Neil and Rachel Devchand

We would like to express our gratitude to both you and Margaret for the hospitality you both provided during our visit to the Bordeaux Region. A simple thank you would not justify the experience we had so, we would like to write a summary of our experience for you and all your future guests. Both Rachel and I did not know what to fully expect on a wine tour to such an esteemed location in the old wine world. Being from a region with limited vineyard exposure, we were understandably very excited to go on a tour as such. We are definitely avid wine drinkers but, we would hardly consider ourselves experts in the field – far from that; we both are health professionals with a one year old at home! Trying to pick our most favorite or enjoyable winery is impossible. Some days it is the tour of the museum at Mouton Rothschild and tasting the 2004 and newly released 2007 vintage in the tasting room. Or maybe it was the lunch in the official dining room of Chateau Haut Bailly. On other days, our favorites include seeing the “cooper” at Haut Brion toasting the wine barrels in the open fire much like his grandfather did at the same vineyard. And somewhere hidden in this were the great restaurants and meals that accompanied the wine and the accommodations: now we can officially say that we stayed at a Chateau (Coulon Laurensac in France). To summarize, we left thinking we were going on a tour and came back with what felt like a degree in vinification, history of Bordeaux and an expansion of our palates and wine collections. Or as I expressed to one of my friends: drinking a Chateau Haut Brion in a restaurant can only be superseded by drinking it in the tasting room of the Chateau itself born in 1525. Finally, we would like to thank Ronald and Margaret for organizing this experience and, we can appreciate how difficult it is to tour some of the very exclusive vineyards that we did. Cheers, Sante, Salut, Kampai, Prost

Neil and Rachel Devchand
Calgary, Canada
The Bordeaux Grand Cru Tour September 2008