Day 4 

St. Emilion is a principal red wine area of Bordeaux along with the Medoc, Graves, and Pomerol. We had our fair share of red wine, that I can assure you. Thank goodness for the spit option! I just can't do wine tastings at 10am and expect to carry on normally for the rest of the day! 

We were lucky enough to find Mary Dardenne of Decanter Wine Tours, who may be the most well-versed human on the planet when it comes to Bordeaux wines. Dardenne grew up in the US, and when her family moved to France when she was 19, she thought she'd stay for a few years. Except she met her French husband and still lives there today. She speaks perfect French, perfect English, and is charming, funny and a wine genius.

Not only is Mary fluent in French, she is fluent in French driving. Like a professional, she skillfully maneuvered our van in the rain, on the narrow and winding roads to Chateau Prieure-Lichine, in the heart of the Margaux appellation, for our first tasting. 

Some of the wineries were not open as this was a holiday weekend, but Mary drove us by several stunning winery settings... in the rain. I took this photo through the front windshield between windshield wipers wiping ~ Good timing!

Same here...

Oh dear Lord, another meal. I believe this would be my favorite while in France. The Restaurant at Hostellerie de Plaisance is pretty darn fancy.

This reminds me of a character on Sponge Bob Squarepants.. I can't remember who it is, but I'm certain that's where I've seen this creature before... or is it Star Wars?

The candy cart = my dream come true!

The cheeses were stunning...

The food was spectacular to look at...

and eat...

The desserts were quite the dramatic affair...

I ordered Lemon something. It looked like a Christmas ornament! I have no idea what was inside, but I ate the whole thing. Even the tinfoil on top which is not actually tin foil. 

Just when we thought we could not be impressed any more, just when we thought we could not consider taking in another speck, my very favorite part of the evening showed up: the tea cart. Unfortunately I forgot to get a photo. The tea cart was similar to the candy cart ~ minus the candy, plus dozens of beautiful house plants aka possible flavors for your personal tea! Mint, lavender, chamomile, lemongrass, verbena and more. We each partook and were impressed and delighted with the after-dinner activity.

I hope you're not getting bored of St. Emilion... There's even more coming up.