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Today was a big day for Chateau de la Grave…they were bottling their 2009 harvest. Philippe (the wine maker) asked us to join him for a tour of his wine cellar this morning. There was one other couple who joined us on this private tour which was great because we soon found out that Philippe didn’t speak English and the other couple was able to translate.
The tour started in the front area of the château overlooking their vineyards and it was explained to us how much they produce, what percentage of which grapes are used to blend and where each was planted. After some questions, he walked us into where the huge silver tanks were holding wine. This is where the 2009 was actually being pumped out of the tank via a long hose and then through a machine into the bottle.
Philippe pointed out a map drawn in chalk on a small blackboard where each vineyard was numbered and corresponded with which tank those grapes were in…he tastes each different wine from each different area of the vineyard every night, it is how he keeps in touch with the different parts of his vineyard.
We continued following him to the next room which was where all the barrels were being stored…this is where the wine ages. He talked about how this vineyard has been in his family for 100 years…his grandfather handed it down to his father who handed it down to him and now he has two young boys. He pointed to the old dusty bottles made prior to him and said they sometimes open them and they are still good.
After showing us the large wooden vats where he holds his superior wine, we walked outside where the ’09 was being bottled. We took a short video of the small machine with a conveyor belt running through the center and the two men putting the bottles on one side….wine was then put into it by the machine, corked, sealed and the other man would remove it and place it in the cradle. It was so classic when we saw the guy using one hand to load the bottles and the other hand to eat a croissant. Philippe continued to show us the bottling process and explained that the cork was actually too big for the bottle and would need time to settle before it could be opened. Even though this one machine seemed fairly small…they were bottling 20,000 bottles.
We closed out the tour by tasting his various types…white wine, table red, superior red as well as the 2009 that we were watching being bottled and he snuck us a small taste of the 2010 which is still in the wooden vats…he thinks 2010 will be even better than 2009 and as we tasted it…we agreed. Unfortunately, we could not buy any of the 2010, it was too young and needed more time to mature.
After our tasting we drove up to the town of Blaye where we were taking a ferry to the Medoc region of Bordeaux…this area is where the largest château’s are, and some of the most well-known wine like Rothschild. When we arrived to the ferry, we saw it didn’t leave for another hour so parked our car and walked around a bit looking for food. A bakery was open and a little girl about nine years old was handling the cash register while her mom worked in the back. We ordered some bread and paid her thinking how cute she was already learning her family trade.
Finally the ferry arrived. We drove onto it and crossed the river which took about 25 minutes. Once on the other side, we input some vineyard addresses and started our tour. The first château we went to was a huge one and it was recommended to us by Hugo in Saint Emilion but unfortunately we didn’t have a reservation and they were too busy…disappointed we continued driving looking for our next stop. We went to a couple other vineyards and tasted their wines, we bought three bottles…one of which was a 2005 (a great vintage for France but hard to come by).
On our way back, we saw a huge wine tasting sign in front of a warehouse type building. We pulled in and found out it had wines from around the world with a counter to taste wines at a fee. We tasted two and left, we had tasted enough for today and since we were driving all the way around the river vs taking the ferry back, we needed to get on the road.
We arrived back in Bourg around 8pm and found the one restaurant in the entire town that was open and serving dinner. We ordered a salad and breast of margret for dinner. It was a diner type restaurant and had pretty good food at pretty good prices. We had a leisurely dinner before calling it a night.
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Published by Brandey Kabat
What I like: Dark chocolate, yoga, fresh squeezed juice, laughing, hiking, wine, travel, food, lush products, being warm, having long hair, the ritual of drinking something hot first thing in the morning…
What I don’t like: When people smell their fingers, pushing elevator buttons, confrontational situations, not being able to fall asleep quickly at bedtime…
Most random job ever: Plastic surgery consultant
As for my love life: I met my husband mid way through my junior year in college, as soon as I laid my eyes on him I was attracted to him. In fact, I made the first move which was a bit out of character but there was something about him…probably the fact that he was smokin’ hot!!
