Desk for the Day: Bordeaux, France

We have been into learning about and tasting wine for 20+ years. The first “real” wine tasting experience we recall having was in Margaret River, Western Australia in 2001. At this point, we have tasted throughout Australia, California and a little bit in Italy, but this latest trip is our first experience in some of the big French regions — Champagne, Bordeaux and the Rhone River Valley.

Fresh off an amazing time in Champagne, Bordeaux has always been one of our favorite regions for wines. We just love them — complex, deep, elegant, earthy, lovely are often descriptors people use when tasting these wines. We stayed at La Maison d’Estournel, the boutique hotel owned and operated by one of our all time favorite Chateaus - Cos d’Estournel. The pictures below don’t do it justice. It’s an absolutely stunning place, and never in our years of traveling together have we experienced this level of attention and individualized service. Not bad for our 18th wedding anniversary!

It’s not all fun and games here (although this was one of the few places on the sabbatical that we agreed to give ourselves a break to enjoy this special place on our anniversary). Work still needed to be done. This picture is our working space, catching up on some writing and photo/video editing in the library of La Maison. 

It’s so cozy, and it made us flashback to our wedding where we welcomed our guests into the library of the Kohl Mansion in Burlingame, California. It’s amazing how cyclical, yet fresh and new life can be!  Enjoy a few pictures of the grounds! 

Views from our room! ⬇️