Private Médoc Wine Tour from Bordeaux: Three Châteaux, Gravel Terroir and a Family Estate

This private tour visits and tastes at three châteaux in the villages of Margaux, St Julien, Pauillac or St Estephe. The Médoc is château country, and the route passes the front gates of the most famous names, such as Lafite Rothschild, Margaux and Latour. The land is flat, a peninsula between the wide Gironde Estuary and the Atlantic. The terroir still changes as the road goes north: the gravel stones get larger and more numerous, and the wine becomes fuller-bodied. The tastings make that difference audible in the glass, between a Margaux and a Pauillac or St Julien, and with some older vintages. The guide has thirty years of experience and tells stories from the trade along the way. One of the three stops is a smaller family property, which shows a different scale of winemaking and puts the group closer to the winemaker. The usual tasting compares Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon on their own, then the two blended, to show how a Bordeaux is put together.