Oui to wine!

Well, who could say no to wine? Or cheese? Or caneles? Not moi!

Alex's cousin Chrissy invited us to join her in the Bordeaux region for a trip after her friend's wedding. It was set to be our first foray off the island, and couldn't have come soon enough. We were excited to see how easy or accessible international travel was from living on the island (spoiler alert: not very). We tacked on a few days in Edinburgh before Bordeaux and a few days in Glasgow after, just to give us space to be tourists for a wee while.

The week off unfortunately coincided with increased virtual work pressures for me, which meant many hours tapping away at the keyboard during our multiple ferry/bus/train journeys while fighting travel sickness! But luckily the sightseeing made up for it.

Once we made it to Edinburgh and dropped our bags, we set off to get reacquainted with one of our favourite cities. We took a city tour which included a small stint in the underground, a full system of rooms that housed the slums of Edinburgh, and has a dark history as a space that people were permanently locked in when they had the Black Death. We also stopped by Holyrood Distillery, and had an awesome tour with Neil, who showed us around the distillery, sipping on Holyrood drams as we went. Holyrood is still quite a 'young' distillery, but they are doing some really interesting experimentation with different kinds of yeast - we tried new make spirit made with Mexican ale yeast, and it was something special! It's interesting to compare how innovative and dynamic these younger distilleries can be compared with those that have a more established name.

And soon enough, the sun, wine and cheese beckoned - Bordeaux, here we come!

We got a real surprise when we found out that the time we had booked to be in Bordeaux also just happened to be the time of the Fête le Vin wine festival! What luck! We met up with Chrissy and set out to taste the best of Bordeaux which was... burgers?? No seriously; I had the goat's cheese burger and it was one of the best burgers I've ever had (If you're ever in Bordeaux, check out Petit Mignon - you won't regret it 😉). We finished our night and cooled our feet with a walk across the mirrored lake that reflects the Place de la Bourse.

Our first day was a full-day tour of the Saint-Émilion region, visiting three wineries, tasting delicious cheeses, and drinking 11 different wines of the Bordeaux area. The village of Saint-Émilion was a quaint, cobblestoned place, clearly very popular with the tourists. We learned about how strict the regulations are on the vineyards - where certain regions in France can only grow certain types of grapes, and in order for a vineyard to claim 'Chateau' status they must have every aspect of the wine grown, fermented, and bottled on that site. It seems quite restrictive, compared to Australian vineyards who can purchase grapes from other vineyards when they have an inadequate supply. I imagine in the future that climate change will have a strong impact on the French wine industry...

The next day began with a city tour, learning about the history of Bordeaux. Then, off to the Fête le Vin! We bought a tasting pass, which gave us one taste at each of the 11 wine regions of Bordeaux, plus two additional of our choice. We signed up to a wine and cheese workshop (how on Earth goats cheese gives sweet wine more depth is a mystery to me still!) The day passed in a glorious haze of sunshine, wine, more cheese, and wonderful company, and finished with a drone show over the Garonne river. It was certainly a fantastic way to try all the wines of Bordeaux without the travel (and we will definitely return to visit the Sauternes region!)

Our wee holiday ended with a quick trip to Glasgow before the long train/bus/ferry return back to Islay. It was so wonderful to spend time with family, and having the chance to try new things got us really excited about our future travels!