Le Wednesday - Tour des Francaises

Well, turns out that the couple were French - he was born in Bordeaux, she was born in Spain. 
He pronounced Bordeaux with that hoiky thing that French do with their words - so it was Bor*hoik*deaux!

They lived in Marseilles for many years, and now have a second year in Tahiti  (where she teaches Spanish at high school and Uni) before returning to La Belle France.   He tells me that babies are reared on red wine rather than milk in Bordeaux.  I'm quite envious - he grew up tasting some of the best red wines in France the Bordeaux classics like St. Emilion and Pomerol.  As I (vaguely) recall from my wine classes these two are Merlot dominant blends of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Luckily, he speaks pretty good English, but I do get to try my fractured French at times, as she speaks very little.  I even remembered that framboise is French for raspberry (when describing the sorbet at lunch).

So, we did the Matakana Full Day tour - setting off at 9.30 from their hotel, cheese tasting and a coffee at Puhoi, tastings at Ascension and Heron's Flight, lunch at Heron's Flight.  As they wanted to see a barrel hall I took them back to the City via West Brook winery in Kumeu.  here they tasted what they judged to be the best wine of the day ... the envelope please... West Brook 2006 Merlot Malbec blend.  This is a lovely soft red, grown on the estate in the Waikoukou Valley.

Tired but happy, I deposited them back at their hotel on the dot (by sheer good luck) of four p.m.

Au revoir ... Bon Vacances!!!