Grand Cruise
‘It smells like blood, a sweaty horse, a cigar box, and a bit of blackcurrant.’
Who else could it be but Jilly Goolden describing a wine? By chance I find myself sitting next to her mother at one of Jilly’s two wine tasting sessions on board the MS Braemar on its 8‑day journey to the great wine-making nations of France, Spain, and Portugal.
‘Jilly’s always had a sensitive nose,’ her mother tells me. ‘Ever since she was a little girl, she’s always been able to detect lots of scents.’
Jilly is obviously not so sensitive about her own nose. ‘I’m lucky,’ she tells a packed room of about 100 people, ‘as I’ve got a big nose so I can stick it right in the glass. Smelling a wine is very important, as the nose has a direct line to the brain, but your taste buds don’t, so you really must smell a wine to get the most pleasure from it. Now swirl it round the glass to release all those scents, and dive in and take a great hooter full.’
First Cruise, First Wine Cruise
It’s my first cruise and I’ve been attracted to Vintage Iberia by the wine theme, Jilly as guest speaker, and some of the ports of call including Bilbao. Oh yes, and the on-shore options to tour vineyards, brandy distilleries, and Oporto’s famous port houses, like Cockburn’s and Sandeman’s. If the boat starts rocking and rolling across the Bay of Biscay, chances are I won’t even notice.
As a cruise virgin I’d been impressed by the ease of the whole operation. I put our bags in the car boot at home, and didn’t touch them again till we walked into our cabin. How civilised, I thought, as I picked up the duty-free order form and saw the very reasonable prices for drinks. I’d been worried that we’d be expected to pay exorbitant hotel prices for our wine, but with a cheap house wine and a good list of other affordable wines, I was soon into the holiday spirit, so to speak.
The food was excellent too, and I hadn’t expected delights such as chilled mango soup with ginger and chilli, and one of the best gazpachos I’ve ever tasted. The Braemar is a smaller ship, I was told, with only two restaurants for about 700 passengers, but most people preferred the fact that you had to wait to be seated rather than have the scrummage of the larger liners. There were occasionally small queues, but the always smiling staff dealt briskly with everything and the Thistle Restaurant was a whirl of white coats as we headed for our next port of call.
La Rochelle Wine Cruise Excursion
From the excursion menu at La Rochelle we opted for the wine-tasting tour, and the pleasure of being bussed through the French countryside where even the road signs cheer you up. Well, they do when they give distances like ‘Bordeaux 93’ or ‘Cognac 25’. Château Bertinerie is a small, family vineyard, and we’re shown around by one of the two sons, Frantz Bantegnies.
‘We have about 60 hectares of grapes,’ Frantz tells us, speaking better English than I do. ‘They are all picked by hand. Only about 5% of vineyards are harvested by hand now, for reasons of cost, but we have about 100 pickers who select the grapes and cut away the bad ones. Only if you do this can you ensure the best possible wine.’
After touring the cellars we’re soon sampling some of the 450,000 bottles they produce each year, and taking the chance to buy some at ridiculously cheap prices. Having turned the coach into what looks like a mobile branch of Oddbins, we have lunch at the vineyard and emerge stuffed to the gills with charcuterie, pork fillets and apple sauce, cheese, chocolate pudding, and of course lots of wine.
Cruising to Cognac
For the brandy where else would we go but to Rémy Martin, a short drive away in Cognac? Here a train takes us round the grounds, through the cooperage where barrels are being hammered together, out into the vineyards, and then back again into the cellars before a tasting and another welcome chance to buy booze without handing over a fortune in taxes.
On to Bilbao
And on we sail to Bilbao, where we decide to take advantage of the shuttle bus service and head into the city centre. The coach drops us by the beautifully ornate railway station, full of tiles and stained glass, and then we make the 15-minute stroll along the new riverside promenade to the city’s star attraction, the stunning Guggenheim Museum.
The sun glints on the glass and titanium sheets that make up the building, a work of art in itself, resembling as it does a cross between a giant fish and a ship, on the banks of the Rio Nervion. Outside the entrance is the huge flower sculpture called Puppy, by Jeff Koons, a fun two-storey high puppy dog made from a rainbow array of real flowers. Entering the museum is a little like entering the skeleton of a whale, and the sense of space is marvellous. There are glass lifts, and steel staircases, and walkways criss-cross the main atrium, with galleries going off in all directions – one the size of a football pitch.
