On a recent 3 week tour of France, we accomplished what we set out to do; sample cross section of French wines to learn if there are wines we truly enjoy. We love wine, and honestly have always preferred robust, rich and velvety red wines, and we enjoy many whites and rosés as well. They rarely seem to be Of French origin. We know price is not a consistently accurate indicator of weather or not a particular wine will enchant us. Therefore, we were excited to learn of Maison du Vin, just a few minutes from our Hotel on rue St Catherine in the city of Bordeaux. They offer a nice selection of vins rouge and blanc that can be sampled and otherwise purchased by the glass or bottle, from around the Bordeaux region, with examples of left and right bank wines, Medoc, St Emilion etc. We enjoyed a tasting of some particularly nice white wines, and some red wines that we found to be completely well suited to our palate. You can order some basic cheese and or charcuterie to accompany your wine selections, and the cost was very reasonable. They offer indoor and cafe style outdoor seating. On our lovely afternoon visit there wasn’t any outdoor seating available, so we tasted indoors. We were a bit surprised at what seemed to us anyway, quite a bit of out of character behavior of some patrons. Laying with bare feet all over the little couches, others playing a very long round of rummy and drinking water and with an unruly dog. All the while many others wanting to actually sample and enjoy the wines of Maison du Vin had to look on as the place was full. In any event, that isn’t a bad reflection on the Maison I suppose. We greatly enjoyed our Saturday visit so much we went back on Sunday only to discover it was closed on that day. Highly recommended.