Taking A Chateau Pape Clement Vineyard Tour In Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a famous wine growing region in the southwest of France. Bordeaux is known for beautiful Gothic styles buildings, cathedrals and museums. The city is charming and has lots to offer for a tourist, but the main thing that attracts tourists to Bordeaux is wine. This article is our experience of taking the Chateau Pape Clement vineyard tour in Bordeaux.

Vineyards

The area around the city is full of famous wine chateaus and vineyards, and one of the things to do in Bordeaux is to have a wine tasting tour. Naturally, Cody and I booked a tour to learn about wine production here and about wine in general, and of course, to taste some of it. After researching and reading lots of reviews we made our choice to visit Chateau Pape Clement. So here is our experience of wine tasting tour in Chateau Pape Clement.

Park

To start with, here is a little bit about the history of this place. This vineyard is one of the oldest in this region and it was first planted in the 13th century by Bertrand de Goth, who is known as Pope Clement V. The vineyard took its name from the first owner and the vine has become an icon since then. Chateau Pape Clement is very proud of growing wine on the same land for that long.  Fascinating how much history is behind every bottle of wine produced on this land, right?

Our tour to Chateau Pape Clement started with booking online and choosing the time, dates, and the type of the tour we want. Every day the estate has a few tasting tours and they all are different.

Alona drinks wine
Taking A Chateau Pape Clement Vineyard Tour In Bordeaux

Chateau Pape Clement Tours:

  1. Tour and Tasting for €20 per person. The tour includes history of the vineyard, barrel cellar, plus tasting of three red wines.
  2. Discovery of Bordeaux wine for €25 – €30 per person (depending on the group). The tour includes the history of the vineyard, barrel cellar plus, tasting of one white dry wine, one white sweet wine, and two red wines.
  3. The Winegrower’s calendar for €35 – €40 per person (depending on the group). The tour includes the history of the vineyard, visiting the barrel cellar plus tasting 5 wines including rose, dry white, red and sweet ones.
  4. Tour and initiation to tasting for €45 – €49 per person (depending on the group). This tour includes an introduction tasting of 8 wines which have different characteristics and are from different territories (red, white and rose).
  5. Tasting Lessons “Wine on the Table Workshop” for €45 – €55 per person (depending on the group). This tour includes history of the vineyard, barrel cellar, plus a lesson on wine service and how to pair them. Tasting of 8 wines: a rose, three white, three red, and a sweet.
  6. Tasting Lessons “Wine and cheese pairing Workshop” for €59 – €69 per person (depending on the group). This tour includes history of the vineyard, barrel cellar, plus a lesson on pairing 8 wines with exceptional cheese.
  7. Tasting Lessons “Wine and caviar pairing” for €89 – €99 per person (depending on the group). Three caviars with three wines.
Taking A Chateau Pape Clement Vineyard Tour In Bordeaux

As you can see there is a big list of tours and of course they have private tours as well. Be aware that tours and prices can also be changed over time. Cody and I chose the tour with five wines and the next day headed on to Chateau Pape Clement, which is located 15 minutes from Bordeaux downtown. We took a bus on the way to the chateau which dropped us five minutes’ walk to the main entrance.

olive trees

The tour began with an introduction of the history of the chateau and an excursion around the property. The estate has a fantastic park on its territory with some really old olive trees. Another highlight of the chateau is a stunning glass house built by the famous architect Gustave Eiffel.

 glass house Gustave Eiffel

After the excursion around the property we were taken to the fermentation chamber full of gigantic barrels. There the guide explained to us how the fermentation process is done and some secrets of winemaking from the early periods.

Fermentation chamber

The excursion ended in the large barrel cellar where the wine ages. The particular thing that interested me was what they do with all the barrels that have been used and if they reuse any of them. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and explained everything to everyone (oh by the way, there were 8 people).

Taking A Chateau Pape Clement Vineyard Tour In Bordeaux

For the tasting the tour guide took us to the boutique store with very nice and old furniture. We started the tasting with the youngest wine and moved up to the oldest one. Before every new wine the guide explained a bit about the wine and what we should pay attention to. Surprisingly I found myself really fond of old wine and we even got two bottles of twenty year old wine and one that was 40 years old which we brought to Montenegro for Cody’s birthday two weeks after the tour.

Wine tasting

The tour lasted around two hours and was super informative and of course we enjoyed the wine very much. On the way back full of bottles of expensive wine we decided not to risk it on the bus (not with my luck) and take a taxi back home. I must say that I enjoyed every bit of the tour, the architecture, the park, wine cellars, the history, the tasting, and of course more tasting at home of that amazing wine.

Taking A Chateau Pape Clement Vineyard Tour In Bordeaux
Taking A Chateau Pape Clement Vineyard Tour In Bordeaux

For those who want to have a wine weekends or weekdays among the good wine, Chateau Pape Clement has five rooms that you can book and stay there for a few days. The rooms are filled with old XIX century furniture that makes them very charming indeed. The chateau serves a nice breakfast in the morning with home made food and during the day you can arrange a picnic with wine and cheese in the park or a private wine tasting, basically everything that you want, if you are willing to pay.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. A Guide To Wine Tasting In The McLaren Vale Wine Region | 16th Apr 21

    […] you are interested in my other wine tour guides why not check out Chateau Pape Clement in Bordeaux, France or Winery Prince Trubetskoy in Kherson, […]

  2. What To Do In Bordeaux | 10 Must See Things In Bordeaux, France | 22nd Jun 21

    […] and I chose to visit Chateau Pape Clement. The vineyard is located just 15 minutes from the center of the city. The tour was amazing and very […]

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