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The 10 best Bordeaux vineyards to visit in 2024
Escape to a Bordeaux vineyard on a luxury river cruise or a wine-themed weekend city break
Vineyard holidays are right up there among our favourite types of trips. Long walks through beautiful scenery, perhaps some gentle bike rides, and – of course – the chance to sip some exceptional, world-class wine. And where there’s excellent wine, there’s almost always sensational food. Bordeaux is no exception, offering some of France’s most delicious plates, making it the perfect destination for those who love to prioritise food and drink on holiday.
The wine produced in the Bordeaux vineyards is among the best wine in France. Whether you consider yourself a wine expert or just enjoy a glass of full-bodied wine, your time in Bordeaux can be spent going into as much depth as you choose. The accomplished winemakers will be delighted to tell you all about their wine-making techniques and Bordeaux's terroir, or you can simply enjoy the environment in which the wines are created, spending time outside among the vines.
One of our favourite ways to explore the Bordeaux vineyards is on a cruise, as it allows you to move effortlessly through the region. This year, you can sail along the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers on the luxury S.S Bon Voyage, a splendid Uniworld ship, with pre-planned excursions taking all the stress out of the day-to-day planning.
Although with some excellent vineyard hotels and new hotels popping up in the city of Bordeaux itself, a self-guided tour might be just as tempting.
How to get to Bordeaux
You can drive to Bordeaux in around 10 hours from Dover on the car ferry. To arrive in style and to have access to a car when you’re exploring, you could book a swish two-seater car on Turo and embrace the notion of slow travel, making the journey part of the experience as you wind down France via Paris. Of course, there’s always the easy option of jumping on a British Airways or easyJet flight or getting the Eurostar to Paris, then connecting to Bordeaux St-Jean station on a train journey that takes around six hours.
Once you arrive in the city, there are vineyards within the city walls and plenty more in the regions surrounding Bordeaux, from the world-famous Saint-Émilion to the lovely Médoc region on the banks of the Gironde. Read on for some of the best Bordeaux vineyards and how to visit them in 2024.
Château Smith Haut Lafitte
The beautiful vineyards of Château Smith Haut Lafitte are punctuated by a 16th-century tower. A thousand barrels are kept in the vat room, and there’s a cooperage where the estate’s oak wine barrels are made. Alongside seven varieties of grapes, fragrant herbs grow, and the vineyards are surrounded by orchards and beehives. While there's a natural, almost nostalgic feel here, don’t be fooled — this is a vineyard that uses cutting-edge tech, such as satellite images and drones, to make sure the grapes are harvested at the optimum time. On a visit to Château Smith Haut Lafitte, you’ll follow in royal footsteps — King Charles and Queen Camilla paid a visit here on their state visit to France in September 2023.
At the heart of Château Smith Haut Lafitte is the superb Les Sources de Caudalie. It’s a contemporary hotel designed with sustainable principles in mind and feels sympathetic to its environment. It’s the kind of hotel that creates delightful dishes with ingredients sourced from its kitchen garden, and the Caudalie Vinotherapie Spa - a timber-clad masterpiece - offers wine-themed treatments like a Crushed Cabernet Scrub and a Merlot Wrap. We particularly love the plush signature suites tucked away in the white wine vineyard.
Château Latour
On the legendary Médoc wine route is the magnificent Château Latour. Over 90% of the grapes here are Cabernet Sauvignon, with the wines developing for decades before they’re ready to drink. Its most celebrated wine, the Grand Vin, is an average of 60 years old.
You may have the chance to visit Château Latour on a cruise through the Bordeaux wine region, where you can choose to join an included excursion to explore the Médoc wine route from Pauillac to the tip of the Médoc peninsula. Some of the best-regarded vineyards in Bordeaux are found here, and it's sure to be a memorable day of wine tasting. You'll stop for a tasting at Château Latour or one of the nearby vineyards — this pocket of the region is known for its ample leading wineries.
Château Carbonnieux
With an 800-year history, it’s fair to say that Château Carbonnieux knows a thing or two about great wine. The vineyard circles a hilltop castle, and it’s open for guests to visit all year round by appointment. You can take a two-hour nature walk around the vineyard and woodlands before returning to taste the Château Carbonnieux wines. They grow six red and white varieties, with over half of their red wine vines dedicated to producing delicious Cabernet Sauvignon.
Château Carbonnieux vineyard is just south of Bordeaux, where there are ample places to stay in the city, including the swish new Mondrian Bordeaux Les Carmes. In a departure from classic French fare, the restaurant is helmed by a Japanese chef but still incorporates French ingredients. And perhaps your palette will be ready for a glass of Japanese sake after sipping full-bodied red wine. You can be back for dinner and drinks at the Mondrian within a 30-minute car journey from Château Carbonnieux.
