Bordeaux: Vines, Wines, and Good Times
Approaching Bordeaux on the TGV from Paris I wasn't quite sure what to expect. This is a city known for the finest wines in the world and so high prices and pretentious wine experts on every corner felt like a sensible guess. As the train entered the region of Nouvelle-Aquitane, the smoke from the wildfires was visible on the horizon and in a few minutes we were pulling into Bordeaux station. Very quickly I realised that my worries about bankrupting myself for a single drink were completely unfounded. Since this is the largest wine producing region in Europe it is possible to buy a whole bottle of the local produce for less than 5 Euros, and in some shops a bottle of wine is cheaper than a bottle of water! With such a readily available, cheap source of good alcohol it is impossible to not have a good time here. Taking a very scientific approach to my trip, I realised that I couldn't understand what made the wines here so good without conducting an investigation into the product...