As the ship was cruising from Libourne back to the city of Bordeaux, there was an hour-long tasting of five wines from the Saint-Emilion appellation in the lounge.
Run by our cruise manager, Piet, it started with the notorious "Bad Boy" wine, which was the nickname given to winemaker Jean Luc Picard Thunevin by Robert Parker, the most influential wine critic in the world.
(Editor: If Jean Luc Picard actually were a winemaker, that would be the coolest wine in the world.
Writer: <says nothing but is sagely nodding head in agreement>
Editor: Each step of the winemaking process, Picard would turn to his team, and say "Make it so!")
Writer: Can we get back to wine?)
Thunevin was also called "the black sheep of Bordeaux," which is why there is one on the label.
Jean Luc Picard, er, Thunevin calls it a "garage wine" because he doesn't follow the rules of making Bordeaux, starting with the grapes, which he buys from multiple vineyards.
I'm not sure it's actually a garage wine, like in Priorat, Spain, where the grapes are brought from the vineyards into town and made into wine in the winemakers' garage.
We had the 2016, which is 95% Merlot and 5% Cab Franc. It was really good, and just 15 Euros. Piet had already talked about Bad Boy wine, so I purchased one the day before in the Saint-Emilion wine shop to have with dinner this very evening.
Our second wine was the 2014 Chateau Bel Air Ouy, which is 70% Merlot, 20% Cab Franc, 5% Cav Sauv, and 5% Malbec. It's the third wine of Valandraud.
Speaking of which, the third wine was the 2016 Virginie de Valandraud, which is 65% Merlot, 25% Cab Franc, 5% Cab Sauv, 4% Malbec, and 1% Carmenere.
It turns out my favorite wine of the tasting was from Pomerol (the next door appellation to Saint-Emilion), a 2015 Le Close du Beau-Pere, a 90% Merlot and 10% Cab Franc.
Several of the people nearby remarked afterwards that it was their favorite wine of the group as well.
We finished with a 2016 Chateau Valandraud, a 1er Grand Cru Classe from Saint-Emilion. It had the same grape mix as the third wine of the tasting.
Look, all five wines were tasty.
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