“Here in Saint-Émilion at Angélus on our ancestor’s land, vines and wine are like a religion, a passion shared by the whole family.” – Hubert de Boüard de Laforest

The gorgeous estate of Château Angélus

By the time I got to the legendary Château Angélus during my trip to Bordeaux, I hit a point of no return: After 2.5 days of going around castles stopping every so often to sample a few glasses from famous wineries and meeting renowned winemakers, my body just decided to shut down.

Maybe it was the jet lag. Maybe it was the exertion of trying to get around with what little French I knew (my charming chauffeur Philippe was particularly excited to converse with me during our several hours together). Or it could have been my exhaustion from worrying about missing my train to Paris that evening.

Whatever it was, I shut so far down that I fell asleep in the backseat of the car during one Philippe’s energetic tales. Charming gentleman that he was (who was probably at a loss trying to figure out what to do with a passed out Asian woman who needed to get to her next meeting in 30 minutes), he let me sleep, and woke me up just as we were about to go into the last château of the trip.