We arrived early at the offices of Rustic Vines Wine Tours in Bordeaux on a rainy Friday morning. We met our guide, Taylor, a New Zealander who moved to France years ago. We took a ride to the Saint Emilion appellation of Bordeaux.

Our first stop was Château Bernateau, a smaller family vineyard with some great red wines. This was a smaller family vineyard with a small tasting room, a small processing area, and small tractors. Karen, one of the members of the family, showed us around and explained the process of wine making and how the terroir of the appellation makes their wine different from the other regions of France.

Taylor went shopping while we got shown around and created a great charcuterie board and we were able to try a couple of their vintages. Château Bernateau, Château Tour Peyronneau, and Bais de Bernateau. They were all great, but I liked the Château Bernateau best.

We also tried a local treat called canelé. It’s a local delicacy that originated back in the 18th century when nuns would add egg yolks to the inside of a wine barrel to decrease food waste.

Next we visited Château de Moncets - Chambrun on the appellation of Lalande-de-Pomerol. The estate is actually two different wineries where two distinct wines are made, Chateau de Chambrun and Château de Moncets. This was a larger, more industrial estate where they used concrete to process their juice, and a lot more automation seemed to be involved. It was nice to get to see and understand the differences between the two operations and how even though French wine is heavily controlled, there are still variations in the way that wine makers across the country can approach their craft.

Our hostess Clem showed us around the processing room, the store houses and eventually up to the attic where they stored the special stuff. We ended with a tasting downstairs where we tried Rose de Chambrun, Château La Bastidette, Château Moncets and Chateau de Chambrun. I was a big fan of the Rose, but others agreed that they enjoyed the Chambrun the most.

At this winery they also had a fun experience where you were able to try to hit a bottle of wine out in their vineyard with a golf ball. If you hit it, you would win a free bottle of one of their best vintages. We walked away with some bottles, but let's just say they weren’t free.

One of the best things about the Rustic Vines Tour is that it wasn’t all about just drinking wine. Our next destination was The Monolithic Church and its bell tower that sat on a hill high above the region. There we learned about the area’s status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site called the Jurisdiction de Saint-Émilion. We took a walk through this historic area where the streets were narrow and cobble stone and took in the great architecture while Taylor told us more about the history of the area.

Towards the bottom of the hill, Taylor guided us into Saint-Émilion Boutique Wines for our third and final tasting. Legis, the proprietor, asked us all about our day, about the vineyards we had visited and what our favorite wines were at each one. She then picked out bottles to specifically complement our pallets based on that information. It was a really cool experience to have someone just ask a couple of questions and then pick bottles that the entire group seemed to enjoy.

After a long and fruitful day of wine tasting and fun, we took the drive back to the city of Bordeaux. Taylor took the opportunity to give us some dining recommendations, and explain more about the area. He explained that they also offer electric bike wine tours (don’t worry, you don’t have to figure out how to carry the wine you purchase along the way, the guide does that), where you got an even more intimate experience with the local wine and your guide. Will definitely check that out next time.

We can’t recommend Rustic Vines enough. We’ve done wine tours all over the world, and this was definitely one of our favorites. It was a spectacular experience and they set the bar very high for all of the other adventures that we had planned over the next couple of weeks.