Joie de Vivre

Waking once again to sunshine, birds chirping and looking forward to a day of relaxing is what vacations are made of. Since Maria had brought us two farm fresh eggs and we had gotten some bacon from the local supermarche, we cooked our own farm breakfast with wonderful coffee in the french presse. As we sat at our table we noticed outside our window a mom hawk and her three little babies directly across in a little nook. Watching her feed her excited brood was entertainment for the morning.

Our first stop of the day was at Chateau Mauvinon, a family owned

organic/bio-dynamic vineyard. Our gps was a bit finicky and we arrived 10 mins late, but then found we were on the French tour vs English tour. There were only two other ladies on the tour, but spoke little English, so we attempted to follow along in French (not optimal) with a few asides in English. We had a tasting and then headed off to see the town of Saint Emillion.

We arrived in the pretty little town, full of tourists walking up and down the small alleys and squares for enjoying the local wines. We found a seat at a bustling outdoor bistro, watched people, had a glass of wine and a salad. A perfect way to spend an afternoon in Bordeaux, although an even more perfect thing...take a nap!

Our evening activity was a wine tour and dinner at Chateau Dominique one of the premier vineyards in the region.

http://chateau-ladominique.com/en/

The Chateau is a ying/yang of old and new, with the main chateau being an 18th century chateau, with the production area built in 2013 by Jean Nouvel in the avant-garde style that surely shook the traditional local community. But, once we wandered around, it proved to be a very appropriate addition to the views.

Compared to Chateau Noble and Chateau Mauvinon, Dominique is a large producer and more commercial, that markets to the US. We enjoyed some great wines during the tasting, before heading upstairs to La Terresse Rouge (the Red Terrace) for dinner.

Outside of the dining area, there is a large area of red glass rocks, that give the image of grapes. In the pictures, you can see the beautiful vineyards in the distance with the red "grapes" in the

foreground.

Our dinner was very reasonable, with wine, appetizer and entree's less around 80euro ($90). With the sun setting over the vines, we walked around the terrace and the red building to enjoy the views and the overall setting before heading back to our own chateau.

Once back, the sun was just going down, so we enjoyed one more glass of Noble wine, a piece of chocolate and the peaceful surroundings before heading to bed. The Joy of Life.