Ryan's Bordeaux Blog

On Monday morning I was up at 8:00 am and waiting in the office for Thierry to go to Vinexpo at 9:00 am. Vinexpo is a bi-annual wine event for professionals held in Bordeaux that brings together merchants from all walks of life; from retail to negociant, as well as the wineries themselves. I've been very fortunate to secure an invitation to this event through the Lurton's negociant house "Les Passions des Terroirs." Meeting up with Thierry, he let me know that we wouldn't be going immediately and about 2 hours later we were finally off.

I missed an aged riesling tasting but that was small potatoes because this was the day I had an invitation to the tasting of the Unions des Grand Crus 2008 vintage. That is, I was going to be tasting Bordeaux wines from the 2008 vintage from a union made up of some of the chateau in the top classification (of 1855). Shortly after arriving at Vinexpo and a tedious wait in line to obtain our passes we were finally admitted in to one of three massive buildings housing the dense maze of negociant and winery stands (which were more like trendy and almost-too-chic-for-our-own-good cubicle-rooms where the cat and mouse game between said attendees is played). It was a pretty cool feeling to stroll through Vinexpo with Thierry. It would be hard for one to guess, without examining his name tag that this small and unassuming man at my side was a Lurton. Anyway, Thierry had to actually work at the Passions des Terroirs stand promoting Chateau Camarsac while I got to play... I made my way to the invitation only UGC tasting at around 1:45 pm and tasted my way through about 30 Bordeaux (all Grand Cru from the '08 vintage), and about 10 Sauternes. Despite being very young and fairly tight I took tasting notes on all the wines I tried and if memory serves my top wines were: Troplong Mondot, Pontet Canet, Lascombes, and Figeac, with Suduiraut being my top Sauternes. I spit them all of course, except the Suduiraut which absolutely made me melt when I tasted it... I love Sauternes. I should probably put myself on drool watch in the future - they're that good. After tasting about 40 wines and traversing the grounds several times by 5:00 pm I was fairly tired and so decided to call it a day and after a bus and tram ride followed by a 15 minute walk I got to Nathanael's downtown apartment, where I enjoyed the evening with him and his family and where I was to spend the next couple of nights as it was am easier location to access Vinexpo and downtown Bordeaux from.

Tuesday was day 2 for Vinexpo. It was a little more comfortable since I was already familiar with the tram and bus routes from the previous day and I also got to sleep in a bit and headed over at around 1:00 pm for tastings at 3:00 pm. After the tram and bus ride there I had some time to kill so I decided to find the Les Passions des Terrioirs stand. It was a fruitless venture though, as Thierry was in the middle of a conversation and after standing around awkwardly and being asked by some older guy if he could help me (to which I showed him my badge and without hesitation but perhaps too much zeal exclaimed ".... avec Thierry Lurton!" in the best french I could muster) I gave Thierry a quick pat on the shoulder during a break in the conversation, but during the quick chit chat that ensued sensed a bit of tension so I decided to leave him work. My real goal was to get an introduction to his sister Berenice Lurton standing just a few feet away and to also get a pour of her Sauternes (Chateau Climens), as it's one of the top players beneath the acknowledged king of Sauternes, Chateau D'Yquem. So, I killed the rest of the time (about an hour and a half to two hours) by grabbing a sandwich for lunch. It was great to people watch as everyone was impeccably dressed, so I strolled around the absolutely vast maze of domaine and negociant stands. I had a bit of trouble finding the correct room for the Alsatian whites tasting and arrived 15 minutes late to find that not only was it a structured tasting but there were also 4 small courses served with it. I sat down, tasted, and started writing my notes immediately. It was a bit amusing that for each wine there were a few speakers up at the front who would spout some sort of way over the top, pretentious sonnet about that particular varietal. I gave a quick look around the room to see if anybody else was about to start laughing... This sort of useless nonsense was followed by a slightly more practical speaker who would introduce the wine and list it's attributes like residual sugar level, flavor profile, reasons for selecting it, etc. It was about 8 wines in total and wrapped up shortly before 5:00 pm. Since the sweet wines of Germany and Austria tasting started at exactly the same time I was unable to make both of them but despite the overlap I was glad I ended up in Alsace as the whites produced there are some of my favorite after Sauternes and white Burgundies.

