(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- The wine region of Bordeaux, long willfully fusty, is in the midst of a modern tourist boom. Last year saw the opening of the swirling aluminum-and-glass La Cité du Vin, a spectacular high-tech museum devoted to wine and culture. And this July brought a two-hour high-speed train link from Paris.
In the city of Bordeaux proper, beautiful 18th century buildings have shed their soot to stand gleaming once again as part of a renewal project that helped the municipality gain Unesco World Heritage status in 2007. Jazzy wine bars and inventive chefs have swept in since, upending decades of heavy cuisine doused in buttery sauces.
Now you’ll want to venture beyond town for the real fun: The appellation’s celebrated wine châteaux, whose doors were long shut to tourists, have unveiled dazzling wineries designed by big-name architects. And more than a dozen of them, including billionaire-owned Château Cos d’Estournel, have begun welcoming wine lovers for lunch, dinner, and even overnight stays in opulent rooms overlooking the vines.
Château Siaurac
For a weekend lunch, head to the small, buzzy appellation of Lalande de Pomerol. An injection of cash from billionaire François Pinault, who owns first-growth Château Latour, enabled Paul and Valerie Goldschmidt to upgrade their château and wines; last year they introduced a lunch and dinner program called La Table de Siaurac.
The Goldschmidts’ collection of paintings, framed letters from famous musicians, and pages of artists’ books line the red-walled living room, where a prix fixe seasonal menu may include a carpaccio of dorade and melon or a thyme-scented lamb dish accompanied by vintages of the château’s plummy red.
Take time afterward to wander the landmarked garden or play pétanque. For dinner, it’s a 20-minute drive to the walled medieval town of St.-Emilion, where you can dine at the revived Logis de la Cadène, owned by Château Angélus; it opened in 2015 and received its first Michelin star in 2017.
Dinner for two and a night at the château, €396; lunch or dinner only, €64 plus wine
Château La Dominique
You can’t miss the new cellar designed by French architect Jean Nouvel: The outer walls are reflective slats of shocking red stainless steel that shout from the glowy green landscape. Its restaurant, La Terrasse Rouge, is St.-Emilion’s latest hot spot. Casual, noisy, and highly popular with local winemakers, it serves simple bistro fare in a vast room with a zinc bar and long tables.
The best bets from the menu are the basics—briny oysters, charcuterie, and entrecôte grillé with salty pommes frites—which is a smart setup, as the main marvel is the elevated deck, covered with shiny red glass pebbles that evoke a sea of uncrushed grapes. There you can drink a variety of French bottles or dine with a view of the neighboring Château Cheval Blanc’s flowery planted roof.
Lunch menu €28 ($34); lunch and dinner gourmet menu €39
Château Troplong Mondot
At the Michelin-starred Les Belles Perdrix restaurant, Chef David Charrier plates imaginative seasonal dishes. The serene, stone-walled dining room features a carved wood fireplace, simple wood tables, and cozy plush chairs—but in warmer weather, the lavender-edged terrace is the place to be.
Look for a terrine of local snails with summer truffles, pigeon breast coated with grilled pistachios, and wild cod in arugula. A delightful wine list ventures far beyond the château’s intense reds. For an overnight visit, there are six country-cottage-style rooms; the most charming are in a renovated stone farmhouse among the vines.
Lunch and dinner menus at €60, €85, and €150, plus wine; double rooms €160 to €370
Château Cos d’Estournel
To the north in St.-Estèphe, the Château Cos d’Estournel, owned by billionaire Michel Reybier, is decorated with pagodas, bells, and a courtyard guarded by stone elephants. Reybier’s personal six-bedroom manor house can be yours, with a half-dozen staff, for as many as 16 people at $20,000 a night. Rooms share the château’s Asian theme—including carved Rajasthani doors, a hammam with an indoor pool, and a Chinese wallpapered dining room. A private chef makes meals based on what he finds at the local market, subtly paired with the estate’s brilliant reds and rare white. You might try fricassee of blue lobster in Sauternes, the local caviar d’Aquitaine, and juicy rack of lamb, an ideal match for great Bordeaux.
Yet more staff will provide tours or proffer samples of Cos’s great 2016 vintage and even older, rarer ones. Earlier this year, a 30-year-old American booked the house to propose to his girlfriend. No surprise, she said yes.
Private booking at $20,000 per night
Château Pape Clément
Among the first to invest in château-based hospitality was Bernard Magrez, who owns three grand châteaux where you can book a room, dine, attend a caviar-pairing seminar, take a helicopter vineyard tour, or climb into a chauffeured Rolls-Royce or Bentley for a jaunt into the city. Of them, the neo-Gothic Château Pape Clément (once the home of Pope Clement V and only 15 minutes from the city of Bordeaux) is the one to choose. Surrounded by vines, its gardens feature 1,000-year-old olive trees, a greenhouse designed by Gustave Eiffel, and wandering peacocks.
Stay in one of the six richly decorated rooms, such as the Mon Seul Rêve suite, which surrounds you with murals of exotic lands and a lovely view. (Don’t miss honey from the château’s bees at the lavish breakfast.) A butler is happy to arrange a dinner at two-Michelin-starred restaurant Pierre Gagnaire in Magrez’s hotel in town, where you might start with duck foie gras ravioli with smoked rhubarb, or organize a wine pairing dinner at Pape Clément itself.
Doubles €200 to €405; a two-night, three-day stay with a dinner at the château and one at Pierre Gagnaire is €1,150 per person
To contact the author of this story: Elin McCoy in New York at elinmccoy@gmail.com.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emma Rosenblum at erosenblum2@bloomberg.net, Chris Rovzar
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