just south of Bordeaux, a few hours by train, you come to an interesting small town in the Aquitaine. Bordeaux is known for wine, especially red wine but honestly I found the wine offered experiences to be really great for novices and people who have never visited a vineyard or had the chance to hear someone’s explanation of how to appreciate wine. But I started learning about wine when I was 10 years old and visited so many vineyards in California and through the years in many countries. Wine being my drink of choice always, maybe because I grew up with it or maybe because I enjoy the incredibly huge variety of flavors and combinations of tastes that come with a new bottle. So go to BOURDEAUX if you want to learn something about wine or want to spend a lot of money to try to wines at the new exhibition hall for wine in the city. But for that reason I did not do any wine tasting in Bordeaux. Instead I experienced it in this small town. I will explain below.
above I mentioned wine tasting. While walking I passed this Small restaurant and the owner, Jerome, a sommelier, greeted me and talked a little bit about the wine tasting he offers and some foods he has in the restaurant. But the most interesting things he mentioned were concerning the local and tourist attraction to big name and fashion restaurants and chains. He explained it’s not easy for independent shops like his to attract attention. Since I am not really attracted to big names or fashion I decided to give his offering a try as he provided to tastings of reds, one with a lot of tanin flavors and another one from 300 m up in the hills not far from Bayonne. That one was more interesting for me so I ordered it and then the second option on the menu which was a pork liver pate with chestnuts and a vinaigrette dressing for the lettuce and tomatoes. It went extremely well with the wine. These little shops are the places you should be visiting since they have not only good service and attention to details but they are very personalized and the people are interesting. Jerome knew some of the wines from California and so we had a discussion about some different flavors. Having the opportunity to receive an introduction to local wines and pairing foods from a sommelier is usually extremely expensive but not at Jerome‘s shop. If you’re ever in Bayonne make sure you stop by, taste a few wines and get his suggestions for the food that goes with it. This was the highlight of my visit to Bayonne.
