As we were driving home from Languedoc last week we decided
to make a minor detour and head north up the Peninsula of the
Medoc, that strange finger of land between the mouth of the
Garonne and the Atlantic.

As anyone of a certain age who has been in the catering trade
will tell you this triangle of land has more famous vinyards per
square metre than anywhere else on earth.
The sign posts alone here could be accused of name-dropping.

It was wall to wall vines along the coastal part of the land.
The mind boggles at what the ultimate yield of any one of
these vines here could bring in when the wines are selling
for several hundred Euros a bottle..

Here were the famous names

And even the odd Irish connection.

This whimsical Campanile was over the gatway of
Clos d’Estourel

I didn’t even manage to name this impressive Chateau.

Then at the apex of the peninsula it was possible to get
a ferry to Royan and so slip painlessly back on to the
road north.