Carcasonne, Bordeaux & Saint-Emilion

After flying into Barcelona and spending a few nights there, we rented a car and crossed the Pyrenees into la belle France. Our destination was Saint-Emilion, and a strategically chosen midpoint of the drive was Carcasonne - home of the best cassoulet in the world at Le Domaine d'Auriac. I think legend has it that they've kept their recipe a secret for centuries, kept safe behind the stout medieval ramparts:


We happened to run into the Mistral on this trip, so the wind was really blasting through the Pyrenees driving with a two-handed vice grip through the mountains. A big hearty lunch was a most welcome sight, starting with fresh asparagus in season woohoo!! My wife had the Crab Royale with fresh peas, that was also delicious:



And the cassoulet - just unctious perfection in every bite:


The chateau was very pretty too, very nice room for the restaurant and lovely grounds. This is before the cassoulet was served with my wife and her "where's my food!" face ha


Finally got to Saint-Emilion that day and the hotel recommended some overpriced mediocrity in town. But, put a French wine list in my hands and who cares, at least the snails, bread and wine were good:




We crossed the river over to the Medoc on Sunday. Most everything is shut down for tastings on Sunday which was fine with us, we couldn't get appointments at any of the grand chateaux anyways, so the roads were pretty empty which was nice. Most striking thing about the Medoc was how flat it was, really surprising. Every other great wine region we've been too has been hilly, but here it was totally flat. Visually it was kind of dull actually, I was expecting nicer scenery. But Chateau Margaux was very cool, since it was Sunday there was literally no one working there - so you had the run of the grounds with no security to shoo you off and no crowds of tourists was very cool to have the entire estate pretty much to yourself. These are the famous vines of Chateau Margaux, looking a lot like Indiana:




We had lunch on a nice plaza in downtown Bordeaux at the Brasserie la Noailles - here's their wifi password in case you need it (all caps, no spaces ha):



The local Arcachon bay oysters were incredible, I usually don't like the big fatties but these were delicious. The steak tartare hit the spot too:



The city of Bordeaux was ok, but I've certainly seen nicer places in France so I'm glad we didn't get a hotel there. We stayed at the Chateau Grand Barrailin Saint-Emilion which was tres belle, they have a beautiful terrace out back and lovely grounds great place to chill before dinner:




The hotel's restaurant was excellent. More asparagus s'il vous plait, and give me some lamb to go with that fabulous wine please!




Our hotel was in the middle of Pomerol, which again was surprisingly flat - Petrus and Cheval Blanc were completely unremarkable except for the chateaux. But the old town of Saint-Emilion is an anomaly, up on a hilltop with a commanding view of the entire region, tres cool:





AND the town is filled with wine merchants! I wandered into La Grande Cave St-Emilion after lunch and was like a kid in a candy store. Rodolphe was my tour guide, he works there but lived in NYC as a sommelier for 10 years before returning home to France. This store was great, wines representing the entire region and a great variety of vintages. I told him a wanted a couple of mixed cases of a variety of Medoc, Pomerol, St-Emilion at x price range per bottle, stuff that's drinkable immediately since I don't have cellar room to lay things down, and chateaux that don't distribute in the states so I can shock and awe guests when I crack these babies open. Ended up with an assortment ranging from 1985 to 2007, they took care of the shipping and it arrived at my office before I even got back from my trip. Super service, great guy.

So belly full and shopping list out of the way, on to Provence!

Awesome post, though it pained me as it reminded me I totally forgot to make cassoulet last winter and having it any time over the next six months or so seems wrong (I think of it as a winter dish, though I guess the French have it even in warmer weather...or is that just a Carcasonne thing?).

jealous!!

I loved both the narrative and the photos. Thanks for taking the time to share them with us.

You did very, very well, Eddie. And your wine-buying at the end was extremely slick. Bien fait, trés bien fait!

Next time go visit Mon. Kas at Lunch Bags. He has a secret white wine that will surprise you!

St. Emilion, coolest spot in the Gironde!

Geo

Yes, the cassoulet is definitely not something you crave when it's 90 and humid in July. But Carcasonne & Castelnaudry are reknowned for it, they keep it on the menu year round for the food tourists. Was our fortune (misfortune?) that we were traveling on a relatively blustery day, windy overcast and drizzly in the 60s so it was what the doctor ordered.

Geo, isn't Saint-Emiion magical? You're Quebecois, didn't it completely remind you of Quebec City? The haute-ville and the bas-ville, the Ursulines, the architecture. I tried googling it up to see if there was some connection between the two cities, maybe an academic has some answers. The similarities were striking.

While you were in Bordeaux you should have partaken of duck: They are a major foie producer, fed mainly on the grape must. We had several wonderful duck dishes while we were in Bordeaux a number of years back.

Love your posts and pictures. I hope you are going to Paris next as we will be there soon and will enjoy updated information.