Chateau Margaux

Chateau Margaux

Chateau Pichon Longueville, where we stay

Chateau Pichon Longueville, where we stay

Tasting at Chateau Latour

Tasting at Chateau Latour

Chateau Haut Brion

Chateau Haut Brion

Chateau Latour

Chateau Latour

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Chateau Cheval Blanc

Chateau Cheval Blanc

Bordeaux First Growths

11 - 15 March 2013

Join us on this memorable tour led by wine writer Stephen Brook, author of the definitive tome on the region ‘The Complete Bordeaux’. Stephen will lead us on a journey to visit the First Growths, as well as other specially selected out-performing chateaux.

Our base for the first three nights is the beautiful Château Pichon-Longueville, with its fairytale appearance and turrets. This is not a hotel and not open to the general public, so is a privileged invitation to Arblaster & Clarke’s Bordeaux-loving clientele.

Following our welcome dinner in the elegant dining room at Pichon, we begin with our visits in the illustrious commune of Pauillac to Château Lafite-Rothschild. This is is a picture-postcard chateau with a beautiful garden and mirror lake, the ideal setting for tasting these first class wines rated amongst the best for quality in the world. Listed at the top of the 1855 First Growth classification, the name comes from the local dialect word “fite” (mound), and indeed at 27 metres as it is one of the highest placed vineyards in Pauillac. If one were to choose one adjective for the wines of Lafite, it would surely be elegant.

Throughout the day we also hope to visit Château Pontet-Canet and Château Cos d’Estournel. Our dinner this evening we hope is with the Duboscq family of Haut-Marbuzet, St-Estèphe, whose wines are a personal favourite of Stephen, and which showed so well in a tasting on our November 2011 tour.

After breakfast at Pichon looking across the vines of the opposite two outstanding properties, we stroll through the vines for a rare chance to visit Château Latour, where they have produced monumental wines for generations. The modernisation of the vast house and improvements in the vineyard have simply tended to make the wines more accessible. Retrospective tastings show that Latour has lost none of its legendary characteristics: its great depth of colour, a classic Cabernet nose and remarkable concentration of fruit and tannin. Our next visit we hope will be to Chateau Issan, which is a delightfully beautiful property and whose wines Stephen rates highly.

Our afternoon will hopefully include a privileged tasting at the iconic estate of Chateau Margaux. The wines of this classically beautiful château, with its colonnades and tree-lined approach, have been in a peerless position since 1976, when the Mentzelopoulos family took over. Paul Pontallier, ensures that Château Margaux typifies the wines of its commune more than any other of the 1st Growths by exhibiting soft, velvety texture, a warmth and richness of palate and a distinct note of violets on the nose. Dinner that evening, we hope will be at Château Pichon Comtesse de Lalande. The wines have always had great finesse and breed. The fact that part of the vineyard lies in St Julien helps to give the wine a special character, more opulent and feminine than a Pauillac, but richer than a St Julien. The introduction of the Réserve de Comtesse has led to a more rigorous selection and a corresponding rise in quality. This is now one of the most prized wines in the Médoc after the firsts.

We leave the left bank, calling in en route at Chateau Haut-Brion, where we will also taste Château La Mission. Haut-Brion is in the Pessac-Léognan appellation within the Graves. This is the only estate outside the Médoc to feature in the 1855 classification of red wines and is undoubtedly one of the oldest wine-producing châteaux in the entire region, which has been exporting to the UK since the 15th century. We continue to St Emilion where we stay in a 4* Chateau Hotel for our last evening.

We are awaiting the confirmation of our last couple of visits but we hope will include a visit to include Château Cheval Blanc, where we see their stunning new modern architecture cellars.

Our last day concludes with one of the most outstanding wines of the world at Château d’Yquem. No property in France dominates its appellation in the way that d’Yquem dominates Sauternes. At 113 ha, d’Yquem is the biggest property in the AOC. d’Yquem is one of the most difficult wines on earth to make, yet the tradition of quality and selectivity is such here that it is one of the most consistent of all great wines.

This outstanding line up of visits, together with the added experience of staying in a Chateau on the Left Bank is something clients on a similar tour in 2011 rated as extremely memorable. Due to the limited nature of the rooms at Pichon, the maximum party size is merely 10 participants so early booking is highly recommended.

NB: Given the long lead time as of November 2011, the chateaux have agreed to see us in principle, but Mouton and Margaux may be in building works, in which case we will arrange tastings of their wines.

11 - 15 March 2013

£3,899.00 per person

Places available.

Price Includes:

  • 3 nights private chateau (4* equivalent, not officially rated), 1 night 4* chateau hotel, breakfasts.
  • 6 meals, with wines.
  • Visits & tastings.
  • Small luxury coach for the itinerary and for one specified pick up and drop off at the start and end of the tour.
  • Stephen Brook as Wine Guide.
  • Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours Tour Manager.

The maximum party size is just 10.

Please note: These are all chateaux at which Stephen Brook and Arblaster & Clarke wine tours have been welcomed at in the past and as long as the proposed building works are completed, we do not anticipate any major changes to the programme. However the chateaux are not in a position to confirm visits until later in the year.

We regret that there are no single places available on this tour, as Pichon Longueville only has five double rooms. Should you be interested in a top level Bordeaux tour we recommend that you travel on the Reserve Collection Bordeaux tour in November 2012, Bordeaux: A Merchant’s View, with Master of Wine and leading wine merchant Nicola Arcedeckne Bulter.

Travel: Meet at Airport
Sole Occupancy: n/a
Deposit: £550.00
Room Upgrade: N/A
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Bordeaux First Growths

Bordeaux First Growths

Outline Itinerary

Day 1. Meet at Bordeaux Airport from BA afternoon flight. Tasting, Dinner at Chateau. Overnight Chateau, Pauillac (4* equivalent, not officially rated).

Day 2. Two morning visits in Pauillac. Lunch at chateau in Pauillac. Afternoon wine visit in Pauillac. Dinner at.Overnight Chateau, Pauillac

Day 3. Two morning visits in Pauillac and Margaux. Free time for lunch in Margaux. Visit in Margaux. Dinner at Chateau in Pauillac. Overnight Chateau, Pauillac

Day 4. Visit in Pessac-Léognan. Free time in St Émilion. Afternoon visit in Pomerol. Dinner at Chateau in St Émilion. Overnight 4* Chateau hotel, St Émilion.

Day 5. Visit in Sauternes. Lunch at chateau in Pessac -Léognan. Transfer to Bordeaux airport in time for BA flight.

It was in the 19th century that most of the wine estates and châteaux were established and the region’s first official wine classification in 1855 stands almost unchanged today. Our itinerary takes in the First Growth châteaux in Bordeaux with top flight wine tastings.

Travel Details:

The travel to the region is not included in the tour, however there are several options available.

Getting to Bordeaux by plane. You can either take one of the regular direct flights from London or there are also flights from regional UK airports. There are a number of different operators who now fly direct to Bordeaux.

Getting to Bordeaux by Train. There is an excellent train service from Paris, so you could get the Eurostar to Paris and TGV to Bordeaux.

Getting to Bordeaux by Car. If you would like to drive to the region, there are plenty hotels in Bordeaux that also have car parks where you can leave your car. If you do decide to drive you could stop off in the Loire and buy more wine!