Wednesday began with a 7:00 am start, a quick shower, a bite to eat, and out the door of Nathanael's downtown Bordeaux apartment. I enjoyed my beautiful walk over one of the ornate bridges leading to downtown Bordeaux and then it was business as usual with a ride on the tram, followed by the bus. I got to the invitation only Sauternes tasting (of the 2004 vs. 2006 vintages) with about 5 minutes to spare and then commenced. I tasted my way through about 42 wines, taking tasting notes on all of them. Some had tropical fruit flavors: mango, pineapple, banana, coconut, and some had very clear dried fruit flavors: dried apricots and dried pineapple... Some had honeyed and floral characteristics... Others had toffee and almonds. Some even had a bit of funk! Some were thin on the palate, and others were heavy, layered and viscous. Most of the '06 I found to be quite tight still, and there were some that had distinct mushroom/truffle characteristics on the nose that blew off with air time. My top wine of that tasting was probably the 2004 Rieussec which was absolutely gorgeous and haunting as I found it more difficult to focus on the other wines afterward. I broke for lunch after the tasting and then killed some time wandering around the stands until it was time for Pomerol. For those that don't know, Pomerol is a "right bank" appellation in Bordeaux where there's no official classification system and the blend is typically dominated by Merlot. There were a couple of big names at this tasting but I was a little surprised that more heavy hitters weren't there given that it was also invitation only. Being slightly fatigued from the 42 wines I just tasted and the fact that this tasting was quite crowded I only tasted about 15-20 more wines before calling it a day.

Thursday was the last day for Vinexpo and the once massive crowds were reduced to more comfortable levels. There was also only one scheduled tasting - Cru Bourgeois Bordeaux. Bordeaux has a classification system for it's wines, it goes Appellation Controlee (for the lowest end), then Bordeaux Superieur, then Cru Bourgeois, then Grand Cru (highest end). Having pretty much filled the book I was using for writing my tasting notes and wanting to relax a bit I went into the Cru Bourgeois tasting and only tasted wines that I recognised, without taking notes... So only about 15-20 wines. I had a quick lunch at 1:00 pm and made my way out of Vinexpo across the orange floating bridge which traverses the small lake on one side of the grounds to get to the busses. It's an interesting walk since (due to the movement of the water) suddenly the bridge will lurch over about a foot or two to the right or left, like a simulation of what it would be like if you didn't spit the wines you tasted all day. Not wanting to return back to Nathanael's too early I decided I'd get off the tram 1 stop early, in the Place de Concourse and wander the city for a bit. I made my way directly into the heart of the city and walked along Rue Sainte-Catherine, a pedestrian only shopping street that has 1.2 kilometres of shops, restaurants and cafes; it is also the longest shopping street in Europe and fairly upscale. My main goal was to get to the city centre, called Place Gambetta, since I've been told about a number of places of interest in that area and all of the directions are in reference to it. I didn't have to follow Rue Sainte-Catherine long before I reached Place Gambetta, which is a very beautiful public park in the center of the city, with quaint little cafe's, bakeries, and shops surrounding. I sat and had an orangina on a bench for a while, thinking and people watching. The girl sitting next to me left some sort of ID so I ran after her to give it back, afterward making the longish walk back across Rue Sainte-Catherine and to the bridge, across it, and way down the street to Nathanael's apartment.

On Friday Nathanael let me know that since Vinexpo was over but I still had the easy access to Bordeaux from his apartment that I should take the time to explore the city, and after hearing of my interest in the local markets, pointed out three different ones on my map of the city as well as the Bordeaux institute of wine. After a small breakfast I set out across the bridge over the Garonne once again, marking the passange into downtown Bordeaux... First stop was to seek out Robert Parker's favorite Bordeaux restaurant, called "La Tupina." The day before, I'd gotten some tourist information center attendants to mark it on my trusty map and so walking along the one of the riverside streets it wasn't long before I eventually reached La Tupina. Along with Parker's nod as his fav. it's gotten a lot of press from the forum, so I've been anxious to check it out.

