Weekend Away: A French Vineyard

Last weekend, my family went en masse to Creon, a small village in France in the wine region of Bordeaux. The occasion? My lovely Dad’s 60^th Birthday. 

My Dad knows a thing or two about wine and so we stayed in a beautiful French farmhouse, on a vineyard owned by Chateaux Bauduc. Their wine makes it on the menus of Gordon Ramsey and Rick Stein.

My Dad

Beautiful French shutters

I stayed up way too late the night before our early flight with my sister making a birthday banner, but it was well worth it.

Chateau Bauduc's red

I love a glass of wine and have recently got much more into it. So it was brilliant when owner Gavin Quinney offered to give us a lesson in the different stages of fermentation. We began with a sauvignon blanc in its final stage, which tasted just like it should, but it was cloudy, right down to wines that were practically just grape juice.

The fermenting vats of wine vats 

Barrels of wine

The vineyard

We booked on a whim, knowing that the French October weather is hit and miss, but unbelievably, it was sunny and hot all weekend. It was an odd feeling seeing the autumnal leaves falling off the trees whilst dangling my toes in the pool.

Me and my sister Jess

We managed to tear ourselves away from the pool for a game of boules and the rest of the time was spent relaxing, eating amazing food and drinking delicious wine – my kind of weekend.

Ollie getting the fire for the BBQ going

Charcuterie board

A beautiful rusty old Citron van, where they stored the fire wood we used for our BBQs.

Me attempting to bowl

Beers for boules

On Saturday night, we wandered to the centre of the village and ate in La Table, which has a fairy lit garden and a steak to dies for. If you're in a wine region, it's always worth asking if the local restaurants allow you to BYOB and pay corkage, which is what we did here.

I didn't realise how many photographs I took, so sorry if it's an image overload, but I can't recommend this region enough if you're after a bit of peace and quiet and good food and wine.

bauduc.com

The Farmhouse