Wine-ding Our Way Through France – Photos from Fontainebleau, Loire Valley, Bordeaux, Carcassonne, Provence and Fréjus

"A person with increasing knowledge and sensory education may derive infinite enjoyment from wine."  - Ernest Hemingway

Our road trip through France from Reims in the north east of France, down to Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast then further south to the French Riviera was filled with beautiful sites, great meals, fun new friends, silly moments and wine, lots of wine. This is a long post, but lays out a nice little wine road trip through France!

As you can see it was a lot of driving but we were able to see a good chunk of France while also moving at a reasonable pace as not to have it feel too rushed (made the trip over two weeks time).

In Fontainebleau we explored the gardens and dipped our feet into the canal. These huge swans swam over to photobomb our selfie. It was a great a place to just walk around and enjoy the sunshine. We did not pay to tour the inside of the palace but it was grand looking from the outside.

Our couchsurfing hosts in Fontainebleau treated us to an amazing picnic dinner including escargot and a salad with some part of the duck that I had never heard of but it all tasted great! They were amazing hosts and we enjoyed talking to them about their early adulthood experiences in France and Fontainebleau. Super cool to learn about how people super similar to you live in a totally different part of the world.

Before we left Fontainebleau we went for a hike (more like a walk through the forest as the trails are basically dirt roads in most places) in the famous forests of Fontainebleau. After taking a few alternative paths and getting a little lost, we wondered upon this sweet heart shaped boulder which Alena quickly scaled. We were able to find some amazing views as well as a giant sequoia tree imported from California during our jaunt in the forests!

Our next stop was the Loire Valley where we spent the night in the very small town of Loudun. There was nothing to see there so before we headed to Bordeaux the next day, we got up early and we visited the castle fortress of Chinon. It is a massive castle high on the hill overlooking the riverside town. The history of this place was so cool as it was the main residence of Henry the II until his death following the betrayal of his son, Richard the Lionheart.

It was also the site where the grandmasters of the Knights Templar where held prisoner in 1308 before being executed by the Vatican.

There is well preserved graffiti in the dungeon where the captive Knights carved little pictures into the stone walls!

It was a pretty sweet place that we kinda accidentally stumbled upon and we were so glad we did. They also had free wine tasting in a cave and a other historical sites in the town, but we were only able to stay in Chinon for the day, so we didn't get to check out everything. Chinon is definitely somewhere I would recommend visiting and somewhere I would like to return if I make my way back to the Loire Valley.

This website has more really cool info and pictures of the Castle if you are interested:

https://www.experienceloire.com/chinon-chateau.html

Our next stop was Bordeaux! We went to Bordeaux because I wanted to taste some of their famous wines and visit some of the beautiful chateaus. The first day in the city we went to the Bar a Vin in the main tourist area of downtown Bordeaux. While I am usually wary of places like this, I had read amazing things about this bar. It is designed for tasting wine with knowledgeable servers, special glasses for each type of wine, and a large selection of Bordeaux wines at very cheap prices! I also had my first foie gras there, which I absolutely loved.

The menu was organized by type and by region in Bordeaux. With by the glass prices from €2 to €8, you cannot beat the price and experience at Bar a Vin. I read that the place is subsidized by the city tourism office to offer the opportunity to taste the amazing wines and learn about the region at an affordable price. It was awesome to order the wines and have the waiters explain a bit about the wine and the regions. I loved the place so much ended up going back for more tastings on our last day in Bordeaux. Pro tip, they let you order half glasses and they are still very large pours. This is a great way to stretch your dollar even more and try more types of their wines.

The city of Bordeaux was beautiful. We were staying in a neighboring city with a couchsurfing family for most of our time in the area. We would take the train into Bordeaux which was about 10 minutes and it would drop us off right in front of the Place de la Bourse. All the main sites and fun bars and restaurants are a short walk from that area.

Alena went to buy some cheese one day and I asked her to get some hard cheese to try as we had been trying a lot of creamy soft cheeses. She heard heart cheese instead and came back with this gem. It was a hearty white cheddar. Very good choice.

