90 point wines of the right bank

American wine critic Robert Parker was the first to base himself on the US Standardized Grading system to grade wines making the buying process easier for consumers. According to this system, a wine that reaches at least 85 points is considered to be above average or good. What consumers usually don’t know is that this grading system results from a first grade out of 50. To that grade, instead of multiplying it by 2 to obtain the final grade out of 100 (the logical way to do it!) the system just adds another 50 points to the first grade. By using this system, a wine that obtains 35/50 on their first grade and that should reach 70/100, finally obtains 35+50=85 points. Imagine therefore a wine that obtains 20/50, the same wine will obtain a 70/100 letting consumers believe that in fact this is not such a ‘bad wine’.

So let’s get to the point. Our team of travel designers have decided to bring you the best of Bordeaux wines by taking you to the wineries that have obtained a real 90+ point average. How is this possible? By combining the scores of 3 major wine tasting events/critics that have put quality before reputation or price. Most of the wineries selected you will never have heard of and many do not offer top of the notch tasting rooms.

After being picked up by your driver/guide, head towards the right bank wine producing areas of the Bordeaux vineyards. The two most famous appellations are without a doubt:

Saint Emilion centers on the commune of the same name. There are several villages around the region that share the Saint-Émilion name, such as Montagne-Saint-Émilion and St-Georges-Saint-Émilion, and are permitted to label their wines under the same name. Merlot is the dominant grape in this area, followed by Cabernet Franc.

Pomerol was first cultivated by the Romans during their occupation of the area. Up until the early 20th century the area was known mostly for its white wine production. This area within Libournais doesn’t have a distinct city center with several villages spread across an area about the same size as St.-Julien. The area overall has gravel-based soil that is typical of Bordeaux. The wines of Pomerol have a high composition of Merlot in their blends and are considered the gentlest and least tannic and acidic of Bordeaux wines.

Your tour will take you to 3 carefully selected wineries located in different appellations and we have selected vintages that have obtained at least 90 points from several renowned wine critics. All visits will consist in a short introduction of the history of the wineries followed by a visit of all the technical installations. Finally, experience commented wine tasting sessions of the Chateau wines so as to better understand what are the specificities that have allowed the wines to obtain such high rankings.