. Foie gras, rich and voluptuous, is garnished with nothing more than a sprinkling of coarse salt. Wild boar has been patiently braised in a pungent wine and herb infused potion, and garlic-spiked lamb spent a day simmering to silken tenderness. Fried potatoes that are utterly addictive accompany steak, grilled to perfection with a crisply browned exterior and juicy pink interior, the gastronomic equivalent of a habit-forming drug.

Since I can’t possibly go straight back to my hotel and bed after indulging so at La Tupina, I cross over the bridge on this balmy evening for one last look at Bordeaux in all her twinkling nighttime splendor. There is no better vista of the city, either after dark or by light of day, than from the opposite bank of the Garonne, looking across the dark water to the graceful procession of tawny buildings curving along the quay. And this splendid view costs absolutely nothing.

For anyone who has ever wondered how the bottle of wine on your table was produced, Bordeaux’s Ecole du Vin has the answer. A new course ‘Destination Wine Harvest’ has been introduced to their programme and is an interactive trip for wine lovers to experience the wine harvest first hand.

The two-day course is spent participating in the wine harvest, picking the grapes and learning about the winemaking process. Following the grapes from the vines to the vat room; working at the sorting table; observing the first fermentation and tasting the wines throughout the different vinification stages, this is the perfect initiation for wine enthusiasts.

The course begins with an introductory session in the Ecole du Vin in the heart of Bordeaux city, before heading out to the Sauternes and Médoc regions to start work.

The courses will take place on 22nd-23rd September and 6th-7th October and cost 450€ per person (based on double occupancy)*.

The Ecole du Vin has also introduced a number of other new courses for 2007:

Bordeaux Classics (3 days)
An initiation to the world of appellations, aromas and flavours, including a trip along the Médoc Châteaux route and a leisurely stroll through Saint Emilion. 645€ including lunches, dinners with 2 nights accommodation in a 3 star hotel.

Introduction to Bordeaux (2-hour Summer Course)
Running from June-September, Monday to Saturday. 22€ per person.

Intensive Courses (from 450€ to 900€, including lunches)
- Learning how to taste with an opportunity to discover the wide diversity of Bordeaux wines (3 days)
- The essence of Bordeaux (3 days)
- The legendary Châteaux of Bordeaux: the classifications and the wines (4 days)

Châteaux open their doors: 9.30am-6pm, 165€ (currently only in French)
Morning course at the Ecole du Vin and lunch in a Château with the winemaker.

*The price of the Destination Wine Harvest course includes:
- Two night’s accommodation and breakfast in a 3 star hotel in Bordeaux
- selected meals (lunch and dinner on the 1st day and lunch on the 2nd – wine included with dinner)
- introductory wine-tasting course at the Ecole du Vin
- the visits and tastings at wine estates
- excursions accompanied by a Wine Educator

To book, visit Lesacabailles.fr or Ecole.vins-bordeaux.fr

CHATEAU CAMIAC HOTEL BORDEAUX
Chateau Camiac Hotel Bordeaux is a romantic hotel built in the 19th century. It was recently refurbished in the magic surrounding of Bordeaux. Located very close from Bordeaux and an proximity from St.Emilon, the hotel offers 4 luxurious suites with warm decoration and 6 cozy standard rooms with wood beam. Discrete and efficient service with young dynamic team will make you feel as if you are like in your own castle.

EXCLUSIVE HOTEL LA MAISON BORDEAUX
Exclusive Hotel La Maison Bordeaux is decorated in a contemporary style, extremely comfortable with a wine list featuring some great wines. This is a special place, in the heart of Bordeaux. As soon as you come through the gate, the garden welcomes you, bright and calm. This is where you will be served breakfast in summer. There is a car park and a limousine service for those who wish to be collected from the station or airport. Enjoy a relaxing walk in the fine public park nearby or play golf on one of the courses around Bordeaux.

HOTEL MERCURE CHATEAU CHARTRONS BORDEAUX
The Hotel Mercure Chateau Chartrons Bordeaux, in the very heart of the Chartrons neighborhood, a great place of the wine trade, is both the shop-window and the gateway to Bordeaux. Discover close by the village of the antique dealers, the shops and quality stores, the Chartrons Museum and Old Bordeaux. The hotel, is an exceptional centre for visiting the castles of the Medoc region or the Medieval Town of Saint-Emilion, taking a boat trip on the Gironde, along the Bassin d’Arcachon and the sea-shores of the Atlantic Coast.

HOTEL BURDIGALA BORDEAUX
The Hotel Burdigala Bordeaux is just a short walk from the Place Gambetta. The hotel is an ideal setting for a business or leisure stay in the heart of Bordeaux. The hotels is ideally situated for visitors to the area. It has a warm and welcoming atmosphere that emphasizes friendly and hospitable service. A harmonious space, with subtle and restful color schemes and fine and noble materials with the best of modern materials to provide a prestigious décor with a perfect harmony of tradition and modern comfort throughout.

QUALITY HOTEL SAINTE CATHERINE BORDEAUX
Quality Hotel Sainte Catherine Bordeaux is ideally situated in the heart of Europe’s largest pedestrian zone, adjacent to the Grand Theater. Surrounding the Quality Hotel Sainte Catherine, you will find a delightful and animated neighborhood. More and more tourists are finding Bordeaux a beautiful and enjoyable place to visit. Bordeaux provides a unique opportunity to discover its famed vineyards. Sidewalk cafes, gastronomic restaurants, cabarets, pubs, movies, shops, museums and wine tasting are within easy reach from the hotel.