There was a special open door festival occurring in the St. Emilion region on our second day in Bordeaux so we decided to drive out there to check it out.

With just a paper map in hand (google maps was having difficulty in finding the Chateaus), we drove out to the St. Emilion region (Lalande-de-Pomerol AOC to be exact) of Bordeaux to try to taste some of their famous wine. We got a bit lost out there in the middle of the vineyards but we finally made it to the two neighboring wineries we were aiming for: Chateau Haut-Surget and Chateau La Croix St. André.

We started at La Croix and were greeted by a super friendly employee in the fermentation warehouse. We soon discovered he spoke no English and he called up the family manager to come give us a tasting. It was super awesome talking with the grandson of the founder and current manager about the wines and the history of the winery. We were able to taste their younger (2013-2016) first and second label wines. Their first label wines were very expensive and definitely needed some years to age. The second label was much fruitier and more drinkable (and way cheaper!). So we bought one of those and then the owner had a special tasting quiz for us. He poured a taste of a concealed bottle and we had to guess what year it was. Since my knowledge of the exact tastes of different vintages in Bordeaux is lacking, I failed miserably. He revealed that the wine was an acclaimed 1990 vintage, which is a famously good year in Bordeaux. It was pretty special to be able to taste a wine like that, one of a premium year so that I will probably never again get the opportunity.

Next up was Chateau Haut-Surget, which we had driven by on the way to La Croix and had seen a large crowd out front. This place was popping. It felt like a big family reunion was going on. The people there were so kind to us and tried to help us learn about the many wines they had available for tasting. Through our broken French and their broken English we got along quite well! There wines were amazing and much more moderately priced. They had a special catered lunch going on and after two extensive tastings we were ready for some food.

We order a delicious steak to share that was super affordable and ordered a bottle of their 2012 flagship wine, which they advertised with the option to drink part of it and take the rest with you! It was one of the most delicious and fun meals we had as we shared the table with friends and family of the winery. The winery owner even came and asked if we wanted a little tour of the facilities! It was such a fun experience tasting some great wines, meeting lovely people and just getting an authentic Bordeaux experience.

We spent one of our days just exploring the city of Bordeaux. We wondering into this beautiful park and spent a lot of time duck and people watching. They also had this super nifty and artsy water bottle filing station.

I also visited the Cité du Vin, which is the huge wine museum experience in Bordeaux. It was a pretty great museum to learn about basic wine facts, but was definitely tailored to wine beginners. I found a few really good exhibits and enjoyed the complimentary glass of wine from the top floor bar that overlooks the city. It is presented as a must do for Bordeaux and if you enjoy learning about wine at all, I would agree!

We finished off the day with a nice pre-set menu dinner at a traditional French restaurant called Le Loup. The 4 course meal was fantastic and well priced (€30 with glass of wine) but after 2 hours of eating (French dinners are long!), the final dish of super chocolaty pastry with ice cream (profiteroles) put me into a bit of a food-coma!

I had read that doing one of the tourism office's half day wine tours was a good deal and a good intro to the region. I also figured it would be easier to taste if I was not driving. So we signed up for a guided tour through the tourism office. The tour was of two Medoc Chateaus that were part of the 1855 classifications. I was excited to learn more about the history of Bordeaux and taste some wines from this region.

While the blogs I read said the tours put on by the tourism office were way cheaper than other private tours, it was still a steep €60 per person! But I figured this was a good opportunity to taste at some places I would not otherwise get to go to. And we'd have a designated driver so we wouldn't have to worry about our tasting everything like we did when we did the self tour a few days ago.

I ended up being pretty disappointed in the tour for the price and I would not recommend the paid tours from the tourism office if you are on a budget or have any wine experience. It was geared toward very novice wine drinkers and was way overpriced for what you got. At the first winery we went to we only got to taste one wine while the second we tasted only two! It was pretty disappointing. Our guide was really nice and gave us a lot of good info but it was nothing you couldn't learn from going to the Cite de Vin or could have read online.

