Hoof and hooch – Medoc to Sauternes

Prior to my visit to Bordeaux I only ever thought of wine, not horses and wine. I also thought of Bordeaux as an expensive, ritzy, elite area – how wrong could I be. It isn’t that there are not wealthy landowners and expensive wines, and posh/expensive restaurants- but these are the minority. The majority of Bordelais are warm, humble gracious farmers who make wine, keep traditions alive and frequently must struggle against mother nature and her proclivities for rain, sleet, hail and heat wave.

Spending a week riding through Bordeaux is a great vacation. The scenery is marvelous and cantering amongst the vines a treat. Bordeaux has a fantastic history back to the Romans, through Eleanor of Aquitane to the British influence on the wine trade. There is a strong agricultural tradition and most of the villages – with the exception of Saint Emilion which is like Napa on steroids – are pleasant farming towns.

Like many wine afficionados I was very familiar with the classifications of great Bordeaux dating back to  1855 – I was not aware of the intrigues, politics and family squabbles that underscored those classifications or the great efforts that have been made both to maintain and challenge those ratings. In a nutshell – the 1855 classifications were based on those wineries that exported to England and the Medoc wines that were popular at the time. Whilst many other regions had superb wines including Sauternes, Graves and St. Emilion they were not part of the group that participated. There have been challenges to the ranking but only one change, in 1973 Chateau Lafite Rothchild was added.  Many of the wine makers and growers I met believe this ranking is no longer relevant: some point to Saint Emilion which reviews the wines about every 10 years. The Saint Emilion classifications are also not without controversy but at least they are more relevant.

The ride:  Since the revolution, land owners must allow a throughway and many of the vineyards cooperate with horse owners to enable passage through or alongside their vineyards. Because much of the land is rolling with large areas of grass between and around the vineyards there are plenty of areas of fabulous footing for long trots and canters and road work is limited.   Note: depending on the season there could be mechanical spraying machines, harvesters etc. so caution is always advised in the vineyards.

We started in Haut Medoc traveling eastward to Sauternes. I, as usual, stated I was an experienced intermediate rider and was assigned a lovely mare – Isobella – named after the color of the Queen’s lace when her husband returned from the crusades  (a dirty pale brown that we could call a roan.)

The ride took us through some interesting countryside, with a quick stop at a winery or vineyard most days. Wine with our superb picnic lunches and often a wine tasting at the end of the day. Highlights included a ferry to cross the river – the horses were all experts and could not have cared less that they were on a ferry with cars; a medieval castle where we were able to have a brilliant canter on perfect grassy terrain in what was once the moat; cantering through pristine vineyards, trotting amongst flowering Acacia and walks through villages. The main guide was knowledgeable and had a good command of both English and the history of the region. Ending the ride in Sauternes (if your like these wines and I do) was fabulous. The village is tiny, but you can walk to great wineries easily.

I would recommend this ride to any intermediate and above rider, who has significant trail experience. It isn’t technical riding but the days are at least 4+ hours in the saddle and some of the ‘arena’ riders were sore.

Before you go:

  • The outfit with whom I rode had a large selection of horses to meet many needs. One rider overstated her capabilities and was assigned a frisky mare, from whom she fell. Don’t lie about your experience
  • The food was excellent during the day – great picnics.
  • The accommodation varied from converted barns – very nice – to a lovely all small castle to a rather dismal guest house on a river – the latter was like a scene from the movie Chocky – scary dolls  everywhere that seemed likely to murder us in our sleep.
  • The dinners were basic but filling, though after a week in the south west of France even I was fed up eating duck.
  • Think about spending a day in the city of Bordeaux, it’s a lovely town along the river; great restaurants and easy to get around.
  • Getting to Bordeaux from Paris is easy by train.