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Coming down from Bordeaux we were on a hunt for a Chateau our friend Xavier arranged for us to stay at.

 

My friend Mariam’s parents who I had meet before my adventure own a chateau just outside of Bordeaux. She wasn’t around but her parents took us in like old friends. I had no Idea how grand of an experience it would be.

When we finally arrived, we turned down the dirt road and found a vineyard that lead to a spralling old medieval Chateau in the forest. We both looked at each other and said “Is this really it”. It really was. We rode up and opened the side gate and greeted Mariam’s parents. They we lovely and offered us stories of traveling and raising a family. Mariam’s mother had expressed that raising 10 kids you just have to let them be themselves in nature and let them grow into who they want. 

 

 

 

Francoys, the father spoke very little english but you could tell he smiled greatly in his life. Sometimes when people get older you can see how the wrinkles on a persons face fall. You could see the beauty he has seen and I only wished the same for my life. To be so proud of what he had accomplished by raising ten kids, by maintaing the farm and being able to see his family flourish and grow. 

 

After alittle bit of some fruit and some food we went on a discovery of the chateau with Francsoy and he guided us around through the wings and my favorite the chapel that was built in 600AD.

 

The Chateau it self was built in 1649 and had pretty much stayed the same ever since. It really made me feel like life was short and my existence was merely my existence. It was really beautiful was how he described his love for his property by his eyes and smile. We would compliment him and instead of responding would just smile and lead us to more surprises.

 

The back yard was truly one of those surprises and a treat to see something so amazing. The lush green grass lead to an amazing lake in the back and you could see that raising a family in this environment was probably one f the most rewarding things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After showing Jp and I around they lead us to our separate section of the house and said dinner would be at 8:30 pm. We took short naps and awoke to broken french conversations about life over the wine they grew from their land. They also said that this was “The Water Of The Property”.

It was amazing. After dinner they rang their wine specialist who took me and JP into the processing tank room and than into the aging room where the wine is barreled and packaged.

 

An amazing expeirence and a true delight to see the delicacy that goes into each bottle of wine. About four glasses into the tasting we decided to go exploring the vineyards at dusk and found ourselves being eaten by mosquitos.

I think I will try to come back there and harvest with them in a couple of years. I want to be apart of something like that. It was truly an organic and wonderful time.

 

http://www.maison-eyquard.com/vente-chateau-633.htm

This is the wine we were bottle tasting. Amazing buy it if you have a chance.

 

Enjoy.

 

xoxo

James