Consulting my map I made my way to a very old church afterward, and in Bordeaux for some reason the bell-tower of the church is always separate from the actual church. Anyway, it was gothic and absolutely gorgeous with a bell tower that's so big it can be seen from Nathanael's apartment on the other side of the Garonne. A few blocks north I noticed the first of the three markets I was planning on visiting - Marche Capucin. It was a gorgeous market, just my kind of place, and this one turned out to be my favorite, rivalling my beloved St. Lawrence market in Toronto. After that I made my way to the "Place de Victoire" and then walked along the Rue St. Catherine, the aforementioned shopping street, to "Victor Hugo Marche", which was a very small market with just a few shops. Continuing to follow Rue St. Catherine to the end I reached "Place de Grande Homme" where the third market was located. This one was much smaller with just a few merchants, and was located in the basement, with modern clothing stores and shops on the upper levels. Nice, but not the real McCoy that I'd just seen at the first one. It began raining at about this time and so I made my way over, getting a little bit lost along the way, to the area I knew that the Bordeaux institute was located, which is in the opera house / The Regent Hotel part of the city. I wandered into 3 wine shops... One of which I'd heard about before and had quite a beautiful setup where the entire shop was contained in a tower with a spiral staircase. I made lots of good finds, and even some nice bottles from my birth year of 1985. I also stumbled into a sort of modern art gallery which was quite nice. Shortly after this I successfully located the Bordeaux institute but unfortunately it closes after noon, and I was a bit late, so I grabbed my brocure and made my way over to the city centre - "Place Gambetta" grabbing a orangina and having a drink on one of the benches in the beautiful park, just as I'd done the day before. After I was finished it was back down Rue St. Catherine, to the old church, and back to La Tupina... It was about 3:30 pm by now and making my way into La Tupina and following some awkward conversation with a hostess that only spoke french I was yet again disappointed as they were closed at such a late hour for lunch and early hour for dinner. Anyway, it was back across the bridge and down the street again to Nathanael's, stopping along the way to pick up a "saucisson" (a dry cured type of sausage that is does not need to be cooked) sandwich on a baguette at a bakery and another orangina for about 4 euro - I love it here.

This weekend Chateau Camarsac played host as we had our monthly "doors open" event where visitors are led through the castle and get to do some wine tasting in an effort build a reputation with the local residents and to sell wine. To help Mideaux and Habier's youngest son Yaseen make money for his upcoming trip to Chicago, they set up a stand where visitors can get Morrocan tea and cookies, all home made by Habier, who's an excellent cook.

Since "La Fete de la musique" was taking place in Bordeaux, on Sunday we had some great Argintinian groups come and play at the castle. There was also a group of vintage car enthusiasts with some fairly interesting older cars that were invited to drive up and park just infront of the castle for onlookers.



On Sunday night I was invited to go with Yaseen and his older brother to downtown Bordeaux. This worked out to be a perfect opportunity to get the introduction to the city that I'd been hoping for as we bar hopped and made our way through a maze of tiny restaurants and hangouts amidst a healthy crowd that had come out for the fireworks and the "fete de la musique" earlier in the day. At about 11:00 pm most people were gathered in the Place de la Bourse for what was to be one of the most stunning fireworks displays I'd ever seen. After meeting up with two more of the brother's friends, a couple, we headed over to the city centre. After having champagne directly behind an absolutely beautiful old carousel in the middle of the street we decided to call it a night. They'd like to make plans with me for next weekend and since I enjoyed the group's company so much I'm certainly looking forward to it.

It's been a week of the usual 4:45 am starts and the usual suspects.


