Château Lagrange Vertical, 2016
I had packed carefully for my trip, but peering from the window of my room at Château Lagrange I soon realised there was one item I needed which I hadn’t thought to throw in my bag. The sky had been a little on the grey side all day, and the temperatures cool, so it hadn’t come as any great surprise when I felt the first few drops of rain. What had surprised me was the intensity and persistence of the downpour. The trees in the distance soon disappearing behind a grey and hazy curtain of rain, and there was no sign it would be letting up any time soon.
I quite like the rain. As a teenager I used to walk to school each day, a short six- or seven minute stroll. It was uphill most of the way, and as I reached the crest of the hill the wind would whip in off the Irish Sea (this was on the Isle of Man), sometimes cutting to the bone. I hated the wind. Rain, however, I didn’t mind. It was rarely heavy enough to cause much trouble, unless it was a particularly impressive downpour. Such occasions were rare, for which I was grateful, as in a draughty and barely-heated school building it usually took the best part of double-physics followed by double-chemistry to dry out.
Looking around at my current surroundings, however, they were rather more luxurious than those draughty old classrooms. I had accepted an invitation to dine at Château Lagrange (pictured above, on a much brighter day, back in October 2012) on the Sunday evening preceding the Bordeaux 2015 primeurs, and I also gratefully accepted the offer of a bed for the night. Half-expecting a room filled with furniture dressed in dustsheets, and flickering gas lamps maintaining the temperature just above freezing, I was taken aback by the modern and luxurious manner in which the rooms were appointed. The newly upgraded rooms of Les Jardins de Lagrange are located in the grounds of the estate, looking out onto the vines in fact, in what were probably once workers’ cottages, or perhaps even stables. It was a great place to lay my head for a night. All I had to do now was figure out whether I should wait out the rain for another five minutes, or chance a dash to the cellars for the inevitable pre-dinner tour.
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