The 3-day Grand Depart in the Basque country of Spain. Three days of wonderful white wines. Rioja Alavesa, Rias Baixas Albarino, and Txakoli - The wines of the Spanish Basque region.

Today is preparation and relaxation day. The day before the start of the Tour de France. Tomorrow’s stage is very intense. I need a wine for relaxing, so I have chosen a La Rioja Alavesa, producers of dry white wines from just south of the Basque - 2021 Bodegas y Vinedos de la Marquesa Rioja Valserrano Blanco. This is a fuller bodied white wine with fruity aromas and lively acidity. The perfect wine to drink while I relax before the intensity begins. I like to serve this wine a bit warmer than most whites. When this wine is room temperature the fruity aromas pop out of the glass while the fruity flavors and acid blend to perfection. Try this experiment: open the bottle while still cool/cold, pour the wine, and taste; wait 30 minutes and taste the same glass of wine again. Let me know if you like it colder or a bit warmer. 

Tomorrow begins the 110th Tour de France. I will be up at 5am PDT to watch the start. This year's race route is very different from previous years. The race will go to places it hasn’t been to in a long time, there is only one time trial, five mountain ranges and very challenging from the get-go. The first three stages of the Tour de France race through Bilbao and San Sebastian, in the “green” Spanish Basque Country on the way to French Basque Country, north to Bayonne, France. The Basque Country provides narrow roads, twists, turns, and climbing. Tomorrow there will be 11 climbs totaling 3300m with many many people on the race route. There are no warm-up days. The consensus from the commentators is that we are likely to see head-to-head racing from the favorites, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard on day one. This would be unusual.
 
There are a number of stories getting ready to play out in the 2023 Tour de France: Will Cavendish win his 35th Tour de France stage? Will Peter Sagan and Thibaut Pinot each win a stage in their final Tour de France? We will find out over the next three weeks, I am rested and ready to go! Let’s get on our bikes and ride!!

A well-aged wine to celebrate and reflect upon superstars and their last Tour de France. It was announced earlier this year that this would be the last Tour de France for Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan, and Thibaut Pinot. These riders have changed the race over the last 15 years. To reflect on these riders I have chosen 2014 Domaines Lupier El Terroir, Navarra DO, in northern Spain. Navarra wine region is very close in proximity to Bilbao, the site of stage 1 for the 2023 Tour de France. This wine was produced in 2014 and made from grapes of 110+ year-old vines. An aged wine does not need to be expensive; it needs to have been created with the point of view that it can age in the bottle. The price for this wine was reported as $25 to $30. Time in the bottle allows the wine to integrate aromas, flavors, and textures; time to mature. That said, 95% of all wines are meant to be consumed at the time of release, this includes many wines that can age.

While enjoying my wine, I am reflecting on the joy and excitement Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan, and Thibaut Pinot have given us in their years of racing. Three of the most notable riders in the modern era of the Tour de France. Their contributions will be talked about for years to come.

Cheers to these amazing racers! They have made indelible marks on the race. Each giving us excitement and stories to talk about for many years.
Santé

A bit about this upcoming blog and me…
I am a wine enthusiast and avid traveler who has been watching the Tour de France for about 50 years. Several years ago I recognized that these passions overlapped while I was studying wine maps of France, maps of the race, and watching race coverage, which I have long considered to be a travelog adjacent to the race with amazing videos of many historical sites along the route of the Tour, including notable vineyards and wine chateaus. This blog is an attempt to combine my enthusiasm for wine, travel, and the Tour de France.

Since this is a daily blog, I have decided to keep my posts short and sweet. So I have included links to experts who write about wine, travel, and the Tour de France. The links are my effort to share their expertise in case you want to conduct a deeper dive into any of these subjects. Besides the links within the post, I have also provided a resources page.

I believe there are many wine regions along the race route of Tour de France that produce delicious wines, but many people do not know of these wines. Most of the wines are not the highly sought-after bottles that are covered in the worldwide media. These are wines for people who like to have a glass of wine with dinner or a celebration with friends. These are wines with character and substance that come from a very specific place.

While I will highlight some of the high-profile wines because you can’t go through an area like Sauternes, in the wine region of Bordeaux, where they produce the extremely famous sweet dessert wine, and not mention Château d’Yquem.
 
Please post your wine selections for each stage on my Instagram or add comments to the posts. Keep it civil, this is supposed to be fun!
Santé

​Join me here during the month of July as we embark on a virtual wine adventure through some of the most important vineyards in the world while we watch the most important bicycle race in the world, the Tour de France.