On Monday evening after I got back from work and had a quick shower, change of clothes, and powernap I was thrilled to find that my invitation to vinexpo had arrived. Vinexpo is an annual wine event for professionals held in Bordeaux, and features many tastings, talks, and conferences. Having the opportunity to attend this year with Thierry Lurton is quite a perk, and while cherry picking which tastings I'd attend on the vinexpo website I found that the Unions des Grand Crus was having a tasting of the 2008 vintage, but it was invitation only. Having spent quite a sum of money to attend the same tasting of the 2005 vintage when the Unions des Grand Crus came to Toronto I was intent on obtaining access... First stop: Thierry Lurton. After explaining the situation his reply was "I have 5 brothers and 5 sisters. We're in the Unions des Grand Crus." Et voila! I love it when he says stuff like that. I'll be attending the private tasting on Monday and having read good reviews at nauseum I'm looking forward to having a look in on the wines for myself. As it stands right now I have 2-3 tastings a day from Monday to Wednesday and all of them are right down my alley, with lots of Bordeaux, aged Rieslings, white Burgundy, and Alsatian whites. I'm also working on getting myself into an invitation only tasting of select vintages of Sauternes and Barsac (some of my favs), and since Thierry's sister Berenice Lurton is the president of the organization hosting this I'm hopeful.

Tuesday evening I rode with Mideaux to a nearby grocery store. Having been stuck in a strange sort of purgatory consisting of hot dogs and camembert I was very excited to go and scavange for myself. I'm pleased to say that at this tiny, hole in the wall grocery store I was able make some great finds (duck breasts etc.) with lots of fresh local produce and a real butcher. Sitting outside in my favorite little dinner/reading spot next to Mideaux's garden and overlooking the pigeon house and the vineyards I was pleased to confirm while eating dinner that night that gastronomically I'd finally arrived in France!

On Thursday we moved to the new 9 hectare "Cabara" vineyard, which is close by the "Le Bedat" vineyard and requires the same type of work, of stapling the training wires and "lavage" of the rootstock. The fun didn't stop when I got home, either. When I got back I had a shower and change of clothing but afterward as I was preparing a proper lunch Nathanael showed up with a knock at the door asking me if I wanted to go for a drive through the Entre Duex Mers country side. To try to simplify a very complicated story it turns out Sabastian broke the Peugeot and despite the momentary satisfaction that I'd gained from the fact that my adversary was lying dead in a field somewhere, we made several trips to the mechanic and back to try to get it working again. Finally, we ended up giving the mechanic the keys so he could go out there himself while we drove to a town about 20 minutes away to get a broken tractor part fixed. We get back, I turn on the car and the car turns on me as it becomes entrenched in the pit of mud it was sitting it... It was about 7:00 pm by the time we got it out and I'd finished cleaning it and finally reached the end of a long day.

Friday after work when I was in the office I was greeted by a very excited Mideaux, wanting me to come with him to pick cherries. A short drive in the country later and we'd arrived at an old house and made our way through some rows of vines to reach two large, majestic cherry trees. Using a stepladder I grabbed at the big clumps of crimson cherries with both hands and when we were finished we both had our bags full of beautifully ripe cherries.

Later that night I decided it was time to explore the castle:




I'll be returning to the castle next week to document the collection of old books and also to explore the harder to reach areas, so stay tuned! I'm very much looking forward to the prospects of next week.

Saturday morning I decided that I'd pack my camera and go for a walk into town to bring back some croissants for breakfast, having thought I'd seen a boulangerie/patisserie in the small town of Camarsac earlier in the week. After walking in the hot sun and finally arriving in town quite some time later I found that I was mistaken. It wasn't a total loss, though, since I was able to get some shots of the chateau and the surrounding property...

Quaint town, needs a bakery though. The rest of the day was spent doing some work around the house, reading, and later that evening I enjoyed a phone call with Krista.

On Sunday there was an event held at the Chateau with a local sporting group. Lunch was provided, as were a number of activities:

This week began with an early start on a drizzly Monday morning. Up at 6:00 am and then in the courtyard at 6:30 am to meet two of my new coworkers. Instead of Habier and Jacqueline, this week I was to work with a group of guys, most of which around my age and one of which was a Lurton. After meeting Sebastian (Lurton) and Denis in the courtyard we got into the Peugeot 205 and drove through the small city of Libourne to a patch of vineyard just on the border of St. Emilion. After arriving in the new vineyard with just Sebastian and Denis, I noticed the rag tag group coalesce quickly, one by one. After a flurry of french, none of which I understood, the group meandered into action by pruning the shoots and preparing the Double Guyot system of training wires.