Château Pichon Baron
Château Pichon Baron is one of the great historic vineyards of Bordeaux on the banks of the Gironde River north of Bordeaux. It’s an impressive place, with a fairytale Château overlooking a manicured lawn with neatly clipped topiary and a serene lake. There's a modern tasting facility juxtaposing the historic feel you’ll get here.
The vineyard is along the Médoc Châteaux Route, a journey you can take on an excursion on Good Housekeeping Holidays’ seven-night cruise in the Bordeaux region. You’ll visit Château Pichon Baron, or a neighbouring vineyard, for a tasting on this day trip. Or you might decide to cycle through the Médoc vines instead.
Château Haut-Bailly
Château Haut-Bailly is a well-regarded, award-winning vineyard with ancient vines producing gorgeous full-bodied Merlot and Cabernet. They credit their exceptional wines with the prehistoric fossil shells deep in the earth that provide the drainage and minerals needed for their delicious produce. You can visit the vineyard on weekdays by appointment.
Right on the doorstep of Château Haut-Bailly is Château Le Pape, a delightful bed and breakfast. There’s a gorgeous terrace where you can have a traditional French breakfast overlooking the vineyards before visiting the cellars or perhaps borrowing a bike and cycling through the pretty terrain.
Château Beauséjour Bécot
Meet the cellar master of an estate that produces one of Saint-Émilion's finest wines – Château Beauséjour Bécot. The region is known for its ruby-hued, elegant wines, said to benefit from Saint-Émilion’s micro-climate, where there’s an even distribution of rain throughout the year from the influence of the rivers. Château Beauséjour Bécot produces leading examples of what's possible to create in the region's terroir.
On Good Housekeeping Holidays’ cruise through the Bordeaux region, you can upgrade to a Grand Cru Tasting experience when you visit Sant-Émilion. You can tour this exceptional wine estate with the cellar master and visit the cellars before tasting the wine on the terrace overlooking the vines.
Château Leognan
One of our favourite vineyards in Bordeaux is Château Leognan, which is also a gorgeous hotel. As well as strolls through the vineyard and tastings, there are plenty of things to keep you occupied here. You can go for a bike ride or take a carriage tour followed by a tasting of the estate wines. There’s yoga amid the vines, spa treatments in yurts, and live music on the terrace every Thursday.
The rooms are sublime. You might find yourself in a blush pink beauty with woodland wallpaper (The Millésime Room), a cheerfully striped abode (the Cocon Suite), or perhaps an olive-green enclave (the Intemporelle Room). They’re all housed in a striking turreted château. There are also fabulous and comfortable treehouses if you fancy something more out of the ordinary.
Ambe Tour Pourret
On the road to Saint-Émilion east of Bordeaux and along the winding Dordogne River, the vineyards at the Ambe Tour Pourret estate grow organic Merlot and Cabernet Franc in sand on clay. Just five hectares makes this vineyard comparatively small, but it still produces 25,000 bottles of its excellent, velvety Saint-Émilion Grand Cru created from the Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes.
During your time in Saint-Émilion on Good Housekeeping Holidays’ Bordeaux cruise, there’s an option to upgrade your experience and visit Château Ambe Tour Pourret for a cooking class, learning traditional French culinary techniques to create dishes that perfectly complement the wines. When you settle down to enjoy a lunch you’ve made, it’ll be paired with wines selected from the Ambe Tour Pourret’s cellars. On this trip, the food experiences don't stop at a cooking class - you'll also have the chance to meet Masterchef's Monica Galetti and watch as she demonstrates cooking techniques onboard the S.S Bon Voyage.
Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion
Hop on the tramway in Bordeaux city centre, and you can be at this acclaimed vineyard in just a few stops. Ponds and woodlands among the vines make you feel a world away from the city, where Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grow in a patchwork of vines. Alongside the traditional turreted château, a contemporary Philippe Starck-designed winery, designed to mimic a ship's bow, brings a modern feel to this heritage estate. The tasting room has a view over the vineyard – the perfect place to sip on the results of the hard work.
A 15-minute cab ride from Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion, stay at the well-regarded La Course, a beautiful guesthouse in a 19th-century mansion near Le Jardin Public in a desirable part of Bordeaux. There are just five rooms here, so guests feel genuinely looked after. Despite its size, it still has a wine cellar to sample regional classics and a charming French kitchen.
Cité du Vin
While it’s not strictly a Bordeaux vineyard, visiting Cité du Vin in Bordeaux on a wine-themed trip to the region is unmissable. It’s an unparalleled introduction to wine growing worldwide, with a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the sensory experience of drinking wine, how wine trends have evolved, and the impact of rivers on wine.
On the Good Housekeeping Holidays cruise aboard the exquisitely beautiful S.S Bon Voyage, a visit to Cité du Vin is included on your final day before you return to the ship for the special Captain’s Farewell dinner on the ship.
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