4 Days in French Wine Country

Maximize a long weekend in France with both the Loire Valley and Bordeaux

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France Key Spots: For the visually-inclined

(1) Chteau de Miniere; (2) Chateau du Hureau; (3) Cheteau le Prieure; (4) La Table des Dix Vins; (5) Les Sources de Caudalie; (6) Saint-Emilion; (7) Chateau Pedesclaux; (8) Cafe Lavinal; (9) Chateau Lamothe Bergeron; (10) Chateau Cantenac-Brown; (11) Downtown Bordeaux

Itinerary:

96 Hours in French Wine Country (the wordy version)
While there are countless appellations (wine regions) within France, I focused my trip on two of my favorites with a day of white wine in the Loire Valley and a day of red wine on Bordeaux’s Left Bank. I can’t recommend this trip enough and will be repeating it myself in the years to come!

Day 1: Easing Into The French Mindset
As always, I’d suggest taking a red-eye flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to be able to hit the road early and decompress in the crisp air of the Loire Valley in Northwest France.

After landing in Paris, we picked up our rental car and sped off toward Saumur. The city of Saumur is ~3.5 hours southwest of Paris but feels like it is worlds away from the bright lights of the Eiffel Tower. The air feels calmer, and the vines which are hundreds of years old make some of the best white wine I’ve had.

About 2 hours into the drive to Saumur, my first stop outside Paris is Chateau de Miniere, an unassuming family-owned vineyard with over 70 acres of vines. They serve a delicious lunch with local meats and cheeses, fresh-baked bread and of course a flight of white wine grown and bottled in-house. Once you’ve finished your meal and vino, and you’re properly adjusted to the French mindset, it’s time to continue on to Saumur.

After another hour’s drive, the second stop of the day is Chateau du Hureau for a walk through the property’s 15th-century castle followed by a tasting of some of the Loire Valley’s best white wines. If you’re lucky, the owner Philippe or his daughter Agathe might just be on site for the day to curate your experience in the French countryside. Following the second flight of wines for the day, it’s a quick drive to the hotel which sits within a 10th-century castle (with 21st-century amenities). I was fortunate enough to attend a wedding at Chateau le Prieure several years ago, so it maintains a soft spot in my heart and serves as a delightful hotel to rest for the night. The hotel’s restaurant La Castellane served an incredibly fresh menu of local delicacies.

Day 2: St. Emilion

After an early start to the day, it’s back into the car for the four-hour drive through the French countryside to the final destination in Bordeaux. We made a quick stop along our drive in Saintes for a fantastic lunch at La Table des Dix Vins and then continued on our journey to Les Sources de Caudalie to freshen up before dinner. Les Sources was founded by the same family that built the Caudalie skincare empire, with all of the amenities you would expect from such a luxury brand.

After a quick check-in and refresh at upon arrival at the hotel, it’s just a 45-minute drive to downtown Saint-Emilion for an opportunity to wander the streets of the 12th-century town. I would recommend a walking tour of the city in order to maximize your time, and be sure to stop to pick up a macaron which is bound to be different than any you’ve had in the past. I’d recommend stopping at Nadia Ferminger on Rue Gaudet. Once you’ve worked up an appetite, I’d recommend stopping in at Chai Pascal for an incredible meal with some equally delicious wine.

Day 3: Cellars and Castles

After a good night’s sleep and a delicious breakfast by the water at the hotel, it’s time to head out for a full day of incredible wine at some of the most beautiful estates I’ve ever seen. The first vineyard of the day, Chateau Pedesclau, was founded in the early 1800s and has held on to some of the estate’s early roots with its tasting room inside a towering stone chateau encased in glass. After sampling the winery’s offerings we were off to lunch in Pauillac for a quick recharge.

Before we knew it we were off to our second vineyard of the day, with a trip back in time to Chateau Lamothe Bergeron’s castle built in the 1800s and just recently restored to its original glory. After a quick tour of the site, we were shuttled into the basement of the property for a tasting beside the aging wine barrels. Not only did it bring some respite from the heat outside, but it’s hard to beat tasting some fantastic Bordeaux wine next to hundreds of gallons of the winery’s latest harvest. After our time at Lamothe Bergeron ended, we were off to the hardest-to-get reservation of our trip at Chateau Cantenac-Brown in the Margaux appellation of Bordeaux. While the wine we tasted at Cantenac-Brown was undoubtedly incredible, hearing the story of the winery’s history and production process was enthralling and served as a great final stop for the day.

After driving all day from vineyard to vineyard, we were finally dropped off back at our hotel an hour and a half before dinner. After a quick outfit change, we decided to hop on some of the bikes offered by the hotel for a 10-minute pedal through the resort’s farmland to Chateau Haut Smith Lafitte (owned by the same family that owns and operates Sources de Caudalie) for our last adventure of the day which was a “mystery tasting” to put our learning over the course of the trip to the test. They poured us three wines, with different production processes and we let our competitive side take over to try to guess which was which! After we gave up on our short-lived dreams of becoming French winemakers, we had a fantastic dinner al fresco before turning in for the night.

Day 4: Bordeaux Speed Tour and Departure

This morning will start a bit earlier with an action-packed day before hopping on the train back to Paris. After a quick breakfast and checking out from the resort (it was a sad goodbye to one of my favorite places in the world), it’s just a 30-minute drive to downtown Bordeaux for the first stop of the morning at Monument aux Girondins and Esplanade des Quinones. The site serves as a memorial to the Girondists, considered political martyrs during the French Revolution. After a quick stop there, it’s worth seeing the last two sites we had time for Cathedrale Saint Andre and Pont-de-Pierre Bridge

After our quick driving tour of the city, I stopped at Capucins Market to grab some lunch to take with me on my upcoming train before returning my rental car at the Bordeaux train station and hopping on the ~3-hour train to Charles de Gaulle airport. From then on it was smooth sailing (with a quick stop for some airport shopping) before my flight back to the States!

Suggested Packing List:

  • Luggage: 1 roller carry-on, 1 backpack or purse
  • Shoes: comfortable walking shoes, shoes for pictures during wine tasting
  • Clothing: cute and cozy outfits for dinner and wine tasting
  • Accessories: sunglasses, hat
  • Apps to download: Uber if you don’t feel like driving