Between announcing that he'd just gotten his girlfriend pregnant and then sauntering over to have a pee on the closest vine, I learned from speaking in english to Nathanael that the cock-eyed [censored] had some troubles growing up, and that Thierry has been trying to help him for a long time. The group refers to one of the older workers ... I'd guess about 50-55... as "chef" . Missing at least one finger that I could tell and countless more teeth, he seems to be in charge when neither Nathanael or Thierry are there, which is most of the time.

Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson's "World Atlas of Wine" has been an excellent aid to learning the regional geography of where I'm situated in Bordeaux. I've also had fun following the stages of development of the grapes, as described in this excellent book. It appears as through the grapes are between the flowering stage (Stage 4) and the hard, green baby grapes of Stage 5.



This principal monument of the Place des Quinconces was erected between 1894 and 1902 in memory of the Girondists who fell victim to the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. The figure on the top is supposed to represent the spirit of liberty.


After enjoying a "biere" at a small brassiere, I met back up with Andre who gave me a lift back home.

Wednesday we started at a new vineyard ("Au Bedat") just 200 m from Thierry's home, beginning work at 6:00 am (requiring a 5 am start) and then finishing at 1 pm. On Wednesday afternoon I was anxious to get home and rummage through the fridge as I'd given my grocery list to Thierry's wife Solange just a few days prior and was told to expect groceries for that day. Upon returning home from work I found a large grocery bag placed on the floor of my kitchen and going through it I discovered most items on my list: garlic... check ... olive oil ... check ... french bread... check ... fruit ... check ... fresh vegetables ... check .... hot dogs!? Upon preparing my list I carefully wrote "saussice" and so was surprised to find three packages of the retarded cousin of the "saussice" here in it's place. After confirming the translation with Nathanael I'm still scratching my head over what went wrong... The best I can come up with is that despite the diverse food palate of Toronto and world class quality of both Canadian produce and our chefs, our international reputation as a country of "mange cakes" still preceeds us. All I can say is that I've been practicing with the Peugeot and next week I'll be getting my own groceries, thank you.

Work for the rest of the week was much the same, as was the wet weather, only taking place at the Au Bedat vineyard. This new group of coworkers is quite a change from the matronly Habier and Jacqueline, who get upset if they feel that I've not consumed enough soft cheese and toast during our "coffee" break. Although, by Friday things had loosened up to the point where we've been joking and partaking in as much conversation as the language barrier would allow.

Thanks to everyone for all the really positive feedback from the blog. Here are a few extra pictures that didn't make it into last week's blog. The tower in 2 of these pictures is actually a pigeon house that is several hundred years old.

Wednesday morning I showed up in the middle of the courtyard at 7:30 am and ready for work as I'd been asked the night before. I met Habier and Jacqueline and got started in the vineyard, where over the past few days we've been pruning the vines and adjusting the training wires, which are held up by posts stuck in the ground every 3-4 vines, so that the branches which are to bear the grapes are encouraged to grow up, not out.

These two may not look like much but when it comes to vineyard work they can really move. Habier and Jacqueline speak 100% french, so communication in any great detail is a challenge. Although with patience, my limited (but slowly progressing) french, and some acting out of certain words (the glue that holds my frenglish together), we manage.

Later in the day on Wednesday after a short nap I met up with Nathanael, as I usually do at least once each day, and we got to talking about modes of transportation. Nathanael told me that they have a car on the property that I could use. Enter my adversary:



My first car was a dream to drive... A '92 Lexus SC400, and so I feel that somehow karma has come back to bite me in the ass on this one. The problem is, it has a manual transmission like most cars in Europe do. Since I hadn't learned to drive standard up until this point I spent the rest of the early evening driving around the courtyard and surrounding property. The real challenge, though, came when Nathanael asked me to drive him to the nearest gas station, about 14 km away, so he could fill the thing up with gas. The ride was fairly uneventful until immediately after he finished filling the gas tank there were several tries before changing gears from neutral to first until finally the car lurched forward into first and with a quick whiff of burnt rubber and transmission fluid we were off.