(Me enjoying a cheaper alternative to the guided wine tour, a wine bar)

Our self guided tour was way better and if you are only drinking 3 small tastes of wine you don't need a designated driver! I enjoyed the tour for what it was (fun to see the famous chateaus and try a couple high end Bordeaux wines) but I would not do it again and would recommend others to go out on your own or spend your money tasting at the wine bars in Bordeaux instead.

Drinking our last bottle of the delicious Tribaut champagne in front of one of the many beautiful fountains of Bordeaux and watching the sunset over the city.

The famous water mirror public art display along Bordeaux's river front boulevard. It was difficult to find a time when the water art was not disturbed by tourists running through it, but we finally were able to see it in its full reflective glory.

Alena posing the with beautiful giant poppies of Bordeaux. It's always better to drink champagne out of plastic cups that match your outfit!

Next up we visited Carcassonne, which is supposed to be the largest and best preserved castle fortress in Europe.

You enter through the actual draw bridge so that was an pretty amazing start!

It was a huge castle that looked like it was straight out of a fairy tail. It was so big it had a full city inside

Classic photo of me trying to figure out where we are. Guide was probably in French but pictures are always a big help!

We got crepes inside the castle (not as good a Paris though). I got of video of the awesome twirling action of the crepe making.

We had a great time walking around the whole castle and learning about all its various histories as it was taken over by many different peoples over the centuries. I would recommend visiting Carcassonne if in the area, such a unique experience and so much cool history.

We popped open our above mentioned rosè champagne with some delicious bbq ribs and we were shocked to find this on the metal piece that holds the cork in place:

Pretty funny to put your mug on the cork! I assume that is Mr. Jacques.

After spending a night in Carcassonne, we drove down to Provence where we stayed for 3 days exploring the city and going on some nice hikes in the mountains.

While shopping for one of our hiking picnics, Alena noticed a specialty cheese booth set up outside the grocery store. Alena went over to buy some cheese (again) for our picnic while I loaded the car. She came back with a worried look on her face and a small chunk of €15 truffle Gouda cheese! It was not good for our budget but very good for our bellies as it was the best and most expensive cheese we had all trip!

We snuck in one last tasting while in Provence at a very small family winery called Chateau Henri Bonnaud. Their tasting room was beautiful and it was free to taste.

We had finished our hike and wanted to buy some rosè to sip pool side back at our Airbnb. I figured it would be more fun to go taste some wines and pick one from the winery than just hit up a grocery store and buy a random bottle. I was glad we did as the folks at Henri Bonnaud were great. We tasted 6 different light wines and found two we loved and were super reasonably priced (around €10).

We finished off our trip to France by getting some sunny beach time in Frejus and Saint-Tropez. We stayed in Frejus (much cheaper) and did a road trip to the famous and pricey Saint-Tropez.

We had a blast on the beach lounging and swimming in the Mediterranean. All that relaxing built up an appetite so we got some street-food sea-food paella and munched away.

We had to finish off our wines before we took our flight to Portugal so we bought a huge steak to bbq and enjoy with our wines.

And damn was this steak huge! We got a few meals out of that thing!

The only thing that makes steak and wine better is eating it with a sweet view (and with Alena)!

We spent our last full day in the French Riviera snorkeling which was super awesome! Alena had never been snorkeling and is afraid of deep water, so she was pretty nervous heading out, but she was a champ and jumped right in after me. Our guide was a helpful and fun dude who got us all set up and toured us around the little island he had boated out to. It was a cold morning but we had thick wetsuits on to keep warm. We saw tons of fish and other neat sea creatures and had a total blast. We ended our excursion with a small cocktail back at the dive shop as even though it was barely after 11am it is evidently tradition to share a drink with the group after a trip out on the water. Sadly we couldn't bring our phones so no pics, just our memories of a fun last day in France.

FYI - The dive shop was Aquatic Rando in Frejus. They did an amazing job and the gear was good. The tour (including all gear) was only €30 per person. I would highly recommend them for a snorkel or scuba outing.