WTN: Wines on a river cruise (Gironde, Garonne, Dordogne)

I’ve been at my job for 25 years, and a some board members/supporters got together and surprised Betsy and I with a trip a few months ago. Friday after T’giving was an overnight flight to CdG, then a quick flight to Bordeaux. We were met by reps from Viking cruises, and took bus to port where our ship waited Nice sunny day, we spent the afternoon doing some long walks around the city. Dinner was shipcured duck, salmon papillote, osso buco. The salmon was bland, the other dishes quite good. Overall food was quite tasty, with only a couple of misfires (a “roasted vegetable terrine” that was a flavored cheese ball on top of roasted peppers was strange). Seafood quality was very good (oysters, mussels, seabass, a little lobster, crayfish- but no eel, which is a local specialty), meat was cooked correctly, etc.

Each meal included a white and a red Bordeaux (usually from area we were that night). Nothing collectible or expensive, but decent 10-20 euro type wines

Whites
2015 Chai des Bordes Bordeaux Blanc
Assume mostly SB, quite grassy but fresh, bright acids, light, grapefruit and catpee. B/B-

2012 Ch. de Chantegrive Blanc
Fuller than most, seemingly more Semillon than others, ripe tropical fruit, nutty. Good, just needs a touch more acid. B

2014 Ch. Moulin de Launay (Entre des Mers)
Bright, easy, citrus and grass. Simple but quite tasty. B

2014 Cuvee Clemence Cheval Quancard
Floral, some oak, good length. B

2011 De la Grave Grains Fins (Cotes de Bourg)
Not sure I’d ever had a Bourg white before. Vanilla, somewhat clumsy oak, almond and lemon. I think server said all Semillon. C+

2014 Cheval Quancard Reserve
Pit fruits, oak, good acids. B/B-

2015 Ch. Pouyanne (Graves)
Bright, fresh, grapefruit and peach with grassy accents. With Cap Ferret oysters, great match. B+

Reds

2012 Chai des Bordes Bordeaux
Red plum, leather, mild tannin, soft acid, short C+

2012 Ch. des Reuilles
Some cassis, soft, a little vanilla. B/B-

2010 Ch. Lauzette (Haut Medoc)
Some grip, blackcurrant and a little smoke, sturdy. B

2012 Haut Logat (Haut Medoc)
This was the blind wine in a tasting challenge. Fun format (though I thought not best questions) for a big group (60-70 people)- two choices each question, straight elimination. It was down to about 5 of us when question was 12 or 15 months oak aging, 4 of us opted for 12 and were eliminated.
Black plum, a bit of oak, tobacco. B

2010 Ch. Canteloup
Big, good tannic/acid balance, long finish. B/B+

Vintage? Cheval Quancard Reserve
Plump, ripe, oaky. B-

2012 de Marsan (Castillon)
Quite popular, but I thought short and clipped, and even wondered if corked (at a restaurant in Cap Ferret, not on ship) C+ if correct

One night there was a Sauternes as well, the 2012 Lafleur Mallet. Not too impressive- fruit cocktail, soft,rather short. C+

Each day had excursions (walking or motorcoach). On the penultimate full day, group divided into 3 groups on motorcoachs. After a tour of the Medoc from St Estephe down (fun to see so many chateaux I’d been drinking for years) my coach ended up at Ch. Giscours (I was happy, preferred to other buses going to Marquis du Terme and Prieure Lichine). Very good tour guide, nice tour of the winery, and then a short tasting

I neglected the vintage on the Ch. Duthil, a Haut Medoc from same owner as Giscours. Bright, higher acid, plummy, but not very long. B-/C+

2010 La Sirene du Giscours
Light touch of vanilla, black plum and cassis, modest finish, some tannin still. B

2010 Ch. Giscours
I had thought the 2009 Giscours overripe and overoaked, but this showed very well though young. Rich, deep, fleshy blackcurrant and blackberry, hint of leather. Needs time but very nice Margaux in a “mid-modern” style. A-

Then on to Ch. Kirwan for a dinner. With onion soup, the 2015 Signatures (Bdx Blanc). Citrus, grass, a little quincey note, soft. B-/C+

2012 Les Charmes de Kirwan
Redder fruit, some spice, tasty and easy. Good with a salad with duck breast and confit B

1995 Ch. Kirwan
With veal medallions with mushroom sauce. Some didn’t like, but after a week of young Bordeaux I was happy to have something with tertiary notes. Black plum, cedar, tobacco, moderate length, resolved and ready. B+

Overall, a fun week. If I had planned better I’d have hit a wine store in city of Bordeaux first day (free corkage). The overall Viking river cruise experience was very good. I have no desire to go on an ocean cruise, but this - a new town every day with lots of time to walk and explore- was fun. We did one “supplemental” excursion, a trip to Arcachon/Cap Ferret where we did a boat ride around Ile aux Oiseaux, visited an oyster farmer (fascinating), etc

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

Glad you enjoyed it, Dale.

A week of only Bordeaux wines and in Bordeaux is heaven.

Did you have a Sauternes tasting one evening?

Also, did you check details of the Silver drinks package and concur with me?

[Jenise]

How fun. I actually kinda teared up reading that these people had put together this trip as a gift for all your years of work.

We've done one Viking cruise--in China, the Yangtze. In spite of the boat's supposed prohibition against bringing your own stuff on board, we did, because the refrigerator wine case at the Westin in Shanghai was full of amazing deals--lots of one-offs of the fairly amazing kind priced very low because when the case got restocked the existing bottles just got shoved to the back, so a lot of those wines had been there for years. Like '96 Climens for about $30. So we and another couple bought almost everything, got on the boat and ordered their most expensive bottle, which was only Veuve Cliquot but still, and then another, and then we brought out some of our Shanghai finds. Next night, same thing. Though we tried to be low key about it, the German Food & Bev manager it turned out, noticed, but instead of being dismayed he understood the quality of our wines and appreciated that we were ordering off the top of his menu every night as well as attracting lots of people to our table, so he passed word to us--actually, direct to me--that we would not be charged corkage like everyone else, and they would happily serve us anywhere on the boat all I had to do was use the name 'Jen Jen' when I called a certain number. And so it went. Meanwhile, all the idiots who'd spent their shoretime at Wutan loading up on $5 crap at the Walmart there paid corkage. As it should be!

Peter

I think the package was something like 18 euro pp/daily, but you both have to do (for whole cruise). I'm not a cocktail person, so as you guessed poor value for me, glad I passed. There were some "upgrade" wines with package (St Emilions like Franc Pipeau, Fortin Plaisance, an obscure St Estephe) but it didn't include the "reserve" list (I thought about buying 2012 Lagrange for 60 euros, but just too young). But if you were a person who drank cocktails it would make sense,

Jenise, corkage was free on this cruise (hey, they save money as wine included with dinner and lunch).

Re Sauternes- there was a tasting (at Ch. d'Arche I think) after the tour of the town of Cadillac. But water levels were low so they took folks by motorcoach from Bordeaux. We elected to skip Cadillac, and went to Cite du Vin instead. Cool space, but not as fun on a crowded Sunday afternoon- the interactive stuff would be better on a slow day. The view from top (Belvedere) is great, but what a disappointing selection of wines- almost all co-op or big negociant. We tried a Fronton rose and an Alsace Gewurz, neither worth noting producer of (the Alsace was definitely a co-op).

That sounds like a really fun cruise, Dale. Your colleagues must really appreciate you to offer that. It's 19 years since I last visited Bordeaux and its region . I spend several memorable months there in the 60s and really learnt to love their wines from the super-elegant 1953 vintage which was then in its prime .