Thursday (from 7:30 to 3:30) was much the same as far as my vineyard work was concerned, only this time I was keeping up with the ladies much better. Thursday evening I took a walk down the road from Chateau Camarsac and snapped a few pictures from a distance:


A short while after I got back there was a knock at the door and I was slightly surprised to find Thierry Lurton (the boss, and member of the influential Lurton family) waiting there. He explained that he was there to take me back to his house for dinner, which was even more of a shock because apparantly through a mistranslation I had thought it was Friday that I was invited to his place for dinner. On the car ride over there was sporadic conversation and it came up that he will try to get me a tour of Chateau Cheval Blanc with his cousin Piere Lurton, and he'll also see about getting me a pass to vinexpo, which is a big wine event for professionals, held in Bordeaux. Although I'm excited about both of them, I can't even express how incredible a tour of the hollowed grounds (and possible tasting) of Cheval Blanc with Pierre Lurton (the guy that got me into wine) would be. After arriving at his house we were warmly greeted by his very friendly and precocious children. One of his adorable 8 year old daughters took me by the hand and showed me around their incredible house, which appears to be some kind of 16'th century stone building that has been converted into a very modern home. This same daughter seems to have taken a bit of a shine to me, I'm afraid. Anyway, after the kids were in bed Thierry, his wife, and I sat out on the veranda and enjoyed an incredible meal of salad, quiche, steak, a cheese course, and some fresh starberries and raspberries. Throughout the meal we drank his 2007 Chateau Camarsac Rose, which is actually one of the best roses I've ever had, and very appropriate for this time of year. In the North American market your average wine consumer confuses roses with the cheaply made and mass produced pink crap known as White Zinfandel that you can find the 'I have $10 and I'm a chick who wants get tanked' crowd slogging on weekends, and so they don't take these wines very seriously just because they're also rose coloured. The truth is, the crisp roses produced in Bordeaux, Provence, the Rhone, and elsewhere are serious wines and can be excellent with the right meal on a nice summer night like the one we were having. Along with the wonderful meal I got to pick his brain about wine and there ensued some excellent conversation, with me asking his thoughts on Robert Parker, the image that he has for his wine, and his favorite Bordeaux appellation (which is Margaux, for those who are interested). Thierry has a very humble nature - he's very easy to talk to and he likes to laugh, but when talking about wine he's deadly serious and has some very intelligent things to say. I like him.

On Friday I was working in the vineyards again, but this time it was only Habier and I. Work was finished at 2:30 that day and later in the evening there was to be a small party of the townspeople of Camarsac, which Thierry and familly as well as Habeir and familly and I attended. After arriving I found the townsfolk were very friendly and we ate lots of good food.

On the weekend I got a chance to sleep in and spent time on the computer catching up with friends and family. I had a nice dinner on Saturday night, which took place just outside house:


I had some wine and have started reading Rene Decartes' Discourse on Method and Related Writings.

On Sunday shortly after I awoke Mideaux (Habier's husband), came knocking at my door. Mideaux manages the tasting room on weekends and has been living with his Morrocan family in a section of the castle wall for quite a long time.


They have 3 children (all around my age) and extended familly in Chicago and their youngest son is actually quite good at english. Mideaux is very funny because we'll be walking somewhere or in the middle of doing something and he'll literally stop me in my tracks and ask me to repeat an english sentence in french, or vice versa (because he's taking an english class). This is why I've coined him with the nickname "La Professeur" and usually exclaim it loudly when we meet. Anyway, the reason why he was at my door was to invite me to a big meal in the courtyard where we were joined by another family (friends of theirs) and enjoyed a wonderful lunch that included fruit, some sort of seafood salad which was quite good, home made morrocan bread, couscous with chicken and venegable stew, Habier's baking, as well as Morrocan tea afterward. Morrocan tea is definitely something I'll be taking home with me - it's very easy and yet very very good. Essentially all you do is boil fresh mint leaves and add a little green tea and voila, Morrocan tea. Mideaux uses the fresh mint growing around my doorstep (and in the herb garden he's got going there too) and the tea is wonderfully fragrant and very very good.