After two hours of modern art, ranging from the childish to the challenging, we’re ready to explore the streets of the old town and then tuck into lunch at the excellent Café Bar Bilbao on the galleried Plaza Nueva. The sun is still shining, the squid and cod cost a pittance, and the beer and wine send us back with a glow as warm as the sunset.
Port and Oporto
And so the days flow by like wine, as we drift from Spain and a chance to visit the pilgrimage cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, on to Portugal and another kind of pilgrimage, to the port cellars of Oporto. In fact we spend so much time wandering round the delightful city, in and out of its ornate churches, enjoying the back streets and the riverside views, that the port cellars hardly get a look in. We trek up to the top of the hill to look round Graham’s, which a friend had recommended as having the best tour, and then we trek back down again to visit Vasconcelos, right on the river. And then it’s time for another sunny lunch, of squid and grilled sardines, and of course some vino verde.
Back on board as we head across a reasonably smooth Bay of Biscay, Jilly Goolden entertains us again with a tasting of six more wines from the Braemar’s cellar. This time we also get lots of advice on storing wine and how to match it with food. ‘Try goat’s cheese with pouilly fumé,’ suggests Jilly, ‘and at Christmas we have stilton with oloroso or cream sherry, as they go together spectacularly well. Stilton and claret simply do not go together, and goodness knows how they ever got paired up.’
Cherbourg and Home
Our last port of call is Cherbourg, where we’ve signed up for the visit to nearby Bayeux. The famous Tapestry impresses everyone, and so too does the town, the only one in this part of France that escaped destruction during the war. Timbered buildings and a grand cathedral are among the highlights.
As we return to the ship in the late afternoon sunshine, the local tourist board has organised a final treat. Plates of brioche are handed round, and there’s a glass of Normandy cider for everyone. A jazz trio plays on the quayside as we climb the gangplank for the last time, sad to be heading back to the white cliffs of Dover but with a cellar full of memories.
Passenger Reports
Marie Hoffman from Leigh in Lancashire has taken early retirement from teaching, and is on her fourth cruise. ‘This is the first time we’ve gone a bit more upmarket,’ she says, ‘but it’s well worth the extra cost: you get what you pay for, definitely. We like cruises because we both like doing different things. My husband enjoys the lectures and the excursions, while I spend all my time doing exercise classes and yoga. I do twice as much exercise on a cruise as I do at home. I only go ashore if you can walk into the town. The best day was at La Coruna, where I went shopping. My daughter’s getting married in a few weeks and I managed to find my mother-of-the-bride outfit, so I’m delighted!’
Peter Young is a carpenter from Ipswich in Suffolk. ‘It’s my first cruise and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I bought it as a treat for my mother, really… and for me too, of course. She’s been good to me all her life so I decided to treat her. My only complaint would be that we’re over-pampered! But my mother loves being over-pampered. The staff are marvellous, really friendly and helpful. We’re enjoying the entertainment, too. I think the best day was when we went to Bilbao. My mother has a bit of trouble getting about, but there we had a lovely walk along by the river to the Guggenheim Museum, and it’s the furthest she’s walked in a long time, so I was really pleased about that.’
Jilly Goolden
Guest lecturer Jilly Goolden, who also led one of the tours around the Oporto port houses, is a cruise regular. ‘I love cruises,’ she tells me. ‘They’re supremely relaxing when you’re busy. Everything comes to you, as well, including the destinations!
‘When I get asked to give talks and tastings on cruise ships I usually leap at the chance, and book the whole family onto it too. This is actually the first time I’ve travelled without my entire family, as we simply couldn’t manage it, so I’ve come on this one just with my mother and it’s lovely for us to have chance to spend some time together. Not that there is much spare time as there’s just so much to do. I’m into everything… exercising, drawing classes, you name it. The best cruise we ever did was up the Amazon. That was fabulous, all the wildlife… lots of sloths, I remember, so if you want to see sloths take a cruise up the Amazon.’
But what about wine, I ask her. Are there any wines that don’t cruise well? ‘No,’ she says, ‘they’re not affected at all. There’s no such thing as a wine that doesn’t travel well, it’s just your memories that don’t travel with it. I’ve been very impressed by the Braemar’s wine list. Looking not just at the wines but at some of the vintages, they obviously have good rotation and a good supplier – someone is doing a good job at keeping the wine list ticking over at just the right level.’
And her favourite cruise destination? ‘Well, the world’s your oyster, isn’t it? That Amazon cruise was wonderful, but we also had a great family cruise around the South Island of New Zealand. Everyone loves New Zealand, it’s so spectacular… and of course they produce the best sauvignon blanc in the world.’
More Information
https://www.fredolsencruises.com