Where from and where to: I grew up in NY, went to college at The Ohio State University and then headed to CA after graduation. My boyfriend (Giff) and I had a map, a borrowed van and used stuff from his mom’s basement aka a vacuum, silverware, old Christmas ornaments etc., and about $1000 each. We thought it would be a good idea to head straight to CA since neither of us had been. Being we didn’t know anyone there nor did we have a job or job interviews set up or a place to live…I would say we did it the hard way! However with a bit of help from Giff’s mom who flew out to put us up in a hotel, bought me a suit for interviewing and co-signed a lease to get us a place to live we eventually found jobs and an apartment and have been in CA for 10 years.
Our story: After moving out to CA and living together for about 3 years we got engaged. He popped the question while down on one knee on the beach at sunset after we finished our picnic he had packed of bread, cheese, shrimp cocktail and wine. He even had the ring in a box that had a light shining down on it when opened so as it was getting dark, this amazing man was asking me to be his wife as he handed me a huge rock…Yes! Yes! Yes!
In 2005 we were married (I am biased but our wedding was absolutely amazing). By the end of 2005 we were new home owners. 2006-2009- we were both happily married, attached to our 3 cats and were focused on building our careers.
Giff and I got pregnant mid year 2009 with our first baby but what should have been one of the highlights of our life was soon distracted by the news I received at the doctor’s office.
The lump in my breast that had been dismissed the year before as nothing was now being diagnosed by a different doctor as breast cancer. Thankfully Giff is a persistent person and when we went in for our ultrasound (to hear our baby’s heartbeat) he brought up the request for testing to be done on the lump rather than dismissing it based on feeling it.
The going gets rough: Things began to move so quickly at that point, it was hard to breathe. I was 30, pregnant with my first child and going into surgery to remove breast cancer. I was about to go through what would be the worst year of my life. The plan had been discussed, we were going with the most aggressive regimen possible- double mastectomy, port surgically placed in my chest, chemotherapy, drug therapy and radiation. We also had to terminate the pregnancy. This cancer was estrogen positive and the hormones were actually feeding the cancer. That little angel whom was the cause of our going into the doctor saved my life.
Giff was my rock through every step…interviewing a team of the best doctors, memorizing which medicines I needed to take and when, driving me to chemotherapy and sitting next to me while I was so scared, telling me I was beautiful when I was bald, and so many other things…words cannot express. When you say your vows, in sickness and in health…you would never guess sickness of this magnitude at this age would be in the near future. In addition to this hardship, Giff’s dad died of a complicated prostate cancer the day we came home from my surgery. I could not hold my husband as he mourned for his dad because of the pain I was in from the mastectomy. How did Giff handle all of this pain at one time? How was he so strong for me? He is amazing. Giff’s dad was one of those people whom you naturally wanted to be around…his smile was contagious, his love for life was invigorating and he listened so intently when you talked in a conversation with him. He made you feel special. We think about him often and will miss him so much.
My family and friends were also by my side…my mom flying out from NY several times to help us with cooking and cleaning and holding my hand. It must be one of the most awful things in the world to watch your baby girl be diagnosed with breast cancer. My girlfriends also flew out to take care of me and help with anything they could. Other friends living closer would come by just to sit and talk or watch movies. There were so many cards, letters, flowers, cookies, and other gifts that came from all over the country. It’s amazing to have such great people in my life. In addition to my amazing circle of friends and family, there were the strangers with whom crossed our path. Whether it was a letter in the mail from a breast cancer survivor, the anesthesiologist who called Giff during my surgery crying happy tears that the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes, or our fertility doctor who promised to watch over our frozen embryos as if they were her own. There were so many small gestures that made such a big impact on our lives.
Looking at the bright side: Thankfully this was caught in stage 1, had it been caught a year prior by the first doctor I had gone into about the lump, it may have been caught at stage 0. Please learn from my lesson…insist the lump be tested – a lump cannot be diagnosed by touch. They were able to cut all the cancer out and after I finish the entire regimen including a pill I take over the next 5 years, they said there is a 95% chance the cancer will never come back.
Our exciting future: We’ve decided to re-prioritize, we are taking 400 days starting February 7th of 2011 to travel the world! We will travel to new places, eat new foods, taste new wines and meet new people. We will focus on healing ourselves both physically and mentally. This will be one of the best years of our lives.
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