After sleeping off most of the fatigue following all of the traveling the previous day, I made the trek up to Chateau Camarsac for the first time with Nathanael from his Bordeaux apartment. I have to say that the place is even more stunningly beautiful than what I'd seen from the pictures thus far.

Along with the promise of lodging I found that the promise of food was also fulfilled as I found that fridge was fairly well stocked with most of the essentials. French essentials, I guess, as I'm not sure who the hell is going to help me eat the bewildering amount of compte, camembert, and emmental... I'm not complaining, though.

After I was given some time to get settled in my new lodgings Nathanael showed me around the cellar, where the wine is kept in barriques and oak barrels with a variety toasting levels. Nathanael also let me know that the oak barrels are bought after being used twice, and then we use them an additional 2-3 times and then sell them off. The wine is classified as Bordeaux Superior, by the way. I was amused to learn that they also employ micro-oxygenation techniques for some cuvees - Michael Rolland strikes again! The tour was completed as Nathanael showed me to the office and tasting area, where he poured me the the rose, the clairet (not to be confused with claret), and three cuvees of the Bordeaux blend (claret). All of the wines he poured me had been opened at least a few days and pretty much gone, so I'll reserve judgment for the time being. The best claret, though, was by far the last one... As oxidized as they all were.

At this point I was then introduced to Sylvie, the PR and HR manager. She didn't speak english quite as well as Nathanael but we managed to understand each other. As I was helping Sylvie do a few administrative things a couple came in and began tasting the various wines. After being introduced and chatting for a few minutes it came up that I'm a physics student and I learned that the wife was married to a physicist who had a hand in discovering the lepton. Crazy! She actually knew the whole gang from Princeton's Advanced Institute of Study and most particle physicist pioneers from that era personally. Among them were Gell-Mann and ... and even physics folk hero and nobel laureate Richard Feynman!

After spending some time walking around and taking shots of the castle and surrounding landscape, Nathanael asked me if I wanted to come with him to a small house on the edge of the property. Apparantly the guy who's renting it from Thierry called because a huge snake had slithered into his shed and I guess he wanted help with it. So, I jumped into the car with camera in hand ready to document the battle with the beast.


Clearing out the entire shed there was a lot of french explitives and dancing around by a recoiling tenant after poking random objects with his shovel. The snake was nowhere to be found though, and after returning to the car with Nathanael he let me know that the only other possible place the snake could be was the roof. Bon chance, monsieur!

After a nervous 7.5 hour plane ride wherein (half distracted) I was able to eyeball "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Grand Torino," I landed in Paris at approx. 11:30 am on Monday morning. I didn't have too much trouble finding my way to the TGV train station in the Bordeaux airport where I waited for the 1:37 pm train and slogged my all luggage aboard and got settled, where, after four more hours and drifting in and out of consciousness I finally arrived in Bordeaux.

Nathanael, my contact at the chateau with whom I've traded many emails and was very glad to finally see, picked me up from the train station with one of his daughters. They took me back to their incredible apartment in the middle of downtown Bordeaux where I was able to get a quick shower and change of clothes, then after meeting his lovely wife and the rest of his children it was off on bikes to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. At this point I was already sold on the place. When we got back we sat outside on his patio and enjoyed a glass of beer with his wife making brief appearances. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner outside on the patio, and afterward Nathanael gave me a bike tour of downtown Bordeaux. In the course of our conversation he told me that Thierry Lurton dispatched an email to his brothers and sisters about my arrival and says I'll be doing everything from hard labor to working in their cellar...

My interest in wine actually began with a chance encounter. I was hooked after being present for an event held at a private restaurant that I was working at where I had the incredible opportunity to hear Pierre Lurton speak and taste some Cheval Blanc and Yquem. Shortly afterward I began collecting, going to tastings, reading, and attending "offlines" with a great group from Toronto. I came by this wonderful opportunity to work in Bordeaux at Chateau Camarsac for Thierry Lurton after making a connection through my boss while working at a wine retail shop in Calgary last summer. After a fairly grueling year in physics I'm ecstatic for what the next three months has in store for me.